SOTW Review Cards

[JessinTX]

How do you use the review cards at the back of the SOTW activity guides? 

The guidance from How to use this book in the front simply says:

Quote

Every four chapters, you should take one history class to prepare your history review cards. Photocopy the history cards
(use stiff cardstock for longer-lasting cards) and cut them out; have the student color the picture. After the cards are
completed, use them once or twice a week to review material already covered.

But I'm not sure HOW to use them to review material?

Flash card like and try to have her memorize at least the main sentence from each? Just read through a few at a time memory book kind of style? Make 2 copies and cut off the tops and have her match them Montessori card style.

Those are the options that come to mind, but I'm not sure I love any of them, and would appreciate any other ideas you've done or even just ideas you've had - even if you didn't actually do them. 😉

[Miss Tick]

It has been a long time since we enjoyed those books together! Instead of the review cards, we put together a lapbook for each of the first two books. They served a similar purpose. I think every 5 chapters we would stop and spend a day talking about the pieces for each of the previous chapters, assembling them, and gluing them into the books. As a bonus, there was additional review when Grandma visited and everybody wanted to look through the lapbooks with her.

I just pulled out the lapbook my high school freshman made way back when to remind her about the Seven Wonders after a discussion with her sister this week about the Colossus of Rhodes.

If I were to use the cards I would either use them to prompt a casual review conversation or else the Montessori idea might be appealing. Avoid the trap of letting it get tedious for your dd! Maybe let her be in charge of the cards half the time, or something. Another idea that I used to see from other families was to hang a string in the wall and then as you review the cards, hang them up with clothes pins like a laundry style time line.

In our house, history was a subject I tried to keep pretty casual about. I feel like it is one of the few subjects where even low key, consistent exposure really makes a difference. 

 

[EKS]

The review cards are a sure way to make your child hate history.  Just read together, discuss, and maybe do a bit of coloring/mapwork/writing as appropriate to your child's capabilities.  

[Clarita]

For "review" I just do a timeline/book of centuries but instead of doing it immediately after our reading I do 4 chapters and then do the timeline for the 4 chapters. 

This one is specifically made for Story of the World. https://www.livingbooktimelines.com/product-page/complete-story-of-the-world-1-4-timeline-cards-and-poster-bundle (This looked like a lot for my children 5 and 7, so it's not the one I use.)

I use this one https://www.curiositychronicles.org/product-page/ted-s-timeline-kit. Because I also use this curriculum along with Story of the World. However there is a lot of overlap between the two so I think you could use the same timeline and maybe add in and/or not use a few things from this kit. 

Basically I print out the timeline pictures on to sticker paper then we just go through and stick them into a timeline notebook. As we do that we talk about the stickers and "remember this...".

[caffeineandbooks]

We do something very similar to @Clarita, only we use free printable picture cards from https://homeschooling2e.com/2017/01/20/timeline-figures-for-k-6-free-printable/.  They're not identical to SOTW but have worked well for us and having a bit of color on them is a plus.  We print as-is for a wall timeline or two sheets to a page for a book of centuries, and we glue them on in batches once a month or so (@Clarita, sticker paper would be a nice upgrade - thanks for that idea!).  It's a good opportunity for me to ask the kids "Who was that guy again?" or "Can you tell me what else was happening in the world at that time?" or "When was the last timeline entry we had for this country?"

[JessinTX]

We do have a timeline that we use. I've used it more as a tool to help her see and understand the progression of history so we usually use it towards the beginning of a lesson.... hmmm food for thought. I do have a card game that has dates on one side and events and pictures on the other and the idea is to draw 3 or 4 (I can't remember) and try to get them in order - then flip them over and check the dates. The point isn't really to memorize the dates but get an understanding of what happened first, next, and so on. Sort of a timeline game I guess. We haven't actually played it yet (Christmas Gift.)

It seems kind of unanimous so far that no one actually uses the review cards so that's interesting. Guaranteed to make you hate history seems like a stretch, but maybe I'll skip it for now too, and use the game as a kind of review as well as sequencing practice. Will save me some laminating and cutting - LOL. 

I wonder what SWB envisioned when she included them in the guides. 

