I’ve been meaning to write up what we’ve been working on for memory work since Christmas, and now that we’re in the sixth week of our six weeks term, I’m finally getting around to it. 

Hymn:  “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart” by Edward Plumptre; music by Arthur H. Messiter

We’ve committed four of the verses listed in the link above (mostly) to memory, with a fifth one in the works for this week.  I’ve really
enjoyed the pomp and exultation in this hymn, which was new to me.  I’ve just been taking our selections from Hymns for a Kid’s Heart volume 1.  We often work on the hymn during morning snack time, listening and singing as we can.  When the DLM hears the music, he has to get down out of his high chair so he can march around.  It’s that kind of song. 

Bible:  I’ve sort of slacked off on this this six weeks.  Louise needed to really commit the Lord’s Prayer to heart for her Wednesday night class at church, so we worked on the Matthew 6:9-13 KJV version.  When that was more or less done, we began reviewing Psalm 24 NIV, which we learned last school year  but needed to review.  Rather than doing this memory work by intense drilling, I’m trying to be a little more laid back and casual with it by just reading it over a couple of times with feeling and having the girls jump in when they can.

Poetry:  We chose “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost just because we like it.  I let the girls choose from among several poems, usually, and sometimes they choose something different from each other.  It has been nice to be learning the same poem this time, though.  Of course, we pulled the illustrated version of the poem off the shelf and enjoyed it, too.  I also have the girls go back over a poem or two they’ve learned in the past a couple of times a week, just so they don’t forget them.

We’re mostly doing our memory work in snatches of time here and there nowadays.  Gone are the days that we sit together on the sofa, reciting our verses over and over.  I’d like to do more–I’d like to pull out all the things Lulu has learned in First Language Lessons and add them to our rotation.  I’d like to work to get all the grammar chants/songs in an easily accessible playlist on the iPod so we can add them in painlessly.  In fact, I think I’ll add that to my to-do list for next week during our six weeks break from formal schooling.

What are you memorizing in your homeschool these days?  What are your favorite memory work resources?