Memory work system for the lazy?

[Karen in CO]

I'd really like to do something like a memory box system or something for memory work, but honestly, I just don't have time to select and transcribe a hundred things neatly onto notecards.

 

Does does somebody have a system that is easier to setup?

[Oakblossoms]

Oh man, I'm so lazy about this, too. I was thinking of doing the notecards because we lost papers of stuff we were suppose to memorize this year. My kids didn't really memorize anything. I had plans but here I am finishing the last week and nothing.

 

I was really hoping to do that whole memory box with the read today blah blah blah a million directions thing:lol: for next year.

[yslek]

IEW's Linguistic Development (Poetry memorization) program might fit the bill, if you're not picky about what exactly your dc memorize. All of the poems are on CD, so if you just play the CD every day and have the kids recite the poems, you'll get some memory work done. :001_smile:

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I'm finding that it takes either time or money. The money route could look like this:

 

Science facts: the new cards from Classical Conversations

History: Veritas Press memory cards

Bible verses: Sing the Word CDs by the Harrow Family (buy from Sonlight)

Poetry: use the CD from A Child's Introduction to Poetry (classical works)

[JudoMom]

I do the memory box system, but I use a 3-ring binder. I think it's easier to print stuff out or photocopy and throw it in there than to make notecards.

[swimmermom3]

How hefty of pieces do you want her to memorize? Often, memory work here will come from a favorite short poem or famous quote which is first used for copywork/dictation. Have your dd be on the lookout with you for things she'd like to memorize. Then you can give her the 4 x 6 note cards, gel pens in her favorite colors and she can put cool stickers on them when she has mastered them. That way she does the writing and you don't.

[Karen in CO]

I do the memory box system, but I use a 3-ring binder. I think it's easier to print stuff out or photocopy and throw it in there than to make notecards.

Do you have it setup with the dividers labeled jsut like a memory box? do you move things around just like the memory box directions indicate? Do you use page protectors? I love page protectors.

[HappyGrace]

:lurk5:

[Karen in CO]

How hefty of pieces do you want her to memorize? Often, memory work here will come from a favorite short poem or famous quote which is first used for copywork/dictation. Have your dd be on the lookout with you for things she'd like to memorize. Then you can give her the 4 x 6 note cards, gel pens in her favorite colors and she can put cool stickers on them when she has mastered them. That way she does the writing and you don't.

 

:) I cheated all last year by having her memorize longer pieces of poetry and using them for copywork, but I didn't go the extra mile and use the gel pens and notecards.

 

I was thinking it would be good to memorize lists of things finally. I'm no good a trivia, but she has a terrific memory so I thought maybe we'd stuff some facts in there along with our poetry. Maybe add some Latin proverbs... I have Living Memory sitting unused on my shelf.

[JudoMom]

Do you have it setup with the dividers labeled jsut like a memory box? do you move things around just like the memory box directions indicate? Do you use page protectors? I love page protectors.

 

Yes, yes, no (though now that the idea is in my head, I might have to), :D.

[Saille]

Am I seriously the first person to suggest Mnemosyne? Mnemosyne! It's free, and it's in my siggy.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Does does somebody have a system that is easier to setup?

 

Mnemosyne is a print and go system. It includes suggested memory work of common poems and speeches.

[Oakblossoms]

I do the memory box system, but I use a 3-ring binder. I think it's easier to print stuff out or photocopy and throw it in there than to make notecards.

 

Do you use that system where you read a certain number each day?

[Oakblossoms]

 

This is what I'm talking about.

[Oakblossoms]

Oh duh...I got it, I got it.

 

Thanks Rose ;)

[Beth in SW WA]

Memory Binder here w/ page protectors. My girls have used this method at their classical school. All the memory work in a binder w/ dividers by subject. Bam. Simple.

 

 

 

Now that we are hs'ing, I have the text of all our memory work typed up nice for each of the girls. (Scripture, Math songs, poetry, IEW poems, catechism songs, Latin songs, Grammar songs & jingles, Geography songs, hymns, Latin chants, Spanish words, History & Science memory work and the other random memory items.)

 

Although I love the Mnemosyne idea, we could never do a notecard method. I'm much too lazy and I don't want to actually write. I'm a cute & paste kinda girl. :)

 

And I only like to read computer-generated text on paper.

 

Karen, I love your idea of using your memory work as copywork. Brilliant.

 

About Living Memory, I wish someone here would make an audio file of Andrew's selections. I would buy it.

