Not remembering for exam questions

Here is another post with some ideas – and to helpyou know that you are not alone 

http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/discouraged-with-term-1-exam-narrations#post-13137

I look at the exams as a really good review before moving on to the next section. I allow my kids to review their material for a couple of days and choose what they want to tell about. Depending on their age, they are required to draw, write, act it out, or do all. Last week, I invited another family to join us for dinner and the kids had an audience, which really excites them to learn all they can before performing and telling “on stage”.

I KNOW you concerns. We have been HSing for 3 years now and I am troubled with the lack of recall my children have for materials. The day they read it, great detail but if “tested” the week after they forget…especially my 8 yr old. We have real issues here with being motivated to learn….and I am constantly holding on to the lost knot in my rope. Neither my husband and I want to send them back to public school.

In my opinion, they need practice with written tests for college and beyond. I do not give that many written tests now, but even their narration back to me is lacking.

It’s not my expectations of what I want themt to remember, but I do expect them to remember something for the long haul in life

In keeping this conversation rolling for a bit, I ask one question for all of us to ponder. How much do YOU remember and can tell back about something you studied awhile back? Unless a child has an extraordinary recall skills (which some do), normally we just move on to the next thing. That’s why exams are good tools to use. We can review and remember what has been taught once more before moving on.

Also, this is a perfect reason why something like a Book of Centuries and/or keeping a folder of narrations is good. We can SEE what we’ve done and say, “Oh yes, I remember doing that /or studying that.”

Charlotte spoke of laying a feast before the child and letting him quietly ponder upon the ideas presented through the various readings. Throwing a test of questions is stifling to anyone, because it is asking for specific answers and testing how much a child DOESN’T know, instead of how much they do know. I don’t know about you all, but when I was in school I studied only what I needed to know to get a good grade. I tested well, but in the end I never cared about what I was learning. Such a shame. Charlotte would frown on that! :).

I was reading an interesting book, “Accelerated Learning for the 21st. Century”  by Colin Rose and Maloolm J. Nicholl. Authors at Accelerated Learning. It talks about how our mind builds on information. How to develop amazing recall. Basically, things like games, lapbooks, timeline books, Unit Studies, anything that can associate  fun with learning has a higher retention. Different surroundings, different ideas for something new and exciting, things that associate what they have already learned with what you want to teach them. This is all I have learned so far in a nut shell. It teaches how the mind works and retains information. I have found this to be a little easier. However, I am still trying to get my son to understand mulitple digit subtraction in  Math….LOL… Borrowing from the neighbors was how I tried to associate it. He is getting it but it is a slow process with this idea.  We however have learned how to count in Japanese from my oldest son. He was reading Geronimo Stilton “The Karate Mouse” as a free read. He enjoys the series. It is like Sherlock Holmes. He goes to different places and solves mysteries. I like the books because they learn new words and things to know throughout the books. Anyway, We have a pocket board on our fridge that we put flash cards up on. We match the names of (in this case) numbers with the names of the Japanese numbers.  It was so cute I couldn’t resist.   My DH came home and found us taking turns trying to match them up.  To our amazement he knew the first five…. He had forgotten the rest… He learned Karate when he was younger and his mom taught them to him… See the power of recall? even years later! I must say I did pretty good….I received and A from my son for getting 8 out of 10..    I also use this same method for learning parts of Africa. We were recently learning what the Largest Mountain, Largest River, Largest Mountain Peak, ect…. I write on one 3×5 card Largest Mt Peak on the other 3×5 card I write the answer.. Atlas Mountains. I have found that it takes a couple of times for them to match them all right, but they do eventually get them all. Then, after a week or so we go back and see how much they retained. I am surprised but they are usually 100%. I really like this method. It seems like we are flying threw more facts and I enjoy the match game. It’s an easy game for learning. Another thing is Music. We like to listen to song about Geography,history, grammar,ect…I get mine from http://www.Audiomemory.com It takes the kids a little while to learn them. We just listen to them when we are in the vehicle mostly. But, they have picked up their favorites and we have to listen to all of them till their’s comes back around. Unless I want to flip it over to hear the other one on the flip side first.    Hope this helps.. Good Luck and Blessings.