edited 2-25-11: We still use this method, but our children are now 5 1/2 and 2 1/2. Daddy leads this time and Caleb has more verses than Caroline since he is older. Caroline will frequently finish Caleb's verse for him if he gets stuck. This method has been AMAZING for our family. Cale and I also memorize them this way since we are doing it with the kiddos everyday. Oh, and we now do this after supper each night. I cannot tell you how easy and effective the Jesus Box is. Praise be to God for leading us in this direction!
I have had a couple of questions about how we do our Bible verse memorization. We have done a few different things over the years. It was very simple when Caleb was 2 and 3 and has changed in complexity as he has grown older. We've added Caroline (almost 2), and we have a new one on the way. She hears it too you know. =)
Also, we had to pray, try things, and see what worked best for our family. God has been very good to us and we seem to have really found a great fit all around.
At breakfast each morning, except Sundays, we do our Bible verse memorization. We use this time because we are all sitting down together and we love to start our day with God's word.
- Our verses are in our Jesus Box as the kids call it.
* 4x6 Index Card Holder with a lid.
* Each verse is written on a 4x6 index card. Currently I write them out, as the kids get older they'll get that fun. Many of the verses are set to a familiar tune. I get these from Hubbard's Cupboard, or we put them to a tune ourselves. This is great for younger kiddos and adults with memorization issues. My almost 2 year old daughter loves to "sing" these verses. (mainly gibberish with a few real words) Some are just written with no tune. Caleb seems to remember them well either way.
* There are 43 dividers in the box. I bought 1 pack of already numbered 1-31 and then some blank tabbed dividers that I labeled: daily, even, odd, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, 1st week, 2nd week, 3rd week, 4th week.
* Put the verses you know the least under daily, even, odd, etc. As you get to verses you know better put them under 1st week, 2nd week and so on. Then for those verses that are pretty well hidden in your heart put those under 1, 2, 3, 4, ... As you get to know them better move them to the back.
* The idea is that you would do them everyday (daily), on the odd dates (29th or 3rd, etc), even dates (2nd, 12th, etc), the specific day of the week (mon, tues...), the week of the month (1st, 2nd...), and the actual date (the numbered dividers). This keeps you always reviewing the verses you are learning and not just memorizing one verse for a week or so and then moving on never to revisit that verse again.
Caroline will go and get the box and say, "Jesus" randomly through the day. That's how much she loves it. Caleb never lets us forget a morning. This has also helped Cale and me hide God's word in our hearts. We did not grow up doing this, let me tell you it is harder as an adult. But this way makes it fun, easy and family oriented.
How did we come up with this? Basically I saw different versions of it around the web. We made one that fits for our family. Cale and I had talked about wanting to make sure we reviewed verses and learned new verses. We knew having them set to music would make it easier to memorize. We wanted it to be used everyday and fit a variety of age groups. Plus it needed to be something low prep or it just wouldn't happen the way it needed to. God led me to a few blogs with similar ideas and tada, the Jesus Box was born.
1 comments:
Hmmmm...... I might have to give this a try.
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