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Memorization???
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A little background: Over the years we have worked on memorizing some poetry here and there as well as working on Scripture passages.
My dd (almost 13) told me today that she doesn’t remember stuff she’s memorized long term. She forgets, as frankly, do I.
I told her that reviewing Scripture periodically would help, and to do the same with poems that are especially meaningful to her. But, bottom line, I don’t think I am expecting her to remember EVERY SINGLE poem, or should I?
Same with historical dates – she might remember a birth and death year of someone for a little while, but then it goes away. I’m assuming as long as she understands the general time period, then that’s fine (knowing that Haydn and Shakespeare were not alive at the same time, for example, even if exact dates are missing).
Am I wrong? Should she have something committed to memory forever? And if so, how does that happen?
Well, I expect some things to be memorized forever. Others not.
Scriptures – yes. Well for most anyway
Scouting promises/laws etc – yes
Poems – some
Dates – depends on date… birthday of Shakespeare – no.. Columbus discovers America – yes…
Honestly, I use ANKI srs to make sure we review things often enough. My kids have a few things that it says they won’t need to review for 2 years – but in 2 years we will review it…. It uses an algorithm to determine when you arelikely to forget something, and has you review it a bit before that. It’s aim is for ‘mature’ items to be remembered correctly 90% of the time when it comes up for review. My kids range from about 86% to 97% depending on subject and kid.
Presumably you and your child have permanently memorized some things – addition facts for instance…. address, etc. So you can do it. It is up to you to decide what is important enough.
I STRONGLY suggest implementing the Scripture Memory System as described here on SCM. You could have one box per family or do as I do and have one box per child. We include poetry and other important things like Math formulas and such. I don’t concern myself with exact dates, but we use a Book of Centuries for noting contemporaries and important things we want to refer to.
This simple tool has been one of the most powerful things we’ve done in our 8 years of homeschooling.
Hi Tanya,
Sounds like you are doing a great job, and what is happening is normal.
IMO memorization is good mental muscle work. Definately memorize scripture, especially the verses/passages that are personal or meaningful. They are the ones that will be remembered long term, even if not word for word the meaning will be remembered. It is probably best to use the Bible translation most appealing to your daughter.
Singing helps with memory work – we all forget most of what we learned in highschool, but can sing those songs we heard every day on the radio! Are you using hymn studies, or any other vocal music?
Poetry is great for memorization. Also famous speeches. I don’t think it is expected that they be recalled long term, although it is amazing what the mind chooses to recall or forget.
In the long run, most information like dates may be remembered while they are the topic of study, but after that what is important is the ability to research, to locate the information. With great living books to glean information, it should be easier and more enjoyable to find these new, or forgotten facts.
Hope I am reassuring you and your daughter that memorization is valuable, yet it’s okay for the mind to let something go.
HTH, Vanessa
I STRONGLY suggest implementing the Scripture Memory System as described here on SCM. You could have one box per family or do as I do and have one box per child. We include poetry and other important things like Math formulas and such. I don’t concern myself with exact dates, but we use a Book of Centuries for noting contemporaries and important things we want to refer to.
This simple tool has been one of the most powerful things we’ve done in our 8 years of homeschooling.
I agree with this! We use our Scripture Memory Box every day. It’s so easy to implement, and it takes 5-10 minutes in the morning. We have lots of things in the box – not just Scripture!
-Bible verses
-poetry
-skip-counting songs for Math (for my younger DS who is learning his times tables)
-Scout law/oath, etc.
-definitions they need to know for TaeKwonDoThanks for all your thoughts. Yes, Scripture is a forever thing, but I feel like only the poems that mean something to her need to be remembered long term. And I agree that it is great mental practice. And she does great at it (memorizes long passages of scripture, hymns, long poems, folksongs, etc.)
It sounds like it is mainly a personal choice what NEEDS to be remembered long term when it comes to history, poetry, etc.
What is ANKI srs?
