Memory Work

I feel crappy today. Too little sleep, and I think I'm getting the kids' cold. This week is fall break, due to the fact that Hubby took Monday and Tuesday off of work, and everyone's been sick. Some fun break. :)

I've spoken before about recitation being a great time saver for us, but I've never really outlined how we do it. This is what our recitation looks like, for Mary. Ian follows along, and knows a surprising amount of Greek and Latin, but I'm still working out how to add things in for him, so it's still mostly play time.

1. Latin-Prayer, Song, amo, -o, voco, sum, mensa, -a -ae, servus, -us -i, donum, -um -i, then ten random vocabulary words. (Currently learning the Lord's Prayer and Adeste Fideles.)

2. Greek-Previously learned verses, new verse, blepo, -o, eimi, anthropos, -os, doron, -ov, then five random vocabulary words. (We have about 7 verses memorized in Greek.)

3. Bible-Previously learned verses, new verse, books of the Bible, memory work on current story, 5 random previous memory work items. (We have about 20 verses memorized, and are nearly done with the Books of the Old Testament.)

4. Greek Myths-Current memory work, 5 random previous items.

5. Math-Current fact family (we're starting division), 10 random multiplication, subtration, and/or addition facts.

We need to add in a poem per month, but so far I've been to lazy to do it. The whole bit takes 15-20 minutes on a good day, but up to 30 if there's a lot of dawdling. I stop after 30, even if we aren't done. This covers grammar, bible, history, music, and math. Add in a little reading, and it's the instant 1 hour school day for those days when you normally wouldn't get to anything (co-op day, sick day, field trip, life got in the way, whatever.).

I certainly wouldn't make it the sum total of a child's education, but it is a good way to make sure the basics get covered every day.