(soft music) - Hello friends, and welcome to this episode of the Everyday Educator. My name is Kelly Wilt, and today I have the pleasure of interviewing some of my very favorite people. I currently serve as a curriculum developer with Classical Conversations Multimedia. And one of the joys of that position is that I also have the blessing of emceeing Classical Conversations National Memory Master Competition.

So you may have heard in the past some things about National Memory Master. Do these students draw the world from memory? Do they recite the timeline backwards? Do they know all the memory work from all three cycles? Well, the answers to those three questions are yes, yes, and yes, and we'll be answering those questions and more on today's podcast.

I am excited to have with me Ewan Fisher, who is our 2024 National Memory Master Champion, along with his mom, Kim. And today they are our very special guests on this episode of the Everyday Educator. So Ewan and Kim, first of all, let me say welcome. And Kim, why don't you take a minute to introduce your family to our listening audience?

- Hi, we live in Texas. We've been a part of CC for several years, and we have loved the Memory Master process and the National Memory Master process. My husband is a math professor, and we have a dog named Lizzie Bennett, for you Pride and Prejudice fans out there.

- Love it, love it. - And we have 33 chickens that also have literary names, and we have a cat named Lily Wingfeather, for the Wingfeather Saga friends out there. So we love homeschooling and we love reading, and we love being together. - Oh, all good things, all good things.

So first of all, Ewan, let me say congratulations on being named the 2024 National Memory Master Champion. After all the preparation you did beforehand, as well as the pressures of the competition, how did it feel when you heard your name announced as the winner? - Well, I was incredulous.

(laughing) - I love that word. Tell me more, how did it feel? I remember, well, I was there to see your face, and you're right, you did look incredulous. Were you surprised? Were you excited? How did it make you feel? - Both surprised and excited. (laughing) - So good.

Well, this year's competition, we had something new happen that had never happened before. In our round two of National Memory Master, we actually had five finalists move forward rather than our typical four. So Ewan was one of our five finalists, and he did a great job with his presentations in round two after being completely flawless with remembering his memory work and timeline in round one.

I love that word, incredulous. So, Kim, Classical Conversations is a family made up of families, and that is evident by the way that we love each other, and we support each other at National Memory Master before, and during, and after the competition. So tell us, how did you find out about CC, and what is your family's CC story?

- We first started homeschooling about 12 years ago, and my husband's job took us to Texas, and I did my first information meeting over the phone with a CC director, and I knew that my kids, that small children, that young children, that they had this ability to memorize things, and I had it on my heart that I wanted them to put good things in their heart and to memorize good things, and so the classical model, the trivium, the grammar stage, my kids were there, and I saw that there was an opportunity for great benefit, that they could memorize good things, and I liked the structure of how CC systematically helped them learn good things and how they could learn how to learn, and when we moved to Texas and started CC, I was so supported by the CC community, and over the last 10 years in CC, that's just been such a blessing.

All the families and all the people that we have met and how they've been such an encouragement along the way. - Oh, that's so wonderful. It's so great to hear that from the very beginning, you felt supported, because I really do think that community is one of the aspects of classical conversations that is truly valuable, especially when we're beginning homeschooling and trying to find the right path for our families.

Now, Ewan, this fall, you are gonna be headed into a new world, my friend. Challenge A, how old were you when you started Foundations? - I was four years old. - Oh my goodness, were you a memory master from the very beginning, or was this something you decided to do later?

- I started doing memory master four years ago, and I've done it every year since, so I've done it four times. - Awesome. So what made you decide to send in an entry to National Memory Master this year? - My older sisters, Evelyn and Marianne, were also both chosen as National Memory Master finalists.

- Ah, okay. - And it was a really great experience for them. - Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. I'm so glad to hear that. So in full disclosure, I do know Ewan's two older sisters. Evelyn was scheduled to be a finalist in the year 2020, and unfortunately, that was the year that everything turned upside down with COVID, and the competition, unfortunately, had to be canceled due to that.

