Bible Memory and Language Skills

We don’t really use grammar and language books very much. We have them but I rarely use them. They are just tools in my homeschool belt that I pull out when I need to. Instead most of the time, we do grammar and language when we are memorizing our Bible verses. Having the kids identify all of the different types of words and how they work together is one of my most favorite ways to teach language and grammar skills. The best part about teaching language skills this way is that I only have to do one language lesson instead of four. Each one of them learns the part that they are ready for and everyone is involved.

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Psalm 27:14 ESV

If this was the verse for the week, I would spend the first day just reading it and having them copy it into their daily journals. Then the next day we would start identifying the different words in the verse; the verbs, the nouns, and all the supporting characters. We would talk about the punctuation and in this case why there are two semi-colons and a comma. We would also identify the subjects and predicates. Then the next day I would write it out with spelling and grammar mistakes and have the kids identify and correct the mistakes. We would then really talk about the meaning of the verse. Why repeat the phrase? How do we wait? Why should we wait? What is the Lord going to do if we wait? What other verses talk about waiting for and on the Lord? What does God do when we wait for Him?

By the end of the week they will have learned more than just grammar and the verse will hopefully be written in their heart. This is really what I am going for in the end.