I remember when my oldest son started third grade. He came home during the first week with a list of "expectations" that his teacher had prepared for him. One of the expectations was that he would memorize a poem each week. I was stunned. He was eight- and rambunctious! I had serious reservations about his ability to meet this requirement. But each week he shared a different poem at the dinner table. Some were funny and light-hearted (Betty Botter's Better Batter) others demanded some reflection (The Road Not Taken). But he managed to memorize all of them with no help from me, and many of them he still remembers nearly five years later.
There is great power in memorization. Many of our General Authorities have shared scriptures and poems and passages of literature in their addresses. Often they note that these are things that they memorized when they were young.
I've printed up a book of poems shared in General Conference for each child. We will memorize them in our house at a rate of one a week, the kids can choose what order they want to go in, and a couple to skip completely. My eight year old will be working only on the Articles of Faith.
