LDS moms, a few questions

[Aspasia]

If you teach religion as part of your homeschool, what do you use or how do you plan it? Do you use a general Christian Bible curriculum? Are there some Book of Mormon materials out there for the younger kids (like k-3)? Right now we just incorporate the Friend into our read-aloud time, along with discussion and some of the activities in the magazine. Just curious what else might be available.

[Lab1]

I've tried Discover the Scriptures BoM and didn't care for it. It's very workbook fill in the blank work and it didn't fit my kids at 7 & 8. It uses the church published cartoon BoM for young readers.

 

Simply fresh designs has "quiet book" printables that all my kids love! plus they are free! I printed them at Costco,laminated at home and put rings in them. I have made them all and my kids love them! My 2 yr old was hauling around his ABC Book today. The little ones love the pictures of Jesus and learning the stories. They love the New Testament books best. My older girls will read the stories and are learning that way. I made my Primary age kids their own books for the Primary theme with the songs and the Articles of Faith cards into their own books. These books obviously aren't curriculum, but my kids have learned a lot! Oh, I made the Prophet book and I learned a lot too! This has been my most useful find this year.

[Xuzi]

Right now we're like you and using the Friend Magazine. Last year I printed out "Storied Scriptures" from the School of Abraham website so we could read the "cliffs notes" version of the Book of Mormon. (she gives you selections of scriptures to read, so that you get a good over-view of the Book of Mormon and the other Standard Works, without necessarily reading them cover-to-cover). I've also used the Gospel Principles manual, and the Behold My Little Ones nursery manual.

[matilda]

I like the resources on the Friend website. (http://www.lds.org/friend?lang=eng) We spent some time going through the profiles on the One in a Million page. I also really like to use the picture scripture books.

 

Here are a couple of sites with other ideas:

http://www.milestonesacademy.com/Site/Welcome.html

http://confessionsofaslackermom.com/category/preschool-curriculum/walkbesidemepreschoolcurriculum/

 

ETA: I forgot to add that one year we did an Article of Faith of the Week (or sometimes of the Month). It was a good way to get the kids to learn them. I think I may use the same idea with Scripture Mastery scriptures some time.

Edited October 16, 2012 by matilda

[meggie]

Well......we're supposed to be using the Gospel Principles manual. It's divided up very nicely for short little lessons/discussions. We've only started it about 200 times or so :lol:

 

We do scripture memory. He reads the Friend and those Scripture Story books the church puts out. We're pretty much big Mormon failures at teaching our religion. :bored: We did have a really nice discussion yesterday though. I like those random discussions that pop out of their curious little minds.

[Elizabeth in MN]

We do nothing formal, especially at that age. I really emphasized the New Testament G-d, one who loves us, created everything, listens to our prayers. We did lots of time with Veggie Tales, much to the horror of my Mom.

 

As members of the LDS church our kids get so much more religious teaching than the average kid. You could do scripture memorization and the like. But to me between church attendance, FHE, and daily living we already do a lot.

 

Here is one thing I have thought about doing. The Duggars have a family scripture study time when they go over the book of Proverbs one a day. It's right after breakfast. They talk about it, dissect it, think about how to apply it in daily life. There are so many Proverbs and they have such good advice on how to *be* that it seems to me to be a great foundation.

[sewingmama]

Right now we're like you and using the Friend Magazine. Last year I printed out "Storied Scriptures" from the School of Abraham website so we could read the "cliffs notes" version of the Book of Mormon. (she gives you selections of scriptures to read, so that you get a good over-view of the Book of Mormon and the other Standard Works, without necessarily reading them cover-to-cover). I've also used the Gospel Principles manual, and the Behold My Little Ones nursery manual.

 

This is what we use. I print out colouring pages that I find with Google and the kids colour as I read. It helps them remember the story.

[Sara in AZ]

We are trying out Discover the Scriptures this year. I think it is better for my 10 year old. My seven year old doesn't want to have much to do with it. We have been having simple morning devotionals for years, mainly memorizing a hymn or primary song, memorizing scriptures, reviewing conference talks, reading stories from the Friend, etc.

 

My greatest desire for my kids is that they form a lifelong habit of personal scripture study. We are far from perfect at it, but for the last year or so I have added that to our routine right after devotional. We spend five or ten minutes reading to ourselves (or not, there's often someone slow or resistant) and them share what we read about with each other. Often this is the only time I can find to read on my own. Sometimes we have really good discussions. Sometimes we're all grumpy and in a bad mood. But I'm trying to get us in the habit of doing every day regardless. Even my just turned four year old likes to have her own book and the baby has her own board Book of Mormon she likes to pull out.

 

Whenever I start worrying about this or that specific LDS curriculum I could/should buy, I try to remember the resources the church has already put out and try not to over complicate things.

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[Miselainia]

The thing that I've most consistently used with all my kids is the Gospel Art Kit. We just do a picture a day. Either I tell the story in my own words or read from the back of the picture. Then I have my child narrate it and we hang it up in one of those nifty changeable frames from Church Distribution.

