Bible - Making the most of this time

[cbollin]

Memory verse creative ideas

Does anyone have any ideas to share for bible verse memory with a first grader? My son struggles with memory work so we need lots of ideas.

Blessings
Jen

Memory work ideas

Don’t feel like you have to learn every scheduled Proverbs verse. If you think he can learn one of the verses every 3-4 weeks (more or less), that’s ok. I’d suggest at least reading and teaching the other scheduled verses just to discuss their meanings and focus on just one verse until he has it. No need to think you have to memorize them all this year.

I wrote out the memory verses and taped it on the wall above the kitchen table. That way we were sure to see it many times through the day. And we would say it over and over and over. Repetition throughout the day is great. Also, try to say it to him at bedtime. Don’t make him say it -- just let him listen to you or dad.

Let them see the words while practicing a few times. When we had them taped on the wall I would cover up a few words with my hand and see if she could at least fill in the missing word. We increased the number of words hidden as the year progressed.

Encourage him to practice saying it about 3 times throughout the day. My girls are getting a Tic Tac at the end of each try (up to 3 tic tacs per day.) I keep them in a 7 day pill box --- it was an idea in the teacher’s manual for EX1850.


--crystal

[tkbbrl6]

My kids like puzzles and fill in the blank things - so I type each memory very out on the computer in large print and I try to add a clip art picture or let them select a pic to add to it. Then we read/say the verse together twice on Mon morning before they put it in their notebooks - each day we say it several times together.

Tues they write the verse (or if it's long my 8 yo only writes part of it on Tues and finishes it on Wed.). I also give them a page with the verse printed with words missing and let them fill in or glue cut out words to finish the verse.

Wednesday I have the verses cut apart either word for word or 2-3 words grouped together and they put the verse together like a puzzle then if it's correct they glue it on a colored sheet of paper.

Thursday we play "mom helps help remembering" and I start to say it and then act like I forgot parts and they either correct me or help me fill in the missing word- they can keep a copy in front of them if needed.

Then by Fri they generally have it - we alternative how I ask them to show me that they know it - oldest will often write it from memory or say it aloud. Middle either says it outloud or takes the words written on index cards and lays them out in correct order. We've also written them in shaving cream, with colored chalk on sidewalk, used magnets or reading rods, etc.

[Mom of 5]

We do actions for the verse. I was going to try to learn sign language with them but decided against that. We just come up with actions for the main words and it is amazing how fast they learn them and remember them. When we got through this morning with coming up with this week's action for the verse my daughter, almost seven, wanted to do last week's. When we got done with that one my son, almost 6 wanted to go the week before last. I stumbled through but they both had them. lol
Sandy M.

[mom2boys]

My boys' favorite is the erase game. I write the verse on the dry erase board and then we take turns erasing a word while the other one is not looking and then the other one tries to say it with the missing word. Back and forth until all the words are erased and we can say it. Yes, mom too, it has been great for me to learn all their AWANA verses with them!
Blessings,
~Charlotte

[Toni@homezcool4us]

I put the verse in a high traffic spot and encouraged my dd to "practice" it each time she passed as a way to honor God.

I also set some verses to familiar music so she could "sing" them. This really helped her to memorize.

[Poohbee]

Why the Bible should even be taught in public schools... If you'll indulge me, I'd like to share a bit of information from a literary critic that I thought was just so neat!

Northrop Frye wrote a book called The Educated Imagination.

I loved this statement that he made:

• "...the Bible forms the lowest stratum in the teaching of literature. It should be taught so early and so thoroughly that it sinks straight to the bottom of the mind, where everything that comes along later can settle on it" (p. 110).

He mentions that the Bible is endlessly quoted from and alluded to in so many other works of literature, and the Bible is full of the greatest and best-known stories we have.

These are just a few reasons why the Bible should be taught in the schools. Students can't really appreciate literature if they don't know or understand the Bible, which is alluded to so often in other works, especially classic works, of literature.

So, by teaching your children the Bible using the MFW curriculum, you are not only teaching them about God's holy, living Word, which is the guidebook and road map of life for Christians, but you are also helping them to better appreciate other works of literature.

I just thought that was very interesting! Hope you don't mind me sharing it with you on this message board. :-)

In Christ,

[Cyndi (AZ)]

Isn't that awesome?! I also love the fact that I am going to be teaching Bible history in MFW1 before we go into any kind of US or world history. Biblical history is the baseline. Here's what happened first -- God created. It's just genius the way this curriculum is laid out for us. Thanks so much for sharing that article. It's so true.

