Full names and phone numbers of parents
911 for emergency
Grandma's phone number
Home address
Alphabet
Days of the week
Months of the year
Skip counting
Counting backwards from 100
Doubles, e,g. 2+2, 3=3, 4=4
Multiplication facts
Identifying the 50 states and DC on a map

Kids should practice using their memory every day on anything they are interested in (interest helps focus the brain): math facts, poems, names of Thomas the Tank Engine trains, songs, period table, taxonomy of animals or plants, grocery lists, phone numbers, stats of baseball players.

A mix of poetic (poems, songs, bible verses, Shakespearean soliloquies), visual (country flags, state license plates, nautical flags, code symbols, puzzles, pattern games, quilting, matching and blind memory games), and linear lists (numbers, items, geographic names, list of presidents, football team rosters) is best, as they are different types of memory. The lists help the brain learn to organize less logical data into logical chunks -- for that having kids figure out their own best way to memorize the digits of Pi is a great exercise, not because anyone needs to know the digits of Pi, but because of the neurons that are built when the kid figures out a system for memorizing a long string of seemingly random digits. There are a log of great games that help kids build memory skills, some of which you probably play without realizing that you are training your kid's brain.

Anonymous wrote:Bible verses

Hallelujah

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

The dumbing down of the populace curtesy of google.

Lol

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

Memory is a part of a functioning brain. It is essential, and you have to develop it to learn optimally. It's not an either/or. You don't build your memory at the expense of critical thinking and cross-curricular learning; you do it in tandem and the two functions help each other. That's like saying you will only work out your leg muscles and not the res of the body because you value running -- you are a better runner if your whole body is strong. Also, without the basic information kids normally memorize, you don't even know what to Google -- there are facts you need to know in order to be able to exercise your problem solving skills.

Kids with low working memory are diagnosed with learning disabilities. Adults with poor memory are diagnosed with dementia. The part of the brain that functions for memory is vital -- exercise it and grow it. Ignore it at your own peril.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certain states have formally brought back recitation so can look up Georgia, Arkansas dept of education as examples for what they have kids do at each grade level in ES (different poems/speeches at different ages, etc). Also lots of articles about benefit of recitation and how it maps the brains.

Neither Georgia or Arkansas has a strong public education system. I wouldn’t model anything on them.

DP. Sure they didn't have a strong education system. But it turns out a lot of these places cheerfully jumped on things like the science of reading bandwagon long before the blue states and their test scores are going up. Obviously education can only do so much to compensate for things like SES, though.

Anonymous wrote:Bible verses

Us too. Also catechism questions and answers.

+1 to address and phone number also.

In terms of core academic subjects:

- basic phonics rules were explicitly taught, though I don't know that I'd say I forced memorization
- parts of speech and some basic grammar rules
- math facts !!
- school actually has done states (location on map versus capitals), which is great IMHO.

I laughed a little bit when I found out my 5th grader is memorizing the Pharaohs of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. My mom can still rattle them off in order. In some ways pointless knowledge, yes, but in other ways now she has a reference on which to build a knowledge of what else was happening in the world at the same time. It helps to understand that, say, the Indus Valley civilization was peaking right around the same time and to be able to compare and contrast all these fascinating ancient emptires.

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

Turns out that knowing facts (memorization) is the basis of being able to comprehend something.

https://greatminds.org/english/blog/witwisdom/the-science-of-reading-what-is-prior-knowledge-and-why-is-it-important

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

The dumbing down of the populace curtesy of google.

Irony can be ironic.

This was the SNAP! moment of the day on DCUM. Love it.

Periodic table
Presidents
Preamble to the Constitution

name and address and your phone number of course

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

The dumbing down of the populace curtesy of google.

Irony can be ironic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certain states have formally brought back recitation so can look up Georgia, Arkansas dept of education as examples for what they have kids do at each grade level in ES (different poems/speeches at different ages, etc). Also lots of articles about benefit of recitation and how it maps the brains.

Neither Georgia or Arkansas has a strong public education system. I wouldn’t model anything on them.

Nor.

Anonymous wrote:Certain states have formally brought back recitation so can look up Georgia, Arkansas dept of education as examples for what they have kids do at each grade level in ES (different poems/speeches at different ages, etc). Also lots of articles about benefit of recitation and how it maps the brains.

Neither Georgia or Arkansas has a strong public education system. I wouldn’t model anything on them.

Anonymous wrote:Math facts and spelling

Memorizing states and capitals is rather pointless. Memorizing something *about* places is better. And their locations on a map.

This is why some people think Alaska is a floating island somewhere near Hawaii. Because of this ^ crap.

Anonymous wrote:Memorization is not the same as education. They can google any of that. I would rather have them remember from working with the concepts and relationships of each topic as opposed to rote memorization.

It’s not either/or. I came name all the states in alphabetical order from rote memorization. I would never need Google for that. Their little brains can soak up a lot of information not just the concepts of each topic.