Scripture Catapillars

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee

Deuteronomy 6:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Teaching our children to memorize the Scripture has been laiden on my heart for quite some time now. I never did this as a child, truthfully, and I look back and wonder if I had...would I have avoided certain heartaches? I will never quite know for sure but I wish to enstill in my children a love for the Bible. My prayer for them is to know the Bible...to fall in love with the Bible...to know the pages within their hearts. To know Jesus' Promises word for word is an amazing comfort and will not only be of a help to them but to others they minister to in the future.

Jesus when tempted by Satan quoted Scripture in Matthew Chapter 4. In Hebrews 4:12 we are told, "For the Word of God is For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

It is critical for children to learn the Word. Sometimes, it can be hard to know the best way to go about this. I have found Ruth Beechick has great insights on how children should memorize.

A really fun and visual way to get your children excited is to start a Scripture Catapillar. This is not my orginal idea! I first learned about it from Marilyn Boyer who is a homeschooling mother, speaker, and author. I love Marilyn's articles and books. She is a lovely inspiration. Her website is here.

Here is a picture of our catapillar:



Unfortunately, the picture is blurry because I had to take it with my cell phone!! {My camera's charger is MIA currently! :( }

 

For every verse your child memorizes you place that verse on a round peice of construction paper and hang up as part of your catapillars body! We hope to get our catapillar growing around all four walls! It is really exciting and fun to see the catapillar growing l-o-n-g-e-r and my boys are learning the Word! We keep reviewing the verses that are hung up while learning new Scriptures. It takes different amount of times to learn different verses but keep going at it! It is so rewarding to hear children quote Scripture! I also have always included Noah who is 3 but when we started was 2. He was a bit young to get every word but he has caught on quite nicely now and delights in being a part of the fun with his big brother!

 

I hope this in some way or another motivates you to keep on or get started memorizing the Word with your children! :-[)

Get out out the Cornmeal!



Noah practicing the letter N

In our home everything that big brother Chad does so does little brother, Noah. That goes right down to school work. Since Chad can write his name and is often writing out things and practicing letters, numbers, etc. Noah has decided it is time to write his name, too! Currently we were practing the sound of a letter and just letter recognization in general. But upon his asking and sweet sincerity of wanting to write like Chad we decided to focus on his name!

Since Noah is 3 he is not yet used to holding a pencil, even a crayon for that matter. So we switched to an easier, more fun ways to practice writing letters. Here is one idea that is a favorite: cornmeal! This is something Chad always loved to do!

Basically it is as simple as can be! Pour loose cornmeal (it doesn't cause dust) on a large metal baking tray and have at it. Simply shake pan to "erase" and start over. Kids have a blast with this, practicing letters or not. It is a magnadoodle, before there was such! ;-)

It is so much easier for younger kids to begin writing letters this way, with their finger. This really helps the brain make that connection with the letter and pave the way for that child to eventually write with pencil, crayon, etc.