Teaching Memory Verses to Pre-Schoolers

In my first month of blogging, over 2 years ago, when Ivy was just 2 years old, I talked about teaching her to recite the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self-control. (You can read that post here). That was the catalyst to where we are today. She's now 4 years old and learning her 10th Bible Verse. 

A couple of weeks ago (when we were only on 9 verses) I wrote them out on flash cards, because she's starting to recognize more sight words and bigger numbers (past 10), so I wanted that educational aspect of learning to correlate with our biblical learning. But, flash cards is not how we learned these verses. 

Most of the verses I am teaching Ivy are verses I had learned as a kid, mainly from growing up in the AWANA program at Hope Chapel Kihei. Also, my mom kept a couple copies of the "Four Spiritual Laws" in the console of her car, and whenever I would be waiting on her, I'd pick it up and start memorizing the verses, because that's what I always heard you were supposed to do with that little yellow book. Memorize it! You never know when someone is gonna come asking you how to get saved! (I'm not even joking… this was/is my thought process.)

Every kid is different, but here's the steps we took with Ivy in memorization:

1. Pick a specific time of the day to learn and review the verses with your child. 

It worked best as part of Ivy's bedtime routine. Maybe for your kid it could be after dinner, or as soon as they wake up or while driving in the car or even while they're in the bathtub. Whenever it is, do it at the same time every day.

2. You need to have it memorized, before they can have it memorized. 

You and your child will have most success if you memorize the verse first.You're going to be repeating it over and over for them, in a variety of ways. And some days, they won't feel like saying it at all, so you might as well memorize it right off the bat. 

3. Teach each verse in segments. 

For the Fruit of the Spirit, I taught her the first 2 (love, joy) one night, then added in the 3rd and 4th the next night (peace, patience), then the next night taught her how kindness and goodness both ended in "ness", then the next night told her how faithFUL and genTLE had the same "UL" ending, and then finally finished with self-control. We stuck with this verse for a week or two. I didn't even add in "But the fruit of the Spirit is" or "against such there is no law" until later. For each of the verses you see in this post, pay attention to when the verse goes to the next line. These are good groupings to teach them in segments. (i.e.: teach line 1, then line 2, etc).

4. Repetition is key.

Say the first line, then have your child repeat after you. For the following verse, I would have Ivy repeat "I can" after me 3 or 4 times, before moving on to "do all things" and repeating that 3 or 4 times, then repeating "I can do all things" a bunch, then add "through Christ" and so on. Repeat. Repeat again and again. Combine. Repeat. 

5. Teach the Verse Address.

"1 Corinthians 11:1" may sound like a mouthful for a pre-schooler, but if you don't teach the reference now, it's way harder to teach it later. It's also helping to teach them numbers. I screwed up and taught Ivy the following verse as "2 Corinthians 10:1" for like 6 months, and then I realized I was wrong, and it's taken quite a few weeks to re-teach Ivy, and she still says it the wrong way most nights. :( My bad!

6. Some days you'll be the only one saying the verse.
There were some nights where Ivy just didn't feel like saying the verses. Of course I tried to encourage her to do so, but in the end she would just ask me to say them. So I did. Happily. I never wanted it to become something negative. After all, this is God's Word! And it's okay for her to hear it being said, even if she's not the one saying it. That's still helping her learn.

7. It's okay to simplify for kids.
I'm not trying to push for a new kids version of the Bible or anything, but sometimes you can let words go… like "hath," or "yet" or repeating "might" a million times. Believe me, I took many courses in New Testament and Old Testament and have listened to countless teachings on the importance over which translation is most accurate, most inspired, most understandable and I respect all the research being done to try to find the purist form of God's Word. But just like you would bring over a stool for your child to reach something up high, sometimes you have to make adjustments to make these verses accessible to your children. For example, the following verse actually reads: "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Our version isn't too different, but a little less wordy.

8. At this age it's about memorization, not meaning.

Again, don't start a debate with me on this. Of course the meaning is ESSENTIAL. It's why we teach our kids Bible verses! But, some things they just won't understand until they are older. Sure, I explained the word "abundantly" to Ivy, but she would be bored out of her mind if I forcefully explained the entire verse in detail, the way I would to an adult. My goal is that these verses are being "written on her heart" so that when she is older, she will remember them and things will start to click, just like they did for me. I memorized the following verse when I was 5 years old and have never forgotten it. And how cool did I feel for being able to say a word like "abundantly" at that age?! 

9. Spend at least a week or two on learning a verse before moving on to a new verse.

Ivy can say the first 8 verses listed in this post, and we've been working on #9 for about 4 weeks now. She always remembers the last part of #9 "it is the gift of God." Remember, I started the Fruit of the Spirit over 2 years ago, and we are just starting our 9th verse… it takes time and repetition. The older she gets (she's 4 1/2), the easier it is to teach new verses, but I'm in no rush. Neither is she. 

10. Recite each verse, in order, every day. 
This goes for all the verses you've learned (not the ones you haven't learned yet). Prompts are okay. For example, all I say is "And it shall" and Ivy will be able to finish the rest of Acts 2:21 on her own.

11. Choose the verses you want your child to learn.

I chose these 10 verses for a few reasons: either I knew them myself, or my husband knew them, or I felt like they were important yet simple/short enough for her to grasp, or I heard them in church and quickly wrote them down because I liked them and wanted to teach them to her. You can totally use the verses I use (they're tried and true for us) or make up your own. 

Let me know if you have any questions about this. It's been super rewarding for us to do with Ivy. We live in a world where our religious freedom and freedom of speech is slowly being taken away, and I wouldn't doubt that in our kids' lifetime the Bible will be somewhat inaccessible. In preparation, I want God's Word written on Ivy's heart, so that it will be with her always. 

