Hiding the WORD in Their Hearts

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” ~ Psalm 119:11

Bible time is the most important time in my house. When we start are school day we always begin with time in the Word. There are some days when that’s all we get to. I make sure that we don’t do anything else before we have Bible time. We spend a lot of time with our Bibles, but this year I started to focus on memorizing scriptures with my boys. I’m going to share some of the things we are doing that has helped us all learn scriptures from Bible.

• Reading the Bible: I know that seems obvious but I just had to share this important point. If we want our children to have a love for the Word then we have to read it ourselves and to them on a regular basis. For family devotions I usually read from our Hands on Bible.

• Give your children their own Bible: When I was around 4 years old I remember getting my first “big girl” bible. It was a white Precious Moments Bible and I took it everywhere I went. I still have it, although don’t use it because it’s falling apart. My boys have had several Bibles since they were born. This year my oldest (6) asked for a “big boy” Bible and I happily obliged. My oldest son has the NIrV Discover’s Bible for Early Readers and my little guy has the Beginner’s Bible.

• Study the Bible with your children: Really spending sometime in the Word and studying as a family is a great way to learn scripture together. I’m always amazed at the level of understanding that my boys have of the different stories we’ve read together. Their teachers at church often tell me that my boys are always familiar with whatever they’re learning about. Our favorites are Grapevine Studies and The Dig for Kids.

• Put the scriptures to music: One of the easiest ways my boys have learned scriptures is through music. I often find them singing the verses while they play. Hubbard’s Cupboard has a list of verses put to familiar tunes like “Twinkle Little Star”.Totally Tots has a series call “In My Heart” with free printable and other fun resources. We have two CDs full of fun songs and scriptures that we listen to also {it’s how we memorized the fruit of the spirit}. Hide ‘Em in Your Heart Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Those are some of the ways that we have enjoyed learning about the Bible and scriptures together as a family. A few other ideas I want to share before I go just for parents and older children.

• Write scriptures on mirrors with a window crayon or marker. Every time you look at the mirror say the scripture aloud. I have learned many scriptures this way. So have my boys. Whenever they ask me what I’d written on the mirror I’d read it to them.

• Write scriptures on index cards and keep them with you (use a key ring to keep them together}. When you have a few minutes free, at the doctor’s office or dance lessons read through a few of them.

• I really love this scripture memory system from Simply Charlotte Mason

Do you have any tips or tricks to add? I’d love to hear them!

LaToya is a single, homeschooling mom of two bouncing boys. In her spare time (haha) she loves to read novels, write, listen to music and watch old movies. She lives for the quiet moments of the day which are few and far between with two rambunctious young men running around the house. She strives each day to life fully for God and although she often falls short she is determined to stay the course. LaToya blogs about her life at http://latoyaedwards.net/. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.