Bible EX1850 - Tell me about James memory work

[cbollin]

I'm addressing this to the few families who have already done EX1850.

Tell us (my family) about memorizing either all or part of James. We're going to go out on a limb (I have trouble memorizing my own phone number) and go for "Plan A" (a for all?) and memorize all of James. Oh boy, that's a lot.

My ds, upon hearing my enthusiastic, "guess what we're going to do" talk got overwhelmed, called me crazy, and then said, "There's no way I can do THAT." Which is not true AT ALL because he is great at memorizing Bible (and violin music). Recently we asked that all the kids memorized the Beatitudes. When we showed it to him, he said, "too much." There was a bribe riding on it, and the next day (within 24 hours of our first assigning it) he came downstairs and said it flawlessly. He's still very much able to recite it (so it wasn't just a short-term memory thing).

I was hoping a few families (moms AND kids) could chime in and encourage our family. As for my ds, he's able but doesn't believe. As for me, I'm not that good at memorizing, so I need the encouragement too.

Thanks.

Kelly,
You're right. It is a lot to learn. We aimed for Plan A, worked hard. No, my oldest did not memorize every verse perfectly. That’s ok with me. She learned a lot more than Plan B. Maybe we finished at Plan A-/B+. I’ve been more blessed that she recognizes the verses in other places. We’ve heard a lot of James verses in various Sunday sermons over the year. On the Christian radio station around here, they were reading from James chapter 5 one day, while we were in the van going to dance class. Turns out -- we were in chapter 5. God was faithful to help us in small ways. And when the verse was needed, it was there. When the kids were fighting, nothing like a quick verse to break up the fight. What? You don’t have perfect kids either. :)

Child #2, 8y.o. She was on Plan B as her goal, but she was constantly around older sister and 8 y.o heard all verses over and over. She learned more than plan B. She would fill in the missing sections with her verses while we read out loud together. She’s one of my special needs kids.

Marie puts in some suggestions for helping with memory work. You have to practice it more than just in the morning. One is a little incentive to practice 3 times per day and give a little treat (tic tacs worked for us). And some other stuff in the manual to encourage you a bit. Yeah, it’s hard work. The 2 Hazell daughters who pre-piloted EX1850 wrote little letters and they are in the t.m. to encourage you to keep on keeping on. David tells the story in various workshops where it was very hard for them. They almost scrapped the idea of memorizing the whole book, but the kids were determined that, “You made me do this much, you’re not making me give up now are you?” The youngest Hazell took a break from the pace and caught up later to older sister. All that to say --- they worked hard on this part as well.

The pace in Plan A is about 3-4 verses per week on the weeks you are learning verses, alternated by a week of using the Kay Arthur study book. Plus a lot of review built in.

In my kitchen, to help us, we printed out the whole book of James – nice 16 pt font so I could read it. I highlighted the plan B verses so I’d know which ones to concentrate on child #2. We would read it out loud together. Or I would play prompter and just help when they were stuck. And – at Sunday School class, child #2 was able to earn tickets for a little prize with her verses. So she even had another incentive to press on and keep going. And it helped that someone else other than mom and dad was interested in hearing her say her verses. (We’re talking little prizes here folks --- just enough to help motivate my child to try to say her verses in front of someone else. Remember, she’s one of my special needs, delayed kids --- she needed tangible encouragement to do this.)

We got stuck and just pressed on. Some sections we didn’t really memorize but just read out loud many times.

Hang in them, you've got a full academic year to learn 108 verses. {hug}.

--crystal

[kellybell]

Thanks so much Crystal. I was hoping you'd chime in. I thought about privately emailing you, but I know I am not the only one thinking and praying about this.

And, yes, I knew that the Hazells' kids included thier thoughts in the TM and it's quite an encouragement.

Oh, and thanks for telling me how many verses. I was going to add up the verses myself (I had guessed near 100 myself) to encourage my ds. He memorized 12 verses (the Beatitudes that I posted about) in less than 24 (actual) hours -- we assigned it one night after dinner and he cried "I can't do it." Then, by lunch the next day -- he had it.

I was thinking of making a little picture book (I'm no artist so I might have the kids illustrate it) with an idea (perhaps just a verse, maybe two or three verses) on each page. That should help. You know, the waves being blown about, analogies like that...

We might bribe the kids on this one. Oh, I don't mean bribe, I mean rewared.

Thanks for the encouragement.

[cbollin]

I was thinking of making a little picture book (I'm no artist so I might have the kids illustrate it) with an idea (perhaps just a verse, maybe two or three verses) on each page. That should help. You know, the waves being blown about, analogies like that...

My 2nd dd enjoys that part of chapter 1. She dances around the kitchen island while saying it. and moving her arms around like the wind... very precious to me.

oh.... here's something we did on chapter 1:23-24. look it up, it'll make sense. Before studying or trying to learn those verses, we looked in the mirror for a brief moment - walked away - and then tried to describe what we saw. We all forgot what we saw. Then --- we went back, knowing that we were going to be asked a question, and studied it more intensely.

