College Planning: Unique Memory Tricks for the Homeschooled Student
By Mimi Rothschild
Sometimes, although not often, homeschooled students may have difficulty remembering certain things while they study. In fact, if a homeschooled student is studying a number of concepts or ideas that are loosely related to one another, or worse, if these concepts are in no way related to one another, the task of remembering becomes increasingly difficult if not impossible entirely. Nevertheless, with a few unique memorization tricks a homeschooler can begin to memorize difficult concepts and ideas with greater ease.
In order for a homeschooling student to memorize any subject whatsoever, the task is far easier if the subject being studied possesses some sense of organization. For instance, if a parent shows a homeschooler a list of words that are clearly related, “pen, crayon, marker, and pencil,” that list is far easier for the homeschooler to master because of the close relationship of the words. All of the words are writing implements. Conversely, if the homeschooling parent shows the homeschooler a list of words like “eraser, dog, oil, and tape,” the student will only remember the beginning and the end of the list and will fail to remember what lies in the middle of the list.
What parents that homeschool their children need to understand is this: homeschoolers will, in most cases, remember only the beginning and the end of a disjointed list if they are forced to remember concepts, ideas, or objects that are in no way related. The key to memorization then, lies in somehow connecting such ideas together so that they can be remembered—the homeschooler must organize their thoughts in order to remember dissimilar words, terms, and ideas. Thus, homeschooling parents should advise their homeschooler to create unique images in their mind that will later remind them of what it is they need to remember.
Let's take the above example for further understanding. If a homeschooled child is given a word list like “eraser, dog, oil and tape,” advise the homeschooler to develop a short story about the words—the story will help them remember. The story doesn't necessarily have to make sense, and it can even be funny. I fact, the homeschooler will have an easier time remembering humorous information. Thus, the above list can be remembered as, “The eraser was used to wipe off the dog that had oil in his fur and his ears taped back.” A funny image? Yes, but the homeschooler is not likely to forget it!
________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, children's rights activist, author, and Founder and C.E.O. of online education company Learning by Grace, Inc. Rothschild and her husband of twenty-eight years reside in suburban Philadelphia with their eight children.
Feeling that “our current system of education has broken its promise,” Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. to provide families with Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children all over the world.
In addition to her twenty years of experience as a homeschool mother, Rothschild has written a number of books dealing with education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education Websites Blog consists of helpful online content and activities for Christian homeschooling families.
Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
