By homeschooling your children, you’re giving them the competitive edge while they gain the opportunity for you to instill in them important values. You want the best for your children and are determined to give it to them.
And it’s quite a job to educate them. It takes a lot of determination and dedication.
Why Not Teach Your Child Memory in Two Different Ways?
One of the skills that are often overlooked by parents homeschooling their children is helping them develop a great memory. Without a great memory, children tend to think that intellectual pursuits are meant for others, not them. This can become detrimental years later, such as during the first week of a new job. In the more immediate future, a poor memory means that any job that requires technical learning of facts will feel like a barrier that cannot be overcome.
Thus, it’s important that you learn how to boost your child’s memory at an early age. This can be done in two ways: directly and indirectly.
Teaching Memory: The Direct Method
Improving memory directly involves having lists of information that must be memorized. It’s formal training, similar to your homeschooling lessons. You and your child sit down with the list and you say, “Let’s practice memory today! I just learned a new way to remember information and I think you will love it!”
You then explain the strategy, do a few examples, and have your child practice enough examples until the technique sinks in. With this method, you know exactly what will be accomplished, when it is accomplished and how much more practice should be done to get the results you need.
This method does require you to create the lists ahead of time. Lists can be simple, such as names of yellow flowers, names of red flowers, types of cars in the Mercedes line, etc.
Teaching Memory: The Indirect Method
The indirect method of boosting your child’s memory may be a lot easier for you in terms of interaction with your child, but it takes longer to get the desired results. This method doesn’t require you to create lists ahead of time.
This method of memory improvement incorporates memory training right into the day’s activities.
Three Memory Boosting Games to Play with Your Children
Here’s a list of a few examples of how to get started:
1. Car Learning is Possible
Out driving to appointments today with your child? Great! Use the car time for memorization practice. Start by listing all the streets you pass for one mile of the trip. Set your speedometer and make it into a game. Someone will have to create the list, and this can be difficult if you are driving, so do get your child to list the streets in order of first to last. Then think of ways to remember each street with your child. As your child improves, he will be able to create cute ways to recall the streets as he is writing them on the list.
2. Stop Grocery Line Boredom
Standing in line at the grocery store? Great! Use the time to work on memory for your surroundings. Tell your child he has 10 seconds to focus on everything on the candy shelves near the cash register or if you aren’t that close to the cash register, focus on what people look like around you. Then with his eyes shut, ask questions – some easy and some difficult – about what was in the environment.
For example, ask your child to name types of candy that were on the shelves. Then ask how many shelves there were and how many types of candy made up one row. Don’t forget to follow up with a few reasons why candy isn’t good to eat and the damage it does to the body.
You could also ask identification questions while waiting for your turn to purchase items. Ask your child to close his eyes, and then ask what type of clothes the people who are waiting in line are wearing. Next ask more specific questions such as what color hair they have and if there is anything unusual about the faces. This memory identification game can be played anywhere, anytime.
3. Observation Tests
Another memory game is where you ask your child to quickly scan an environment for any objects and remember them. Then you ask questions about the objects in that environment.
For example, take your child to your garage. Tell him that to play the game; he has 30 seconds to see as many things in a room as he can. You can blindfold him or just tell him to shut his eyes without any peeking. His job is to name as many objects in the room as possible.
Take the blindfold off (or have him open his eyes) after he is finished with the naming. Award him one point for every object named. The more you play this game with him, the higher he will score.
Next take him to another room. Repeat the process. Add another room and repeat the process again. Three times is enough. Of course, at the end of the game, the blindfold comes off and he has the chance to see what items he forgot.
Playing memory games with your child is fun, and increases the special bond you have between the two of you. And as your child’s memory power improves, so does yours! What a fun way to boost the memory!
