I think it is high time I put more emphasis on Bible verse memorization with Joshua. The importance of Bible memorization could not be over-emphasized in helping a child to digest and hide God's word in his heart - also for myself.
I have however been neglecting this area and I would like to work harder on it. I have been unable to do so due to limited time, competiting activities (Montessori Practical Life activities, academic pursuits, physical activities, music activities, social activities, work commitments, etc. etc.) and the lack of planning. But this is no excuse. All other activities should not be taking higher priority than this all important work in a child. I have to re-focus and put the first thing first.
But how do I fit into a very tight and limited amount of time that I have with Joshua as a working mom? I found this extremely challenging. It is also equally challenging for me to find suitable Bible verses for toddlers and to remember to use it after finding them. I also wish there would be illustration accompanying the Bible verses to make it more tangible for young children.
If you are blessed to be a stay-at-home mom (which I wish I am), you could make your own Bible memory verses suitable for toddlers or search the internet for free resources. But I find that many such sites are hard to navigate, and very time-consuming. I sometimes give up half way through navigating them. But if you are a working mom, and face the same time constraints as I do, I think I have found a very good book called "ABC Bible Verse Book". I am really so excited about it!!!
Here are some ways that I could work Bible memorization in with this short and simple book:
1. Read a verse as a opening or closing for dinner time.
This would only take one at most one minute. A child's attention span at this age is at most three minutes. Thankfully it does not require so much of my time to incorporate such "lesson" into Joshua's christian development and academic education. I have to constantly be reminded of this, so that I am not over-ambitious with my expectations.
Here is an example of a verse and its simplicity:
2. Use the verse as discussion point during dinner.
I have been wanting to find ways to be more positive when making conversation, as if I am not self-guided and self-reminded, topics could degenerate to talking about work problems at the dinner table, making it very heavy-going and irrelevant for Joshua. I pray and hope to improve on this with the grace of God.
3. Stick to only one or two verses for the whole week.
I have the tendency to change lessons too fast and too soon. I need to remind myself that repetition works for toddlers and preschoolers. So I will try to stick to one or two verses for the whole week. I have read about how some toddlers only two years old are able to easily remember and memorize verses, when repetitions are provided.
Advantages:
The advantages of this book are:
1. It is a board book and perfect for toddlers to handle it without fear of tearing or damaging it.
2. It contains only one verse a page in very short simple sentence suitable for very young children.
3. It ties in with phonetic and alphabet learning, helping me to kill two birds with one stone.
3. It has very attractive and cute illustrations that appeal a lot to me.
Disadvantage:
There is some use of ye, thou, thee, etc. Some people consider this a disadvantage, but after using the book, I find that they actually make the verses rhyme better, making it easier to memorize.
I am looking forward to put Bible memorization back on track for our family with Joshua.
You can also get this book from Amazon:
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