SANFORD — A local branch of the home educators group Classical Conversations announced Tuesday its winners of the prestigious Memory Master award.

Among the winners are two Biddeford students, Thomas Laverriere and Madeleine Laverriere. The award is given to students who are able to successfully memorize all the information presented for the entire year.

Thomas, 10, and Madeleine, 8, earned the Memory Master award on April 17, 2018, when they each spent approximately two total hours recalling facts from six subjects and a history timeline, at Evergreen Covenant Church, host of the Sanford campus of Classical Conversations.

This year that information included more than 500 pieces of information; a chronological timeline of 161 events and people; history, including the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; 120 locations and geographic features in North America; science facts, including the first 12 elements of the periodic table and the parts of 8 body systems; Latin rules and vocabulary; English grammar facts, including the principal parts of 11 irregular verbs; math, including common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas, and unit conversions; and reciting all 45 U.S. presidents.

Classical Conversations is a Christian community for homeschool families with students in grades K through high school.

The power-packed programs meet once a week for 12 weeks in the fall and twelve weeks in the winter/spring months and are based on the classical model of education, families meet weekly to introduce new memory work (or grammar of a subject) and review old memory work using Classical Conversations’ curriculum.

A trained tutor creatively introduces the memory work and leads the classroom time. The memory work is divided into 6 subjects: timeline/history, geography, math, science, Latin, and English grammar. In addition to the memory work, students also participate in a fine arts project/lesson, a science project, and an opportunity to practice oral presentation skills each week. 

Students, parents, and tutors develop valuable relationships, and parents love the academic complement this program provides.

Anyone interested in learning more about Classical Conversations, is asked to contact Austin Catalano at sanfordclassical@gmail.com, or visit www.classicalconversations.com

The next informational meeting about the Classical Conversations Challenge program, open to students ages 12 to 18, is scheduled for Tuesday, June 19, Evergreen Covenant Church in Sanford.