College Planning: Mnemonic Devices & the Homeschool Student
Mnemonic devices are a good way for the homeschooled student to remember information; however, mnemonic devices should not be used to memorize concepts, as they are designed to go around the deeper meaning of the information or material to be studied. However, they are good for memorizing lists and facts. One of the major keys to memory is repetition. Mnemonic devices require active participation and repetition for the material to be memorized properly. More than simply repeating words over and over, use this device purposefully by familiarizing yourself with the list. Try to memorize it, attempt to duplicate it and check it yourself. These actions create a loop within the brain while it forms the necessary synaptic connections for memorizing information. The homeschooler can easily accomplish this task while studying. Another device for homeschoolers memorizing facts is association. New information and knowledge is more effectively stored and retained in the long term memory when there are familiar associations attached to the information. The information associated with the material to be remembered need not even be related to the material. As long as the homeschool student uses some creativity, the information will be nearly impossible to forget.
Some easy-to-remember mnemonic devices include, rhyme, sentences, acronyms and groupings. Rhymes, such as nursery rhymes, have been used for centuries to help homeschooled students remember important information. The simplest example is the use of song to remember the ABCs. They can be simple or complex, but it is the rhyming pattern that helps the homeschool student remember the material. Sentences can be used to remember words in a list by taking the first letter of the each word in the list to be memorized and making a sentence using alternative words. Even if a letter is repeated, the search for the proper word is narrowed to two or three words.
Another device the homeschool student can utilize is acronyms. By making a word of the first letters of the information to be retained, the homeschool student creates a short, easy reference tool. This generally works well only with small lists, as finding a larger word to associate with the letters will be difficult. It is possible to break the information into two words, or as in the case of memorizing the colors in the spectrum, a made-up name: Roy G. Biv. This stands for, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
The last mnemonic device for the homeschooler is grouping. If the homeschool student has a lot of information to memorize, he can break it down into smaller subgroups. By breaking them into meaningful parts which form complete ideas, the homeschooler is more apt to remember the information. The homeschooled student can break a larger paragraph into stanzas, as in a poem. This makes memorizing each line easier than memorizing the whole.
________________________________________________________________
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.