01/23/2025
When I first started homeschooling, one of my veteran homeschool friends invited me over to give me the lowdown on all things homeschool. I don’t know what I expected from this conversation, but I hoped she could just give me an idea of what my days could look like in my new role. Instead, she spent half an hour talking about recitations.
I didn’t pay much attention then… but after coming across this research, I am sold!
And now I’m off to go find a few scriptures or quotes that I want my kids to memorize first! Do you also do memorization and recitation in your homeschool? If you have, what did you have your children memorize? And if you haven’t, what would you want your children to memorize??
Sources:
Dr. Kenneth Higbee, Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It – Deliberate memorization improves the brain’s capacity for learning and recalling information.
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (2015) – Found that small successes, like memorization, increase children’s confidence and willingness to take on challenges.
National Literacy Trust – Research emphasizes that activities like recitation enhance articulation, fluency, and overall literacy.
Dr. Carol Dweck, Growth Mindset Theory – Explains how deliberate practice (like memorization) builds grit and focus.
Journal of Educational Psychology (2021) – Found that students who memorized poetry developed greater linguistic awareness and verbal creativity.
Educational Review Journal (2020) – Found that memorization paired with recitation encourages deeper subject understanding.
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts (2018) – Shows that engaging with meaningful texts supports emotional regulation and empathy.
Educational Psychology Review (2017) – Found that students with strong memorization skills performed better academically across disciplines.
Journal of Child Development (2016) – Noted that goal-oriented tasks like memorization foster intrinsic motivation in children.
