Da Memory Master is IN DA HOOOOOOOUUUUUUSE!

So,for the last year...well, it's really only been 24 weeks, it just sometimes FEELS like a year!...we've been memorizing LOTS of facts in Classical Conversations. According to the classical model of education, kiddos in the elementary grades have brains that are made to memorize, memorize, memorize. In junior high, they get more information to add the "how" to the "what" and in high school get the "why" to add to the "how" and "what". But for Jeffrey and Josiah's classes this year it's "just the facts ma'am, just the facts".

So at the end of the year, any student who wants to can recite all the facts he has learned to his tutor (it's what they call the teachers in CC) and if they get everything right, they have earned the right to be called a Memory Master. And just to give you an idea of the amount of information, it takes between an hour and an hour and a half just for the tutor to hear the student recite all the information.

Here's what they learned:

24 history sentences- No "See spot run" in these sentences. Here are a couple "As the Heien gov't weakened in Japan, shoguns began to rule and expel all foreigners during the period of isolation. Circa 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the US restored trade, allowing the Meiji to modernize Japan". Ever heard of the Heien government or the Meiji? Nope, me neither! How about this sentences "During the Age of Imperialism, the British established rule over India in 1858 and Queen Victoria was declared the Emperess of India in 1877. Assassinated in 1948, Mohandas Ghandi and his passive resistance movement helped win India's independence". There's 24 of those!!

All the prepositions, linking verbs and helping verbs and the definitions of each.

All the presidents, in order.

24 weeks of science facts-Things like "What are the invertebrate classifications?" "What are some types of clouds", "What are some types of oceans floors?" Each answer usually had 5 parts, some a little more, some a little less.

Latin - All 5 declensions, singular and plural

24 weeks of math facts-times tables up to the 15s, as well as the squares and the cubes and math formulas including the areas of square, triangle, rectangle, circle, circumference of the circles and the associative property, commutative property, distributive property, the identity law of mulitplication and addition

24 weeks of geography-the tutor would say something like "The Hittite Empire" or "African Waters" or "Mesoamerica" and you have to say the 5 locations (countries, towns, bodies of water, etc.) that go with that empire or location and put them on a map.

And if that wasn't enough information...

there were 160 timeline cards that you have to recite...obviously in order, it IS a timeline.

Thankfully, there were songs to most of the information! Songs really help memorizing!!! But songs or no songs, we have a Memory master in our midst....

WAY TO GO JEFFREY!!!! That is AMAZING! Jeffrey had as one of his goals this year to become a Memory Master. There were times he was tempted to give up and forget about it, but he hung in there and did it!! He got a cool t-shirt and will get a medal with his name engraved on it on Monday at our last class.

This is Jeffrey's last year in the Foundations program, so his only chance to become a Memory Master, so we are so proud of him for seizing this moment!

Josiah's already said that he's going to go for MM next year! Great example, Jeffrey!