And Marianne was one of our finalists in 2022, did an outstanding job. So I was really excited, Ewan, when I saw that you had also decided to compete this year. Kim, was pursuing National Memory Master something you encouraged Ewan to do, or was it mostly his idea? And tell us, what was creating a video entry like for you and for your family?

- Well, we first heard about National Memory Master, I saw it in some CC advertisements several years ago before my oldest was even eligible, and I mentioned it to her at the time, and she said, "That sounds like so much fun." - Yes. - And when I see challenges, I think, "Ooh, that looks like a really neat opportunity." And so, and my oldest was really excited about it, and the process of creating the video, I realized that it's the last part of names, you know, those habits of grammar, the storytelling, taking what you have learned, and taking what you have memorized, and expressing it, and telling it in a story.

And creating the video audition, it was such a rewarding experience, she learned so much, she had a great time. And she was chosen as a finalist, we were so excited, and even though it was canceled, the friendships that she made with that group of kids are still a blessing to her.

So when it came time for Marianne's turn, and we said, "Do you wanna do this?" And she said, "Absolutely." And so, again, you know, the video was a lot of work, but there's so many valuable lessons in learning to speak and storytell from memory, and learning to look at the camera, and learning to keep your body still, and learning to use dynamics when you're speaking to tell a story, learning to use good body language when you're trying to speak and tell a story.

And again, it was a really rewarding experience to create the video, and then being chosen to compete, for her, she actually got to go. She was in the top four, and she did a fantastic job, I was so proud of her. And after the fact, even though she didn't win, she came away with some wonderful friendships, and still is pen pals with some of her great friends from that 2022 year.

And if they're listening, it's, hi everyone, they are such a great group of families. And I think Ewan saw his sisters going through this, and I don't know if he paid attention to all the work they did or not. (laughing) If he just saw how they had such a good time, and they made good friends, and so he was excited.

We said, do you wanna do this too? You don't have to, and he said yes. So he went through the process of memory mastering early, and then again, the video was a fantastic experience. So for our family, we saw the video just really as a capstone experience for the Foundations of Program, just kind of taking all that you've learned and telling a fun story with it.

And for each of them, we probably took over 30 takes of the video. (laughing) So many fun memories of, well, the dog barked, or the doorbell rang, or all kinds of things that can go wrong, but being able to get a good take where they felt like, I said that my best, we were under the time limit, I didn't move around, I looked at the camera the whole time, and those are all such good skills to learn.

And so it, oh, and there's a couple times, the parents have to say some things to you on the video, and we did have a couple of takes that were not good because mom messed up. (laughing) Ewan reminded me of that just now. They thought that was pretty funny.

But it was just a good experience, a great learning experience, but it was definitely, it involved the whole family working together to do that. So I think he was really inspired by the great experience that his older sisters had, and he says, "I want to do that too." - Oh, I love that, I love that.

So listening to you speak, I almost feel as if we need to schedule a separate podcast just so you can give tips and tricks (laughing) to families who are thinking about doing National Memory Master in the future, and maybe you're intimidated by the process of putting together that video entry because after helping shepherd three children through that experience, I know that you are a wealth of wisdom about what to do and what not to do when preparing a National Memory Master video.

That's so wonderful. And I also love one of the things you've said about relationships that are cultivated at National Memory Master. That is so very true, because I heard several people say, even this year, that they came for the competition, but they stayed for the relationships and the friendships that were made from it.

And what a blessing that is to see that even in the midst of competing for a title and for a prize, that those relationships were key, and that they were the thing that was the ultimate priority, even in the midst of the competition. So wonderful. Well, Ewan, I know it takes a lot of hard work to become a National Memory Master.

So when you found out that your video had been selected as a finalist video, and it was so wonderful, if you're listening to this podcast, you definitely need to go to the CC website and watch Ewan's video. It alludes to "The Lord of the Rings." So if that entices you, please go take a look.

