Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Scripture Memory System

It has taken us a few years to develop a good system for scripture memory that works for our family. This is basically how we do it:

Passages of scripture are chosen from the weekly memory work in our curriculum, from something going on at church like VBS or a particular scripture challenge or Dad will choose some passage of scripture related to a character trait or other area that our family needs to work on.

The scripture is written on an index card and on the white board in the school room. While we are at the breakfast table, we talk our way through the verse or verses so the children understand the meaning and how it is applied to our life. We recite the scripture together a few times as a family. Then the index card is placed behind the "Daily" tab in our scripture memory box.

Our scripture memory box has 40 tabs in it labeled as follows:
Daily
Even
Odd
One for each day of the week (Monday - Saturday)
One for each day of the month (1-31)

Each day we review 4 scriptures; the daily verse, even or odd depending on the date, day of the week verse and the day of the month verse. As verses become more familiar they are moved to a less frequent location. This idea came from the folks at Simply Charlotte Mason.

After we recite the new scripture together, we make up hand motions for some of the words. We also use voice inflection and develop a rhythmical pattern for the words. Putting this all together creates a multi-sensory approach for the little ones. They may not completely understand the meaning but the words are sticking in their little minds.

The older children will use the verse on the board for copywork during school time.

We will review verses again during our lunch time and at dinner before our family worship time. Sometimes we will review while we are driving if our day requires us to be out of the house more than usual.

This is what works for us now. What ideas do you have for scripture memory with a larger family?

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