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Scripture Memory System – am I doing this right?
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I have used this Scripture Memory box since January and I thought my 2 children knew the verses well enough to move them back. We are now at a point where we finally have enough verses in days of the week, even/odd, and daily. But, they don’t seem to remember the verses. All three of us were VERY frustrated by it today. I don’t want it to be a bad part of our day (as it was today). They just kept spurting out whatever came to mind like “because this is good” or “Psalm” for the reference when it was incorrect.
So I am frustrated because they don’t seem to know them. Should I still be reading the card as they say it with me, or should they say it on their own?
I guess I need a script to follow for a good example of how this works. Here is what we are doing now:
To learn it daily:
I say: Ephesians 6:1
They say: Ephesians 6:1
We say: Children, obey your parents, because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. Ephesians 6:1 (They say it along with me as best they can until they get to know it.)
After it goes to weekly, I expect them to say it all without me after I announce Ephesians 6:1. But I get that “deer in the headlights” look.
So I say: Children,
They say: obey your parents
Brief moment of silence in which no one can remember what comes next.
I say: because
They say: this is the right thing to do. (Which is skipping “you belong to the Lord) ???!!!???
Then I tried having them to repeat after me instead of saying it with me (for daily only with a different verse – using same verse here for example purpose). It was hard for them to do this since they are used to saying it with me. Is this what I should be doing?
I say: Ephesians 6:1
They say: Ephesians 6:1
I say: Children, obey your parents,
They say: Children, obey your parents,
I say: because you belong to the Lord,
They say: because you belong to the lord,
I say: for this is the right thing to do.
They say: for this is the right thing to do.
I say: Ephesians 6:1
They say: Ephesians 6:1
Either way, shouldn’t they be able to recite the whole verse on their own when I say, “Ephesians 6:1”? Did I move the card back too soon? How should this work?
Note: This is NIV. We now try to use KJV, but this was one of our first verses and I do not want to get into a discussion over which versions of Scripture to use. Please help me figure out where I went wrong with the Memory System.
Don’t think I can solve the problem but this is what we do. We use sign language during the verses. Not for every word but the major ones for sure. I say the verses along with them and when they are moved to monthly slots, I still may have to get them started or do the signs without speaking. This is especially true right now since we took the summer off. I also put little pictures on the cards to go with the verses and show them the card quickly prior to saying it. For example, for Ephesians 6:1 I might draw stick figure kids holding hands with a stick figure mom or something. I move the verses back every week whether they have it memorized perfectly or not b/c we learn a new one each week with our weekly character trait. But we do the verses every week day and some days are perfect, some are not. I would not expect them to memorize many verses perfectly for the rest of their lives without constantly going over the verses but memorizing is not a strong point of mine. Start again tomorrow with a deep breath, get creative, try again!
I say it with them. Also you might be moving to the next one a little early.
When we knew a few, I ended up starting all over again with our first one to relearn them, and that helped….
I do what you have in your second description…I say, they say, I say, they say. We do this until they can say it without me. Sometimes it takes a week or sometimes much longer. I admit that I also give them clues or a starter word on most review verses.
I do not make a big deal about them needing to be helped sometimes. I’m not sure if I do it correctly or not, but they enjoy it right now so I have chosen not to be strict about it. How old are your children? Mine are 9 and 10.
I don’t know about the Scripture box, but I tried something new with my DD this week, and she learned the verse very quickly this way. I wrote the verse on a white board, and we read the verse together. One of my children would erase a word, and we would read the verse again. We repeated this for several words. The next day we reviewed reading the entire passage and then erasing the words from the previous day. Then we picked up where we left off. Sometimes we would erase two words. Well, my daughter got ambitious and decided to erase everything when there were still a lot of words on the board. (The passage was actually two verses.) She had the whole thing memorized! Then this morning I thought I might have to write the passage on the board again, but she remembered it all!
Artcmomto3 has a good idea and in fact I use this method for math facts (Professor B curriculum). It is fun and engaging. I usually say in a fun voice, “I bet you can’t remember every number (or since this is scripture use words of course) or sometimes even I get into the game to see if Mom knows it before they do! ” it’s like a challenge, and it lightens the drudgery of those who dislike memorizing. 🙂
When I do scripture memory box, I remember Sonya recommending to say the verse number, read the scripture, then say the verse number again. I usually read it once, then have them say it with me. Depending on how long it is, they usually remember it after a few days or couple of weeks. I don’t fret if they can’t remember older ones. I cant remember either half the time, and that is a great reason to keep the scripture memory box going.
One more idea I have done is the Popcorn game. Once a week, they children take a verse and review. Then those who know it can pop up from the table and say it. If done correctly, I then throw them a treat..like an m&m. They LOVE this.
HTH!
artcmomto3 and simple home-
Thank you each for your great suggestions. We do verses and catechism together every morning, using the same verse/questions each day of the week. But on Thursday, I have my 7yo dd read everything to us and I have to remember it right along with my 4yo dd. It’s very challenging and I find myself really nervous that I might forget something! The kids love it! Lots of smiles on Thursday mornings! 🙂
Since we are all enjoying our work in this way, we’re sticking with it and keeping it very low-key. No reprimands or penalty for missing anything, and I let them help each other if they need to (the adorable, cooperative whispering to each other is a treat, especially to start out the day).
Thanks for posting about this, SarahCPA – lots of great ideas out there!
Thank you all. I explained to my children that mommy was going to talk to some other mommies and figure out something to help our system. I assured them that they did nothing wrong but that we may need to do something different with the system. These ideas will help. My children are K and 2nd grade. I can have my 2nd grader read them one day a week. So you use the whiteboard just for the new verse for that week? I will try that, too. What size? 9″ X 12″ okay? Or larger? I can see how that would help with learning to read, too.
I have a small whiteboard, but I am sure any size you have would be great.I wouldn’t expect your kindergartener to be perfect with memorizing at this point. (although they can be like sponges and surprise us sometimes!) Just keep it fun and they will do fine. 🙂
My white board is about 11×14, but any size will work. We have not started the workbox system yet, but yes, I would just do this until they have the verse down pretty well. If old verses are fuzzy you could always just say the beginnings of a phrase to trigger their memory.
I had actually used this game when I taught elem. music. I put a 4-bar rhythm on the board and let the kids erase one beat at a time until they had the whole thing memorized. For fun after that I would have the class say it standing on one foot, turned around backward, in a high pitch or low pitch, etc. just to reinforce it and to make it fun and funny too.
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