Build Your Bible Memory and Your Family

Build Your Bible Memory and Your Family

1 - Set a Goal

Memorizing one Bible verse a week is a reasonable goal to set in the beginning. This will give you plenty of time to establish the Bible verse firmly in your hearts and minds before starting to learn a new passage. Not every member of the family will memorize at the same pace, so try to set a goal that leaves room for flexibility and time for everyone to reinforce the verse in their memories. Once you've begun memorizing, you can increase your pace if you find one Scripture a week is not challenging enough. Likewise, if you decide to learn longer passages, you'll want to slow down and take as much time as you need.

2 - Have a Plan

Decide when, where, and how you will accomplish your goals. How much time a day will you set aside to memorize Bible verses? Where and when will you meet with your family? What techniques will you incorporate? We'll discuss specific techniques and reinforcement activities a little later, but 15 minutes a day should be plenty of time to memorize Bible verses. Family meal times and before bedtime are good opportunities to recite passages aloud together.

3 - Choose Your Bible Memory Verses

Take some time to decide which Bible verses you'd like to memorize. It might be interesting to make this a group effort, giving each member of the family a chance to choose Scriptures. Keeping in mind the younger children, you can select verses from more than one Bible translation, picking versions that are easy to understand and memorize. If you need help choosing your Bible memory verses, here are some suggestions:

• Bible Verses for Children

4 - Make it Fun and Creative

Children memorize Bible verses quickly and easily through repetition, but the key is to make it fun. Be sure to incorporate some creative activities into your family project. Remember, the idea is not only to teach your kids about God and his Word, but also to strengthen the family by enjoying some quality time together.

Bible Memory Techniques

I recommend building the foundation of your Bible memorization plan upon a system of repetition, and then supplement with games, songs, and other fun activities. One of the best, proven methods to memorize Bible verses as a family is this Scripture Memory System from Simply Charlotte Mason.com. I will outline it briefly, but you can find detailed instructions with pictures here on their website.

Supplies You'll Need

1. An index card box.
2. 41 tabbed dividers to fit inside.
3. A package of index cards.

Next, label your tabbed dividers as follows and place them inside the index card box:

1. 1 tabbed divider labeled "Daily."
2. 1 tabbed divider labeled "Odd Days."
3. 1 tabbed divider labeled "Even Days."
4. 7 tabbed dividers labeled with the days of the week - "Monday, Tuesday," etc.
5. 31 tabbed dividers labeled with the days of the month - "1, 2, 3," etc.

Then, you'll want to print your Bible memory verses onto the index cards, making sure to include the Scripture references along with the text of the passage. Choose one card with the verse your family will learn first and place it behind the "Daily" tab in the box. Put the rest of the Bible memory cards in the front of the box, ahead of your tabbed dividers. You'll begin working with just one verse, reading it out loud together as a family (or each person individually) a few times a day according to the plan you established above (at breakfast and dinner time, before bed, etc.). Once everyone in the family has memorized the first verse, move it behind either the "Odd" or "Even" tab, to be read on odd and even days of the month, and select a new Bible memory verse for your daily tab.
Each time your family memorizes a Bible verse, you'll advance the cards farther back in the box, so that eventually, each day you'll be reading aloud Scriptures from behind four dividers: daily, odd or even, the day of the week, and the date of the month. This method allows you to continually review and reinforce the Bible verses you've already learned while learning new ones at your own pace.

Additional Bible Memory Games and Activities