Permanent learning is a common theme here at All About Learning Press. When you take the time to teach your child something, you want it to stick. You want to make a difference. You want them to remember the concepts years from now.
Today I went to visit Ginger, a darling pony mare I used to own. I haven’t played with Ginger in about a year, but she remembered everything we used to do together, in spite of the fact that she hasn’t done any of her tricks since last spring.
Our Spanish walk…
Hugs…
(Look how Ginger closes her eyes when she gives a hug. Isn’t that so SWEET?!)
Picking up dropped items…
Carrying her own lead rope…
She also plays soccer, bows, smiles, and shakes her head no.
She’s a smart girl. I taught her all of these things using the same principles we talked about this past month at All About Learning Press. And she still remembers these tricks as if it were yesterday.
Here’s a quick rundown on the principles in our “Memory” series:
- Teach just one thing at a time (read The Funnel Concept)
- Use multisensory teaching (read How the SMI Method Can Help Your Child’s Memory Problem)
- Review! (read Making Reading and Spelling Stick)
- Don’t skip steps (read Does Your Child Have Gaps?)
- Make connections to things your child already knows (read Help Your Child’s Memory by Making Connections)
These teaching principles really work. You may nod your head as you read these articles, thinking that they make perfect sense, but if your child is having a hard time remembering what you are teaching, ask yourself, Am I really doing these things?
You’ve got to apply the principles for them to work!
So what are you teaching this week that you really want your child to remember even after he or she reaches adulthood?
About Marie Rippel
thanks for including the pictures, it’ll make my daughter’s day when I show her how the horse learns tricks using the same kinds of practicing we use for learning spelling!
Love the blog posts. I get some great nuggets to add to my teaching toolbox.
Thanks for the memory tips. Learning for the heart and keeping it in forefront in the mind is so important.
LOL, the pony carrying her own lead rope reminds me of our dog… Sometimes when we attach her leash to get ready for a walk, our dachshund will take her own leash in her mouth as if she if going to walk herself:)
Thanks for the links to those articles. I’ve been worried about my sons memory. Hopefully we can make some changes using a lot of what they suggested and make some improvements.
I love all the pics of Ginger!!! How awesome!
great insight here
What a beautiful horse! Thanks for your encouragement.
What fun! Thank you for the pictures – my daughter loved seeing them!
Love the pics of Ginger. I can’t wait to show my horse loving daughter. Looking forward to reading the tips on making learning stay for a lifetime.
I’d love to teach my children to love learning, so that they continue on with it throughout their lives.
Great pictures!
Wow, that is amazing! Thanks for sharing those principles!
Oh what a fun post. My girls loved seeing your smart horse. It is a great reminder to not just whiz past things that I think are easy. I need to make sure we are using those great memory tricks. Thanks!
So cute!!! My kids will love seeing your horse show us what she’s learned!! :)
My son really loved seeing such a smart horse. He’s been training his new puppy and we talked about how we all learn things in small bits and then put the bits together and even use the bits when we come across new information. He thought it was tres cool!
Love this
Nice post!
This week, we’ve been working with currency in math. I really want her to get a good grasp of money, and eventually orders of magnitude in dealing with money, and having her learn and remember that $1=100 pennies is a good start. :)
I want my kids to grasp a lifelong love of learning (and reading, I hope!), as well as the understanding that education nevers stops. You never graduate from learning.
What a great post. Thanks for sharing! Also, we looooooove horses in our family so it was a great way to see the concepts in action!
Great post! (Brought back memories of when I taught my pony to shake hands. : ) )
Love the list which helps make learning permanent. So helpful. : )
Awesome horse pictures! Great way to encourage my “difficult to remember details” student!
Love this blog…. this week we continue to work on the lifelong skill of tying shoes!!
Thanks for the pictures! My daughter will LOVE this! SHe loves horses… :-)
Your blogs help me “see” how learning works :)
The pictures are great. Thank you.
I too have seen how the teaching & training I did with my horses back in the day have helped in teaching my kids. :-)
Hi Tammy, I’ve thought many times that teaching dogs and horses has helped me be a better teacher! And vice versa: working with kids has helped me as I work with animals. And both require a healthy dose of patience!
I am glad to be back! Your tips and blogs will be very helpful – again!
I really need to step up my homeschool routine. This is our first year and we are in full, trial and error mode! I have really, really, really gained some insight into helping her remember things by reading these 4 articles! I have also shared them with about 4 other Homeschooling Moms, that were equally as thrilled about reading them. Thanks for posting!!!!
Thanks for sharing, Sarah! I’m so glad that the Memory series was helpful to you!
I can’t wait to show my kids all the horse pictures tomorrow–thanks for making learning fun!
I have found that this really does work. Using these steps, my son is really learning to read. Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing these principles. I needed some practical steps to take to help us!
I’ve noticed some gaps – so thank you for the encouragement to keep building on the known steps and then moving on to the new – even if there’s resistance!
My horse crazy girls liked reading this post over my shoulder! :)
Love the pictures – good reminder to keep the learning fun!
Thanks for your article on SMI. I teach following the classical model, so we are always memorizing.
I usually try to include all three “paths to the brain” but your article gave me a refresher I needed.
It really does help when you are using all three approaches!
Thanks for the tips, I love both these programs. I am thrilled with how easy, fun and effective they are!
My 8 year old has seizures and I can’t stress enough the importance of all of the tips you listed for helping retain information! It is so difficult to get things to ‘stick’! I can’t wait to get the program…I think we are almost ready!
Thanks for this reminder and the links to these articles, this Momma needed these reminders today. :)
Great tips!
That’s AWESOME!! Thanks for all of the memory tips! I need to use some of them myself!!
I love this article! Great tie-in with the adorable pony!
I’m teaching Biblical morals — something I truly do want them to carry with them into adulthood!
Great post! I look forward to applying these principles in my kids education!
Fantastic! I have been reading all of the posts about moving information from short to long-term memory. Thank you for making the path clear and simple. The horse was a wonderful hook. I don’t know that I would have discovered this topic without the inviting idea of the horses.
Thank you for all that you do! All About Spelling is the VERY BEST resource that I have found for spelling. I have homeschooled three kids from the very beginning and have tried MANY different programs. We will use AAS from here on out.