Cycle 1 Review Games (Weeks 1-12) for Classical Homeschooling
Want creative ways to review the Classical Cycle 1 memory work? These fun and engaging games for Weeks 1-12 will help your children practice and retain the new grammar they’ve learned.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Last week we finished up Cycle 1 Week 12. My kids had fun putting Muslim Empire puzzles together and playing a Muslim Empire treasure hunt game as we learned where some of the key cities are located. We also learned about the photosynthesis, respiration, and transpiration while playing a fun plant systems board game that I made. Read more about what we did at home during the previous weeks of Cycle 1 here. You can also get a peek into our first couple of homeschool weeks here.
Tutor Ideas for Classical Homeschooling
If you are part of a Classical homeschooling community, are you tutoring? If you are, be sure to check out my posts with tutor ideas for the first twelve weeks here.
Also, I have a youtube channel where I make videos with tutor and memory work ideas each week. Below is my video with tutor videos for Cycle 1 Week 12. Visit my channel for tutor ideas for the rest of the weeks and other videos with homeschooling tips and encouragement.
Reviewing the Memory Work At Home
In this post, I share with you about my weekly homeschool rhythms with my small children (ages five, three and one). I explain about the activities, games, and readings we do together to review the Cycle 1 memory work (new grammar) at home throughout the week. Since last week we finished Cycle 1 Week 12, the next few weeks we will focus on reviewing the Cycle 1 material we have learned so far this year. We will also begin our Christmas Bible study and start a few fun Christmas traditions that I am excited to share about.
Morning Devotional Time
I continue to begin each day with our morning devotional time. This is my favorite part of the day with my kids. It is also one of my favorite things about homeschooling. I love that we don’t have to rush out of the door in the morning. My kids get the sleep they need and we can linger over breakfast and read God’s word together.
I have learned some morning habits that help us all get down to breakfast at the same time. This helps me make the most of our morning time together. Read more about these habits here.
Bible Study
This week we begin our Christmas Bible study from @drivenbygrace. I begin reading a Bible story from both my Bible and The Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible that goes along with the daily topic of the Bible study. This week we start off by reading about Nicodemus and talk about being born again. We focus on memorizing John 3:16 as a family.


It is great to review these stories and talk more about them with my kids. If you’re curious about more of what I do in our morning devotional time, read my post about it here.
The 24 Family Ways
As I read to my kids from the Bible Study Lesson, I have them either color their 24 Family Ways coloring book or one of the activity pages from the Christmas Bible study. This works well because they can concentrate on coloring and listen to me read.
Each day we review one of the Family Ways (from Sally and Clay Clarkson’s 24 Family Ways) that we have learned about in the previous twelve weeks. Usually I leave one of the 24 Family Ways and a corresponding Bible verse on my chalkboards for the entire week. However, this week, I put a different Family Way and Bible verse on the chalkboards each morning so we can review them. It is so fun to see how well my kids remember them and how they mostly have the Bible verses memorized!


I also have found songs that match with each Bible verse that I play after we eat breakfast. The songs I use are mostly from Steve Green’s CDs. I play some of these songs again this week and it’s so encouraging to see how well my kids remember them. Songs truly are amazing for helping children memorize the Bible. Download my matchup of the 24 Family Ways with Bible verses and songs from my Resource Library.

Christmas Bible Study Activities
In her Christmas Bible study, Lindsey includes fun activity pages for each day of the week. This week my daughter works on copy work and a crossword puzzle related to the prophecy of Immanuel. My three-year old enjoys coloring the lamb coloring page that goes along with this week’s study.

