Is this too big a goal?

[Chris in VA]

We have been slackers on memory work. Dd is pretty good at memorizing, but I just haven't gotten to it much.

 

At the beginning of the year, she said she wanted to memorize "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Well, we are at that point in history, so I told her yesterday that we are going to use the rest of our school year to do that--I read it to her, and she is copying it out, stanza by stanza, posting it in her room, and memorizing it.

 

I told her sometimes we need a big goal--bigger than we think we can do, right off, b/c attempting it makes us grow inside, and we can have such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment when we succeed.

 

She's willing.

 

But is it too much?

[laughing lioness]

No. I'd add in dramatic elements so that the memory is tied to a physical movement- makes it easier to learn;)

[johnandtinagilbert]

SOunds fine to me...we're focusing on the Declaration of INdependence right now. I gave them a deadline, they broke it down into weekly assignments and we review it once a week. I've been a memorization slacker too and I'm trying to make up for it :)

 

I say bravo to both of you (bow a very theatrical, long armed bow).

[Haiku]

I think it's excellent. Sixth graders at Highlands Latin School have the opportunity to memorize Horatio at the Bridge. I think The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere for a nine year old is an excellent choice, and I wish your daughter the best as she commits it to memory. My kids LOVE memorizing poetry, and recited a poem to a friend yesterday.

 

My kids memorized two-stanza poems last year, and are memorizing three-stanza poems this year.

 

Tara

[abbeyej]

Not at all! Yes, it's a big job, but it's also doable with work -- and I think seeing that effort *over*time* yields results is a great lesson in itself, in addition to the benefits of having memorized the poem itself.

[Melora in NC]

My kids memorized it at ages 7 and 10 with no problem. It took a while (about 2-3 months?), but it was a good accomplishment. We just ran through it once a day, adding new lines as they learned the earlier ones.

[2cents]

That is a great poem to memorize. Mine did that one a few years ago and we had a lot of fun with it. :thumbup1:

[bbmom]

Great choice-I memorized this as a child and still remember the first stanzas (would like to think the rest would come back without too much effort, but my post-child brain is not what it used to be.)

[Tracy]

No, not too much, but you might want to add some extra elements to help with the memorization. You can play a games with it. For example, print a portion on a chalkboard, and each time erase a couple of words. You could challenge her to see if she can beat you. Someone else mentioned dramatizing it. You can pick key words and look up the sign language for those words: http://www.aslpro.com/.

 

Tracy

[Caribbean Queen]

This is how we memorize things. I break up a long poem into a few parts to memorize. I read the first part once or twice a day. After a few days I leave out a few words for my son to fill in. "Listen my children and you will hear of the midnight ride of ______" He fills in the end of the line. Each time I read the poem I leave out more words. After a while he can say it all. Then we start on the next part of the poem. I end up memorizing the poem as well. This has been the most enjoyable and most sucessful way to memorize that I have tried. It has worked much better than copying and reading things over and over again to myself.

Edited March 19, 2010 by Caribbean Queen