The purpose, the contents and the details of our memory work binder…
We did memory work in our first couple of years of homeschool and then unintentionally got away from it. A good friend recently inspired us to get back into it. She has a memory binder system, which inspired ours!
The Purpose
Why memory work? Although we primarily use The Good and The Beautiful for our math and language arts curriculum, we love to incorporate classical education too! In classical education, there are three levels: Grammar (Grades K-5), Logic (Grades 6-8), and Rhetoric (Grades 9-12). In the Grammar stage, memorization is a HUGE method of learning. Children are better able to memorize large amounts of information at younger ages than we are able to as adults. If they can memorize base knowledge when it’s easiest for their mind to, they are able to take deeper dives into more familiar topics in the Logic and Rhetoric phases.
A little memory work goes a long way. 5 minutes of memory work 2-3 times a week makes for A LOT of gained and stored knowledge by the end of the school year. I have always found it amazing that my 6 year old can so easily memorize the plants of a part cell when I wasn’t “suppose” to do that until middle school and high school biology 😉 I love education that doesn’t make kids wait until a certain age to learn a subject matter!
Every memory work binder can look different, this is just what ours looks like this year! I will be taking out 1-3 papers out of my large memory work binder each week and popping it into their individual 1/2 inch binders each week, so that each kid receives different memory work based on their ages. However, these can all be learned together as a family at the same time as well! I will be introducing their memory work assigned to them at the start of each week, and they will work on it themselves the rest of the week. If we don’t get to everything in the memory binder, that’s ok! Whatever we get to is a bonus in my mind and we will just carry it over until the next year! I hope this helps you in some way 🙂
The Contents
Skip Counting Posters
U.S. Presidents List
U.S. Presidents with Photos
U.S. States Map
50 States, Capitals, and Abbreviations List
Salve Regina
Ave Maria
Prayer Bundle
Ten Commandments, Fruits of the Spirit, Books of the Bible
Bible Memory Cards
Sacraments, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Virtues, Beatitudes, Corporal Works of Mercy
Science Memory Cards Part 1
Science Memory Cards Part 2
History Memory Cards Part 1
History Memory Cards Part 2
Bible Verses
(these are small cards that are not technically in our binder but take turns sitting in a little wood stand each week)
Poetry (Whichever poems you choose are your personal preference, but it’s nice to have a couple in the binder to work on memorizing)
Hymns (Do you have some common or favorite church hymns? Print them and pop them in to practice together)
Math Facts (We do ours separately but this could also be a place to keep the math facts your child is currently working on memorizing)
Ideas for the littler ones: Days of the Week, Months of the Year, Address, Phone Number, Birthday
The Details
Binders (I went with 3, 1 inch binders to divide up my subjects but you could go with 1 three incher instead)
Binder Dividers with Tabs
Sheet Protectors (I like these so my cardstock PDFs last a bit longer and I can swap content in and out-I ended up ordering 2 sets for all of the above content)
Three Hole Punch
Our Printer
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