But Ewan, once you found out that you were gonna be coming to the competition, what kinds of things did you do to help you be able to prepare? - Well, I drew a map of the world every day for a while. - Wow. - And I also worked on learning the timeline, both forwards and backwards, every day.

And I also got quizzed by family members a lot. (laughing) - Did they take turns? - Yes. - So good, so good. Well, Kim, we know that pursuing National Memory Master is definitely not something a student does all alone. So we know that Ewan was definitely not on his own in preparing in this way.

In what ways did your family and community surround you and show support for you and Ewan through this process? - Well, Ewan has had fantastic tutors over his time in CC. And he had Ms. Lori this year, Ms. Alyssa if you're listening and Ms. Sarah and his director, Ms.

Ashley, and he's had so many good tutors. And it was some of the memory work that we would come time to review that. And he would say, "Oh, I'll never forget that "because Ms. Alyssa taught me this, this, and this." - Love that. - I feel like the community is definitely a part of, when you leave that community day, that memory work is already on its way in because of all the work that the tutors do.

And what were you gonna say? Were you gonna add something to that, Ewan? - I think that it was the, all the different first conjugation endings. - Oh, that Ms. Alyssa helped me with. - That was Ms. Alyssa's part. (all laughing) But that was like a little saying for everyone.

Like, there's such and such like manages to work it in. - So through that Foundations program, just lots of tools to learn things and tools to learn things well. So I think one of the things that I would encourage anyone who thinks that preparing for National Memory Master is overwhelming, and I think Ewan would probably agree that once he found out that he was chosen, it was pretty overwhelming.

And I think as his, I felt like my job was to kind of sit down and say, all right, we're gonna draw the map of the world, and this is overwhelming. I want you to put down everything you could add in, and then we'll be done. And then tomorrow, he did a little bit more.

And initially, for him to put all that memory work in, it took a very, very long time, much longer than the time limit. But every day, he was a little faster, and he did a little bit more. And I think that's one of the things I'm most proud of, of the growth, just that, and I think this is something that the classical model in CC encourages, is if you have a big task, break it into small pieces, just work on it a little bit every day.

And every day, he could add more in. Every day, it looked neater. Every day, he was faster with the map. His older sisters definitely inspired him on the timeline. So his older sister, Evelyn, is a classical ballerina, and she's been in the Nutcracker several years. And so when she first started learning the timeline backwards several years ago, she learned it to the music of the second act of the Nutcracker, which are the divertissements.

And so Marianne, and you know, Ewan has performed in the Nutcracker as a guest, just a guest, a little boy guest. - Right. - At a party. - At a few, several times. But, so we know that really well. And so for each of them, you know, that overwhelming aspect of learning the timeline backwards, they started by learning it in musical sections to the divertissements in the second act of the Nutcracker.

And from there, and they were instrumental in helping him do that. He made recordings for himself, but his sister, Marianne, also had a fun system with the timeline cards that she taught Ewan, and that he kind of adapted and made his own. Do you wanna talk about how you practiced the timeline with the timeline cards?

- Well, we had, we took all the vocabulary cards, actually. - From IEW. (laughs) You have their blue, green, and beige, right? - Yes. - Yeah. So we took those and we would lay them out in circles for all the different songs. And I would have, and I would just have the timeline cards all laid out in a row.

And I would just take a few of the timeline cards in a group, mix it up, and then put it back in order as fast as I could. - Ah. - It helped. - And so the IEW color codes, I know it sounds kind of crazy, but they were, each musical section had kind of a color.

And so he would organize them and rearrange them by musical section, but he had, so he had the auditory musical version of the timeline, but he also had the visual representation of the cards that were in order and that he could put in order so that he could see it and hear it when he was asked to recite.

- I love that, I love that. So if you were listening to this episode and you were in need of memory tools to help you be able to recite the timeline backwards, you just need to listen to "The Nutcracker." (laughing) I love it, I love it. - Also. - Yes.

