The disappointment felt in the lack of progress after time spent in study is not that we forget, but that we do not really "GET." This lack can be largely avoided in the child's training if you are willing to help in forming right habits.
Visualization the Greatest Aid
The principle of visualization, as discussed in the first book, will prove of the greatest aid, because it is the natural method of using the mind.
To visualize the thought of the author will stimulate thinking, will increase the understanding of the subject matter, and at the same time make the strongest impression upon the brain and thus help him to remember.
The Mississippi Captain
An excellent illustration of the use and value of visualization in learning and remembering was given by an old captain of a Mississippi River steamer. "Do you know how I learned the river," he asked; "well I just lay in bed nights and made a picture in my mind of the river and the course I had to steer. Then I would go over the picture and see every detail of it and review it several times. I'd sail up and down that river several times each night, I'd see every landmark and every danger point on each trip. That's the way I learned it and I became a captain when I was younger than many men who had sailed the river longer than I had."
The Artist's Picture
When an artist seats himself before a new canvas he knows definitely what he is going to place upon it. He either has a model before him, or in his mind's eye sees a beautiful picture. He will give weeks, months, or even years of effort in order to place upon that canvas a picture equal in perfection and beauty to the one which he sees.
Notice that a mind's eye picture is often the starting point of the artist. He strives to place upon the canvas the reproduction of the idea which he sees in his mind. He finishes and exhibits his work; you look upon the picture with your physical eye and through its agency the result of the artist's effort becomes a picture-impression upon your brain. You see what he saw, and the longer you gaze at the painting and the greater amount of detail you perceive, the more vivid it becomes and the stronger the impression upon your mind, therefore, the more perfect the memory of the picture. This is true of your own mind's eye picture for memory purposes.