Students completed an end-of-year oral exam and recited every piece of memory work learned for the year.
Nine students recently memorized more than 500 facts and completed four separate oral testing events with 100-percent accuracy as part of their work in the Classical Conversations international Christian homeschool cooperative for the Marlton area.
Classical Conversations is an international Christian homeschool cooperative. Recently, the Marlton Community held it’s third graduation celebration at Sovereign Grace Church.
Students ages 8 to 18 achieved “Memory Master” status by choosing to complete an end-of-year oral exam and recite every piece of memory work learned for the year.
The four-week process includes two memory recitations to parents or other adults, a recitation for the student’s tutor, and a spot-check exam by the director of the CC community.
Each oral exam takes between 45 and 90 minutes, depending upon the age of the child and their ability to quickly and accurately recite the information.
The Marlton area hosts 16 Classical Conversations communities, which meet once a week for 24 to30 weeks, depending upon the program. The Foundations program is for ages 4 to 12 and focuses on the basics of history, science, English grammar, geography, Latin and math. Students also engage in weekly science projects, fine arts and oral presentations. The Challenge programs for junior and senior high-aged students focus on all the required subjects, plus the skills of argumentation and persuasion.
“The purpose of Memory Master is to encourage and reward demonstrations of excellence in subject memorization and recitation, which are two skills that will serve students well along their educational journey,” said Barbara Soffer, Foundations director for the Marlton Community. “Many of our students enjoy the challenge, but only a few are able to complete the entire process successfully.”
Material recited includes: a chronological timeline of 161 events and people from history, 120 locations and geographic features, 24 history sentences, 24 science facts, Latin vocabulary and rules, English grammar definitions, multiplication tables to the 15s, common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas, unit conversions, and all 45 US presidents.
Classical Conversations students from the Marlton Community who successfully completed the Memory Master testing and earned the title of Memory Master include: Justice Adels, 13, Michael Gaetano, 8, Olivia Gilmore, 9, Lydia Mall, 11, Ben Mazzucco, 11, Eleanor Mazzucco, 9, Rockie Mosher, 12, Tim Soffer, 18 and Tom Soffer, 18.
Classical Conversations is a classical education resource used by homeschoolers in all 50 states and 22 foreign countries. CC now has more than 117,000 students enrolled in its tutoring programs, which are provided by more than 2,500 CC communities.
For more information, visit www.classicalconversations.com.
