I have a confession to make:
Our family has SUCKED at scripture study this summer….like I am not sure we have even done it once.
We have been so diligent as parents with family scripture study thus far, what would it hurt to take off just one summer?
Well, let me tell you… The kids have been fighting like cats and dogs. They are at each others throats over the smallest, silliest things. We are all irritable and short tempered and quick to find fault. My patience is shot. In short, the Spirit has been on summer vacation as well.
As I was thinking about the sad state of our home and what I could do as the mom, I had the impression “you haven’t been reading the scriptures as a family.” I thought of the blessings and promises available to families when they read the scriptures together:
President Marion G. Romney said, ‘I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness’ (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67).
I needed these promises to be true so we had a family council yesterday. We discussed our problem briefly but spent more time on our plan. How were we going to get our family scripture study back up and running?
We decided to have scripture study in the morning. We are going to start at 8:30 AM and work our way down to 7:45 AM by the time school starts. (I prefer the baby step method, as opposed to the cold turkey method.)
For years we had done family scripture study at night before bed. We would read the back of the Gospel Art Kit pictures or from the Children’s scripture readers. We did this for several years and made it through each of those at least 3 times. But last year we decided that we needed to move our time to the morning because Dad was often gone at meetings at night; the kids were getting more and more involved with extra curricular activities, and I was often too tired to do scripture study by myself and then get all the kids down for bed as well. We found ourselves skipping more and more. We knew the only conflict in the morning was our desire to sleep.
Plus we wanted to delve into the real scriptures. I wanted my children to get used to scriptural language and actually hold them in their hands. We renamed Family Scripture Study “Scripture Power” after our favorite song “because we want the power his words will give to me“. (Doesn’t that just sound so much better than Scripture Study?) We had a very successful year studying the Book of Mormon in the morning.
So we decided to go back to what worked. Here is our Scripture Power plan for this school year. (Some is what we did last year and others are new ideas.)
First, we made sure that every kid had his/her own set of scriptures whether he/she can really read or not. We had to round some up from different places around the house and even tape the binding on one. They aren’t pretty; but they each have their own.
I put their names on them yesterday with rub on letters (on the cheap copies) so there would be no confusion / fights over whose is whose.
We put them in a central location in the Living Room — just a basket on our hearth. When we are finished reading they all go back in the basket.
Second we wanted to use music. As we are gathering the kids, we turn on the song “Scripture Power” on the iPad — kind of like prelude music. It signals to the kids that we are about to start family scripture study. (Think Pavlov’s dog.) We all have until the end of the song to be in the living room with our scriptures on our lap. It’s a good thing the song has 2 verses because the kids aren’t always the last ones ready.
Then we will sing an opening song using the iPad. We have a great app on the iPad that sings the song and shows pictures of the Primary songs and hymns.(Download the app here.) This is great for our musically challenged family. The opening song gives the kids time to wake up if necessary and and the song invites the Spirit as well. (I am convinced the reason why we sing an opening song in Sacrament meeting is to give us moms time to recover from the morning we just had trying to get to church. Sometimes it even takes me until the Sacrament hymn before I am feeling the Spirit again.)
Finally, we will start reading the actual scriptures. 4 of us can read well and Croft is getting really close. Last year we would break the scriptures down into short phrases for her. We would read a phrase and she would repeat it. This year she is reading more. Locke always gets to say “And it came to pass”. Maybe this year we will add on “and thus we see” or repeating phrases as well.
Sometimes we read a whole chapter, and sometimes we read just one verse. We take it slow because I want to talk about what is going on, not just read words.
Sometimes something will hit me during the day about the morning’s Scripture Power and the next morning I will reteach it. Although we want to finish the Book of Mormon, more importantly we want to understand it.
We end Scripture Power with us all kneeling for Family Prayer.
Then we like to keep the Primary music going from the iPad while we get ready for the day.
I know this seems perfect on paper and will be harder to do in real life, but we have had success before and we can have success again. Wish us luck. And those promises better be true!
P.S. All last year Locke thought the 2013 National Geographic Kids Almanac was his scriptures. No one had the heart to tell the kid that his bright picture, fun fact filled book wasn’t actually the scriptures. Now that he has a real set, it might be a little bit of a rough transition for him this year.
