Teaching the Sequence of the Books of the Bible / Scripture Memorization

from 2003:

TEACHING THE SEQUENCE OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE

by Virginia Knowles, www.hopechest.homestead.com/cse.html   

(Virginia's note: This idea comes from my book Common Sense Excellence: Faith-Filled Education for Preschool to 5th Grade.  You can also use this method to teach other sequenced fact sets such as months of the year, Spanish word numbers, etc.)

Teach the sequence of the books of the Bible. This will help your child look up specific references. Wee Sing Bible Songs has tunes to teach Old Testament and New Testament books. I also made a set of what I call flip sticks. I took large wooden craft sticks (they look like tongue depressors), and using a permanent marker, I wrote the name of one book on each stick. On the opposite side, I wrote a sequence number at the left-hand edge (1 for Genesis, 2 for Exodus, etc.) To play, have the child put the sticks in order, lining them up like a ladder. To check the answer, flip them all over, and the numbers should be in order. (Make sure that you write the numbers so that they will be right side up when you flip them!)

SCRIPTURE MEMORY

by Janette Lilley, Editor of Homefires Hearth, Used by permission, http://aamazinggrace.org/sys-tmpl/donate/

Before our MOMS group broke for the summer, one of the Titus 2 ladies shared this with us:

Time: Short period each day (about 5 minutes)

Needs: 3x5 cards and your Bible

Choose a verse and write it on a card with the reference

Say verse out loud:

25 times 1st day

20 times 2nd day

15 times 3rd day

10 times 4th day

Continue saying verse one time each day for 45 days!

(Mark off on card with a mark every day you say it once)

Once a week (you decide which day) say only verses you have said 45 days.

Review once a month.

Start a new verse- one verse a week = 52 verses in a year!

More Scripture Memorization Tips from Three Readers of Homefires Hearth:

My daughter participates in Bible quizzing, learning close to 300 verses a year.  She has verses on flashcards and reviews them about 5 times, then goes over them every day to commit them to memory.  I found a booklet on scripture memory authored by Mark Water, published by Hendrickson Publishers, entitled, Scripture Memory Made Easy. Ask your local Christian Bookstore to order it for you if they don't have it in stock. God bless you in your memory building. ~ Cookie in Texas

I use music to memorize scripture. A lot of Christian music out there is actually God's word put to music. Another method I use is to make up my own little ditties (with the help of the LORD of course!) I have been able to recall a lot of scripture this way. For some reason I find it easier to remember a scripture put to music.  You can also memorize one scripture a week by writing it on a card and 6 or 8 times a day for a week, read and practice reciting that scripture. Make sure you review the last 4 weeks’ of scripture once a month. By the end of one year, you will have memorized 52 new scriptures! Hope this helps you. May God bless you with a memory for his wonderful word.  ~ A sister in Jesus Christ, Rona AZ

To memorize scripture write it out and put it several places where you will see it.  Read it over five or six times.  Include the reference where it is found as part of your memorization.  Once you can repeat it without looking at the words, just keep saying it while you are doing other things.  You will need to repeat it each day as you add new scriptures, keep saying the other ones that you have memorized.  I learned a complete chapter in Psalms using this method.  I have also worked with young people who were in Bible Quizzing and children as young as 10 have learned over 200 scriptures in about 5 months.  Don't give up - just keep repeating it, especially as you lay down to go to sleep.  ~ Donna in Ohio

Note from Lois:  Steve Green has several excellent CD's for children with songs based on scripture verses.  They're great for adults as well.