- Also, unfortunately, now this has ruined the second act for me because every time I hear that music, I start thinking about the timeline. - Oh, no. (laughing) So every Christmas from now until forever, Ewan, you will think about the timeline song if you hear "The Nutcracker." - I love that, though, as a memory tool.

Who would have thought? But I do know we have some tools in our memory work that are built in, like our history songs and our timeline song to help our students be able to commit things to memory. And I love the addition of those flashcards, even just using the color as a clue to memory.

It's amazing how God has designed our brains to be able to retain information. And when we commit that information over time, just like you were saying, bit by bit, a little more at a time, it's incredible what the Lord has designed us to be able to retain. I love that.

Like I said, I think we definitely need to schedule another podcast just so you guys can share tips and tricks. So Ewan, I wanna talk a little bit about your National Memory Master experience. And before we do that, I just wanna remind our listeners that round one of National Memory Master is a memory bee.

So during round one, as the emcee of the competition, I will be calling out questions in different heats from all three cycles of Foundations Memory Work, kind of popcorn style. You never know which cycle a question will come from. You don't know which subject it will be from. And then after each of the finalists on the platform have answered a memory work question, then da, da, da, we go into a timeline heat where we ask our students to do some mental gymnastics related to timeline events, which you've already heard Ewan talk about a little bit in reciting the timeline backwards, being prepared to do that.

But Ewan, we did a lot more than that at competition this year, didn't we? - Yes. - We did. So let's think about round one. When we did the memory bee portion and everyone was sitting on the chairs on the stage, what do you think was the hardest part of that round one?

- Definitely the timeline questions. - I had a feeling you were gonna say that. So why the timeline questions? - I feel like they just asked us to do harder things than memory work. - Maybe give an example. - As the time you counted forward and then went back saying every card you didn't say.

- That was tough, right? - That was tough. - That was tough. But the amazing thing is Ewan, you didn't make any errors in that part of the competition. That was pretty amazing. - So when they asked you to do that, could you see the pictures of the timeline cards in a row in your head?

Is that how you were doing it? Or how did you do that? - I saw the timeline cards in a row and then mixing that together with songs is, it helps. - Oh good, that's so good. I had a feeling you were gonna say the timeline questions were the hardest because we were definitely asking you to do things that are above and beyond what you would do when you proof for memory master in community.

So you are having to actually think about the events, not just moving forward like you would when you proof for regular community memory master. You are having to skip count events. I think during one of the questions, I asked you to recite events backwards from an event. So you were assigning backwards.

And at one point, I think I even asked you to recite five events forward and then go back to the original event and then recite backwards from that event too. And you did an amazing job. You and the other finalists who made it to round two did an incredible job.

- That question you talked about, was that the one where you said the one in front, then the one that you said the one in front of the card, you told us, then the one behind the card you told us. - Yes. - Staying forward and backward alternate. - Yes, yes, that was tough, wasn't it?

- Yes. - So Ewan, what helped you? I mean, because we're talking about some crazy memory work recitation. What helped you to focus and remember your memory work in the different heats? Because you're a pretty cool cucumber. I have to say, like you didn't seem like you were ruffled.

And I always loved seeing your expression whenever I told you that you got something right, because I think you were surprised at yourself and what you were able to do. But what helped you to keep your cool, even with all of those things that you were having to think about and calculate forward and backward in your brain?

Is there anything that you can think of that helped you to stay cool even under the pressure? - One thing that really helped was trying to mentally answer everybody else's questions. - Yes, yes. I remember during the competition, at one point I was watching the student who was behind the microphone.

And then I looked at everyone in the row behind that particular student, and I could see you all moving your fingers. And I knew that you were all counting timeline events. And I think one of the dearest parts of being the MC is watching the expressions of the other finalists when they realized, before the judges said, "That is correct," they would realize that their friend had gotten that really difficult answer correct.

So again, going back to the fact that great relationships are built during National Memory Master, and it was so wonderful to see you guys celebrating one another during the competition. Kim, as a parent, how did it feel to watch you and tackle these incredibly difficult feats of Timeline Gymnastics during round one, and then go on to round two?

