Students memorize 500+ facts to become Memory Masters
May 11—THOMASVILLE- Two students, ages 9-10, achieved Memory Master status in April after memorizing more than 500 facts and completing four separate oral testing events with 100-percent accuracy.
Elementary-age students in the homeschool program, Classical Conversations, may choose to complete an end-of-year oral exam and recite every piece of memory work learned for the year. The four-week process includes two memory recitations to parents or other adults, a recitation for the student's tutor, and a spot-check exam by the director of the CC community. Each oral exam takes between 45 and 90 minutes, depending upon the age of the child and their ability to quickly and accurately recite the information.
"The purpose of Memory Master is to encourage and reward demonstrations of excellence in subject memorization and recitation, which are two skills that will serve students well along their educational journey," said Katie Baston, Foundations director for the Thomasville community of Classical Conversations.
Material recited includes: a chronological timeline of 161 events and people from history, 120 locations and geographic features, 24 history sentences, 24 science facts, Latin vocabulary and rules, English grammar definitions, multiplication tables to the 15s, common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas, unit conversions, and all 46 US presidents.
Classical Conversations students from the Thomasville community who successfully completed the Memory Master testing and earned the title of Memory Master include: Andrew Coch, 9, and Stella Jones, 10.
The Thomasville area hosts one Classical Conversations community, which meet once a week for 24-30 weeks, depending upon the program. The Foundations program is for ages 4-12 and focuses on the basics of history, science, English grammar, geography, Latin and math. Students also engage in weekly science projects, fine arts and oral presentations. The Challenge programs for middle and high school-aged students focus on all the required subjects, plus the skills of argumentation and persuasion. Challenge helps students develop the character traits of leadership, discipline, decision-making, freedom, ownership, and an understanding of choices and consequences.
Classical Conversations® is a classical education resource used by homeschoolers in all 50 states and over 40 foreign countries. CC now has more than 129,000 students enrolled in its tutoring programs, which are provided by more than 2,500 CC communities. CC provides resources, guidance and a community for a Christian homeschool curriculum using classical education in three developmental stages: grammar, dialectic and rhetoric.