[Clarita]

11 hours ago, JessinTX said:

I wonder what SWB envisioned when she included them in the guides. 

She mentions having children memorize some history facts in The Well-Trained Mind book. So my guess is they are suggested pieces of facts students could memorize. I don't think SOTW has a timeline thing, it seems like they serve a similar purpose just what you want to do. 

[Clarita]

13 hours ago, caffeineandbooks said:

We do something very similar to @Clarita, only we use free printable picture cards from https://homeschooling2e.com/2017/01/20/timeline-figures-for-k-6-free-printable/.  They're not identical to SOTW but have worked well for us and having a bit of color on them is a plus.  We print as-is for a wall timeline or two sheets to a page for a book of centuries, and we glue them on in batches once a month or so (@Clarita, sticker paper would be a nice upgrade - thanks for that idea!).  It's a good opportunity for me to ask the kids "Who was that guy again?" or "Can you tell me what else was happening in the world at that time?" or "When was the last timeline entry we had for this country?"

Ooo I like how big these timeline figures are, especially with the real pictures. 

These are the sticker paper I use https://www.amazon.com/Sheets-Matte-Sticker-Inkjet-Printing/dp/B07T1HRYL5/ref=sr_1_5_pp?keywords=sticker+paper&qid=1704566901&sr=8-5. Nothing special just the cheapest I found at the time.

Edited January 6 by Clarita
add my sticker paper

[PeterPan]

On 1/4/2024 at 7:14 PM, JessinTX said:

HOW to use them to review material?

When you're using the SOTW lessons, hopefully you're reading the stories together in some fashion and then having her *narrate* either the jist or what your student thought was interesting. Rather than having the student memorize a sentence from the cards, I would suggest using the card as a *prompt* to ask what they remember about this story. 

Kids are going to vary in their narrative language readiness. Some might listen to the lesson or look at the card and go HUH?? and need some prompts. Some might give volumes and volumes and need some prompts that help them whittle it down to the 2-3 most important things. Some kids might focus on details that were completely unimportant in the story but very important to them.

Yes, WTM has discussion of fact memorization if that appeals to you. The goal of the history lessons at this age/stage is familiarity that make pegs for later learning and enjoyment. If they remember something and had a good time, it's probably good enough. The narrative language skills you work on each day by reading the history together are more important than the history facts themselves. Don't belabor what isn't important. It's ok to enjoy your time together and use the cards and lessons as prompts to do what is really important (build narrative language skills, build language comprehension skills, create pegs for later learning).

We used the VP cards, not SOTW btw, though we've used bits of SOTW at times. And that's how we used the VP cards, to sing them (make up a song or google for one!) or just asking what the student remembers. Sometimes we'd put them in order, but doing that can be hard when you get a LOT of them going. You can make small fields of 5 or 6 to order. 

On 1/4/2024 at 10:04 PM, EKS said:

The review cards are a sure way to make your child hate history. 

Agreed. Trying too hard at any of this is a good way to kill it. I hate history, have for my entire life, and my kids LOVE history. I endeavor not to kill it. You're trying to create this generous exposure, a feast, not teach college, lol. I'd be way more inclined to use those cards to play a game than anything. Make a magic circle that you hide under two printed sets of the cards as you play Memory. The person who matches the card with the circle wins candy. Just have fun.

Edited January 6 by PeterPan

[lmrich]

I just had my dd go back and re-read one of her summaries while I was getting the book  out,  etc.. I would ask her a few follow up questions. Sometimes she would  add more to the picture. 

Also - if you have the audio files (they are great!), I would listen to this week's in the car to just reinforce it,  and then on Fridays on our way home from an art class we would listen to a review one or two. So  easy.  

[ScoutTN]

On 1/4/2024 at 9:04 PM, EKS said:

The review cards are a sure way to make your child hate history.  Just read together, discuss, and maybe do a bit of coloring/mapwork/writing as appropriate to your child's capabilities.  

This!

We made a timeline each year, discussed lots, read a zillion picture books, did a few projects. Kids narrated and sometimes listened to the audiobooks. They learned enough. 

I did have them memorize 4-5 dates from our timeline each year as reference points. We reviewed the ones from the previous years too, so they had 15-18 dates well-learned before we hit round 2 of history.