October 04, 2011

memorizing scriptures.

you know, i often focus this blog on my yearnings... things i wish i could do better.
but, there are a lot of things we do very well.

one thing we have done for a long time, is have our children memorize scriptures.
we usually pick a family theme for the year.  This year our theme is d&c 64:33-- i LOVE it.  LOVE. LOVE. it.
then, we pick a different scripture every week that corresponds with our theme.
we memorize a different scripture every family night and review the scripture every morning during scripture study.

i think kids memorize best when they really understand what the words MEAN.
so, i start by TEACHING the scripture.
then we practice them a lot.
even my little girls have memorized all the articles of faith and most of our family night scriptures.

my favorite way to memorize is this...
write the first letter of each word, and have the kids say them over and over.

i also like to break the scriptures down into smaller lines and memorize those.
we always say them a few times with the helps and then slowly remove helps until the scripture is memorized.

This year, i started a new thing.
In the mornings, when i study, i pick a scripture or a quote that stands out to me... and I memorize it.
I have LOVED committing to memory the things that I'm learning.
And, I can't tell you how many times I end up quoting the scriptures I've memorized in conversations throughout the week.

Memorizing scriptures-- it's a good thing.

2 comments:

  1. What a coincidence that you mention this. I felt prompted during GC this weekend to have our family start memorizing scriptures. We started last night with Mosiah 2:17. I agree that it's amazing how much kids are able to memorize when they are so young.

    I like the idea of putting up the first letter of every word. I think this will work well for our 1 kid that's old enough to read. :)

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Have you listened to LDS Scripture Rock? My husband started teaching seminary this year and we all memorized a scripture mastery verse on the way home from church. The song is still stuck in our heads a few weeks later! Even my 5 yr old got it and he was trying hard not to listen...

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