Memory Work

[Mercy_Me]

What do you guys do for memory work? The two children I am homeschooling are 8 and 10. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[Halcyon]

Hi!I am about to write a big ol' blog post about just this very topic! We have an 8 yo and a 5 yo, and up to this point had been doing science and math topics that came up in studies, and then poetry memorization separately. (You can check my blog for 2 videos of my sons reciting poems).

 

But I decided recently that I'd like to do a more formal study of scientific, grammatical, and historical facts, so I started a "tickler" notebook. We're still doing poetry as well. The fact lists that have made it into my folder for this year are things like poems, Henry VIII's wives, Declaration of Independence introduction, list of presidents, list of states, order of planets, order of operations in math, the olympic gods, eight parts of speech and more. I will be posting this weekend on exactly how we're organizing this; i'll let you know when I do post if you'd like. :)

[Dawn E]

Have you seen Living Memory?

[Mom0012]

I used the Classical Conversations memory work with my kids at home for a number of years, but now I am just using IEW Poetry Memorization program. It is wonderful and enjoyable and really worth doing.

 

Lisa

[mcconnellboys]

I use things from Drew Campbell's living memory. Also, I have a post on my blog about chemistry that lists what I've done thus far for memory work in it this year. And under the classification page I have a bunch of memory work I used for that....

[Mercy_Me]

Hi!I am about to write a big ol' blog post about just this very topic! We have an 8 yo and a 5 yo, and up to this point had been doing science and math topics that came up in studies, and then poetry memorization separately. (You can check my blog for 2 videos of my sons reciting poems).

 

But I decided recently that I'd like to do a more formal study of scientific, grammatical, and historical facts, so I started a "tickler" notebook. We're still doing poetry as well. The fact lists that have made it into my folder for this year are things like poems, Henry VIII's wives, Declaration of Independence introduction, list of presidents, list of states, order of planets, order of operations in math, the olympic gods, eight parts of speech and more. I will be posting this weekend on exactly how we're organizing this; i'll let you know when I do post if you'd like. :)

 

Omg, thank you!!! I totally love this board, and you guys for letting me pick your brains! (I really DO hate that phrase LOL)

[Mercy_Me]

Thank you guys so much for the Living Memory suggestion! That is going on my "to order" list immediately.

[Mercy_Me]

I used the Classical Conversations memory work with my kids at home for a number of years, but now I am just using IEW Poetry Memorization program. It is wonderful and enjoyable and really worth doing.

 

Lisa

 

Thank you! I am looking into that suggestion now. :)

[Cleopatra]

This is a great book to use as well ..... http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Book-Classic-Poems/dp/1905236565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289710015&sr=8-1

[Hannah]

Here's a free file to get you started.

[woolybear]

Here's a free file to get you started.

 

I'm so glad you posted this. I had seen it before, but couldn't remember exactly how I had found it. I knew it was on Lulu, so I tried searching there. Instead I discovered Classical Writing and have gone off on a tangent researching that, but I still wanted to find this. So, thank you again.

[Jennifer3141]

This is a great book to use as well ..... http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Book-Classic-Poems/dp/1905236565/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289710015&sr=8-1

 

 

Thanks Cleopatra! I've been trying to supplement Living Memory because we're not looking for CC. :)

 

Jen

[delaney]

I am just starting this with my girls and here is what i have so far:

I use the file box system that CM outlines with things broken into daily, odd, even, days of the week.......

I have their latin words in odd right now, and for daily we are working on medieval vocab and I am using SOTW tests as a guide to memorization facts for what we study. When we learn them a bit I move them to even days and now I have a bunch of Latin vocab moved to Mondays! It is just 5 minutes or so in the morning and it really works. I am going to add more vocab, history facts, and a poem today. I also plan on doing one read aloud daily from the "what your child needs to know" series. Some are just simple classic rhymes.

[melissel]

I am just starting this with my girls and here is what i have so far:

I use the file box system that CM outlines with things broken into daily, odd, even, days of the week.......

 

I've been contemplating memory work as well, and I'm just about ready to launch. I love the CM system, but I don't like the idea of a file box. I need something bigger. Rose (dragons in the flower bed) has made a notebook-sized PDF version of this system that I've set up and am getting ready to use:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1751520&postcount=22

 

And Hannah's resource rocks!

[Mandy in TN]

I am doing memory work with an 8yo and a 10yo.

 

I like Anki, but my little man likes to have index cards to hold in his hands. Honestly, this is nice, because he can do them in the car or take them anywhere we may be going. Although I like the organization of the Simply CM file box and Rose's design, we just are not that structured.

 

I own Living Memory and the CC Foundations book and I do pull some ideas from there, but mostly I just pull from what we are studying. While our memory work isn't as structured as some of the systems online, our weeks of history and science are. So, for those two subjects I typed in the memory work for the semester. For math, I underlined things I would like them to memorize on the content pages of their Saxon books. When we get to one, I type it in. The 10yo is using Winston Grammar fairly scheduled, so I went ahead and typed up her grammar/ LA memory work for the first semester. For the 8yo using MCT Island I am more free form. I pull things based on what he is studying, but I am deciding at the last minute.

 

I write the week and the subject in the upper right corner of the side with the question. For example, the memory work from this past week all says (subject)15 in the upper right corner.

M15 for week 15 of school and M for math.

HG15 for week 15 of school and HG for history/ geography.

LA15 for week 15 of school and LA for language arts.

S15 for week 15 of school and S for science.

Poem1, Poem2 for poetry.

Some weeks a topic will have more than 1 card and some weeks it won't have any. For example, we just began poetry in Nov and just added poem2 this past week.

 

We use the large size 4 x 6 index cards and keep them in a soft box. I can't find ours, but it is a 13 pocket and similar to this. All the cards the kids are currently memorizing are in the front. Once a card is memorized we move it to the back pockets where the cards are organized by topic. Occasionally, we will review cards. This past Tuesday we reviewed all the LA cards and Thursday we reviewed all the science cards. If they lack immediacy on a card, it comes back to the front. When they have more cards, we will need to be a little more structured in when and what we review. Currently, they only have about 75 cards each, so we can be pretty laid back. I don't think that we could be this relaxed with 250 cards.

 

Oh, I did mention that I typed these. I print them off and glue them to the index cards. (You could print them on card stock or printable cards, but that is a different story.) Anyway, I keep a typed file for a couple of reasons. If they lose a card, I know exactly what was lost and can print it out again. Also, I print the 10yo's cards in a cursive font and the 8yo's in a D'nealian font (next year I plan to switch him to cursive), because I think it is important they can read cursive. I never write anything in cursive except my signature, so this was an easy way to meet that goal.

 

HTH-

Mandy

[walkermamaof4]

Henry VIII's wives, Declaration of Independence introduction, list of presidents, list of states, order of planets, order of operations in math, the olympic gods, eight parts of speech and more. I will be posting this weekend on exactly how we're organizing this; i'll let you know when I do post if you'd like. :)

 

Halcyon and others- the horrible histories tudors series has a video about Henry's wives that is a MUST SEE! It is on youtube and is hysterical! Also, while you are on youtube, animaniacs has great ones on the presidents and solar system and universe. I started a playlist for our school memory time just for youtube songs :) and think we will love this!

[Halcyon]

Halcyon and others- the horrible histories tudors series has a video about Henry's wives that is a MUST SEE! It is on youtube and is hysterical! Also, while you are on youtube, animaniacs has great ones on the presidents and solar system and universe. I started a playlist for our school memory time just for youtube songs :) and think we will love this!

 

We've seen this one! thanks for the other ideas too!