i am not the first mother in the world to learn these lessons.
but just in case i am catching you before you learn these things for yourself, i am here to warn you.
just a fews DOs and DON'Ts
DO: choose a passage of scripture that you want to memorize too...because you will. you will be helping her review it and then you will be listening to her say it more than you care to.
DO NOT: underestimate her abilities to memorize a lot of words. if she talks a lot she can probably remember a lot.
DO: teach all the kids the same verse at once! then you can do popcorn in the car! you know...."the Lord is my.....POPCORN JAKE!" and everyone can know it together!
DO NOT: promise rewards that are too big for the task!
Ex:
mommy:"if you memorize the 23rd psalm i'll let you pick out something special with daddy at the disney store"
ella: "how bout a princess dress"
mommy: "wellllll, ok. it is a pretty long passage for a four year old" (and it will probably take her months to memorize.)
****ATTENTION! this will end in disaster when she memorizes it in two days and then convinces her daddy that mommy promised the cinderella bride dress(most expensive one at the store!!!warning warning! may day!****
(this MAY have really happened...sorry, Jesus, for linking my daughters commercialism to your leading us by quite waters....not the best parenting...but i will do better next time...i hope)
DO: encourage her to tell another adult the verse to start getting comfortable with talking about the Bible in front of others! yah!
DO: motivate with related rewards. Like time spent together or extra privileges that only grown up girls who memorize scripture can do....like an extra few minutes to stay up at night or even a night walk to look at the stars and see his creation! what a perfect time to say your verse together!
today, while we were driving to school, ella and i each took turns saying this verse and it really spoke to my heart.
comforting my worries about the future and reminding me that "surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life"
i am so glad that we decided to make that something we do in the car together!
it makes ALLLLLL that seemingly wasted time in the car seem worth every minute.
I've learnt not to underestimate my kid's ability to memorise scripture. I was shocked when I saw the scripture memorisation program encouraged at their school, delighted to discover that they rise to a challenge and humbled to find they are far better at it that I am. What a gift and blessing for our kids.
ReplyDeleteit's cheesy buuuuut we love the Seeds of Worship music Cds that put the verse to song. you can't NOT memorize the words!
ReplyDeletegood job.
i am proud of you.
you are a good mama.
you are!
I am one who had my mind blown away when my oldest was in Kindergarten(3 years ago). The curriculum her school uses(the same school I now teach at) is BIG on scripture memorization. Each year they kids recite at special nights at school.
ReplyDeleteOur next event is tomorrow night. My third graders are reciting all of Hebrews chapter 11! And yes...Ive learned it right along with them(I love it!)
Good job sweet Ella! (And I still want to hear more about your trip:))
keep at it! i still know ALL the verses i learned when i was a kid. sometimes i'll be praying or thinking or going about my day and a certain verse will come to mind (thank you, spirit!) then i'll think, when did i learn that?? probably sometime before my 8th birthday!! :) she'll never forget em
ReplyDeleteI love the Word so much!
ReplyDeleteI need to be memorizing more scripture, too.
Thanks to E. for the push.
:)
These are great tips and such sweet words! The Lord has promised us that His word will not return void so all these verses that are being hidden in little hearts will pay off for years to come.
ReplyDeleteI was raised in a church that did the AWANA program and I know a lot of the verses I have tucked away are from that. Our church does AWANA too which means my kids are now getting to memorize verses they'll know for the rest of their lives. Now that we're homeschooling, we make it part of our daily school work and all 3 of my boys have blown me away with the number of verses they've memorized this year!
Thanks for the encouragement. We do the Awana program too as Kelly mentioned, but I feel bad that we seem to just rush through the verses and not really memorize them. I would love to change this. Maybe we will start with the 23 Psalm too!!! Thanks for sharing your do's and dont's (the princess dress side story craked me up!)
ReplyDeletethis is absolutely the best thing we could do for and with our kids!
ReplyDeleteawesome!
it's amazing what those littles can do, isn't it?
in kindergarten, jack was supposed to learn Psalm 100, and in the end, we ALL knew it!
love that!
way to go, momma. :)
Ditto what Meg said ... you ARE a great Mama - and I love this precious testimony to your commitment to raising your family IN the Word and in Him!
ReplyDeleteSo precious - thanks for showing that it can be done, and done well. :)
xoxo
i love this. SO good to do for our kids. my kids do awana at our church and they learn a ton of scriptures there. i'm pretty sure they know more than me. which is embarassing, but true. way to go, mama :)
ReplyDeleteAmen, that was beautiful, I wish I had memorized scripture when I was younger...great job Shauna!
ReplyDeleteshe's too cute! wish I had done this with mine when they were little.
ReplyDeleteI need to get them to memorize this one now, especially because they are now 10 and 12 and they actually will even understand it without me having to explain it!
love love love her little voice!
tara
I sang the Keith Green version of The 23rd Psalm into Nate's ear as he went to sleep each night until he was at least 7. It is a special memory even today. So precious to see Ella recite that.
ReplyDelete