To reckon is to guess or to suppose. example: I reckon' we're going to be out late. ( I guess/suppose we're going to be out late.) To consider is to ponder or think about a matter. example: I will consider your lateness as a violation of curfew. ( I think your lateness is a violation of curfew.) As in many situations, both words have multiple meanings. They potentially mean different things in different regions of the states. East and West coasts do not say reckon. However, a day of reckoning.....

If you use the verb 'to consider', it suggests that you have thought over and examined the idea and come to a conclusion, whereas if you use the verb 'to reckon' it suggests that you are making a general assumption.

I think they mean the same thing. But here in California, you never hear someone using the word "reckon". I would just use the word "consider"

"Reckon" basically means to calculate. We use "reckon" in Australian English frequently, to mean "think". I reckon there's no problem with that. :) To me, there's already a conclusion made. "Consider" comes from Latin, and breaks down to basically mean "to look at closely" (At what? Stars, interestingly enough.) It goes better with the thinking process, and when it is put with a conclusion, it still has the feeling of a current opinion. Watch this old Aussie car ad and see if "reckon" could go at the end. Or would Mussorgsky too roll in his grave? :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn3-B2HltDg

Yeah, "to recken" might be more common down South (in the southeastern US). It might date back to Elizabethan English (from around the 1600's), but I'm not sure.