Aloha, Rebecca

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A Number A Day - pre Pre-School prep

Well, we've finished "A Letter A Day" and it only seemed right to do "A Number A Day" next. 

A little background: Ivy is 3 years old and itching to learn new things! She's not yet in pre-school (see the reasons why, here) so I'm doing what I can in the meantime to foster her love of knowledge!

So here's how we approached learning A Number A Day:

1- WRITE - I write out the number on a small white board a few times, with Ivy watching me. Then I have her try and write the number herself. If need be, I make a dotted line version of the number for her to trace, or I help her write the number. 

#2- BOOKS - We use a few books that have to do with numbers. We only read up to the page of the number we're on. I don't want to confuse Ivy with all the other numbers at once, but I do want to review the numbers we've already done. I just found books about numbers we already had.

"Count With Me," from a mini Sesame Street collection

 "My Very First Book of Numbers," by Eric Carle

"Ten Little Ladybugs," by Melanie Gerth

#3- CLOCK - Next I use a clock (an awesome hand-me-down from my cousin!) and I ask Ivy to find today's number on the clock. I also look around to see if we can find today's number on other household items: calendar, other books, phones, microwave, etc.

#4- PLAY-DOUGH -  Here's the fun part! We get out the play-dough and use the stencil/cookie cutter things (what is the word for those?!) to make today's number in the play-dough. At this point I let her use all the numbers (0-9) to play around with, so they become familiar to her. 

TIPS

*Be patient! Numbers are new to your child, they're not going to learn them all at once or in one day. Today Ivy insisted that #4 was an 'H.' She also gets I, L, and #1 confused... haha. She'll get it as long as I gently correct her and help her remember. She also may get stuck on not being able to remember a number, but it will eventually click a few days later.

*Talk about the numbers throughout the whole day. Ivy points them out on signs, in the grocery store, on TV, license plates. Learning doesn't stop when your "number lesson" is done.

*Try to do it every day, and at the same time every day. I'll be honest, this doesn't happen for us, but when it does, it's better for all of us. Believe me, Ivy asks for it every single day, even later in the day on the days we've already done it! She asks so much that I get a little frustrated! However, if she knows she can expect it at the same time every day, you have some ground to stand on. 

*Fill in other caregivers. Ivy is watched by me, my husband and both of my parents. I let them all know what she's learning so they can be aware of it and help her out it the opportunity presents itself. 

Ivy turned 3 last month, and it's been... interesting. More emotional than age 2, that's for sure. (For example, Ivy is sobbing over the angle of her sock seam right now). I found this pin on pinterest. It's been helpful. Enjoy! 

Aloha, Rebecca

Source: thechildwhisperer.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

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A Letter a Day - pre Pre-School Prep

We just decided that we are going to wait until next Fall to enroll Ivy in Pre-School. She turns 3 this week. I know she's ready to learn, but the logistics of pre-school just don't work for us right now. I know everyone makes these decisions for different reasons. Here's ours:

1. I work in the afternoons (3:00pm-7:00pm usually). So Ivy would head to pre-school all day, then when it's time to pick her up, I would be leaving for work. :(

2. She has a late birthday, which means she would be in pre-school for 3 years if we enrolled her now.

3. Money. We have been working really hard to get out of some debt, and we're very close to meeting our goal. Adding on a monthly pre-school payment would set us back. We live next door to my parents, who work from home, so it's not like we need "day care." They gladly let Ivy come over anytime we need her to.

4. Germs. This isn't a real reason, but it does sit in the back of my mind. I have had huge trouble with my immune system, and I do all that I can to not get sick, especially since I work with kids all week long. In the last year (via diet change, herbal supplements and acupuncture), I've made leaps and bounds boosting my immunity. If right now Ivy went to school and started bringing home all those little illnesses, I think I'd be right back to square one, health-wise. In another year, my immune system will be that much stronger. Lucky for Ivy, when she gets sick (which is rare) she's over it in a day or two, just like her daddy. For me, I'm down for the count for about 2 weeks. 

With all that said, I know Ivy is craving a piece of academia. So I started doing "A Letter A Day" with her. We started at the beginning of the alphabet. Here's how we do it:

1. On a piece of paper, I write the letter. Then I draw a dashed version of the letter for her to trace. Then I have her try to write it on her own. For now, I just do uppercase. Some of the books show the lowercase, and I briefly say to her "big H, little h, uppercase H, lowercase h" but I really just stick with learning the uppercase.

2. I tell her the sound that letter makes, then recite a bunch of words off the top of my head that start with that letter. For 'H,' I said, "hand, head, happy, hurry, help..." It's really neat when she "gets it" and then says a word. When we did the letter 'J,' she interrupted me with the word "juggle"! I was overjoyed. :)

3. I gathered these Alphabet items we already had: 3 books and a stacking block set. After we write our letter, she knows to go get these things.

4. We go through each book and find the page with that letter, and say the name of the picture that goes along with it. The "Elmo's Alphabet" book is cool because it has a whole little paragraph that goes along with the letter. 

5. Then we get the Alphabet Block with the letter on it, and I have her find the letter on it. It also has a corresponding picture, which gives her more chances to hear the sounds.

6. Then we go to our bookshelf and try to find the letter in the titles of the books.

7. Lastly, we take the letter we wrote and put it on the refrigerator with the rest of the letters. When daddy comes home from work, we show it to him proudly!

I will also usually write the letter on our main family calendar, so I remember which one we're on, if we happen to miss a day. Ivy watches me do this, and that's kind of the beginning of teaching her about dates!

If you have a toddler at home, I hope you can take something from this post and use it!

Ivy just loves doing her Letter A Day, 

and reminds me about it all the time. 

How did you come to your decision about pre-school?

Aloha, Rebecca

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