Last Saturday I took my daughters to three stores to help them find something that I just figured I'd try, called, "Scripture Journals". It was an idea I had, that I hope is an inspired idea, hence I'm sharing it with y'all.
Essentially each girl got their own journal--crisp and clean. At the top they date and put a single chapter heading atop it. As a family we read the latest chapter from the Book of Mormon. As we are reading the girls can write down hard words that they don't understand. They can also write words down and then we talk about them. They can write their thoughts as we read. And the younger girls draw pictures.
The idea is you try to confine your comments to a single page (important for the youngest who would scribble on every page). At the beginning of each session of family scripture study, we have a couple of the family members read from their journals from the day prior. It's really fun to hear my daughter's thoughts about the scriptures. I've been impressed at the depth of thought they've put into this this week.
What's more, we haven't missed a single day this week, which is a great change. We also discovered that it's really hard to do this RIGHT BEFORE BED, cuz the kids get cranky and just want to be in bed. So we try to do it right after dinnertime. One time I had to be to a EQ Presidency meeting, and so the kids read my journal entry, while I was gone. Then I had to read the chapter I missed to catch up with the rest of the family.
At the beginning of scripture time, I go get the journals from a designated shelf in our family room. When scripture time is over, the journals are put back in their place, along with the scriptures. Now they can find the scriptures and their journals when they want to read them.
By adding a little structure to our family scripture study, we're starting to have a bit more success at it. And for the expense of six or seven journals every few months, the kids get the chance to do more than be bored during the times when they aren't taking their turn to read.
--Ray
PS. One annoying thing we're still needing to work out is that some of the kids get mad if we read too fast, because they want to write down too much stuff... but we're still getting the hang of this.
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Ray, what a great idea! Our family scripture study has been on a plateau for a while and even I get bored sometimes. We're gonna do this starting with General Conference.
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
My girls really enjoyed picking out the journals, cuz there are some pretty decent ones (at Target/Walmart type stores, even) with trendy covers, some with magnets or latches, and with sparklies... I don't imagine your boys will go with sparklies, but having the journal is pretty cool, especially when we're reading about Nephi writing his journals at the same time...
Now if only we could stop yelling at each other to get ready for scriptures... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
Great idea... a stake president in a neighboring stake has been advocating this exact thing for a number of years to members in his stake.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
That is a really good idea, ray. We do read the scriptures as a family. In fact, we just finished the entire standard works about 10 days ago and are in the beginning of the Book of Mormon again. Now that it's such a family habit, I'm almost afraid to bring in some new aspect... Don't rock the boat... But I like the idea.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
We actually did this last week for family home evening (on paper, not actual journals). It was amazing how much less chaos there was. And lots more attention paid.
