My girls have been memorizing scriptures on their own for years. They have almost memorized all of the Book of Mormon doctrine mastery scriptures. I’m going to share my secret with you all, but no judging, ok?
I print out a scripture off the doctrine mastery list. This can be found on the lds app or you can pick up a handy card at a church distribution store. It looks like this ->
Then I place a big jar of candy next to the bowl. You can guess what happens next, right? If you say the scripture one time, you get one candy. If you say it two times, you get two candies, and so on and so forth. Here’s the rules when it comes to how many times you can say it – there are NO rules. They can say it 10 times in a row before breakfast. Or while I’m cooking dinner, or right before bed. They can say the scripture whenever they want and get a candy. I think this is the key. When scriptures are repeated over and over, that’s when they get committed to memory. Once a scripture is memorized, we move on to the next one. For small scriptures, I pick a small candy, like say tootsie rolls or starbursts – something individually wrapped. Likewise, for large verses, I buy a bigger candy, like fun size snickers or peppermint patties. I also don’t have many other treats in the house, so if they want sugar, a scripture must be said to get it. 🙂
Why is memorizing scriptures so important to me that I will let my kids eat sugar at any time of the day? These scriptures are the fundamentals of our faith. They are the very core basic doctrines of the gospel. The talks given in general conference always quote doctrine mastery scriptures. My girls hear that and they listen more closely because they know those scriptures. And its always fun to recite the scripture along with the speaker. Don’t wait until your kid is in Seminary to start memorizing these scriptures! They can do it now!