[Lucy]

I absolutely love that quote. After using MFW for 5 years now(beginning our 6th soon~) I can say that is also at the very heart of this curriculum.

Thanks for sharing.

Lucy

[Tina]

To encourage you in the character building this year, the Hero Tales book is great for this. We actually set this journal apart from the other notebooking in ECC and had a special character building traits note book at the end of the year taken from our study on Hero Tales in ECC. Instead of writing the character trait on lined paper as suggested, we used a whole separate journal. We still have it now (two years later) and use it sometimes as a tool in **discussing** or dealing with bad attitude or any other unwanted character trait (adults and kids alike, I might add)

Have a blessed year as you train the hearts of your children and as you also learn and are blessed along side them!

[mdfriederich]

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:01 am

One FUN thing we are doing with the Bible verses is jumproping to them in our living room; it is a hoot, especially when the 7-year old tries and falls down in hysterics. :-)

[Julie in MN]

I am using ECC this year and was wondering if there was anyway to sort through the hero's geographically. Can anyone help me with this?

Hi Brooke,
I think the heroes are already sorted geographically in your ECC manual? Each week, your weekly grid will have you read about heroes from (or missionaries to) the continent that you are studying. And since you use *all* of the Hero Tales volume, then *all* of them should be sorted already?

I don't know if this would help with specific countries, but here is the list of heroes from the authors' website:
http://www.daveneta.com/jump/hero-tales ... -Vol-1.htm

[RachelT]

Just wanted to get all thoughts related to how to make the most of the bible time. What can I do to make this more meaningful? What do you all do?

We are using Adventures, too, and we used MFW 1st grade last year. For us it has usually worked well for me to have my TM and the student Bible at our kitchen table when we eat breakfast and I lead the discussion as my children finish eating (I almost always finish first). This way it is the first "school" type of thing that we do in the day. We have a short discussion and practice our memory verse either there or with a white board later (if we are still learning it). It seems like it doesn't need to be too long or in depth most days for us to understand the main point of the passage. Then a lot of days I will lead them in a short prayer.

Now, when we were doing MFW 1st grade it had so much Bible that I would find illustrated children's storybooks from the library and read that or use our felt board Bible characters or do lots of other things. But with Adventures I feel like we are still getting good short lessons that keep their attention and we have a longer time to really learn the memory verses well (usually 2 weeks), which is nice.

Rachel

[Julie in MN]

Hello,
Good question. Let's see, I haven't done ADV but our morning Bible time generally includes:

1. Singing -- that sets a nice tone. There are hymns in the year I'm using now, but even other years, Marie had suggested adding hymns in some of the manuals & we enjoyed that. We used Hymns For a Kids' Heart in ECC and did some Praise & Worship type music another year.
2. Reading -- not sure how good your readers are yet, but we often take turns, each reading a paragraph.
3. Narration -- summarize what you heard, tell me your favorite part or character, etc.
4. Memory work. There are some ideas to make it more fun here:
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=2222
5. Prayer -- at times we have added variety like a prayer journal, a specific prayer focus on someone or something special, reciting written prayers, taking turns praying, etc.

[niki]

We're another breakfast Bible family. I read while they eat and clear. Then we just talk about it. Sometimes it's a wonderful discussion, other times it's just them listening without a lot to say...don't get too hard on yourself. It will blossom into something in it's time.

Remembering ADV (it's been a while), we had more talks about the names of Jesus :) I loved that part of the program!!

Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened....(just ask the One to open their little hearts to His Word).

Praying for you Bible time, Niki

[LA in Baltimore]

What a wonderful way to head into the Thanksgiving Season...
Thoughts focused on God and his Word.
Thanks for the ideas and encouragement!

We attend Community Bible Study on Tuesday Mornings so this supplements the Bible work we are doing in Adv.
Focusing on the names of Jesus is exciting!
They are enjoying watching our Jesus Poster grow!

LA in Baltimore

[cbollin]

We're using MFW this year for the first time (ECC). We would like to move the Bible time and sometimes read/aloud to the evenings so my husband can lead it. Has anyone else done this? Should we do the scheduled Bible readings the night before or the night of the the scheduled day. How much do they coordinate with the other things scheduled that day?

Do you think it will effect our school day if we don't start with Bible?

Thanks!

I know I've heard in some of those MFW workshops the suggestions that families who want to do that, that you do the next morning's Bible lesson the night before. So on Sunday night you do Monday morning's Bible reading so they can think about it in the morning too when it does coordinate with the topic. I think that must have been Working Dads can homeschool too!

