There are a number of exercises and principles that the home-school student can learn to aid them in improving memory. By practicing these exercises, the home-school student can learn quick and easily how to remember important information. Brain research has discovered a number of important factors in how memory works and the home-school student can take advantage of these findings.
The brain prioritizes what it takes in by value, reference and meaning. In order to remember something thoroughly, the home-school student must believe the information has value and they must be interested in it. The home-schoolers brain must also have strong intent to remember. Attitude has a strong impact on how the brain remembers. Also important for the home-schooled student is the connective background to the information and how it pertains to the home-schooler's basic knowledge.
Another important tool for the home-school student is being selective in determining what is the most important parts of the information to be remembered. Grouping ideas together into meaningful categories can also greatly aid the home-schooler's memory.
Hearing the information to be remembered can also help the home-school student remember information. Reciting the information, saying it aloud, can help the brain strengthen the synaptic connections. Visual information is also one of the brain's strongest means of storing memory. By making a mental picture, the home-school student can help the brain remember. Images are stored in a different part of the brain and this cross-reference can help memory. Making strong associations between the idea to be learned and remembered, and ideas that are already known and stored, is a good tool for the home-schooler.
Finally, the brain needs time to consolidate what it has learned in order to properly establish and solidify a neural pathway. Making a list or reviewing the information can help the home-school student memorize information. In addition, shorter study sessions can help the home-schooler's brain compartmentalize the information. Shorter and more frequent study sessions are better than a few lengthy ones.
________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.