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Memorization of literary pieces forever?
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Hi, so I was wondering. ..
CM has certain guidelines (??) or attainment lists for kids of certain ages. I was wondering about the parts that say “should be able to memorize x number of literary pieces (poems/hymns/etc)” . Would that mean that they are required/expected to memorize them forever? Like every now and then while they’re adding more information (more new poems and hymns) of the like to their memory banks and say they’re like 5th grade now, would they still need to (& would we have them occasionally recite &) remember absolutely everything that they memorized from when they were… 1st grade?
Two thoughts come to my mind: one theoretical and one practical.
Theoretically, I’m not sure that we can be responsible for what goes on in a child’s mind to that extent. Yes, we can give every opportunity for review and such, but ultimately we cannot force a child to remember anything.
Practically, I tend to give more review opportunities to the material that I value most: Scripture. That’s why I use the Scripture Memory System, because it allows continuous review of all verses/passages we’ve memorized over multiple years. I personally don’t use that system for poetry or hymn lyrics, but it certainly could be used for any literary pieces.
I have often wondered the same thing. As I was reading Sonya’s response, I had an idea that I may try this year to implement: at the end of the lesson year, choose one (or have my child choose one) to roll over to the next year. Perhaps it would be a favorite or one you see having value for him/her in the future.
Just a thought!
My take on this has been to work on memorizing Scripture and poems diligently. Then, as my daughters make connections with the different memory passages, some of those passages will resonate with them and stay in their minds forever. (And when they’re little old ladies, they can regale unsuspecting children with all the poems, verses, and ditties they’ve memorized!)
My goal is to teach my children that they CAN memorize and to exercise that muscle. So that they can then memorize anything that the need or want to.
I’m not sure that CM really intends for us to make our children Champion Memorizers. Or that the children are to be able to perfectly quote years’ worth of passages. I think the goal is to fill their minds with the good, the noble, the true, the right so that they will grow to be people of worth – so that they will not have to fall back on mindless entertainment or the baser forms of “something to do” or “something to think about.”
As for Scripture, I’m firmly convinced it is a Living, Powerful “sword.” Therefore, my goal is not to create children who can quote whole books of the Bible, but children who, when faced with temptation or trial, will, without conscious thought, be reminded of a phrase or a verse or a principle that was addressed when they were young, and had been memorized.
Oh thank you soooo much for your replies. I asked because as I was looking around (as I seem to keep doing lately) at other homeschooling blogs, I came across quite a few that show their kids beautifully memorizing poems, proses, certain literary pieces with a caption “…we would go back to it again next month…” and it just got me wondering as to how much memorization was supposed to be.
I’d love for my kids to be able to recite from memory certain poems but to what extent you know? that they would have to still get reviewed on what they remember years later?
Thank you so much for the suggestions as well.
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