ANKI is a free computer program / app (iphone ipad version is not free) that uses a spaced repetition system to determine when you need to review an item to keep it memorized.
Each time you review a card, you rate it one of: ‘again’, ‘hard’, ‘good’, or ‘easy’. It uses your answer, and how long since you last saw it, to determine when you should next use it.
We use it for scriptures etc, math practice sheets and math games (not a standard use), our All About Spelling cards, and more…
We have some memory work/recitation work that we do each year, and I find that it does stick. But I think the key is that, even though we do poems, etc. – I only require a few items per year to be memorized, and we review them often. This year they will work on about 3 poems, and the Gettysburg address.
We have had success with the SCM scripture system, and memorizing things like the Apostle’s Creed, PreAmble to the Constitution, Bill of Rights, bones in the human body, countries in the western hemisphere, hymns, etc… We were awful at memorizing the state capitals last year – but I am hoping to come back to it and do better!!
Anything we can initially set to music, we memorize well. And I really think it does just come down to repetition. We do memory work for about 10 minutes per day, and the kids love it.
It isn’t my favorite part of the day, but I do think there are some things worth keeping in your long term memory. But even if they aren’t retained exactly, the connection with the material is important and helps it to come back to them later in life.
I love saying to the kids, “By the shore of gitche, gumee…” and they take it from there! They loved learning a portion of, “The Song of Hiawatha” a few years ago. We did hand gestures for it, so it is fun to watch ;-).
When we memorize one or two verses, I write it on index cards and we review together, similar to the SCM memory system.
However, for poems or longer passages, each of my children has a Memory Book. The Memory Book is that good old-fashioned black and white marbleized composition book that goes on sale for a dollar or less at Back-to-School sales.
Here’s what we do. We work on memorizing a piece, either together, or individually. Once the child has memorized it, she or I copy it into the Memory Book. I have a little sticky note in each of my children’s Memory Books. Each day, each child recites something they have memorized. I move the sticky to the next page so I will know what they each need to recite the next day. When we get to the end, we start back at the beginning. I have discovered that my children have inadvertently memorized passages/poetry that the other had memorized simply by hearing each other recite regularly.
That’s a great idea, Jennifer! I find I’m not very diligent in reviewing thing other than Scripture. Easy organization. Right up my alley.
Thanks again everyone. Just to clarify, I’m not saying she can’t remember things she memorizes in the long term, but rather there are some things like dates and a few poems that aren’t as clear. Appreciate your tips.
We used to memorize poetry, but not so much anymore. I care more about them reciting or reading their poetry in a beautiful way than I do if they memorize it or not. Some poems are so enjoyed that they are naturally memorized after repeated readings. For example, they still remember Lewis Carroll’s Beautiful Soup, but don’t remember any of the others, and we memorized seven Carroll poems that year!
This year, we did poetry just to enjoy it. I picked Shel Silverstein, and read 2-3 of his poems aloud everyday. That lasted our entire first term, and now we’re not doing any poetry. We may pick up some Christina Rosetti later this year for fun, but I think I’m done with my children memorizing tons of poetry right now. Maybe in the future…
As for Scripture, we are weak in this as well! I wholeheartely endorse SCM’s Scripture Memory System….if only I could figure it out! Seriously, I must be really dumb, because it confuses the heck out of me!
I think it’s more of a Classical approach to memorize dates in history. Sure, I want my kids to know that Columbus discovered America in 1492 and that the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, but I’m not concerned with them knowing lots of dates.
Wow, then Tanya, I think you are doing great with memory work! Maybe my standard is low? And I hate memorizing dates. I am happy if they know a few of the very important ones per term, and where things go on the timeline, but I don’t insist on anything else in that regard.
@ Lindsey – LOL…I had to literally print out the instructions as I made the box, and then WRITE THEM on the first card in the box. It does take some time to get used to, but after a while it is easy. Setting it up is a bit of a pain :-).
I love the idea of a memory work notebook! What a great way to incorporate their memory work into copywork or a commonplace book, as well.
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