- One of the things that we prayed for for Ewan and that we'd ask others to pray was that he'd be able to recite with joy and that what he had learned would come to mind. And to see him recite, and I could tell that he was joyful, and you really could watch on the stage and you could see that he was cheering for his friends and that they were cheering for him.

- Yes. - And that was such an encouragement. Now, all the parents, we were nervous for everybody. We really did not want anyone to get out because you knew that all of the 16 finalists knew the memory work and they knew it well. And we were really cheering for everyone and that helped.

And I also knew that if he didn't remember something or if he made a mistake, that it would be okay. And I was confident that he would come away from this experience with a good memory of it, with great friends and a great experience, and a feeling that I took a risk and I tried something hard and either was successful or it was not successful, but that it was okay.

And I hope that his older sister, when she came away, and like I said, she was in the top four as a finalist. And I think she would tell you that it was just such a wonderful experience and that winning wasn't necessary to her happiness. So it's a delightful, exciting bonus.

(laughing) But it was really rewarding to see him be joyful on stage and to see all of the kids cheering for each other and encouraging one another, and knowing that that prayer for joy was answered. - I love that, I love that. And I would second that. You can definitely tell, Ewan, that you were joyful as you recited.

And I think it is a blessing to see our children delight in the giftings that God has given to them. I think that was really evident on the platform as each student recited their memory work just to see how happy they were to be there and participating and spending time with their friends and celebrating the remarkable accomplishments that were made on that platform.

And also knowing that these accomplishments were not an overnight decision. No student that competed this year woke up and said, "I think I'm gonna do National Memory Master today." You could tell there were years and years of dedication and commitment, not only on the part of the student, but most definitely on the part of each parent that was in that room.

And so it was just a delight to celebrate that accomplishment of each family and not only the students. So Ewan, I know we've talked about a lot of hard things, but if you close your eyes and think really hard, what do you think was the most difficult, the hardest part of competing in National Memory Master?

- I'm gonna ask, was it the hardest part before the competition or was the hardest part during? - Hmm, well if you have an answer for both, why don't you give both? That's a really good delineation. - So hardest part before the competition and hardest part during the competition.

- Yeah, let's do that. What was the hardest part before the competition? - Before the competition, I think it was just trying to keep myself calm and just saying, "Calm down, calm down." (laughing) - Just wondering what could happen, probably trying to keep yourself calm. I can totally identify with that, Ewan.

I think that probably would be the most difficult thing for me too if I were competing in National Memory Master. What was the hardest part for you during National Memory Master? - I feel like there were two things that were harder than the others and that was the timeline questions, of course.

- Yes. - And also the story. - Oh, let's talk a little bit more about that. Let's talk a little more about that. So what was difficult about the story? Maybe we need to clarify for the people who are listening what you're talking about. In round two, our students, as part of their competing in round two, they're asked to go back to a room and to prepare a story prompt similar to what we do when they create an entry, a video entry for National Memory Master.

So Ewan, you got 20 minutes to look at 12 pieces of memory work and then you had to make a story, right? - Yes. - So tell me what was difficult about that. - It's just, that's one of the hardest things to prepare for. I mean-- - 'Cause you don't know what they're gonna choose.

- Yes. - Right. - You, I mean, you can get, you can, what's hard is when practicing, you tend to have people looking over your shoulder and stuff. - Right. - And helping correct you, but during the competition, there's just-- - You're by yourself. - Yeah, and it's hard to prepare for that.

- That is true, that is true. - It's hard to prepare for doing that by yourself when most of the preparing would be with people. - Right. - So that's hard. - Yeah, that is hard. And you actually recited all 12 pieces of memory work that were given to you when you gave your story prompt.

So that's kind of incredible because other parts of round two involve reciting John one, one through seven in Latin and English. And then also I gave you a point on the timeline and you began reciting forward from that point, reciting as many timeline events as you could in the time that you were given.