Singing Hymns
We also continue to sing a few hymns each morning from this book called My First Hymnal by Karyn Henley. I let my kids each choose a hymn to sing and I sing it for them (sometimes they join in). It’s great that they are learning hymns and the ones in this book are fabulous for kids.
Weekly Memory work songs
This week we review a lot of the previous twelve week’s memory work songs as we play review games. I also play some of these songs as I’m cleaning up breakfast and while we are in the car. Check out my youtube channel for playlists of Cycle 1 songs for English, Science and Geography.
Taking Time for Review
Starting this week, we take a break from learning new memory work and focus on preparing for Christmas. We also play fun games to review the memory work my kids have learned so far. We will continue focusing on review until we start up next semester in January. It’s fun and healthy to have a change of pace and turn our focus to preparing for Christmas. Regular review is also extremely important to helping children retain what they have learned.
Why is Regular Review Important?
Spending time at the end of each semester to completely focus on review helps children build a solid foundation for what they will learn in future weeks. Repetition is essential in solidifying facts in long-term memory, especially when it comes to the grammar stage of Classical education. By revisiting the memory work weekly, each quarter, and each semester, children have the opportunity to connect ideas, deepen understanding, and gain confidence in their knowledge. Consistent review not only reinforces learning but also makes it easier to add new layers of information as the year progresses.
Taking a Break to Prevent Burnout
Homeschooling takes a lot of work and energy. To avoid burnout, it’s important to have weeks that offer a change of pace. These breaks help both parents and kids recharge. Instead of the usual morning routine, setting a simple goal of playing a few review games can make these weeks more relaxed and enjoyable.
Fun Review Games for Cycle 1 Memory Work
My kids and I play several fun review games for the first semester of Cycle 1. My kids and I love playing games and it’s such a great way to learn and review the memory work we are learning!
Skip-Counting Holiday Pie Review
The first game focuses on skip-counting. There is a yummy looking holiday pie for each of the numbers we skip count in Weeks 1-11. Simply choose a pie to start with, cut the pieces out, mix them up, and skip count to put the pieces back together and make your pie.

This is a great way for your kids to practice skip counting by 2s, 3s, … up to 15s, squares, and cubes. You can also dream about what kind of pie you will make for Thanksgiving or Christmas! You can download this skip-counting pie activity with the other review games mentioned in this post for FREE from my Resource Library.
Science Memory Work UNO Game

Another fun game we enjoy playing is this Science Memory Work UNO game. This game has 104 cards in 4 different colors including ALL of the science memory work from Cycle 1 Weeks 1-12!





How To Play “Science UNO”
Choose to play with normal deck of Uno cards or the Mega Uno deck. The normal deck has 264 cards and the Mega deck has 428 cards. You play the game the same way with both decks, there are just more cards with the Mega deck.
Cut out the cards and laminate them if you wish. Mix up the cards and deal 5 cards to each player. Place the rest of the cards face down in a draw pile. Turn over the top card of the draw pile to start a discard pile.
The first player must play a card that matches the top card of the discard pile by color, picture, (*word if playing with Mega Uno deck) or symbol (e.g., Skip, Reverse, or Draw 2).
If the player doesn’t have a playable card, he or she must draw a card from the draw pile. If the card is playable, it can be played immediately, otherwise the player’s turn is over.
When a player plays their second-to-last card, they must yell “UNO!” to let everyone know they only have one card left. If another player catches that “UNO” wasn’t said before player plays their last card, player must draw 2 cards as a penalty.
The first player to play their last card and have no cards left WINS!

You can download this science review UNO game with the other review games mentioned in this post for FREE from my Resource Library.
Preposition Card Game

You can use these preposition cards in many different ways. This preposition card set includes all 53 prepositions from Cycle 1 Weeks 2-12. Each card has the preposition, a sentence using the preposition and a related picture. You can download this Preposition game with the other review games mentioned in this post for FREE from my Resource Library.


This week my daughter enjoys trying to put these cards in the correct order as she sings the Preposition song. Check out my playlist with each week’s part of the Preposition song and the corresponding hand motions. We have also played “Memory” with these cards.


To play “Memory,” print two copies of each page of the preposition cards ON CARDSTOCK (then the cards won’t be see through.) Cut out each of the cards and laminate them if you wish. Mix them up, and place them face down on a flat surface. Players take turns to flip over two cards. If a matching pair is found, the player will collect these cards and take another turn. If the cards do not match, turn them back over and move onto the next player. Continue until all the cards have been matched. The player with the most matches wins. You will naturally learn about the prepositions as you play!
Latin Bingo Game
We also enjoy playing the Latin noun ending Bingo game I made. This game has seven different Bingo cards with all 27 different Latin noun endings from Cycle 1 Weeks 3-12. You can download this Latin game with the other review games mentioned in this post for FREE from my Resource Library.