[cjbeach]

I have a binder a la this blogger now (under Planner Forms... Memory Book link) . I just have printouts of subjects that I printed out from that blog and jot down things on the pages that we're working on from our Living Memory book or in our subjects.

I am doing it during breakfast (CAPTIVE AUDIENCE) and it's a hit!

[Bayt ul-Hikmah]

I adapted the notecard system to be less cumbersome (for us) and made daily charts. Since all we're memorizing now is Quran, I just have to record the name of the chapter and we keep a Quran with our memorization charts. If we were memorizing from many sources, I'd stick them all in a binder for quick access. You can check out our system here.

[swimmermom3]

:) I cheated all last year by having her memorize longer pieces of poetry and using them for copywork, but I didn't go the extra mile and use the gel pens and notecards.

 

I was thinking it would be good to memorize lists of things finally. I'm no good a trivia, but she has a terrific memory so I thought maybe we'd stuff some facts in there along with our poetry. Maybe add some Latin proverbs... I have Living Memory sitting unused on my shelf.

 

May I suggest the ultimate lazy girl's way to do memory work if you have the resource (which I love!). Keep a piece of notebook paper with your planning stuff, pick a piece from Living Memory and write it down on your notebook paper along with the page:

 

Major U.S. Rivers, p. 318; completed 2/6/2010

 

Or let your daughter create a lovely chart that she can mark the same way.

 

Pick a piece in one resource; write down title, page, completion date. Easy with minimal paper trail.:D

[MamaT]

I do the same thing as JudoMom and adapted the notecard system to pages in a binder. We do it first thing every morning and it has worked great with little work required.

[bethben]

I've thought about doing classical conversations memory work only because it's already picked out and put on a schedule.

Beth

[happygrrl]

 

About Living Memory, I wish someone here would make an audio file of Andrew's selections. I would buy it.

 

\:iagree:

[Diana in TN]

Am I seriously the first person to suggest Mnemosyne? Mnemosyne! It's free, and it's in my siggy.

 

I just checked this out--it's great! Thanks for the link.

 

Diana

[ChristineC]

For those of you who use the box/or binder do you make one up for each child? I can see the usefulness of this - I'd like my youngest two to "get" to memorize the fun Robert Louis Stevenson Poems and not "require" them to get the states and capitals just yet (as will be on the list for my dd8).

 

That said, I have a tendancy to overcomplicate things - especially those things that have to do with shiny new office products - and need to stay focused and grounded.

 

Just curious.

[Allearia]

I recommend the IEW Linguistic Development Program as well. We went through a couple of levels effortlessly, then went off track when I decided I wanted to choose some poems on my own. Play the CD, they memorize and recite, it is done.

[dslittle]

Any part of the Classical Conversations curriculum will be phenomenal for memory work. It's been awesome for our family. If you don't want to invest in the program itself, just get one of the old curriculum guides and follow the memorization schedule - it's set up on a weekly schedule for 24 weeks. Since they have a new edition, you should be able to pick up an old edition for a minimum of investment.

[Karen in CO]

If Drew would sale Living Memory in pdf format, I could print it off and put it in binders, or cut the binding off!

 

Hmm, Maybe I have been over thinking. I have sticky tabs. I could just put the page numbers in my planner and put the sticky tabs in the book for what we are working on.

[swimmermom3]

If Drew would sale Living Memory in pdf format, I could print it off and put it in binders, or cut the binding off!

 

Hmm, Maybe I have been over thinking. I have sticky tabs. I could just put the page numbers in my planner and put the sticky tabs in the book for what we are working on.

 

YES! Now you are thinking...but not too much.:D Simple seems to make everyone here much happier. I just can't drink enough coffee these days to maintain elaborate systems.

 

Note to self: Don't write the date completed in your Living Memory Book, your planner is much better.:tongue_smilie:

Edited June 5, 2010 by swimmermom3

[Kuovonne]

I like Anki. It is a free computer program. The link is in my sig. I cut and paste whatever I want my kid to memorize and add it. No handwriting. No cards to shuffle around. It takes time to setup at first, but is super simple from day to day, and it is easy to add new stuff as you go.

Edited June 9, 2010 by Kuovonne

[Karen in CO]

YES! Now you are thinking...but not too much.:D Simple seems to make everyone here much happier. I just can't drink enough coffee these days to maintain elaborate systems.

