Do you review? Tips from a homeschooling mom
by Wendy Toy

What do all students need to do before a test or after a lesson or chapter? They need to review! What is review? The word review can be broken into its base or root word, "view" which means to look at, and its prefix "re" which means again. So to review a lesson is to look again at the lesson your student has already done. Of course, in some cases, like with learning math facts, reviewing means you will need to examine the lesson quite a few more times.

Doing review with your student is useful in that it gives the teacher/parent an idea of how much the student remembers from his study and where a student might need some help. It also gives the student a chance to verbalize some of the facts he has learned, and solidify some of those areas where he may have been a bit unsure. How does this happen?

First, before review can happen, be sure you have covered the lesson in some way. It sounds so obvious, but if you are teaching in a co-op or small homeschool class, or even doing a unit study with a few of your own children, be sure that you
have covered the subject you want to review. You also need to be aware of any students that may have missed your lesson. They can't review something that they have never heard or read before. (Remember, with review the student is looking at something
again, not hearing it for the first time.)

A lesson can consist of reading a book, going on a field trip, watching a tape, listening to a lecture, doing an experiment, visiting a website or even reading a section in a textbook. Next, decide what your student needs to review. Did he come to the end of a chapter in his history book? Did he read a biography and you need to see if what he remembers from his reading? Does she need help in remembering spelling words, math facts, or grammar? Now it is time to create some questions from your student's lesson. To create questions, simply use the five question words you learned when you were in school: who, what, when, where, why and how. For example:
* Who was the first postmaster general? (Benjamin Franklin!)
* What does a noun name? (A person, place, thing, idea)
* When was the Declaration of Independence signed? (1776)
* Where is the Statue of Liberty located? (New York Harbor)
* How many inches are in a foot or feet in a mile? (You should know this answer!)

Along with knowing the five question words, you need to know that there are various types of questions you can create. These include:
* Fill-in-the-blank: "The earth ___________ around the sun."
* Short Answer: "Name the nine planets."
* Multiple choice: "Who was the first president of the United States?"
a. Abraham Lincoln
b. John Jay
c. George Washington
d. George Bush
* True or False: "A noun always shows action."
* Essay: "How does the moon get its light?"

After you have created the questions for your review, it's time to select a game to play to use with your review. Games make it more fun for your student when reviewing. The steps to adapting a game for review are simple. First, be sure to create the review questions you want to use. Although some people like to try to make up questions as they play, writing out the questions is important. This will keep the game flowing and you can be sure that you are covering the material your student needs.

Second, choose a game that has a "pausing point" where you can ask the question. This place could be right before the student takes his turn to spin the spinner or roll the dice.

Third, be sure to go over all the rules of the game before you play. You and your student need to know how to play the game you choose, plus you must decide what will happen if your student answers the question incorrectly.
* Will he miss a turn?
* Will the question just go to another student?
* Will you give the answer and keep the question to ask again later?

Last, always keep in mind that games are only the means to the end (review), the game in this case is not to be a competitive "winner takes all" type of playing.

Sometimes a little reward is nice for a job (or review) well done. This could be anything from a food treat to granting a special privilege at your house. Maybe the winner would get a special plate to use at dinner all week, or she could be excused from a chore for one night.

You can use almost any game with review by simply adapting a game you already know how to play. Can you play tic-tac-toe? You can make a tic-tac-toe board on a chalkboard or just on a paper. After you draw the board, ask your student one of your already created questions. If she gets the answer correct, she gets to put her X or O on the board. If you have another student also playing, you can ask that student a different question. If he answers correctly, he gets to fill in either the X or O. If you are only reviewing with one student, you can be the other player and take a turn. (You don't have to answer aquestion if you don't want to!)

If you need to do review with a small group of students, you can adapt the old familiar "Hot Potato" game into a review game. You will need to have your review questions ready, plus you will need a small ball and music that you can turn on and off.

Before you begin, always go over the rules of the game so each student will know how to play and what to expect. For this game, you can set a timer to play a certain length of time, or just play until all your review questions have been used. To play as a review game, you will have the students pass the "hot potato" around the circle while the music is playing.

At a certain point, after 15 or 20 seconds, you will turn off the music. The person who is holding the "hot potato"is the one who has to answer a review question. If they get it wrong, they can choose someone else to answer the question. If you decide to have the one who gets the question wrong step outside of the circle, be sure to do it for only one round, then let them back into the game.

Do you need to review states and their capitals or vocabulary words? You can make simple concentration review game by using 3 X 5 cards. Write the state name (or vocabulary word) on one of the cards and the capital or definition on another card. When you have 6 - 7 pairs (or more, depending on the age of your student) turn all the cards over so the writing is face down. Let your student turn over one card and read whatever is on the card. Then she can turn over another card. If the second card is a match with the first card, your student takes both cards and gets to go again. If she misses, she must replace the cards and it is the next person's turn. The game is over when all the cards are turned over, and the winner is the one with the most cards.

Whatever game you choose to use, follow the steps for review and adapting a game, and you can be sure that you are giving your child a time of both fun and learning in remembering the material he's been taught.

About the author:
Wendy Toy is a 13-year homeschooling mom of five boys and a former classroom teacher. Her ebook, Creative Review Games, has tips for review, plus directions andreproducible templates and patterns that can be used for review games. Creative Review Games and other ebooks can be found at Wendy’s website at http://www.toytowntreasures.com or can be downloaded from http://www.homeschoolestore.comFolcroft, PA 19032
Email: Toywriter611@aol.com