Stand firm on a foundation of faith. You can homeschool with confidence knowing that God is your guide and the foundation for what and how you teach. You can’t stand firm on the Word of God unless you actually know it. Here’s where memorizing Scripture can help you get your feet on solid ground.
There are many ways you can do this. There are apps that help you learn new Scriptures and provide tools for memorising. But you don’t need anything fancy. It can be easier to find distractions if you are trying to learn them on your own too. Try learning it together with the family! This way, you give yourselves accountability, and it will create some bonding time as well. What better way to bond than over the Scriptures! Choosing your verse together helps bring meaning to why you want to keep the words of God in your hearts.
Here are some ways you can make memorizing Scripture fun for the whole family.
Erase the Words
Get a whiteboard or do it on a piece of paper with pencil. Write out the whole verse and say it together. Then, erase one word. Say the verse together again, filling in the missing word. Repeat this, each time erasing one more word until all the words are gone and you can say the whole verse without seeing the words. This will get challenging, but you can work as a team!
Write It Down
Have everyone grab a piece of paper. Review the verse you are memorizing one last time and get your stopwatch ready. Start the stopwatch and see who can finish writing out the complete verse the fastest. For the extra challenge, keep going until everyone can match the time of the winner.
Make a Song of It
If you have a musical family, then this one will be fun for you. Turn the verse into a song (or find one that has already been turned into one!) and take turns singing your verse.
Make It Part of Your Daily Devotions
This works well if you’ve chosen a lengthy verse that could be broken up into sections for a day-to-day study. Each day, learn your portion of Scripture and then talk about it together as a family as part of your daily devotionals.
Who Can Say It the Fastest?
Grab the timer and get ready!. See who can say it the fastest! Use a buzzer, bell or flag or card to signal when you’re done if everyone is competing. If you can, you can always get someone to be the judge to check if it was said correctly. Short verses work well, but it sure would be a fun challenge to do a long one with this method.
Act It Out
This is a popular method for young ones who have probably done it quite often in their Sunday School classes. Try creating some actions for the words to help you memorize them and do them together as a family. Or try your hand at sign language. You can grab a handy FREE chart from SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
No matter which method you choose, make sure to mark down your progress. Here is a PDF to help you track your Scripture memorizing process.
Use this chart to set your goals for the month or year and don’t forget to check them off as you go. You’ll find the time passes by quickly while you’re having fun, and you’ll be able to look back once your goals are complete and know that you’ve hidden more of God’s wonderful words in your hearts. A good goal for every family!
By knowing the Scriptures, we learn how to live the way God wants us to live. We learn how to honour our Creator, we learn about His amazing gift of eternal life and we learn how to love one another. The Scriptures hold the promises we can hold on to each day, words that will not fade no matter what we face. Matthew 24:35 says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (KJV)
When we read the Word together, we will learn to obey the Word together. Then when life brings hardships, we test the words of God together. If we do these things diligently, our faith increases as we grow.
This article has been written by homeschooling staff writers of The Canadian Schoolhouse (TCS). Enjoy more of our content from TCS contributors and staff writers by visiting our Front Door page that has content on our monthly theme and links to all our content sections.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).