Great hands-on activity that wasn't planned.
So -- there are times that things like that just happen.

-crystal

[cbollin]

Ok Kelly...... oldest dd decided to put her book down long enough to talk to me..... I'll just post it....


Miss Kelly,

Sometimes what helps me to memorize stuff is to just read it over and over. Or actually just sometimes just saying it over and over out loud while reading it.

you can write it down on the note cards like you’re “supposed” to do (well Marie Hazell said you’re supposed to.) yeah, and that way you can take it with you in the van when you go places. We did that a lot.

And don't sweat it, my mom didn’t memorize it all either.
If you miss a couple of verses, that’s ok. You don’t have to switch to plan B – we’re going to play catch up in the summer.

I'm going back to reading my book now.

--signed K1, (aka crystal’s oldest)

Oh wait, Mom, what about other moms like Julie in MN, do you think she and her son will want to know too? aren't they in RTR this year?

[kellybell]

thanks! I will use those tips.

I figure we can learn 108 verses in a year; the hard part is keeping them all inside our heads without forgetting them. It will be hard to keep 108 fresh. I'm just going to read James each day before I have breakfast. Hey, rejoice with me as I memorized the FIRST verse. Yippee. Each journey starts with a single step (or a single verse).

I was actually thinking of going to the dollar store (have to go soon anyway) where I've seen these audio CDs of the Bible. Well, of parts of the Bible. You'd have to buy a bunch of them to get the entire Bible and I have never looked at the covers to see what version they are. If they are NIV, I'll pick up the one with James on it and put that in the car for the kids to listen to each time we crank up to go somewhere. Of course, being dollar store, it might be poor quality, but it's worth a $1 risk.

Thanks for the ideas. We'll use them as well as the ideas in the TM.

[cbollin]

What is your experience with the James study (Bible study and memory work) We are on day three of Exploration to 1850,and have yet to be able to do our James study in under 30 minutes-we haven't even started the memorization. I'm just wondering if I need to adjust my schedule to take that in to account, or if things condense a bit more and move faster in future weeks. Unfortunately, I have to keep things moving like "clockwork" and I don't want to have set myself up for permanent failure if I follow the general plan in MFW, which gives the entire study 15 minutes. Thanks!

I"m in week 7. During the first week, when you use the Boy Have I got problems book, there are some parts that take longer. On Monday notes, the manual says 30 minutes for that first lesson. That book is not used every week. You use the book, study a section, then next weeks are memory time. back to the book...

so on the weeks where you are in the BHIGP book, you might spend a little more. Some days in that book, we were done in 5 minutes unless we did a lot of "marking the text". I found that it varied. But most of the time is not 30 minutes.

In general, over the last 7 weeks, while working with just my 7th grader in EX1850,
most of the Bible time is about 15 minutes or less for the James stuff.

*we practice reciting the verses
*copy the next verse. One a day usually.
*repeat it again. Maybe on a good day, we repeat it again at supper.
Then, we listen to the hymn. (blush.. we do youtube versions for group vocals. I know MFW has the stuff on the ideas forum with music and vocal versions of the hymn. blush blush over here.. our preference is to sing along with a group of singers instead of a soloist.)

Times that it takes longer than 15? That will be on days where I consider Trial and Triumph, or In God We Trust as part of Bible time.

\oh we had fun this week on James 1:17 copywork. Instead of singing the hymn again, we googled and sang "Father of Lights" (you delight in your children)......

You might consider the idea of doing the BHIGP book out loud together, or if you have an extra copy, have one copy opened to the back with the verses and the other book open to the lesson.

I might plan a tweak in schedule for 20 minutes instead of 15. see how it goes on the copywork/memory "only" weeks. Most of the hymns are going to be 3 minutes or so. One day you read the right hand side of the page. Probably a few minutes. Listen to the song the other days without reading.

copywork - depends on the speed of the child.

[Lucy]

Hi Lisa,

I would say that the book varied for us in the amount of time it took each day (5th and 7th grader). The time spent on this study was so worth it. Our family found this to be such a practical book and it gave us all a great study to work on our character! As the year progresses and you have more of James memorized, it will take longer to recite and depending on how many kids you have this may take 30 minutes. We often did this in unison and sometimes I would have each of my kids say it by themselves. Also like Crystal we did some of this orally. Some families have older kids work on this independently and then discuss it with the family (this is NOT expected, just sharing how others have worked with this book). We found that doing the James study and memorization in the evening (at least some nights) made it more relaxed and we enjoyed doing it with Dad too. This of course is not possible for all families and may not work for your family.

Even though books like Trial and Triumph and In God We Trust are listed under Bible, I always thought of them (like Crystal) as part of history too! This is the joy of unit studies . So it may be that you would want to read these books in the evening and do the study part during the day.