In my family, we did read alouds in the evening all the time. Just did that day's reading at that night.

I'm curious how it works in other families.

-crystal

[Jenn in NC]

My feeling after hanging around the boards for a few years is that there are a lot of families that do this. And I think it is recommended as a good option in the manual (mine is packed away right now).

My personal feeling is that it should be the evening before, rather than the evening of, but it has been a long time since I did ECC. I know that was definitely better in CTG to do it the evening before, b/c so much of the history and Bible was integrated. Maybe it wouldn't matter as much with ECC?

Anyway I think it is a great way to do it, however it works out. Honestly I love when dad can be in on the history readings too but that is a little harder to pull off.

[Julie in MN]

We started doing Bible together during CTG and it was such a blessing to our family. I highly recommend it! We would have continued if dh wasn't ill after that.

Yes, do it the night before. So, start Sunday night. That also has the benefit of allowing a little wiggle room if you miss a night during the week.

You'll need to decide how much of ECC to do the night before -- "Bible" could also include Hero Tales, Window on the World, memory work, and praying for the world. I would assume you'd save the copywork for the next morning, so that would be a good review. And no problem praying twice

My dh also used to do a read-aloud at bedtime. (That's why I've never read the Patricia St. John books in CTG ) I would often have a separate read-aloud going for nights that dh was busy -- or just for more fun. I'm sure the ECC books would be excellent to do as a family. Tons of life application. Do it now, before you have a teen who doesn't necessarily want a family bedtime ritual <sigh> Oh, and be forewarned that the very first missionary biography is very tame and may seem uninteresting on occasion -- but it sets the stage for looking at what is important in life, and for realizing that everyone doesn't have a Bible in their own language (that was a big shocker for even my high schoolers at the time). Don't worry, you'll be glad for that tame one when you hit the really dramatic ones

Enjoy!
Julie

[BHelf]

we will try to implement this one as much as possible this year in ECC. Especially the read alouds. I know my husband will enjoy them as much as we will.

[my3boys]

We will be doing First and CtG this year. My plan is for us to do the CtG bible time in the evening as a family (with Dad) and the First bible time with all the kids at breakfast. I tried to do ECC bible time in the evening with the family last year, but my little guys were not interested and dh was not commited so I moved it to morning. My dh says he is going to be more commited to it this year (and I think he will learn a lot with us going through the bible with CtG and RtR). The missionary stories and Window on the World are loosely tied to the country you are studying in ECC, and the bible portion is reading through the book of Matthew. You could get coloring pictures off the internet (or a life of Jesus coloring book) for the kids to color while you reading the bible stories.

[baileymom]

We do our bible reading the night before as a family (minus the 2 babies that are put to bed right before...Dad does most the reading), and then we review in the morning with Vos' Story Bible and Hasting's Illustrated Bible (with the 2 babies...Dad is already at work). It works well for us, and it kind of let's the kids get a double whammy of the lesson, but in a more relaxed way in the morning.

[jasntas]

I think we may do the Bible portion after dinner with Dad. We haven't started ADV yet but Dad currently does a Bible study with dc after dinner now. He is always the first one finished eating and the time seems to work well for us. HTH

[Teresa in TX]

I have been struggling since we started school this Fall with getting my kids attention during group times. Not so much with reading, but things like Bible memory, where you might stop and start. Seems like any opportunity for a distraction requires me to reign them all in again. Part of the problem is my 3rd grader. This is the first year he is doing the history cycles with us and sitting and being quiet is a bit of a challenge for him. We are in week 6, and I'm not seeing natural improvement. So, instead of continuing to do things in a way that is not working, I'm asking for advice.

Our pattern for the day, is first I call them for school and they do handwriting practice while we are waiting for 12, 10 & 8 year olds to arrive and for Mom to gather her tea. Sometimes we will do a musical selection during this time. Then we start on Bible memory or study. We are working on the James memory verses this year. My 8 year old isn't opposed to memory work, but the nature of stopping, starting, repeating, etc. gives him so many opportunities to get distracted and be a distraction. I really don't have time to do the memory work with him separately daily. Anyway, usually everyone's feathers are a bit ruffled by the time we are done with our first subject for the day. Not a positive way to start the day or study the Bible for that matter.

A couple things I've thought of while typing this are: 1) to change the seating arrangement and 2) to wait in the room while everyone arrives to monitor people's behavior and go straight into memory work. (Sometimes while people are waiting to start, we have these little squabbles that break out before we even begin, which certainly does not help matters.)

