Memory Master 2016

We completed our Classical Conversations home school program this past Monday.  It has been bittersweet.  I am ready for a break, but I know we’ll miss seeing everyone on a weekly basis.  We still have our end-of-the-year ceremony next week, so we’ll have one large get together before our “summer” break officially begins.

Each year the students have a chance to become a Memory Master.  In order to do so, they need to be able to recall 24 weeks of information in seven different subjects.  As you may remember, Nicholas was able to do that last year.  This year he definitely was ready to tackle the process again.

He had to test with me, Evan, and his tutor in three different settings.  For the testing with his tutor he wasn’t allowed to miss any questions.  Nicholas definitely knew the information this year and managed to finish his tutor proof in less than 40 minutes (that’s pretty fast)!   The last step was to test with the director of our campus.  For that proof he was tested on 25% of the information as a last check.

We’re happy to report that he is a Memory Master once again!  I had no doubt that he could do it.  That child has a great mind.  Once he applied himself to work on any weak areas, it really was not very difficult at all.  You should especially see him with the geography section.  He can point out the locations faster than you can keep up with him. 

Here is specifically what he learned this year:

-          161 events and people in a chronological timeline

-          44 U.S. presidents

-          24 history sentences to add depth to the timeline

-          120 location and geographic features in Africa, Europe, and the Old World

-          24 science facts (including classifications of living things and each continent’s highest mountain)

-          5 Latin noun endings and their singular and plural declensions

-          English grammar facts (including 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs)

-          Multiplication tables up to 15 x 15, common squares and cubes, as well as basic geometry formulas and conversions

That is over 400 pieces of information!  We are very proud of him and how hard he worked!  I’m sure he’ll definitely want to try for it next year too.

Speaking of next year, there will be a couple of changes for us in regards to Classical Conversations.  First, we will have two students in the program.  If you’re four years old by June 1^st and you’re on campus, you have to be enrolled.  That means no more nursery for Daniel.  He will be learning the same information as his brother, but it will be presented in a way in which four and five year olds can relate. 

Second, we will be staying all day instead of leaving after recess.  Once a child is in 4^th grade, they are eligible for the afternoon program.  This is where they learn grammar, writing, and do some fun math games.  Nicholas has many friends in this class and can’t wait to join.

Finally, I will not be a tutor next year.  For the last two years, I have led a class. And, while it worked out well for those two years, I’m ready for a break.  With Daniel starting CC and Nicholas having an extra class, I thought a break was in order.  I will enjoy being a great parent helper to whoever tutors the boys’ classes though. 

While the CC chapter is closing for this school year, we’re still doing school at home.  Nicholas will be done in about a month.  Daniel, however, will have preschool until the last week of May.  I’m sure it will fly by though!