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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 12:23pm | IP Logged
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Hello,
I'm putting this here tentatively...
Is anyone memorizing scripture verses? If so, what programs or approaches do you use? with what age groups?
I think memorizing poetry is great, but it seems to me that the Bible is even more important--God is the author and it is the greatest book ever written!
I say this coming from a protestant background of course, but I do think Catholics should do more with that  !
I got some CDs (Scripture Songs) that have verses sung to folksy guitar. Its musically okay (no rock beat) and very uplifting for me, but my dh who has led chant and choirs for over 10 years doesn't like it. The kids are learning some verses that way, but its nothing systematic or formal.
Does CM say anything about this?
Thanks!
CK
CK
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seven2hold
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 1:07pm | IP Logged
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CK,
I purchased a little booklet last summer called "Scripture Memory Made Easy" I followed it for several weeks. I did memorize several verses, but it fell by the wayside.
I am a cradle Catholic and was familiar with the gospel stories but never did any memory work. I have come to believe that it is very important to memorize scripture.
I have been reading Shepherding a Child's Heart and Don't Make Me Count to Three. These are both child training and discipline books that use scripture as the foundation of training. For example, I heard my 3 yo ds yelling at my 5 yo ds this morning. The 3 yo was not being kind, but he was being teased by his older brother. I reminded the 5 yo (tormenter) that God tells us in scripture that "A harsh word stirs up anger and a gentle answer turns away wrath". This scripture was the foundation of the lesson he received this morning. The 3 yo was reminded that Love is patient and kind and bears all things.
I feel like my knowledge of scripture is so lacking! How can I sew into my children's hearts God's word if I don't have the verses in my memory?
Thanks for starting this topic. I look forward to reading other comments.
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Kathy
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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Kathy,
I read Shepherding and also a similar one called "Changing your child's heart."
These books are very good in laying scripture as the foundation of discipline. C Mason thought so too. She said we need to put the right ideas in to the heads first and that seed will grow to change actions/hearts. This is key to discipline.
On the other hand, I found these books too much on the spanking side of things. I think that should only be one among many options. "Changing" was better on that and suggested assigning work--you could present it like a "penance."
Getting back to the memorization issue, though I think that this is again an area where the mom can learn alongside the kids and get the education she deserves!
I found a website with Catholics apologetics verses
http://www.cpats.org/holyquotes/documents/_all_catholic_vers es.htm
However, it seems like this might be best done with older kids.
Looking forward to hearing from others.
And Can someone tell me how to post a link?
CK
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eschuetter
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 1:51pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the thread - I was thinking of this a while back and was a bit stumped on what to try with my 5 yo ds.
This was my main problem as well...
Quote:
I found a website with Catholics apologetics verses
http://www.cpats.org/holyquotes/documents/_all_catholic_vers es.htm
However, it seems like this might be best done with older kids.
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Because our Protestant brothers and sisters are so much more hungry for things like this -- there are more ideas (songs, books, programs, etc.) out there for them.
I did a lot of memorization on my own in high school and college and found it very fruitful in both my personal life (decision making, perspective on events in my life and more) as well as my prayer life.
I really want to give my boys the gift of planting scripture in their heart - but I struggle with how much of it they can understand at this age (going on 6 and going on 3)... should they just memorize the words and grow into the understanding? (Because that's not the way I did it, I don't know if it is useful or not...)
As I type this I realized that some of the scripture I memorized was simply from listening to songs by John Michael Talbot. I probably need to put those CDs on in the background more often. I suppose that would be a start.
Thanks again for starting the discussion... I'll be reading and add more if it comes to me.
Erica
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Theresa
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I would think it would be important no matter what denomination you are. In Psalms we are told to hide God's Wod in our hearts... You can't hide something you don't know.
Many times the Holy Spirit will bring to my remembrance a certain Scripture that I've memorized.
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seven2hold
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 4:35pm | IP Logged
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CK,
I'm going to look for "Changing your child's heart." Thank you for this recommendation.
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Kathy
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 5:08pm | IP Logged
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Kathy,
"Changing your child's heart" is by Steve Sherbondy.
I just want to say--in case there was any misunderstanding--that, thanks be to God, I am Roman Catholic, but a convert. 
Its true that it should not matter the denomination. But...I do think that the Protestants put more emphasis on this because, other than baptism, the Bible is their only link to Christ. We Catholics have so much more! and its easy to take some things for granted.
I think that the point about recalling scripture bc of the Holy Spirit is important. Its part of the gift of counsel. God works with what we've got inside us and it helps us to have more for him to work with!
Consider the descriptions of saints who memorized whole books of the Bible (Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic) or would be able to cite verses and references from memory when arguing with Protestants (Edmund Campion). Maybe we are not up to that, but I think its something we should keep our eyes on when setting our goals, since we are raising children in an age which is so confused.
Does the hs book by Kimberly Hahn talk about this? She ought to know!
I'd love to hear more thoughts and suggestions.
CK
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denise3578
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We have a great CD called "Hide Em' in Your Heart, by Steve Green. The verses are set to very catchy tunes. After a few weeks of playing this in the car, we all knew all the verses by heart.
Also, Simply Charlotte Mason ( I think it's them )has a scripture memory system using a rotating index card system. I'm sorry I can't link to it, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.
Denise in VA
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 11 2007 at 6:25pm | IP Logged
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Denise,
I have heard about "Hide em in your heart". My dh is very sensitive musically and that would not pass his test! Any thing with a rock beat is out. He can hardly handle the quiet songs of John Michael Talbot. 
We listened to a bunch of scripture song cds on the sing'n'learn website a while ago.