And even after those two parts, you were still able to remember those pieces of memory work and weave them into your story. That in itself is a really incredible act of memory, friend. Well done. So Kim, what benefits do you see for you? And I will say this based on your past two experiences with Evelyn and with Marianne, what benefits do you see for them through preparing for and participating in National Memory Master?

Now that it's over, do you look back and think you would do it again? I think I know the answer to that, but I'm gonna let you answer that question. - Part of the reward is really the preparation. And I've already mentioned that the audition video was such a fantastic learning experience.

Just being asked to speak and to recite in that way, it's such a rewarding, good experience. The preparation also, I think Ewan and his sisters and our family, it was, we all worked together. It was encouraging. And having all three participated in that, they have that shared memory and shared experience.

And of course they have the friendships and the families and the encouragement of, I had encouragement from the great moms that I met both years about moms who are trying to do the same things that are trying to disciple their children and all over the country and all the beautiful ways that they're doing that, that's encouraging to you as a mom.

I think that all three kids are blessed by the experience of seeing a hard, difficult, what seems an impossible task and working on it every day, just a little bit at a time and every day trying to do just a little bit more. And for his older sisters, it really gave them confidence to try really hard things.

And when they had opportunities that came up in the following years, they weren't afraid. They weren't afraid to try something hard. And that's what we want for all of our kids. We want them to not be afraid to do something hard, but then to have the tools and have practiced through ownership and discipline, all those themes of talent.

- Yes. - But to have practiced owning, this is something I want to do and kind of living out that daily discipline of doing what needs to be done and loving what needs to be done, learning to love the things that need to be done in order to do them well.

And when you work hard and when you work for the Lord, then you have something to share. And so I'm thankful for that experience that the National Mermaid Master Space created an opportunity to try something hard and the beauty of it and the reward of it is not in the winning, but is in the process that you went through to go through it.

- I love that. I love learning to love what must be done and what you said earlier. - That's actually a quote. That's actually a quote from one of the CC students who was on the grad panel at National Conference. - I think that's so wonderful and such a great philosophy to have.

I mean, for life, period. But even thinking about preparing for something like this competition, seeing, as you said, challenges as an opportunity and just focusing on that mindset is what a difference. That quote, learning to love what must be done, because if we love what must be done, we see it as an act of love.

We see it as a love offering to the Lord when we do it to the best of our ability. It's not for our glory, but it's for His. And I think that is so important. That's one of the things that when we have the competition, we really try to emphasize the fact that we are celebrating a love offering from these students before the Lord.

And what a joy it is to see them come into the competition already having that understanding and that mindset and that mentality. Just such a testimony to the parents who have instilled that love for the Lord and for learning about His word and His world, even prior to the National Memory Master Competition.

Well, our time is almost up, but you and I want to give you the last word in our podcast today. So if you could give any words of wisdom, let's say that there is a foundation student that this fall they're gonna be going to their very last year of foundations and they're on the fence about whether or not they should try to do National Memory Master.

What words of advice would you give to them or words of wisdom? Should they do it? What advice would you give to them? I would encourage it. It's a fun experience and making the audition videos fun. And also when studying, just go, just take, just do a little more every day until you've done everything that needs to be done.

Those are great words of wisdom. Do a little bit every day until what needs to be done is done. Excellent. Well, Ewan, congratulations to you on your win and this year's competition. I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to continue to do in and through your life as you move into challenge A in the fall.

And Kim, congratulations to you. I say this not just for you, but also for Mary Ann and for Evelyn. I just am so grateful for the words of wisdom that you have shared here today. And who knows, maybe we have lit the fire of the next round of National Memory Master finalists for 2025 just through what has been shared here today.

Thank you both so much. And thank you Lister for turning into this episode of The Everyday Educator. Our prayer is that you are inspired and encouraged and that every day you will strive to be an educator that honors and glorifies the Lord. Thanks so much. We'll see you in the next one.

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