A Great Method for Memorizing

Lately, the boys have been working on memorizing Philippians 3:7-11. This is a particularly hard passage because of the wording. So I decided to use a method that I saw a friend use when she was teaching children's church.  I wrote out the verses on small cards (index cards cut in half work well) putting one word on each card.  Then I laid out the verse. I worked with each boy one on one. With all the cards on the table I had him read it aloud.  Then I took 2-3 cards away (doesn't matter which cards) and had him read it again.  We did this over and over again repeating the verse each time I took away cards until all the cards were gone.   Then I mixed up the cards and handed them to my son to put back in order.  By the time we had done this process the verse was pretty much memorized!

I have also done this method with one of my Spanish students who had to memorize a poem in Spanish.  Within thirty minutes she had memorized the first eight lines of the poem using this method.  For some reason it really works!  It may have to do with the fact that all methods of learning are used: visual (seeing the words on the cards)

auditory (hearing the verse over and over again)

kinesthetic (putting the cards back in order again)

So it really doesn't matter what you are memorizing, whether it be Bible verses, poetry, or some other passage, this method seems to work!