Local students earn National Memory Master Homeschool Awards

LANCASTER – Twelve students from the homeschool community Classical Conversations Lancaster recently capped months of study by correctly reciting more than 400 hundred facts from a multitude of subjects as part of the Classical Conversations Memory Master program.

The students, ranging in age from six to twelve years old, earned the Memory Master award on Friday, April 28th, when each child spent about five hours recalling facts from six subjects, as well as a history timeline.

The exercise took place at Valley View Church of the Nazarene, host of the Lancaster campus of Classical Conversations.

Classical Conversations is an academic homeschool group that follows the Classical Education model. Memory Master is a program that is available to all elementary aged Classical Conversations participants nationwide.

“Memory Master is a very difficult endeavor that very few students accomplish,” said Nanette Brown, director of Classical Conversations Lancaster.

The subjects included:

• History – Reciting all 45 US presidents, a chronological timeline of 160 events and people, world leaders and countries of World War I and II, the  formation of the United Nations, the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and free elections in South Africa.
• Geography – 122 geographical locations in Africa and Central America; and cities, features and bodies of water in the Euro-Asian continent.
• Science – facts in ecology, astronomy and physics, including  the Laws of Thermodynamics and Newton Laws of Motion.
• Latin – verb endings in the first conjugation.
• English – grammar facts.
• Math – multiplication tables to the15’s, common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas, and unit conversions.

“This is not a test where you cram and then forget the information once the test is over. There are four tests given over a period of three to four weeks,” Brown said.

“[In] the last two tests, students must exhibit 100 percent accuracy in order to receive the title Memory Master. These students work very hard.” Brown added.

Classical Conversations is a nationwide program for home educators that helps train and equip both students and parents. It provides children an academic structure within the framework of a Christian, classical education.

Classical Conversations hosts a free 3-day homeschool conference for parents each summer called Parent Practicum. This year the conference will be held at the Highlands Church from June 27 to 29.

For more information on Classical Conversations, contact Nanette Brown at Nanette_brown30@hotmail.com, or visit www.classicalconversations.com.

[Information via news release from Classical Conversations.]