He did it!!

• The entire timeline of 160 events from creation to modern times
• Twenty-four history sentences about U.S. history, including the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights
•  Twenty-four science questions and answers covering human anatomy, chemistry (including the first twelve elements in the periodic table by number and mass), and origins
• Skip counting through the fifteens, plus squares and cubes, conversions, and math laws
• All fifty states and their capitals, plus seventy physical features on the U.S. map
• Twenty-four definitions or lists from English grammar
• Latin vocabulary lists and John 1:1-7 in Latin and English
• The forty-four U.S. presidents

Pretty impressive list of information, right?  Even more impressive, Jacob knows it all.  Five year old Jacob.  He knows the answer to every single question.  He can tell you the 160 timeline events without missing a beat.  Ask him to recite John 1:1-7 in Latin, and he'll happily do it.  Ask him about catastrophism.  He'll fill you in.  Ask him to name the parts of the digestive system, and he'll give you a list.  He can show you Puget Sound, Death Valley, the Sonoran Desert, and the Red River on the U.S. map.  He can skip count the thirteens and tell you about the associative laws for addition and multiplication.  The child is a marvel.  There is no other word.

A few weeks ago, Jacob was officially named a Memory Master and I couldn't be more proud.  :)  In Classical Conversations, the ultimate challenge for each student is to become a Memory Master.  To be a Memory Master, the student must demonstrate that he/she has mastered all the information learned during the year.  He recited all the information to me, then a few days later, Heath quized him on everything.  A few days later, he recited all the information to his tutor, then the CC director, who officially named him a Memory Master.  Yay!!

During the last couple weeks leading up to his final review, I was a wreck.  I had that same anxious feeling I used to get before a big college exam.  Jacob seemed unfazed about the whole thing.  He knew all the information and learning it was fun for him.  He loves listening to his CC cd's and loves reading through the history sentences, etc...  Evenso, I felt compelled to make him review a lot more than usual.  I probably got on his nerves.

The thing is, learning is fun for him.  He loves it.  He loves CC.  The week before he became a Memory Master, if we were in the car, you can bet we were listening to that CC cd.  After it was all over, I was never so happy to listen to something else; however, Jacob and I had differing opinions.  He still wanted to listen to the CC cd.  Even now, several weeks later, he asks to listen to it and begs me to quiz him on all the information.  He just can't get enough.

Heath and I are super proud of him for earning the Memory Master title.  After quizzing him one night, Heath walked up to me with a look of amazement.  "I feel inferior to my five year old," he said. "He knows more than I do."

The night after the Memory Master testing, we went out for a celebratory meal.  Jacob chose the restaurant -- Sonic.  "Sonic is a good place for celebrating, " he said. 

We also rewarded him with (what else?) LEGOS.  He got to choose whatever he wanted from the LEGO store when we went to Virginia a few days later.  It was a happy day indeed.  Congratulations Memory Master Jacob!  You did it!! 

building minifigures at the LEGO store

Ready to build!!