Doing well at weeks 1-4

We are done learning weeks 1-4. The three older kids are remembering what they have learned and having fun filming each other reciting. This is great because it means they are practicing to get it perfect before they film! I love it!

Here's Alexander, age 11.

"Causing the blind disease..."

Our four-year-old: "He walked the streets of Palestine, healing the sick, and causing the blind disease..."

(Hmmmm...I think we'd better reteach this section! LOL)

Moving on to week four

Reviewing!
Well, the kids are learning quicker than mom and dad, so we are ready to move on to week four. If you are following the twelve week schedule to Christmas, you may still be on week three, but feel free to move at your own pace. I have a feeling we will slow down in mid-November when the passages are longer!

I printed a review sheet for the kids to take to church this week that had weeks 1-4 on it. We had learned 1-3, but week 4 was new, and I thought that looking at it during church would give them a head start in becoming familiar with it for the week. Well, to my surprise (I should stop being surprised!), the oldest three kids (13, 10, 8), had week four memorized by the time sacrament was over!

During church, I was busy walking the halls with the baby, and I took our four-year-old with me so that he wouldn't be disruptive without me sitting next to him. As we walked around the halls, I would say a line from "The Living Christ" and let him repeat it. He thought it was great fun, and it did help pass the time (reverently) until the end of sacrament. In the car on the way home, he pulled out the review sheets I had made for the older kids and pointed to the pictures and started reciting! He's part way through weeks 1-3!

Week three is going well!

Week three is here! The kids are learning very quickly. Most surprising, though, is that our four year old is learning too! During family scripture study, he is usually quiet or not paying attention (so we thought) while we recite. Today he surprised me: I caught him outside playing and talking to himself. When I moved closer to hear what he was saying, I heard, "As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago..."

I couldn't believe it! He's learning!

Quiet books for sacrament meeting

Sacrament quiet books:
Try printing the set of small pictures, cut them out and fastening them with a ring to make a booklet. My kids love taking these to church. They are perfect to look at during sacrament and remind the children about the life of the Savior. We used a ring that can easily be opened and closed so that we can add to the book as the weeks go along.

(I recommend laminating them for longer wear.)

One week down, eleven more to go!

Well, here we are at week two! I posted the small pictures for week two up on the bathroom wall along with the poster from week one. We continued to recite/read sections one and two every day during family scripture study. I wasn't sure how well the kids were doing until one night I overhead my eight year old reciting it in the bathtub - she had been "soaking" and reading the poster on the bathroom wall. When she got out, she declared, "I can say it all!" Here she is reciting the first two weeks.

Leah, age 8

We're doing great!

At the end of week one, we had a break through! I took the sheet with the four small pictures and the text for week one to sacrament meeting and the kids studied it while keeping quiet in church. By the end of church, the oldest three (ages 13, 10, 8) had it all memorize.

Now it's time for mom and dad to catch up!

Week one is underway

We are busy print and preparing our study helps for week one of memorizing "The Living Christ." This week we are learning:

"As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.”

The kids are excited to memorize. We challenged grandma, grandpa, and an uncle to do it with us, and they agreed! Hurray, we've got company!

We've put the posters with small pictures up on the bathroom wall. We are going to try to read the text for week one during family scripture study every day and see how well it goes.

Here's our four year old who has started memorizing:

The memorization helps

The (hopefully helpful) Study Materials for memorizing "The Living Christ" are ready to download at www.discoverthescriptures.com/livingchrist.

I've divided the text of "The Living Christ" into eleven parts - one part to memorize each week for eleven weeks and one week to review before Christmas. The materials for each week include an 8.5" x 11" poster with text to memorize for the week, copy work (for those of you who love to write!), four 8.5" x 11" picture posters with matching text, and four small picture cards with pictures and text. Also included are a set of small picture cards with keywords only (rather than the full text) to help you review once you've learned the material.
You can download them FREE at www.discoverthescriptures.com/livingchrist.

If your family is memorizing, post a note on our Facebook page!

The challenge to memorize "The Living Christ

The Inspiration

"The Living Christ"

Today I read an article from the September 2010 Ensign called "Bringing Christ into Our Home." In the article, Cynthia Green describes how she and her family (including kids from ages 4-11) made it a family project to memorize "The Living Christ" together.

As the family worked, over a period of four months, to accomplish this great task, they saw many blessings come to them for their effort. Cynthia writes, "Family prayers became more meaningful because the children gave more thought to Him in whose name they were praying. The Spirit filled our home. We felt like Nephi when he wrote, 'We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ' (2 Nephi 25:26). Our home became a place of greater peace."

Wow! I began to wonder if my family could do it, too. So, we talked about it in Family Home Evening and decided to set a goal to memorize "The Living Christ" together as a family before Christmas (which is twelve weeks away). We've even talked Grandma, Grandpa, and an uncle into to doing it with us!

The Plan
To help us succeed in our goal, I've divided "The Living Christ" into 44 small sections and we are going to try to memorize four sections a week, giving us a week or so to review along the way and still finish by Christmas. I'm taking Cynthia's idea of using pictures to go along with small sections - to give us a visual clue of the passage we are trying to remember.

So - why not join us? Twelve weeks, 716 words, one great experience!

At www.discoverthescriptures.com/livingchrist, you can download FREE study helps for your family, including posters, pictures, and copy work. We plan to post the pictures on the frig and in the kids' rooms and bathrooms so they can see them often and repeat the words throughout the week. In family scripture study and at family prayer, we'll repeat the sections for the week.
    
Cynthia wrote of her family's experience, "Our family finished memorizing 'The Living Christ' the following Easter. It was the greatest four-month experience we have ever had. Even though the project is over, I know the effects of what we learned can remain with each family member for the rest of our lives." I hope that our family (and yours!) has a similar experience memorizing the words of the prophet and apostles as they testify of Christ. What could be better than that?

Visit www.discoverthescriptures.com/livingchrist
for more information and FREE study helps for your family. We hope you will take our challenge to memorize this important testimony with your family. You can do it!

As you memorize, feel free to post updates and successes on our Facebook page. It's a great way to encourage each other!