A Memory Master in the House!

(WARNING: Mom Brag Ahead)

We have our first Classical Conversations Cycle 1 Memory Master in the house!

At the end of the school year last year, Luke told me that he wanted to work toward Memory Master for the upcoming year. And he was serious. The kid has been so focused and determined. (I posted videos of him singing the timeline back in September.) It is only fitting that he should officially pass his director proof for Memory Master today—ahead of schedule, and before Levi and I have a chance to complete our proofs.

Testing for CC Memory Master involves reciting all of the year’s memory work for each of three proofs—with two adults and then a tutor (each proof taking over an hour). For the final testing, the CC director spot-checks each subject—about 20 minutes worth. For the tutor and director proofs, the student must have mastery of all content. No hints or assistance. Just a prompt such as “Tell me about the Heian Empire.”

The memory work for Classical Conversations cycle 1 includes:

24 History “Sentences”

(For example: “As the Heian government weakened in Japan, Shoguns began to rule and expelled all foreigners during the period of isolation. Circa 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. restored trade, allowing the Meiji to modernize Japan.”)

161 Events and People in a Chronological Timeline

44 U.S. Presidents (chronological list)

120 Locations and Geographic Features in Africa, Europe, and the Old World

(Students must identify or locate on a map.)

24 Science fact lists—Biology and Earth Science (3-8 items per list)

(Classifications of living things, parts of a plant cell, each continent’s highest mountain, parts of the atmosphere, etc.)

Definitions of prepositions, helping verbs, and linking verbs. Lists of 53 prepositions, 23 helping verbs, and 12 linking verbs.

5 Latin Declensions (singular and plural) and the Noun Cases

Nominative—Subject
Genitive—Possessive
Dative—Indirect Object
Accusative—Direct Object
Ablative—Object of the Preposition

Skip Counting the 1s Table through the 15s Table, plus squares (through 15) and cubes (through 10)

12 Unit Conversions

(For example:
2.54 centimeters = 1 inch
5,280 feet = 1 mile 
8 fluid ounces = 1 cup)

5 Geometry Formulas

(Area of a rectangle, square, triangle, and circle. Circumference of a circle.)

4 Mathematical Laws

(The Distributive Law states a(b+c)=ab+ac)

 

Not bad for an eight year old. Even at his break-neck speed, it takes him a good hour to recite all of the memory work. Whew!!