Memorizing Horatius

[Kristi B]

My daughter started out so excited to memorize all 70
verses of Horatius. She got through 12 verses and now it’s getting harder. I’m reluctant to slow down our reading because I don’t want to delay getting to FMOG. Any suggestions? It doesn’t matter to me if she memorizes the whole thing. She doesn’t want to memorize just portions (which I know is recommended as an alternative). What kind of schedule have you used to help your children memorize the whole thing?

[SaintJude7]

Here was my answer in a previously posted question that closely resembled your own:

My son just built up slowly, probably over the course of a school year, adding a couple of stanzas each week. (MP did not have the guide at the time, and it was not included in lesson plans.). He would go around the house reciting it while he did other things. We also listened to the youtube video titled “Chris Gardam reads How Horatius Kept thé Bridge” fairly often. He has a good, clear voice and a steady pace. I have one child memorizing it now, and the eight year old recites the first two stanzas.

And here was Sarah's answer:

We have had two complete it, and a third is due to record her video (we just keep forgetting!). They do the work as assigned in the CM for 7th, but then they memorize it straight through, a little at a time. Two have needed a full year to feel ready, and one needed from August until about February? March? I can’t remember now, but she was motivated to beat her brother’s timeframe.


And this one from Kristin:

When my daughter learned it, we did it in order. Our general approach to memorizing poetry is to recite the new portion 3 times, 3 times a day. We did this to start the school day, during lunch time, and then to close out the school day. At the beginning she would then recite everything she had learned once a day. As she got further along and that took too much time, she only recited everything on Fridays, but recited the entirety of whatever larger section she was learning each day. She loved learning Horatius!

Blessings,
Jude

[tanya]

Kristi,

For our students at HLS, we make it a part of our Horatius class to give the students time to make their own individual schedules. We use this poem to begin teaching them how to schedule their time for a long-term project. So each student (whether they are memorizing the minimum or the entire 70 stanzas) puts together a schedule of what they will be memorizing each week to get them to their end goal, which is a date we have set at the beginning of the year for the following March or April. Then, the teachers just check in with them each week to make sure they are staying on task with their schedules.

Like any big project that is time-consuming and feels overwhelming, the initial excitement and motivation will ebb somewhat. When you are in the trenches, it is hard to see your way out of them. So the schedule and accountability helps the students to see their small successes as they check off their weekly goals.

So you might go ahead and set a recitation date in the spring and help your daughter schedule how much she has to do each week in order to reach that date. Then, it looks more like small steps than a 70 stanza leap!

Tanya

[tanya]

Oh! And make sure you tell her that I want to receive a video of her performance! I would love to present her with a Winston Churchill certificate, Horatius medal, and lapel pin!

Tanya

[Kristi B]

Oh! And make sure you tell her that I want to receive a video of her performance! I would love to present her with a Winston Churchill certificate, Horatius medal, and lapel pin!

Tanya

I never responded, but I wanted to say thank you! We ended up finishing up the study of Horatius without completing the memorization, but I am going to remind her that she can still try for this!