| Did you ever have to memorize anything in high | | | | day of the week for three weeks. I wasn't trying |
| school? Don't remember? I did, and to this day I | | | | for the goal of memorization at all, I was just |
| can still annoy my family with "No Man is an | | | | trying to give them an "ear" for good literature. |
| Island"! Memorization isn't a the most critical skill, | | | | What I found out really surprised me! About two |
| but it can be fun. Choose a poem or a scripture, | | | | weeks into this process, I found that the boys |
| and try it for yourself. | | | | had memorized much of the passage. By three |
| The memorization I'm talking about isn't the rote | | | | weeks they could say it completely by heart! |
| memorization of names, places and facts. That | | | | Later in our homeschool career, they were able |
| sort of memorization yields very little to a child's | | | | to memorize large portions of scripture just by |
| education because it is divorced from meaning | | | | reading it aloud daily to me. I was amazed - I |
| and significance in the mind of a student. As you | | | | didn't know the human brain worked like that! |
| have probably experienced in your adult life, | | | | Now that they are older, some of the |
| memorizing something devoid of emotional | | | | memorization has faded, but the appreciation of |
| engagement generally doesn't last. | | | | good literature and the ability to identify it has |
| When we began, I didn't actual think that | | | | helped them tremendously in their college studies. |
| memorization was that important, so I set my | | | | Try it, and see if it's fun for your own |
| sights pretty low. I began with deciding that my | | | | homeschool! |
| kids would merely read the same passage each | | | | |