How to do memory work with 6 children with wide age range?

[Kendall]

I can't seem to get any memory work done the last few years. I would love some ideas of how to get it done. I'd like each child to do a Bible verse and a poem/speech/etc. I know it only takes a few minutes a day but when I multiply that by 6... The memorizers range in age from 5 to 17(K,2nd,4th, 6th, 10th,12th) . I know the olders _could_ do this on their own, but I need an overall organization plan. One sheet of paper with everyone's work on it? Some way of checking up to see that they have worked on it? It seems like this should be so simple.

 

Thanks in advance,

Kendall

[HayesW]

WHy not pick something they should ALL know? STart with, say, the 23rd psalm. The oldest could learn the whole thing while the youngers do a few verses. Or, work your way through Proverbs or Psalms memorizing one per month with the youngers doing a different verse or section each week.

 

I decided that I want my kids to each know at least one Proverb. Each child will learn the Proverb with their birthdate. Provers 2, 7, 14 (mine), 17, 20, 23, and 28. My littlest is only 8 mos old, so it will be a while before it is accomplished, but I still like the idea.

[MIch elle]

for a week or more then work on one stanza at a time. Read the first 2 lines aloud; then from memory AFTER you read the whole thing aloud for the day. Work on memorizing 2 lines at a time. Once 2 lines are memorized then 2 more say 4 lines from memory, etc.

 

Yes Psalm 23 is a good one to work on.

[Truman School]

Have you looked at IEW's Linguistic Development through poetry memorization program.

[NancyNellen]

I love IEW's poetry memorization and Charlotte Mason's Scripture Memory System.

 

I only have 4 school-aged children, but it works great for us. We simply work on memory work for 15-20 minutes at lunchtime. I have found my just turned 6 year old to be just as adept at memorizing as the older children. For instance, he was able to memorize all of Genesis 1.

[ubermomto5]

i only have 4 this year but here's what we do:

we all learn the same scripture every month. that's easy to review a few times a week at lunch. for poems, they each have their own waldorf-style plain paper notebook. the pages are very a nice thickness and the covers are different colors so they can tell which is theirs. at the beginning of the year i pick 6 poems for each child. i actually loved that part, i looked through several books to find poems that seemed to fit each personality, and went along with the seasons or interests. i typed them up on one master document for my own reference. i print a copy of their poem, then they copy them neatly into their books, at their own pace. they get to illustrate them with nice colored pencils when they are done, and they really look forward to it. i find that it takes them several sessions to write the poem out and color, and they generally remember the poems well without any other practice. we do read through the books before we copy a new poem in, and they love that too.

[Chris in VA]

How about burning a cd for each kid and having them listen to it multiple times, then recite for you on Friday's?

[Kendall]

Thank you so much everyone! I think I'll go with everyone learning the same Bible verses for awhile. I have the poetry CD's so I'll use those for the youngers and instead of burning a CD I'll have them record them on their MP3 players! They listen to those during chores. I really like the copy your own poem and decorate idea, too. I'm going to make myself a master list of what everyone is learning.

 

Thanks!

[kmacnchs]

I only have two but it seems like what others suggested about having them memorize different amounts of the same thing would work. As a church, we are pretty big on memorizing whole Books of the Bible. So, for example, my friend's 5yo has Rom. 1&2 down while her 2yo is still working on Rom.1