While I wait for your replies, I think I will ask the Lord for wisdom. I hear "He gives generously to all without reproach."

Some people may not agree with this approach, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. I have been helping out with Good News Club at a local school. After each meeting, the main leader gives out a 1 Timothy 4:12 award. The award is given to the child who sits quietly, participates in a positive way, and seems to be at least attempting to absorb the lesson and be cooperative. The award is a nice card with the scripture on it that says "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." Anyway, they get the card and are able to pick a prize. I don't go out of my way around here to give out prizes for just being cooperative, but I do like that it is teaching them to set an example for one another and to be cooperative. You might tell them you are doing it, then pay attention to your dc throughout the week and give out the 1 Timothy 4:12 award on Friday or something? I could see this being particularly positive to do during the time that they are learning God's Word. Just a suggestion.

[HSmommi2mine]

We play games with the memory verses to learn them and I keep my most disruptive student next to me. Simply changing the seating arraignment helps. If he is simply a fidgety 8 yo boy maybe let him have silly putty to squish in his hands or gum to chew, on the stipulation that he can't make any noise or be distracting with it.

[jasntas]

As far as the memory verse, one thing I do is print it and tape it to my dc mirror in their bathroom. They are to say it every morning. Maybe you could recruit one of your olders to help him with it every morning. I only have two kids and they get ready in the bathroom at the same time so we go over all stuff to be memorized at that time. (My dd is 5 and still needs help in the morning, esp. with her hair.)

I also gleaned a lot of info off this board not long ago about setting up rules to follow and discipline. It has helped immensely. I sat down with them both and we came up with the rules together. And they came up with the ways to be rewarded. They came up with the treasure chest idea themselves. They still get out of line occasionally but I reread the rules and then follow them. Only once did my ds loose $3 in funny money and had to spend 10 minutes in his room while his sis. played. I think he was testing me to see if I would follow through. He knows now. Since then only occasionally only one of them will loose a $1 and that seems to do it for the day. They have the potential to earn $15 a week. They also earn $3 every time they read a certain amount of books they read to me during school time. I also think they are more willing to follow the rules since they had a part in creating them. I lay out their money at the end of the school day for them to put away and be responsible for. I use play money and they have plastic bags with their names on them and a spot to keep them in but it's up to them to put the money away.

The items in the treasure chest are mostly small candies and a few inexpensive toys such as parachute guys. But the stuff is not cheap (to them). One piece of bubble gum is $5. But 5 pieces are $10. And 12 pieces are $15 (I think). We have up to $20 items so there is something to save for. It has also worked wonderfully for teaching money concepts. Even though my ds is 8 he has always struggled with money and time for some reason. This has helped him to figure out how much he has, how much he can spend and how much he may want to save to get the bigger items.

The following rules are posted in our "School Room" and I use clothes pens by their names which are moved to the appropriate spot when needed.

Justin
$3 Funny Money
$2 - Warning
$1 - 5 Minutes in room
$0 - 10 Minutes in room
$0 - 15 minutes in room

Carissa
$3 Funny Money
$2 - Warning
$1 - 5 Minutes in room
$0 - 10 Minutes in room
$0 - 15 minutes in room
School Rules

Be ready for school by 9:00 a.m. with no complaints.
Say “excuse me”, “please” and “thank you“.
Sit nicely in your seat and don’t get up without being asked or by asking nicely first and wait for Mom to say it‘s ok.
Ask permission before doing anything such as getting out of your seat.
Sit down when told.
Do not interrupt. Raise your hand and wait to be called on.
Complete assignments in a timely manor and without whining or complaining.
Finish the current assignment you are working on before asking to do something else such as to ask to go to the bathroom when possible.
No arguing, whining, complaining, yelling or interrupting.
Be courteous and respectful to each other and Mom.
Take off headphones to ask a question or make a comment when at the computer and remember to wait patiently for an opportunity to interrupt.

Everyone starts out with $3 funny money at the beginning of each day. Punishments are listed above. When time is taken away, it is to be served during break. You will receive only one warning before the first dollar is taken away. Major offenders will have to see the principal (Dad) at the end of the day and their school day will be over for that day. Funny money can be spent on the treasure chest each Friday if time allows or sometimes on Saturday if needed. If there are complaints on Friday regarding the treasure chest or otherwise, no one will purchase from the chest until the following Friday. The rules are to be read and agreed upon every day for the first week and once a week following or as needed.