1 John 3:18

Our memory verses for the upcoming week:

For my 2 year old:
"...let us not love with words...but with actions"

And for my 5 year old:
"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

Bible Memory Verses

This week our memory verse is:

 "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the  Word was God."  John 1:1

and for my littler one:  "In the beginning was the Word..."

Memory Verse for the Week

This week my son has been memorizing 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

My daughters verse is from the same passage: 

 "Be joyful always..."

This verse has also led to a vocabulary lesson:...
 

 Joyful: full of joy

 Continually: all the time without interruption or ending

 Circumstances: the way things happen,
 the situations we face in life

 God's will:  what God wants to happen 

After repeating my definitions in several different ways and answering his question and discussing each word over again...and again, I was still met with that look of, "I don't get it, Mom."  So, I'm not convinced he understands what he has memorized. 

This was discouraging to me at first, but as I considered it and prayed about it, I was reminded of a verse in Isaiah,

 "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: it will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:10-11

So, I trust that as he dedicates these words to memory, God will accomplish His purpose for those words in my son's life.  The Holy Spirit is able to teach Him.  I also know that as he does grow in his ability to comprehend the meanings of these words, he may recall the verses he has learned and finally understand what it is he has been reciting all along. 

AND, not that those reasons aren't enough to learn these Scriptures, but it's a good brain exercise for him anyway...and if he's going to memorize something, what better words to fill his mind with than God's Word?!

So, don't be discouraged when your child doesn't seem to understand it all.  Keep teaching them.  If we are faithful to plant the seed, God will be faithful to grow it into something useful in due time.

Memory Verses & A Project

This week, my son is memorizing:

 "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  Romans 10:9

My daughter's verse for the week is Genesis 1:1.

 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

I seem to have her learning verses a week behind her brother.  This was unintentional initially.  I just didn't think she would memorize the passages, so I didn't ask her to.  But then I changed my mind and decided to have her start memorizing too.  So, last week her verse was the same as her brother's the week before.  And this week her verse has a similar message to the verse he learned last week [Acts 17:24]...
 
Although, I didn't plan it this way, I actually kind of like it for two reasons.  The first is that she hears her brother repeating his verse, and begins to learn from hearing him - then the words are reiterated as she studies her own verse.  The second reason is that it kind of works similarly for my son.  He learns his verse for a week and then the message is refreshed in his mind as he listens to his sister recite her Scripture.  I think I kind of like this system. 

My 5-year-old and I have been studying creation the last couple of days, so my daughter's verse seems perfect for our family this week. My son had been reading the creation story and has made a "book" documenting what God did on each of the first 7 days.  On one side of each page he wrote what God made or did and the number representing that day. 

Then on the opposite side, he drew pictures to show God's creation on each day.

[light]

[clouds and water]

[a flower]

[a star, the sun and the moon]

[a turkey and a shark]

[a cow]

[God resting]

He decided what to draw to depict each days' events, and I truly enjoyed hearing about and viewing each picture once he was finished. 

What I didn't realize is that he never included the creation of man on his cards.  Ooops.  [I noticed it once I was taking pictures.]  We will fix it tomorrow and maybe post the correction then...in the meantime, aren't his drawings just precious?!  ;)

Bible Memorization

My husband and I are Christians.  We believe that the Bible is God's word to us, so I think it's important to teach it to our kids.  I have been teaching my children verses from the Bible for them to commit to memory.  Not super consistently...but a few here and there. 

This week my son's verse to memorize has been:

 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth...He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else."  Acts 17:24&25

My daughter's verse to memorize was:

 "Do everything without complaining or arguing."   [Philippians 2:14, but I don't have her memorize the address yet.]...

They usually say them in the morning with me and at least once or twice during the week in the evening for Dad.
This was my 2 year old's first time committing a verse to memory...and I have her repeat it often...since complaining and arguing has been a BIG issue in our house lately.  Her brother memorized the verse last week and I think hearing him repeat it so often made it that much easier for her to remember when it came her turn.  Now if only I could get her to actually begin to apply it.  Ha!  [If only I could truly apply it in my own life...then I wouldn't be complaining about her complaining, right?  ;)]

Another tool I love for Bible memorization is Seeds Family Worship.  I enjoy the music and so do my kids...and LOVE that they are being taught the Truth at the same time.  They offer free Bible memorization cards on their website. You can listen to their music here and here. Well worth the $13 or so for the CD!  We have 2 full CD's and 2 short CD's and I still love them almost 5 years later!  Here's another thing I love about them: 

"We've taken inspiration from God's perfect plan for seeds dispersal and designed packaging intended to facilitate the spreading of Seeds. Each package of Seeds of Praise album includes two identical full-length CDs. So simply tear the CD cover in half and share a complete packaged album with a friend nearby or far away. You get to take part in spreading Seeds--helping take God's Word to as many homes as possible." [taken from their store site]

[Ps...I get no commission for the plug. I just seriously like this product.]

My son also copies his children's Bible down in a notebook as part of his handwriting and reading. [Here is a picture of a page from his journal.] He reads the pages he is going to copy and then writes it out. I think this helps him remember the stories he is learning, since it's a process of repetition. [He reads it out loud, writes it, checks it, and reads it to me again.] This was another one of those things that he initiated.  Writing out Scripture is something I do personally and he saw me and wanted to do it too.  I thought it would be too difficult for him [he was 4 when he started this], but he insisted that he wanted to try - and I think it's one of the best things we've done in our homeschooling, if not THE best.