![I spoke in church today and said the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest act of Charity. I read Moroni 7:45-47 to make my point. But wherever there was the word ‘Charity’ I substituted it out for ‘the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ See if these scripture verses now have new meaning for you:
“And the Atonement of Jesus Christ suffererth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth,
[The Atonement of Jesus Christ] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ye are nothing, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-
But the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”
So Easter really reminds us of love. The first and greatest commandment.](https://www.raisinglemons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Loved your post. We need to rekick the sure script ( John Bytheway) power in the rear again too. Great idea. We have always sang a song before our kneeling nightly prayer. Primary/ hymn.
Thanks for the kick in the pants! I needed it! Summer is so hard for this!
I’m feeling similar and ready to get back in gear! Thanks for some tips and reminders!
Yeah’, we’ve taken the summer off too. The kids stay up later, I am more tired from long crazy days that I just want them in bed.
But, I have to say that Bryan has stepped up where I have dropped off. He takes his iPad and plays a Mormon message and talk about it. This has been our means of “scripture study” this summer.
Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
This is inspirational, even as an adult (and non Morman!) I’m trying to read the bible in a year, and when I’m done, I’ll try the book of Morman, a blogger sent me a copy. This plan sounds so great, even though I know the practicalities might trip you up from time to time. Planning is the key!
What a great thing you are doing for your family! I like that you have a song beforehand…I want to try this in my own home now…can’t believe I’ve never thought of that. I also liked that you sometimes only study a verse. Often times we hear “just read a chapter”. I feel like its pulling teeth to get that far. My kids don’t understand a whole chapter…thank you for helping me understand a verse is OK too…I too would rather my kids understand rather than read! You are an inspiration!
I love these ideas! We have been seriously slacking on our scripture study too. Do you mind sharing the app that has the songs with pictures? Also, are your kids dressed for school, ect. before they come down? Just trying to figure out the best way to do it.
Thanks!
Stacey
Stacey, I just went in and added the link to the Primary Music app. We use the app for scripture power, nightly devotionals, Family Home Evening, and Family Council. We do scriptures first thing. Most of the time they are still in their pjs straight from bed. It would be ideal if they could be dressed because I think they might listen better but we are pushing to wake them up as it is. We chose the time because 1. I want my husband to be there and he usually leaves for work much earlier than the kids need to be at school. So we wake them up and they come right to scripture power. 2. If I waited until right before school started, after they were dressed and their chores were done, I am worried that it would get pushed out or skipped if we were behind schedule. 3.I like starting our morning first thing with the Spirit. 4. And there is less fighting because they are still tired 🙂 Hope that helped. Good luck!
That totally helps. Thanks for taking the time to reply!
We just started our little family. We have a 7 month-old and right now we are reading out of the BOM. But I’m wondering if we should get the kids scripture readers and read from those instead as she and her future siblings have a long time before they are even close to reading. Having done both, what do you think?
Shelley, I would definitely get the scripture readers. We read them all (Old Testament, New Testament, D&C, and B of M) several times before we moved on to the “real” scriptures. They also helped my children to learn to read and I would find them reading the readers on their own. Later, if you feel like your oldest is getting bored with the scripture readers but your younger kids still need them, you could have her read a scripture from the actual scriptures that goes along with the story you are on. We did this with our oldest and it helped to keep her attention. Might I also put in a plug for the Gospel Art Kit pictures. We would hold up one picture a night and tell the scripture story that went with the picture. The kids grew to love the scriptures by hearing the stories first and seeing the pictures. We would alternate between a round of the readers (all of them, all the way through) with a round of the Gospel Art Kit. It also goes through all the standard works. They can read from the Book of Mormon the rest of their lives; it’s okay to read to them at their level when they are children. Hope this makes sense. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you so much for responding are your great advice!
Loved hearing how other families are choosing the right! I smile whenever I hear families share their “dirt” about how hard scripture study is. Makes me feel more comfortable with our struggling efforts–it is hard and it is worth it! We’ve done scripture study mornings, nights, not at all, etc. Our current method is at dinnertime. Yes, that means spaghetti on the scriptures. It makes me nuts! but it does get it done…without the resentment we were getting from teenagers at 6am…thinking you’re totally on track by doing this while they’re young. Keep up the good work, and know we’re working right along side you for happy families who CTR:)
I have a funny but serious question that i would love input from another mom with young children: there are some graphic bits in the scriptures. So far I usually skip them because my four year old is drawn to gore lol. Do you just read straight through those parts?
Val, thanks for the question. When my kids were younger we read the scripture readers, and yes, I did read all the parts. The readers didn’t seem as graphic or gorey (sp?) Is your 4 year old a boy? If so, this post might help: https://www.raisinglemons.com/parenting/why-im-not-worried-about-the-bloody-knife/.