 

Note to self: Don't write the date completed in your Living Memory Book, your planner is much better.:tongue_smilie:

:lol:

Lisa - You are awesome. I need to find my planner, maybe its the shelf near Living Memory.

[Beth in SW WA]

If Drew would sale Living Memory in pdf format, I could print it off and put it in binders, or cut the binding off!

 

 

Yes! PDF would be awesome. Cut & paste. Cut & paste. :)

[Strawberry Queen]

What is it about the lure of shiny office products? I'm having the best time writing out my plans for next year as I bought 10 pretty gel pens. I was also thinking that I could use my cricut and make pretty title pages for each section of their memory work binder. Then reality hit and I remembered that I want to make this easier on myself. :lol: I think I'll cut and paste and put things in one memroy binder. I have had poetry separate but it just ends up being a mess.

 

 

Note to self: simplify.

[dslittle]

What is it about the lure of shiny office products? I'm having the best time writing out my plans for next year as I bought 10 pretty gel pens. ....

 

Note to self: simplify.

 

 

I hear you about the "shiny office products" :iagree: My house is busting at the seams with office products and books and there are half-completed lesson plans scattered around the house - yet I get so excited with a new idea or method to do something cool for homeschooling - especially when I find some new set of pens, markers, paper, etc. to do it with :001_smile:

[Karen in CO]

An audio of the meory selections? Now that is awesome!

 

I think I might make an audio to go with our memory selections..... I was planning to do this for the Aesop's fables and some fairy tales and maybe the Beatrix Potter stories for my youngest to put on the ipod so she can listen while while I'm working. That would be terrific to have at least her memory stuff on there too.

 

 

So here is the best possible things I have so far.

I'll go through Living Memory and mark in my planner all that I want to memorize. Then I'll make a memory binder with page protectors of the stuff that I can find online. I'll print out the Mnemosyne stuff as a starting point. Then I'll make voice recordings of them and put them on the ipods. THis way, if I at least get through my first step, I'll have something and if I get it all, it will be terrific.

[ChristineC]

one for the family to share?

 

I'm going to use the file card system. I have (don't ask me why - see "addiction to office products" above) 4x6 cards for the computer. So I'll copy and paste onto the 4x6 cards.

 

But I'm still torn between one for each child (and myself - I'm going to start learning Latin and am going to use the memory box - another reason for the cards - flashcards!).

 

One for each kiddo could be overkill...but one for the family seems to ignore the youngest?

 

BTW - thanks OP for this thread. I've been struggling with memory work and how to implement in our own home.

[Karen in CO]

I will have to do one for each child. I have 4 years between them, and the older already knows most of the things I want the younger to learn. If we had never done memory work before,then I could probably get away with one big book to be learned at differnt rates.

[Penny]

I like Anki. It is a free computer program. The link is in my sig. I cut and paste whatever I want my kid to memorize and add it. No handwriting. No cards to shuffle around. It takes time to setup at first, but is super simple from day to day, and it is easy to add new stuff as you go.

 

Uh, you really should listen to this. I know it's not the cute, memory box, page protector stuff, but it will last where the memory box will get stuffed with too much info than is possible for a mortal to deal with. I'm talking about vocab, latin, spanish, poems, scriptures, dates, science info...

 

ANKI is a scheduling system, based on the student's ability to recall. New info reviewed more often of course, but scheduled based on how easy the information was to recall. For instance, if you enter a new word, and it is very easy to recall, it might be scheduled for review in 5 days. Next time, if very easy, maybe scheduled in 2 weeks. Next time, 2 months. Next time, 5 months...and on and on. You can get items scheduled for review over 1 year from now.

 

This is necessary because it becomes physicallly impossible to do all the reviewing necessary unless more familiar items are moved out.

 

Thanks so much to the person on this board who got us started on ANKI. It is one of the best finds in the last 5 years or so.

[Chaqar]

Classical Conversations sells Audio CDs of their memory work that can be purchased by anyone whether you are part of a CC community or not.

 

We also love Sing the Word CDs for Bible memory.

[Beth in SW WA]

An audio of the meory selections? Now that is awesome!

 

I was planning to do this for the Aesop's fables and some fairy tales and maybe the Beatrix Potter stories for my youngest to put on the ipod so she can listen while while I'm working.

 

 

Do it. These are online free at Lit2Go or Audible.

 

My girls have been going to sleep at night to Andrew Pudewa's poetry selections. Without ANY effort on my part, they have memorized almost all of Level 1.

 

I envy their brain-sponge'ness. :)