Does your student have a subject they frequently claim they dislike drilling because it is “boring?” We’ve created some fun subject-specific memory activities to play that can spice up your school day!
Our recommended memory activities
Geography
1.) Chocolate geography
Use mini chocolate chips to mark geography locations. This technique never fails to please in our household!
2.) Knowledge dump style
Pull out a map and invite students to “Tell me everything you know.” This can speed up geography review because it removes the need to ask questions. Students can quickly identify all locations that they know and often find it satisfying to realize how much they know.
3.) Geography hangman
Play hangman with geography memory work.
History
1.) Monotone history songs
If you usually sing the history songs, try saying them in a monotone without the rhythm (it won’t work, but it’s likely to lead to giggles).
2.) Jeopardy style
Call out a key word from the history sentence and see if your student can identify the corresponding question “Tell me about….”
Math
1.) Math ball
Kick or toss a ball back and forth while chanting math facts.
2.) The dice game
Select a number 1-15 and then roll two dice. Students must add the numbers on the dice, and then multiply the sum by the selected number. We usually roll the dice five to ten times before selecting a new number.
Timeline
1.) Detective review
Remove one timeline card from a series of cards and ask students to name the missing card and show where it belongs in the timeline.
2.) Timeline mix-up
Mix the timeline cards up and have students put back in order. Warning! It can be overwhelming to do this with the whole timeline at once! I’d recommend doing one or two weeks’ worth at a time to start.
3.) Alternating events
Grab a partner and alternate listing the timeline events. Person #1 says, “Age of Ancient Empires,” and Person #2 says, “Creation and the Fall,” and so on as far as they can go. Repeat in the opposite order.
4.) Surrounding times
Choose an event from the timeline at random and ask the other person to list the events immediately preceding and following it.
Looking for even more inspiration?
Check out the online CC community on our Official Classical Conversations Facebook Group. Thousands of parents are swapping inspiration and ideas every day for how they implement classical-style homeschooling from a Christian worldview.
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