Memory Work Wonderland
We have a blast playing Memory Work Wonderland this week! This is a great game to help my kids review memory work from all the subjects.
For this game, you will need:
- Memory Work Wonderland game board (laminate if you wish)
- A game marker for each player (markers from another board game, small pieces of paper, candy, etc.)
- Memory Work Wonderland cards cut out and laminated if you wish (print out several copies of cards)

How to Play Memory Work Wonderland
To play this game, shuffle all the cards and place them face down within reach of all players. The youngest player goes first. On a player’s turn, he or she draws a card.
The card may contain a single color block, two color blocks, or a picture of a place on the board.
- Color card: player moves to the next space that matches the color on the card
- Card with two colors: the player moves to the second space that matches
- Picture card: player moves tot he space that matches the picture
The player must then answer a review question of the subject corresponding to the color or picture of the card. If the player answers correctly, he or she keeps his or her game marker on that spot. If the question is not answered correctly, player goes back to previous spot.
Some tiles on the board are shortcuts with slides. If a player lands on a tile with the beginning of a slide, he or she must slide forward to the tile where the slide ends. If a player lands on a space that contains the bottom of a ladder, he or she must climb the ladder back up to the space with the top of the ladder (ladders make you go backwards in this game!).
Players switch off drawing cards and answering review questions. The first player to reach the cozy Christmas cabin WINS!
You can purchase this Memory Work Wonderland board game from my Etsy shop. I love giving away games and activities away for free. However, this game took me a lot more time to make and I would greatly appreciate your support if you desire to purchase this game from my shop.
My All-Time Favorite Christmas Picture Books
I absolutely love discovering Christmas picture books that feel like true treasures. Over the years, I’ve gathered a collection of Christmas favorites that my family adores.
These books are the perfect length to captivate my 5-year-old’s attention while also delighting her younger sister during our cozy read-aloud moments. It’s been so fun to begin digging into these beautiful stories.

We have a fun tradition where I wrap ALL of our Christmas picture books around Thanksgiving and put them under our. Christmas tree. My kids get to unwrap one or two books each day leading up to Christmas. This is such a fun way to count down until Christmas. By unwrapping one or two books a day, we get to really enjoy each of these Christmas books for the entire month of December!

I have compiled a list of my 30 all-time favorite Christmas books, with descriptions about each one. You can also get a printable version of the list to take to your library or have for reference. Get the printable list below!
Africa Map with Felt Countries
We have been LOVING learning the countries of Africa as part of the geography this year. I made this fun Africa map that we have on our wall by our kitchen table with all the countries made out of felt.


My girls love taking the countries off and on as we learn their names and locations.

I have the patterns for all the African countries, as well as a tutorial about how to make this kind of map in my Etsy shop. Also see my video below for how to make this map with just a few materials:
- Quilter’s Freezer Paper
- Hard korean felt for countries (7 different colors)
- Hard korean felt for continent
- White Fusible Felt
- Magnetic snaps
- Exacto knife
- Fabric Scissors
- Removable mounting strips
Africa Puzzle
My daughter also enjoys putting together this Africa puzzle. She absolutely loves puzzles and it’s a great way that I can spend some time with her while the younger kids nap. I especially love these Geo Puzzles because the pieces are the actual shapes of the countries. They have puzzles for the other parts of the world as well! We have also enjoyed putting together South America this year.


Star From Afar
Another Christmas tradition I love to do with my kids is using this Christmas Advent Calendar and Playset. I let my children set up the nativity scene on our kitchen table and I love that it’s not breakable. Each morning in December, I hide the star and when my children come downstairs, they try to find it. When they find it, they put it back with the nativity scene and we read part of the book, A Star from Afar (comes with this nativity set) together.

This game is similar to The Elf on a Shelf, but I love that it is centered around the nativity scene and focuses on Jesus.
Cycle 1 Weeks 1-12 Review Games
Here is a set of the review games I mentioned above. You can sign up below to receive all these games for FREE! (Africa country patterns and tutorial are not included in this set. Get this from my Etsy shop.)
How do you review with your kids over break? Do you have any fun Christmas traditions you do as a family? Comment below and share one of your favorite Christmas traditions you plan to do with your kids this year!