We've also used scripture readers. I also have a Bible Stories book (non-LDS) from when I was a kid that I use. I have to skip or adjust some ideas to match my own beliefs, but I like that it goes through every book of the Old Testament; I've learned tons.

Occasionally, I'll do a lesson from one of the Primary manuals.

If you can find them, there's also "Teaching from the Scripture Readers" and "Teaching the Topics" that are no longer published, but can often be found in ward libraries (and checked out in most cases).

[prairiewindmomma]

For our younger kids, we've read a lot of great books. For our beginning readers, we've read through the scripture readers. Once our kids are solid readers, we have them read a chapter of scripture a day and copy over the most important verse. My 10 year old has been through the BOM twice and the D&C once...and is now working his way through the New Testament.

[TKDmom]

The thing that I've most consistently used with all my kids is the Gospel Art Kit. We just do a picture a day. Either I tell the story in my own words or read from the back of the picture. Then I have my child narrate it and we hang it up in one of those nifty changeable frames from Church Distribution.

 

Ooh, I like that idea.

 

Right now, we do a Morning Basket time (based on this blog post).

 

We sing a hymn that we are working to memorize, have a prayer, then I read part of a chapter from the Bible, and then we do our memory work, which includes poetry and Articles of Faith right now. (When we get done with The AoF, I'll figure out something else to do for scripture memory work.) After all that, we do a read-aloud from whatever AmblesideOnline book is on our schedule. It's been nice to start our day with a hymn, prayer, and scripture. It (sometimes :tongue_smilie:) gives us a better focus to our day.

 

If my oldest were in K, I'd probably simplify the morning basket to a primary song, selections from the BofM, and maybe some simple scripture memory work before read-alouds

 

Before I started doing a morning basket, we would read the scriptures as a family in the evenings as part of our bedtime routine. We worked through most of the Storied Scriptures selections in a couple of years, I think. We still try to read the BofM together in the evenings as a family when dh is home, but he's gone so often in the evenings now, and I am totally fried by bedtime, and I have no patience for spending any more "quality" time with my kids. Having the morning basket as part of my routine has taken away my guilt about skipping scriptures at bedtime when he's not home.

 

Funny story: Last week, I was quizzing the kids individually on random Articles of Faith. Dd3 was starting to look like she felt a little neglected, so I turned to her and barked, "K, tell me the first article of faith." Without blinking an eyelash, she said, "We believe in..." And then she looked sideways at her sister for what came next. :lol:

Edited October 16, 2012 by bonniebeth4

[Amira]

My boys are in middle school now. We read the scriptures together every day (Book of Mormon right now, although we've mostly done the Old and New Testaments). They read a chapter a day on their own too and sometimes memorize a scripture in between Shakespeare and poetry. We also spend a lot of time learning about other religions- this is really important to me.

 

I've spent three years homechurching in addition to homeschooling and I think there is plenty of religious instruction available to LDS kids. I don't feel a huge need to make it a formal part of our homeschooling.

[Bearcat]

Much of what we do has been mentioned but I'll chime in anyway.

 

This year we are studying the New Testament. We follow the same basic structure for all the standard works.

 

We start the year by reading through the scripture stories book that the church publishes. We do this at a fairly fast clip. Basically, I use it to lay the foundation and get familiar with the stories. I probably won't do this part when we cycle back through.

Once we have done that we start reading the actual scriptures and keeping scripture journals. I use Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families by Leavitt and Christensen to help guide us through our reading as needed. A lot of the suggestions in the book are a little advanced for my kids at this point but I do like the way it helps me break our reading into manageable pieces each day. For their journals, we put a heading with the chapter and verses we read that day, at least one sentence about what we read and a picture. My son is 7 going on 8 and loves the journaling. My 5 year old dictates to me what she wants written and then draws a very simple picture.

 

We also do scripture memory work and most nights (when we remember) we pull out the gospel art picture kit and discuss a picture. At first I let the kids randomly pick a picture but now we are cycling through them in order.

 

A woman in my ward, who had 6 kids, said one of her biggest regrets was dumbing down the scriptures to her youngest child's ability. She suggested that we work at the level of the older kids and the younger will still learn and glean from the lessons and be prepared for the deeper study as they mature.

[ForeverFamily]

Funny story: Last week, I was quizzing the kids individually on random Articles of Faith. Dd3 was starting to look like she felt a little neglected, so I turned to her and barked, "K, tell me the first article of faith." Without blinking an eyelash, she said, "We believe in..." And then she looked sideways at her sister for what came next. :lol:

 

:lol: Love this! That is so cute!

 

We are planning on reading through the illustrated scripture stories NT, OT, and BoM along with our history this year (We are studying ancient history). Other than that I plan on reading through the friend as well as memorizing the Articles of Faith (I plan on doing 1 a month and will hopefully continue that cycle K-12). I may add in additional scriptures memory but first I want to see how we do with the AoF. We are also planning on learning 1 or 2 primary songs a month. If that all works than I plan on learning one prophet a month and also focusing on one new story a week from the gospel art kit. I know with my personality I tend to fall in the trap of "All or Nothing" so I don't want to make it too complicated or it will never get done.

