Scripture Memory System

The instructions and video below outline an easy, effective Scripture memory system that helps your whole family develop the habit of memorizing and remembering Scripture. By spending just five or ten minutes a day, you and your children can learn and retain hundreds of verses.

First, a word about memorizing, or recitation. The Charlotte Mason method of Recitation is not cumbersome, yet works amazingly well. The method is simply this: once each day read aloud the verse or passage you are memorizing. As the words become familiar, the family members should join in saying the parts they know. Continue the one or two readings a day until all family members can recite the Scripture together with confidence.

It doesn’t matter how long the passage is. In fact, your family should memorize longer passages regularly. Simply once each day read the entire Scripture memory passage through until everyone can recite it together. Don’t worry about how many days it takes for everyone to memorize the selected Scripture. Hiding God’s Word in your heart is not a race; it’s a lifelong habit.

How to set up your Scripture Memory System

What You Will Need

• A box that can hold index cards
• 41 index card sized dividers
• Index cards for verses

Label the dividers as follows and place them in the box in this order:

• 1 divider — Daily
• 1 divider — Odd
• 1 divider — Even
• 7 dividers — Days of the Week (Sunday, Monday, etc.)
• 31 dividers — Numbered 1-31

Copy onto the index cards any verses your family already knows. Record both the reference and the text of the passage. If you don’t know any yet, don’t worry — you will very soon. Place the verses you already know behind the numbered dividers, distributing them evenly.

Next, make index cards for the verses you want to memorize. Put one of these verse cards behind the Daily divider; this will be the passage you’ll work on memorizing first. You can stack the rest of the verses to be learned in front of the Daily divider to learn at a later time. At the beginning, you won’t have any verses in the Odd and Even or Days of the Week slots. Don’t worry, they’ll fill in; see the next two steps.

Using Your Scripture Memory System

Each day you will say together the verses behind four dividers:

• Daily
• Odd or Even
• Day of the Week
• Date of the Month

So if today is Tuesday, the 3rd, you will say the verses behind Daily, Odd (because 3 is an odd number), Tuesday, and 3.

The next day (Wednesday, the 4th), you will say the verses behind Daily, Even, Wednesday, and 4. Keep in mind that only the verse behind Daily is a new one that you are memorizing; all the others are review.

Advancing the Cards

As you master the verses behind the Daily divider, advance that card and move the replaced verses farther back in the box. So when you have memorized a Daily, move it behind either the Odd or Even divider. Move the verse that was in that Odd or Even slot back to a Day of the Week slot. And move the verse it replaces in the Day of the Week slot back behind a numbered divider. You can then put a new verse or passage to memorize behind the Daily divider and you’re ready to start memorizing again.

In this way, you will review a new verse every day, then graduate to every other day, once a week, and finally, once a month. Use the Scripture Memory system every day of the month and you will review all the verses you know every month of the year!

Of course, not all months have thirty-one days; the verses behind 31 will be reviewed seven months out of the year. We recommend putting verses that you know quite well behind that number since it gets reviewed less frequently.

When you have advanced enough verse cards that you have one placed behind each numbered divider, start at 1 again and add another card to each. Soon you’ll have several cards behind each numbered divider.

Watch this video to see how to advance the cards:

Scripture Memory FAQ

Do we have to start over once Younger Children are old enough to join in?

No, you don’t. Just keep going. Your younger children will learn the verses by hearing them recited every month. In fact, they probably already know most of the verses from the months that they have been listening to the rest of the family learn and recite the passages. Don’t hurry them or push them. Allow them to listen as long as they want to, and invite them to join in when they feel comfortable.

How do you choose which verses to memorize?

It’s good to do a mixture of single verses, short passages (like a paragraph or so), and long passages (like a whole psalm or chapter) from both the Old and New Testament. Try to select verses that convey ideas to feed your minds and hearts: passages that remind you of truths about God; verses that bolster your faith in Him; psalms that remind you of His presence and help; passages that shape your thinking and your character as you do life each day.

If you want suggestions, we have a list of memory verses for about twelve years’ worth of Scripture memory.

Does it matter which version of the Bible we use?

Use whichever version you prefer. And it’s okay if your box uses a mixture of translations.

Do you work on longer passages one verse at a time?

Use the same method for any length passage: read it through once a day. The advantage to memorizing the passage as a whole is that you are hearing the whole context every time, so you don’t get confused as to which single verse comes after or before which other single verse. It’s one whole entity, and you can follow the line of thought contained in that passage.

Does it really take just five minutes?

Yes! Watch the video at the top of this page to see a live demonstration with a timer — you might be surprised at how little time it actually takes!

What do you do when your box is full?

What a milestone to have filled your Scripture memory box! One approach to a full box would be to take the Monthly dividers 16–31, with their verse cards, and transfer them to a second box. Since those numbered dividers are the ones with multiple cards behind them, that will cut your verse collection in half, split between two boxes.

On the 1st through the 15th of the month, use the first box. On the 16th, take the front dividers and verse cards (Daily, Odd/Even, and Days of the Week) and move them to the front of the second box.

On the 1st of the next month, move those front cards and dividers back to the first box—it takes about two seconds—and you’re all set to go through the 15th.