Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams with

Husband Mark Abrams

at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Connecticut on the way to Europe with

Aer Lingus whose routes deliver US passengers all over Europe with Irish charm!

.

August 29, 2026

Will Moving from HOMES to SHAME Be Helpful?

Blog by Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams

.

Radio and TV Travel Expert Stephanie Abrams overviews traditional mnemonic device to remember names of Great Lakes and introduces to a new device necessary because of the name-change of Lake Ontario. This “quick fix” is designed to provide an easy and memorable way to remember the newly established name-change of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Question: Will moving from HOMES to SHAME Be Helpful?

Answer: Perhaps this will help create a path.

I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone in news media suggest the following. Perhaps it’s because they news deliverers don’t share the same interest in education as I do. The first thing I think of when someone mentions the Great Lakes is the mnemonic device you probably learned in school that helps you to remember the names of the five Great Lakes. And herein lies the problem given a name change will make the current device, HOMES, useless when the O for Ontario is no more and the A for America creates a meaningless word when substituted.

Practical ramifications of changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America: Here’s a tip that will help you remember the Great Lakes now!

As a former 5th-grade teacher in New York City , I have experience helping students understand the social studies curriculum which traces the history of the early immigrants who settled the colonies and emerging states in what is now the US. During the New York statewide focus in fifth grade on colonial growth and expansion and the associated geography, attention is given to the Great Lakes especially as the development of New York State includes the value to the region of Lake Erie.

I have a practical concerns about proposals to rename Lake Ontario. The cost of new classroom maps, globes, text books, history books, and so many as yet unnoticed additional unnecessary budget expenses to keep students on the cutting edge of changing history, at a time when every cent should go into improving teaching methods that truly connect with students’ learning opportunities, I can’t think of a school district that would rejoice in devoting school budgets to new materials to replace outdated books and maps simply to make Lake Ontario shown with a new name. And then there’s one of the best mnemonic devices ever invented to remember a bit of iconic historic information which will go right into the trash bin in the process as the “easy to remember” term”HOMES” used to remember the five Great Lakes names (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior) won’t work as the word HAMES,” referencing Huron, America, Michigan, Erie, and Superior, means nothing and would be useless as a ‘teaching tool’ to jog memories.

My solution? If we’re going to be teaching students about the Great Lakes inclusive of the newly designated “Lake America,” an easy fix that would be memorable would be to rearrange the lakes in this order: Superior, Huron, America, Michigan, Erie.

This would accomplish 2 things:

1) Superior, the largest lake, would take its place FIRST in the list where the biggest would be followed by the smaller lakes and not as an after-thought stuck at the current end of the list of names, and, . . .

2. The mnemonic device that emerges from listing the Great Lakes incorporating Lake America into the group would be easy to remember: “SHAME.”

Anyone looking for an easy way to remember the names of all of the Great Lakes reflecting the new name change of Lake Ontario will find this quick fix the short cut to getting the answer right in the next game of Trivia you play or, if you’re a student somewhere facing a pop-quiz, this mnemonic device may be your path to getting the answer right especially since it will take some time for makers of maps, globes and books to catch up with production and distribution to libraries, schools, atlases and geography books on sale through book stores and distributors where you can delve into the depths of this newly named lake.