Memory Work post for Timber

Current Memory Work:

(Note:  most of these are works that we planned to learn last year or the year before.  So far this year is going more smoothly in the memory work department!  Basia has learned Autumn Fires, The Months, and Trees so far.  Brishen is working on The Raven and has learned John Henry.  Once these are learned I will work on new ideas for this year.)

Autumn Fires by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Months by Sara Coleridge
The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
John Henry
Laughing Song by William Blake
In Time of Silver Rain by Langston Hughes
Trees by Christina Rossetti
How Many Seconds by Christina Rossetti
Concord Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Presidents of the U.S.
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

In Review:

(Note:  These are memory work items from years' past that we review once a week.  I trimmed out the memory folder this year and took out some of little kid poems that neither child wants to say any longer.  I also took out some that Brishen really didn't enjoy (romance sonets and history and science memory songs) and some that we have not reviewed enough to remember (Little Latin Words).)

Mondays:

Little Things by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
I'm Nobody by Emily Dickinson
Snow Song by Sara Teasdale
Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rossetti
How Doth the Little Crocodile by Lewis Carroll
O Captain! My Captian! by Walt Whitman
The Street by Octavio Paz
Theme in Yellow by Carl Sandburg
Principal Pharaohs
Texas, New Mexico state mottos, birds, flowers, nicknames
Rulers of England (Brishen)
Spanish days of week

Tuesdays:

Spanish months of year
Buffalo Dusk by Carl Sandburg
A Book by Emily Dickinson
13 Original Colonies
Life Doesn't Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
Windy Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Lord's Prayer
Leisure by W.H. Davies
A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns
The Frog by Hilaire Belloc
Fog by Carl Sandburg
Declaration of Independence (Brishen)
Preamble to the Constitution

Wednesdays:

Spanish body parts
Ten Commandments
Happy Thought by Robert Louis Stevenson
Rain by Robert Louis Stevenson
Boats Sail on the Rivers by Christina Rossetti
Inaugural Oath
From Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar
Hippocrates (Brishen)
Olympic Games
Ancient Greece (Brishen)
Solon (Brishen)
Aesop's Fables (Brishen)
Greek Columns (Brishen)
Childhood in Sparta (Brishen)
The Philosopher Socrates (Brishen)
*The last nine poems are from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times

Thursdays:

Dust of Snow by Robert Frost
At the Sea-Side by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
Show Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rossetti
I'd Leave All the Hurry by Andrew Lang
Thirty Days Hath September
The Blues by Langston Hughes
Books of the Bible
Gladiators
Ancient Rome
Roman Roads
The Forum
Nero
*The last five poems are from Modern Rhymes About Ancient Times
Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll (Brishen)

Fridays:

Planets, Continents, Oceans
Who Has Seen the Wind by Christina Rossetti
The Lizard by John Gardner
The Vulture by Hilaire Bellock
Autumn by Emily Dickinson
We're Four Ferocious Tigers by Jack Prelutsky
As Soon as Fred Gets out of Bed by Jack Prelutsky (chosen by Brishen when he was young, obviously)

Zade:

The Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti
Mix a Pancake by Christina Rossetti
If a Pig Wore a Wig by Christina Rossetti
Baby Chick by Aileen Fisher
Travel Plans by Bobbie Katz
*All the above were animal rhymes that Basia learned when she did an animal study as a kindergartner.  They were in my memory folder, so I went with those.  Lazy mom.
Days of the week
Months of the year
ABCs and counting and shapes--I guess more for Edison at this point and review for Zade


Nursery Rhymes:
A Tisket A Tasket
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Diddle Diddle Dumpling
Georgie Porgie
Hey Diddle Diddle
Goosey Goosey Gander
Hickory, Dickory, Dock (Roo's favorite!)
Hot Cross Buns
Humpty Dumpty
Uack be Nimble
Jack and Jill
Jack Sprat
Little Bo-Peep
little Boy Blue
Little Jack Horner
Little Miss Muffet
Little Tom Tucker
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Old Mother Hubbard
Ride a Cock Horse
The Grand Old Duke of York
There was a Crooked Man
There Was an Old Woman
This Little Piggy
Two Little Dicky Birds
Wee Willy Winky


Songs:
London Bridge is Falling Down
She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain
Itty Bitty Spider
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Polly Put the Kettle On
Pop Goes the Weasel
Ring Around the Rosies
Three Blind Mice
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
I Had a LIttle Nut Tree Bingo
Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
Row Your Boat
My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
Old MacDonald
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
The Farmer in the Dell
Kookaburra
They Hokey Pokey
If You're Happy and You Know It
The Wheels on the Bus
This Old Man

(Note:  I am not pushing Zade at all in school this year.  He won't start kindergarten until 2016, so I feel his main job right now is to play all he wants with school thrown in when he asks.  He knows most preschool basics and knows quite a few songs and nursery rhymes.  The rest are there for us to recite when he shows interest.  Roo is actually the one who loves nursery rhymes the most.  It's about the only way I can get him to stay still during a diaper change.)

We are also working on the first (kindergarten) set of Art Cards.  We love them!!!  Brishen is memorizing all the details, including name of work of art, artist, year done, style of art, where it is now located.  Basia and Zade are learning the names of the works of art and the artists.  Zade knows about 6 or 7 of them so far and is very proud of himself.  Edison has even wanted in on the fun.  He now knows 5 O'Clock Tea by Mary Cassatt and Titus as a Monk by Rembrandt.  He makes me go over the whole pile with him instead of focusing on a couple at a time because he's pretty sure he should be just like the big kids.

The big kids are brushing up on these English and Greek flash cards.  They knew them a couple years ago, but we didn't work on them much last year.  Brishen's taken enough language classes that he knows them all again.  Basia's about half way through this first set of cards.  We'll move on to the next set once they have these down.

We are also going through a couple of these Classical Conversations flash card sets, mainly the history and science fact ones.

Memory work is, and always has been, a serious part of our homeschool day.  I think the memorization work is really great for their brains, and the benefits show when it is time for the kids to memorize something for drama class or when studying for tests.  They know how to memorize and hold things in their brains.  I also learned with Brishen how he was able to take out a name from a long list of names he had memorized and apply it to his work.  It seems like pointless memorization to some, but I really do see them able to use it in other areas of their school life.  Memory time takes a good 45 minutes right now.  An hour would be ideal, but it's hard to dedicate that much time.  When I have more little kids just starting to memorize, we will split the kids up and have the bigger kids study their new memory work while I work with the younger kids.  Right now memory work is the first part of our school day.  

I have lots of great memory work CDs that I would also like to add to our days, but I haven't been able to do it consistently so far this year.

Now that foster parenting is not occupying 98 percent of my time, I can feel my passion for homeschooling return.  I am very excited to start teaching the younger kids next year!  Memory work will be a part of their schooling from the very beginning.