[ForeverFamily]

A woman in my ward, who had 6 kids, said one of her biggest regrets was dumbing down the scriptures to her youngest child's ability. She suggested that we work at the level of the older kids and the younger will still learn and glean from the lessons and be prepared for the deeper study as they mature.

 

Great advice! I have always wondered what would be better, teaching at the level of the oldest, in between, or the youngest. It is nice to hear an opinion from someone who has BTDT. Thank you for sharing. I will keep this in mind as my kids get older.

 

ETA: I love your scripture journal idea. I may have to incorporate that into our school days! :)

Edited October 16, 2012 by ForeverFamily

[blondeviolin]

Our study isn't "school," but part of our evening routine. We focus on one section/chapter a week. This year we are doing the OT. This week we are learning about Joseph and the coat of many colors. We also memorize scripture occasionally, and always are focusing on primary songs, especially the song they will be learning the next month for primary.

[thebacabunch]

We havea pretty casual fhe every week. We try to read the scriptures together before prayer at night. I work with the kids to get their gospel in action awards and now we are working on the ym stuff with dd12. Other than that we don't have time for anything else.

[ELITEANDLOVINGIT]

The thing that I've most consistently used with all my kids is the Gospel Art Kit. We just do a picture a day. Either I tell the story in my own words or read from the back of the picture. Then I have my child narrate it and we hang it up in one of those nifty changeable frames from Church Distribution.

We've also used scripture readers. I also have a Bible Stories book (non-LDS) from when I was a kid that I use. I have to skip or adjust some ideas to match my own beliefs, but I like that it goes through every book of the Old Testament; I've learned tons.

Occasionally, I'll do a lesson from one of the Primary manuals.

If you can find them, there's also "Teaching from the Scripture Readers" and "Teaching the Topics" that are no longer published, but can often be found in ward libraries (and checked out in most cases).

 

I am not LDS, but as an art minor I love this idea. Of all the experiences I had with LDS and RLDS, the one thing that I remember is the imagery, especially in Independence, MO. This seems like a wise approach.

[La Condessa]

I've been doing a preschool-level BoM study with my girls. I started with an idea I found online where someone had broken down the narrative of the BoM into 104 little chunks, and she repeated one chunk each day for a week with accompanying activities so that it took two years to get through the whole BoM.

 

I changed this breakdown quite a bit (spending two months on getting the plates from Laban would have driven me nuts!) and searched for ideas, activities, coloring pages, scripture artwork, primary songs, and favorite (short) scriptures to go with the stories. I also went through two sets of children's BoM picture books that I have to coordinate the pages that match up. (One of these is the older printing of the church's scripture reader, and the other is a large, multi-volume set that was my dad's when he was a kid.) When I am on the ball, we do one chunk each on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then repeat it in more detail the day after, including things like scripture and song memorization, artwork, and sometimes handwriting in our scripture study. I also let my kids watch the short BoM Reader videos from the church website. It works out really well, when I am disciplined enough to follow through with it. It sounds like a lot, but really it only takes maybe fifteen or twenty minutes a day; maybe more if I include longer activities to go along with it. The problem is that I've only organized it all up through Alma the Elder, and we just finished Abinadi, so I've got some work to do before we can continue much further.

[La Condessa]

Simply fresh designs has "quiet book" printables that all my kids love! plus they are free! I printed them at Costco,laminated at home and put rings in them. I have made them all and my kids love them! My 2 yr old was hauling around his ABC Book today. The little ones love the pictures of Jesus and learning the stories. They love the New Testament books best. My older girls will read the stories and are learning that way. I made my Primary age kids their own books for the Primary theme with the songs and the Articles of Faith cards into their own books. These books obviously aren't curriculum, but my kids have learned a lot! Oh, I made the Prophet book and I learned a lot too! This has been my most useful find this year.

 

These are amazing! Thank you for sharing these!

[Aspasia]

Oh, so many great ideas! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I also just came upon this study (from School of Abraham), using the Gospel Principles manual. http://www.schoolofabraham.com/html/gospelprinciples.htm. I like this.

[Lab1]

These are amazing! Thank you for sharing these!

 

You're welcome! They are basically taking the Gospel Art Kit and making it into a book. I remembered after I posted that I printed up 3 books of the teachings of Jesus and never made them up. Now I have little gifts for the sweet ladies I visit teach and my best friend who's kids went crazy seeing ours. She uses a fair amount of the GAK and the books are nice and durable for little hands.

[Tracy]

I try to use church materials for everything. As a family, we do read the BOM together daily, and my 7yo has a goal to read it on her own before she is baptized. She has also asked me to read the Bible to her, and we have gotten through Joshua in about 6 months by reading about a page per day at bedtime. I use the monthly scriptures that they have for Primary as memory work. I have also used the Articles of Faith for memorization. We use TOG for history, so I add in the children's scripture readers to that. I am going to see about adding in the Gospel Art idea.