... continued from yesterday. Read Part 1 here.
Currently, we're teaching our 2-year-old to memorize the Proverbs. Proverbs for Parenting | A Topical Guide for Child Raising From The Book of Proverbs compiled by Barbara Decker has proved to be a handy tool as each of the proverbs are organized into their respective categories.
If Charity is having a particularly difficult week with anger and temper-tantrums, we can flip to the anger section and choose a few verses from there to work on. If she's habitually stalling when we ask her to do something, we'll turn to the chapter on obedience. If she's having a hard time finding something nice to say to her brother, we'll memorize a verse on kindness.
There's nothing difficult or scientific about our method for memorization. For the most part, it's a simple process of "repeat after me." This past week, we memorized Proverbs 16:6: "By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
1. First, I'll read the verse through and explain any words she might not understand: iniquity, purged, depart.
2. Then I'll say the first phrase and ask her to repeat it back to me. I do this several times over with each section of the verse. That way, it gets ingrained in my memory as well as hers!
Mommy: "By mercy and truth... "
Charity: "By mercy and truth... "
Mommy: "Iniquity is purged... "
Charity: "Iniquity is purged... "
3. Once I think she's familiar with the phrases, we start combining them, two at a time:
Mommy: "By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged... "
Charity: "By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged... "
Mommy: "..and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
Charity: "... and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
4. Next, I leave out key words, and give her the opportunity to fill them in:
"By ________ and _______, _________ is ________: and _____ the _________ of the _______, men __________ from ______. Proverbs ____ : ____."
5. Once she's done the above a few time, we're down to just a few prompts until she can say it on her own:
"By _____________, iniqu... _______________; and ________________, men ____________________. _________ ___ : ___."
The whole process takes less than 15 minutes. I'll randomly review the verse with her several times throughout each day of the week until she can rattle it off and we move onto the next one. A few other things we've found helpful to aid in Scripture memorization are:
- Music. We sing a Psalm from our Church's Psalter with her before bed time. It's so fun when she picks it up and is able to sing along with us or recognizes it in a Church service!
- Regular Review. We try not to forget about a verse once we've moved on to a new one. To keep it fresh in her memory, we'll say the first word of a verse she knows when we're in the car or at dinner, and she'll finish the rest.
- Consistency. I find this to be the hardest part of all, especially if my morning is rushed by a tight schedule. However, if Charity's kept in the memorizing mode, it becomes easier for her to catch on. Once she recognizes it as part of our daily routine, she becomes the one who reminds me: "Mommy? Can we do the 'merry heart is good like medicine' one?"
Our prayer is that by God's grace, she will remember these truths for the rest of her life and that they will guide the decisions she makes from here to eternity.