There are lots of options to work out how your family will accomplish the Bible in this year's study. Again you do not want to miss any of it since it is all wonderful!

Blessings and wisdom to you as you work out the timing for your family.

[TriciaMR]

Our times vary wildly. When we are in BHIGP, we usually are taking a minimum of 30 minutes - but I have 2 second graders that I am helping fill out the book. On memorizing, today we reviewed James 1:12-13 and added in verse 14, plus me writing the verse in each of the kids' spiral index cards took 30 minutes. Some days take less time, but 20 to 30 is the norm for us.

-Trish

[Julie in MN]

And remember that the little James workbook is spread out over the whole year. It seems like there was about one week a month where we worked on that, and the rest of the month focused on the book of James itself.

Julie

[MelissaB]

This morning I was getting my head in the game for our next school year, so I read the book of James. We are going to be doing Ex-1850 and I saw that there will be an option to memorize the ENTIRE book of James. I was picturing James to be more "Philemon-esque" in length. Wow! It is not the longest book in the Bible, by far, but when I read it as a precursor to memorizing it....yikes! When I consider my kids' ages, I wonder if we should give it a shot or just go for the Plan B.

Was anyone able to do it with kids 12 yrs. old and under? Any tips or wise words? Pleaaaasssseee.....

I have already started talking to them about the amazing opportunity they will have next school year to memorize a whole book of the Bible. In my own protective mama way, I don't want to have them be disappointed or feel like they "failed". Especially, my soon to be 2nd grader who is just joining the cycle.

Thanks!
[Editor's note: See update in October, below.]

Hi, Kathy,

Yes, I think your older 2 could do it. If you want, you might do Plan B so your younger 2 can join in more easily.

Either way, they're memorizing scripture and sharpening their sword!

Enjoy Exploration - 1850! {It's so interesting all the way through!!}

[gratefulmom]

We started well, but didn't keep it up like we should've. And I take the blame. It's amazing how much children can memorize if mama makes it a priority. One year we learned the book of Phillippians, not perfectly, but they did well. Somehow it's easy for me to start well, and harder to keep it up as the year progresses. I still feel that even the two chapters, and part of the third they learned in James will bless and benefit them going forward in life. And the littles will get another chance at it later. I was pleased at how even my 3 yr old picked it up. And my rising 9th grader has been working on it all summer...she almost has it all down. I'm so proud of her!

[TriciaMR]

I think we managed about half-way through James 4. We ended up getting our required days in for our school year by then, so we stopped and I just finished reading the Bible and History and Science for the rest of the year. But, it is doable. Even my boys (they were 2nd graders) did great with Plan A.

[rebeccal2002]

I had 3 students when we did it. I think they were 13, 11, and 9. The 13 and 11 year old did it VERY well. And the 9 year old did it pretty well, although I didn't require perfection from him by any means. But he became very familiar with James, which I think is the point, not just memorizing it.

We're not scholars over here either, so I was surprised how well everyone did. You can do it!!!!

Rebecca

[SarahP]

My 8, 8 and 11 year old boys did it. On the first day one of my 8 year old boys cried because he felt that he would never be able to memorize the first 2 verses. He was the first one to complete the whole thing at the end of the year. We took it in chunks a few verses at at time. They had index card books and were reminded to practice a few times day (after breakfast, lunch and before bed) and we gave rewards along the way - a trip for donuts after chapter 1 for example. They earned a special family trip for all 5 chapters.

[klewfor3]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement! We'll give it our best shot and see what happens.

I like the idea of rewards by Chapter. That can make things so fun. It seem like it would work well over here.

I'll post an update on how we do!

Thanks again,
Kathy

[SarahP]

When they get it done, video tape it - and don't first go on a long trip where the kids stop practicing and then come back and make them work to have it (nearly) perfectly memorized again so that you can record it for posterity. Do it before the vacation!

Great idea Sarah! And, you have no idea how much this tip applies to us. Every year we finish school on Friday and leave for our cabin on Sunday. I will make a note in my TM!

[klewfor3]

UPDATE ON JAMES:

I wish I could hug Marie for the wonderful way she laid out memorizing James. I have to admit I was so anxious about it because I had told my kids I would do it with them. As the school year approached, there were a few nights that I couldn't sleep because I was overwhelmed with how busy we were as a family (with a toddler) and me taking on this big of a commitment. Honestly, I can say it has worked beautifully! The amount of memory work, the breaks, the well placed encouragement, all of it...is perfect! We just finished memorizing the first chapter. I almost cried as my kids said it. Actually, I did well up with tears. I really believe we will be able to do this! My kids are having a bunch of their friends over for pizza and a fire/movie night as a reward.

Anyone else coming up on Exp to 1850...fear not! Just follow the teacher's manual! It is all laid out in there. Thanks Marie!!