How do you handle memory work?

[LoveBaby]

How do you help your children do memory work? I was never made to memorize work growing up and I don't really know how to help my children memorize things!

 

Any suggestions?!

[jenadina]

:lurk5:

[Stacia]

I tried answering a little while ago, then my post disappeared w/ a board too busy message. Argh.

 

We started IEW Poetry Memorization this year. It has been so great & very easy to implement. It includes checklists for reciting/practicing every day, then going to an every other day schedule, etc.... My kids have really enjoyed it & are proud of themselves for memorizing. I highly recommend it.

 

Also, I recently purchased Living Memory by Andrew Campbell (Plaid Dad here on the forums) & plan to start adding some of this to our memory work as well.

 

Here are a few more sites that have some helpful info:

Create a personal memory work binder (Dragons in the Flower Bed here on the forums)

Homeschool with Index Cards

CM style/scripture memory system

[NancyNellen]

We schedule all of our memory work to do either with, or immediately after, mealtime. We use IEW's poetry (we are currently in level 3), listening to our current selection 3 times and then spending another 5 minutes going over the section we are working on. We then spend about 10 minutes doing Scripture memory. We use Charlotte Mason's system and it works great.

 

I also have my children do a daily memory page. It is a 2-sided page that includes all manner of memorization including grammar, math facts, poetry, Scripture, science terms, and Latin. I have a 2 week rotation of pages that include all that we have been working in in the last year. Every 6-8 weeks I add/rotate information. Hopefully that makes sense.

 

I have found that including daily review is crucial to our memory work success.

[Annie Laurie]

I wrote it into my checklist every day, just a 5 or 10 minute block four times a day. We all repeat our poem together and grammar definitions we're working on. I have a highly visual learner, so I also write it on the white board or on a big piece of paper and tack it to the school room wall. I'll point to that while we say it, and he has it memorized in a day or two. But to keep it in longterm memory, we continue reciting it, less often but still consistently. I also will have them repeat other things they're working on- skip counting or months of the year, and so on. (Ds 4 and I are doing this and it's cute to hear him lisping the months so proudly).

 

I appreciate FLL and RightStart Math because they remind me about memory work at each lesson.

 

I highly recommend Living Memory, it's so great that I hardly know where to start. He has a neat idea for organizing a memory work notebook in there.

[Emmy]

Great thread...just subbing...:lurk5:

[Donna T.]

I schedule it in everyday. I admit, I let it slide a bit during the fall, so now I'm doubling my efforts. We've always done some memory work though. I recently purchased and started using Living Memory. I love this resource. It is wonderful. It includes a short section that explains how you can set up a notebook and rotate pieces through the sections of the notebook.

 

Both of my children have memory notebooks. They love them! I either xerox right out of books or type items and print them out. We recite poetry, Scripture verses, definitions, spelling rules, or whatever else we are memorizing all at the same time. The oldest goes first. I mean, we do his pieces first. Then, while I'm going over my youngest son's pieces, my oldest son sits and reads his items for about ten minutes. He reads them out loud but softly to himself. I encourage him to move his lips and hear himself. He is an auditory learner, so this works great for him.

 

Our notebooks are not elaborate. They just read & recite whatever is in there and once something is mastered, we move it to the back. We periodically go back and revisit things we've learned in the past, if I want them to keep it fresh. We are doing most of our work orally, but I have had them copy things from time to time.

[elegantlion]

 

Also, I recently purchased Living Memory by Andrew Campbell (Plaid Dad here on the forums) & plan to start adding some of this to our memory work as well.

 

Here are a few more sites that have some helpful info:

Create a personal memory work binder (Dragons in the Flower Bed here on the forums)

Homeschool with Index Cards

CM style/scripture memory system

 

I 3rd the Living Memory book. It's a wealth of information.

 

We also use a set up similar to Rose's (dragons) for our memory work. We do the work daily and tack it on right before CW (our Language Arts).

[Kim in Appalachia]

We have a "morning time" together. Each child recites the poem he/she is working on. We also go over the scripture we are memorizing. Also, during this time we read different stories, depending on the day. We sing hymns, and folk songs and review what needs to be done during the day. It takes about 30 minutes total. All we do in order to memorize is read the poems/scripture each day. The kids work through a section each week, and they get M&M's for each line they momorize.

 

Our morning time is long, because of the reading we do. You could do memory work over breakfast. One thing I find helpful is having a folder for each child with his/her memory work in it. It is our morning folder, and it contains the scripture work, poems, and songs.

 

I follow the AO schedule, so we have 12 week terms. Each child has a poet to focus on for that term, and I chose the memory work from that poet.

 

HTH

[Kathie in VA]

There are plenty of great ideas here already on when, what, and storage so I'll just add some thoughts on how.

 

Ever since we started with Classical Conversations - Foundations I have learned many ways to work on memorizing information. You can put anything to a tune, either a familiar tune or a made up one. Some kids find things easier to memorize this way and some find it harder!

 

Writing also helps. Depending on their ability they can trace, color, copy, or dictate it onto paper. They can also fill in blanks, do word searches, cross word, etc.

 

Chanting up and down stairs or while passing a ball around might be good for those that like to move around.

 

Whatever method you choose, there is nothing like repeating, repeating, repeating.

 

Have fun!

hth,

Kathie

[Peela]

We just read over our memory work 4 days a week. We mostly do poetry. I find we all start remembering it soon, particularly if its something we enjoy. We jsut read it once a day, usually. The kids will stop me and try to say it themselves once they have almost got it.

[mcconnellboys]

I've done various things over the years, but I bought Drew's book when it came out around Christmas and I like it. I pulled a bunch of the info that I wanted to start with, typed it onto separate pages (you could photocopy, too), and made myself a notebook with several things to work on each day of the week (M-F).

 

As my son gets completely comfortable with a piece of information, I move it to the back of the binder, into a section that we'll cover week one of next month, then week two, etc. These items will be covered just once per month to make certain he still remembers them.

 

This method seems to be working out very well for us. We are studying the human body at this time and I'm adding in lists of info related to that which I want him to also memorize.

[LoveBaby]

Wow, you ladies are amazing! Thanks for all the great info! I'll have to sit down and see how I can be more dilligent about memory work and get to a point where we can do more.