Bible Memory System // High Fives

For years, I have tried to jump on the "morning basket" bandwagon and/or use our time at the breakfast table productively. I'm choosing to take it as a sign of growing maturity and wisdom that I have stopped fighting our natural household rhythms, without any guilt. We don't do breakfast together, and that's okay for us.

When we did occasionally manage to start our mornings together, the focus was on Bible and catechism memory work. Obviously, I don't want to lose that, and I struggled for a while to find a system that would work for us. I honestly don't know how I came up with our current system, but one month in, it seems to be working reasonably well for this season!

Bible memory work is now a part of our "habit training" system. This idea I "stole" from Life As Mom: the morning and evening "high five." The three oldest have five simple tasks they must complete before bed and upon waking. I'm pleased to report there has been more morning teeth-brushing in the past month than in the whole year since I last ran a "toothbrush challenge"! (Yes, morning teeth-brushing is hard for us!)

You might be able to see that the thumb of each hand says, "read verse." That's the Bible memory work part of our high fives. I started by making a big list of verses I'd like the children to memorize, then wrote each on an index card. (Actually, they're promotional cards from our local grocery store. Free is almost always best.)

Blue verses are mostly short; the orange ones are longer.

To start, each boy chose a card and put it under his pillow. They were instructed to read the verse every night and every morning. When they think they have it down, they bring me the card. I listen to the verse, jot their initial at the top, review any old verses, and they choose a new card. In the month we've been doing this, the older three have been averaging about one verse a week, and Toby's finished two. And since I'm frequently reviewing verses with them, I'm getting them set more in my own memory, too!

What verses are important for you to have your children memorize?

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