Submitted photo Monday Campus Memory Masters, from top, left to right are Janelle Simmons, Carissa Poe, Katie Sullivan, Grace Guest and Nigel Clough. Bottom, left to right, are Jed Heidbreder, Heath Clough, Kelcie Poe, Josiah Clough and Hudson Skjervem. Tuesday campus Memory Masters, not pictured, are Avery Sargent and Jocelyn Bryant.

Twelve homeschooled students who participate in the Minot Classical Conversations program, which expanded this year to offer two campuses, earned the highest honor given by the national Classical Conversations homeschooling curriculum: the prestigious “Memory Master” award, according to a press release.

They were recognized for this achievement April 15 at the End of Year Celebration held at Minot First Church of the Nazarene.

According to the press release, Classical Conversations combines classical learning with a Biblical worldview under the belief that ultimate purpose of education is to know God and to make Him known. Memory Master is the highest award bestowed by the national Classical Conversations homeschooling curriculum to students who have mastered all the memory work for a given year.

The memory work for Classical Conversations Cycle 1 covers seven subject areas: geography, Latin, math, English grammar, science, history and timeline. Classical Conversations defines mastery as the storing of information to long-term memory, which means the students do not cram for a single test and then move on, but instead they endeavor to train the brain to retain. They “pound” each fact into their brain like a “peg” through rote memorization, which later they will be able to “hang” information on as they expand their knowledge and understanding of each topic.

At the end of the year, students who wish to obtain the Memory Master award must accurately recite all 24 weeks of information (for all seven subjects) on three different occasions to three different people to assure complete mastery. The facts they committed to memory include 161 events and people in a chronological timeline, 24 history sentences with dates to add depth to the timeline, 45 U.S. Presidents, in order, and 120 geographic features and political locations throughout history, all around the world; 53 prepositions along with grammar facts, including 23 helping verbs and 12 linking verbs; 24 science facts including classifications of living things and each continent’s highest mountain; Latin noun endings in their singular and plural cases; multiplication tables/skip counting up to 15×15, common squares and cubes as well as basic geometry formulas, algebraic math laws and unit conversions.

Parents who are interested in the Minot Classical Conversations programs may find out more at: www.classicalconversations.com or by emailing Foundations/Essentials Director Katie Vert (Campus #1, meets Mondays at the Minot First Church of the Nazarene) at reverticalinc@gmail.com or Foundations/Essentials Director Megan Sargent (Campus #2, meets Tuesdays at Crossroads Baptist) at meganmsargent@gmail.com.

Classical Conversations is also bringing its free Parent Practicum equipping event to Trinity Evangelical Free Church June 25-27. For those interested in learning more about homeschooling classically for ages PreK-12th, register at www.parentpracticum.com.