Hide The Word In Your Heart

Memorizing Bible verses is an important part of our homeschool curriculum. Last year we had the privilege of being a part of a kids club at a local church called AWANA - which literally stands for Approved Workman are Not Ashamed. Faith loved attending this weekly program, and she learned some great verses too. Growing up, memorizing verses was a big part of my own childhood. And, compared to now, it was far easier to memorize when I was a little kid! This makes me want to take advantage of this time of my children's lives. When their little minds are so receptive and can memorize things almost effortlessly. Plus, it is so nice hearing them sing and recite memory verses. One of my favorite types of music to listen to is Scripture put to song. What better songs to have "stuck" in your head, than Scripture verses? I grew up with Steve Green's Hide 'Em In Your Heart, which I highly recommend you check out on YouTube or ITunes, but more recently, I have discovered the Seeds Family Worship music. This family is also putting music to verses and they are very nice songs. These are fantastic tools for memorizing Bible verses.

We don't have the opportunity for Faith to be in a weekly memorizing club with other kids, but I have designed a bit of a motivational system for her, and I keep my ears out for tunes to memory verses and other ideas to motivate her. I have created a little chart that has eight spots for eight memory verse stickers. Every time she reaches four verses, she is award a small prize from the dollar store. Our goal is to memorize one verse per week, and even though she could probably memorize faster, I like to keep her at this pace. This way, it works out to one prize per month!

I made this sheet on the computer and after she memorizes a verse, she gets to put a sticker on the spot. I like to record the verse reference below the star.

I haven't been overly intentional with my 3 year old Wesley. But he is beginning to pick up some verses, because I find if I don't incorporate him and Joyanne (my 2 year old) into school time, school just doesn't get done!

How do you motivate your children to memorize Scripture? What kinds of tools or helps do you use?

The following was produced by Seeds Family Worship: