When My 9-Year-Old Knew the History but Couldn’t Answer the Review Questions

My 9- and 11-year-old are doing the same U.S. History curriculum right now.

We were doing the Quick Assignment for Lesson 3, “Brave New World,” and I decided to ask the questions out loud instead of making it another writing assignment.

With my 11-year-old, that worked just fine. I asked the original questions and she answered them.

Then I asked my 9-year-old.

“I don’t know.”

I tried making the question easier. Still, “I don’t know.” I tried giving a little hint. That didn’t really help either.

And I could see her getting upset. She was almost ready to cry.

That made me stop. I really felt like she knew more than she was able to tell me. I didn’t want to keep asking the same question until history review turned into something miserable.

So I asked her to answer with a number

I wondered if it would feel easier if she didn’t have to come up with the whole answer herself.

I gave her three choices and told her she could just say 1, 2, or 3.

For example, when we reviewed Madoc of Wales, I broke the story into smaller questions.

Who was Madoc?

1. A prince from Wales
2. A Viking
3. A king from Spain

She could just say the number. Then we moved on to another small part of the story.

We did this with other people and events from the lesson too.

Then a little later, without the choices in front of her, she remembered that Madoc was the Prince of Wales.

Maybe “I don’t know” wasn’t the whole story

I still wouldn’t say that choosing the right answer means she completely knew the lesson. Picking something she recognizes is different from remembering a whole story and explaining it on her own.

But I was glad I tried the numbers instead of stopping at “I don’t know.” She did remember some of it. I just wasn’t seeing that when I asked her the same kind of question I had asked her older sister.

I think I’ll keep the 1, 2, 3 idea around for days like this. And if she still can’t remember after that, then I know we actually need to go back and review that part.

This post shares questions I created for our own oral review after using the curriculum. It does not reproduce or replace the curriculum’s Quick Assignment.