Vanessa…
My children are 7, 5 and 3. We use the scripture memory box and have for about a year now. I don’t know about other moms, but I was shocked at the sheer speed my kids pick up on verses! I am ALWAYS the last one to get the verse.:-)
We use the KJV of the bible and there are times that I give them a little idea what the passage means. But, often they don’t even ask. I guess, I feel, that we are plugging God’s word into their hearts and as life takes its course, they will start to put the pieces together. I also notice, the more they say it (which I bet on average, we work on a verse for about a week) they understand it better. At first, they are just trying to memorize and then when they have that down, comprehension comes. My kids are obviously a bit younger than yours…but, I trust God’s word does its job on their hearts and minds.:-)
We go over them during our morning devotion. We used to do them at lunch and dinner, because I thought it would take much longer to memorize. I have found that once a day is usually plenty. (ie; my kids just learned Pilippeans 4:4-9. My 5 year old knew it in two days. I thought it would take us all summer. We spent about two weeks on this verse.)
Anyway, I think you will be pleasantly surprised how just going over it once a day (and you certainly can do more), they will start memorizing the verses and really enjoy reciting them. And, as they say them, let the words penetrate their heart for understanding. Like Charlotte Mason says, they might not ‘get’ the whole thing but they are gleaning bits from it.
In my house, mom and dad are always last at getting them down.:-) We don’t move on to next verse until everyone has it.
Blessings,
Renee