"Scripture Songs" was the only one he could --barely-- handle. Those are also available from Amazon, if anyone is interested. There are 5 of them, though I think they get more rock-y and with an electric guitar in the later cds. We got the first 2. You can listen to samples...
HOWEVER--
This CM system looks very good, very organized. I printed the instructions out...
(I actually did not know about Simply Charlotte Mason website at all) Thank you for telling me about this!!!
CK
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JennyMaine
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What about using the Friendly Defenders card as your basis for this?
I wholeheartedly agree with the point you are making. I left the church  and spend several years as a Protestant before finding my way home.  Frankly, I had never really read the Scriptures and so I was easy pickings to be lured away from my faith.
I believe that the Scriptures are the battleground, if you will, on which our children will have to fight to keep their faith. I place a lot of importance on apologetics in our daily lives and studies. When my Catherine was about seven, a well intentioned friend who had no clue who he was dealing with invited her to VBS at his church. Imagine his shock when she responded, "Thanks, but I like my own church because we really have Jesus there in Communion and you don't." She proceeded to tell him why that made a difference and what Christ had said about it. That family hasn't asked us again!
One method I would suggest is to pick a topic covered by the cards, such as the Eucharist, and have them gradually memorize the question, answer, and then become familiar with all the Scripture verses listed in support of that answer. We like to notebook this, with a section for each topic and Scripture verses written out in nice handwriting.
Scripture songs are ok to a point, but if they are by a Protestant recording artist you can bet they focus on the wrong Scriptures - not giving the fullness of what Scripture says regarding issues of salvation, forgiveness of sins, etc. I would say that if your husband is teaching chant and choir, and your children are learning our amazing Catholic heritage, that this is a great thing. My daughter is in our youth choir and has learned so many Latin hymns, etc., it is a beautiful thing to behold. When I hear her singing in Latin while washing dishes, it literally makes me cry I'm so grateful. You are blessed - he is right to be picky!
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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Becky Parker
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JennyMaine makes a great point about the Friendly Defenders cards (and everything else she said too!). I have read much scripture in my life, just doing the daily Mass Readings or other devotional type things. I can say something like "somewhere in the Bible it says..." but I'm terrible at coming up with exactly where in the Bible something is said. My dh and I just listened to an incredible CD by Scott Hahn about the Eucharist. WOW! That man knows scripture. He did say the we Catholics need to do a better job at reading our Bibles so that we are equipped to help others know the truth. I realize I'm not offering any suggestions here - just wanted to comment on the importance of it and I guess encourage the use of a Catholic resource.
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Becky
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Bookswithtea
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Sonlight sells scripture songs for their memory verses for cores K-5, I think. Some of them aren't necessarily the scriptures a Catholic would choose to memorize, but my girls love the one we have, and I found it to be a good place to start.
I have also been known to post scriptures on the kitchen cabinets that I think need to sink into the family's heart!
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mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 12 2007 at 11:17am | IP Logged
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Thanks for these ideas. I am sure it will be easier when my ds is reading fluently and we can put things up around for him to read!
Jenny, I will have to check out the friendly defenders flashcards more. I saw them once, whe a friend had them for an older child, but this way they could certainly be used for any age.
Your dd sounds amazing! What a blessing!
CK
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JodieLyn
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Oh yes, the friendly defenders cards are good for any age.. just change how you use them. I started them with my kids (need to get back to that) when my oldest was 6? 7? anyway.. I'd use them by reading them to the kids.. and having them repeat the scripture after me. I figured even if the kids couldn't answer the questions they'd have heard the answers and would be able to have that "that's not right" feeling if someone told them otherwise.. even if they couldn't say why it was so.
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JodieLyn
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Oooooo there's a second set of cards now!
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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aussieannie
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Theresa in MN wrote:
| In Psalms we are told to hide God's Wod in our hearts... You can't hide something you don't know. |
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This is a valuable point Theresa has made, I am not sure what is available out there specifically for children but maybe if you were to think about immersing your own daily life in the Liturgy of the Hours here is some more information from Scott Hahn - the daily reading of these Psalms which have always been manadatory for religious throughout the ages, Vatican II has thrown out the invitation for the lay people to also do this.
From a book such as this you may find it a way to source scripture quotes that have touched your heart in a particular way that you wish to have your children memorize, the very sight of such daily reading may be an encouragement to your children to follow suit into adulthood (I imitate the religious practises I watched my parent's give their heart and soul to, when I was little.)
Also, do you have boys? Training boys in 'purity of mind scripture verses' is vital in equipping young men with the strength to fight impurity which the world is saturated with. Here is a free downloadable one from Steve Wood's website - when I hop on the computer each morning - one of these scripture verses pops up! 
I use his selected purity verses for my son in our schooling for memorization. Steve Wood has these two webpages of scripture verses, here and here.
We owe people like Scott Hahn and Steve Wood, so much in injecting a new and renewed love and appreciation for scripture - tremendous blessings they have been to the church and many others like them.
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: April 14 2007 at 8:39am | IP Logged
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Dear Aussie Annie,
We have been saying the liturgy of the hours (lauds, vespers, and sometimes compline) for about 3 years. However, we try to do it when the kids aren't around, so there's a little peace and concentration. 
We hope when they are a bit bigger to include them in more of it. Maybe they know the Magnifcat and Benedictus by now....
I know quite a bit more though! And I totally second your suggestion. It is a wonderful way to get to know the psalms.
Thanks for the links to Steve Wood's websites. I will definitely include some verses on purity for my ds!
God bless,
CK
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: memorizing scripture
