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Family Bible Time
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I have a 6, 4, and 2 year old and I am wondering if someone could describe what has worked for your family in regards to when you work on Scripture memory, when and what you do for family devotions/scripture reading, and when and what you use for a Bible storybook for little ones. We have done many things in the past, but I feel like I have never got a consistent routine in this area because in the past my husband worked shifts that were continually changing. Thankfully, his schedule is consistent now and I am trying to figure out a plan that we can be more committed to as a family. I would love some advice!
We have tried a lot of things over the years (kids are 14, 11, 9, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, and due yesterday). Here are a few things that have worked at various times and seasons.
Scripture memory is the easiest, to be honest, because we simply repeat a scripture aloud together every single day until we master it. Then we add a second scripture every day. Once we have a few too many to say all of them every day we start retiring a verse or two to every other day, then every 3rd day, etc. I have found most of my little ones pick up something we’ve repeated like this pretty well within 1-2 weeks.
For scripture reading we’ve done Old Testament Stories and New Testament Stories (you can find them by searching those titles on Deseretbook.com The publisher/author listed on there for them will be LDS Distribution Center.) These are illustrated, easy to understand, and work well for an introduction for little kids.
Our other scripture reading preference is to simply read directly from the scriptures daily. You could start with Penny Gardner Bible Stories (it’s two free lists where she basically found the ‘stories’ for us to read to our kids and skips over long passages of things like ‘begats’. Read one each day. Once you make it through all her lists for Old and New Testament start over again. Or start in Genesis 1:1 and read every verse this time, not expecting to finish a whole chapter each day, though sometimes you will. Other times the kids won’t stay engaged that long.
We used to do our “Together Time” (Bible memory and Bible story) first thing in our list of school subjects. Then I started saving it for the “Nap Time” prelude. That worked the best, really.
Now that my girls are beyond naps, I am actually finding it hard to fit in! I think I need to tie it to a meal (pre- or post-meal, so that they can recite the verse without food in their mouths!).
Over the years, we have used different Bible story books – those blue ones you find in doctors’ offices (we were allowed to borrow a full set – that took us 1.5 years to read through). The Golden Book (?) of Bible Stories (it’s the one recommended by Memoria Press). And others that were given to us or that I found at book sales.
Currently, we’re doing Pilgrim’s Progress (CBD had the Answers in Genesis curriculum on sale – so we’re using that, but without the worksheets. Having the dramatized reading to follow along with is key to understanding all the old English.)
For memory verses, we use the SCM index card system…..but I put mine in a 3ring binder and use full pages, instead of the index cards. It works better for me that way.
We do scripture memory (just work on a verse/passage until they have it memorized…this can take 1 week or a couple months depending on how long it is). 3 days a week we sing a hymn. We add in a short Bible reading at the start of each school day. When I just had little ones, we read through a children’s Bible story each day. This is a great choice for little kids, I like the realistic pictures: http://www.amazon.com/Story-Bible-Edward-Engelbrecht/dp/0758619022/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1446515632&sr=8-2&keywords=the+story+bible
Our family devotions are separate from school, and we do them everyday. I’d pick a time when you can do it consistently…we do ours right before bed. I can’t remember the last time we missed one. It’s truly become a habit for us! Some nights we wait up for DH, other nights, we just go ahead and with whoever is home. We keep our devotions fairly short (5-10 minutes). There is a short Bible reading, a short devotion, and a short prayer. We’ve gone through a few volumes of Little Visits with God, which is a Lutheran family devotional. If you are non-denominational, Leading Little Ones to God is popular.
Thanks for the ideas! I am excited to begin a new schedule so that we can consistently and intentionally be hiding His Word in our hearts.
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