Jan 1, 2009
Extended Scripture Memory for Kids (and parents)
During the month of December, we decided to read Luke, Chapter 2 every night before bed with Orison. We would do our Advent Calendar reading for the night, then Orison would settle into his bed for Daddy to read the account of Jesus’s birth.
He got excited about the repetition and predictability of it. “Are we going to read Luke 2 tonight?!?!”
The effect of reading one section of Scripture every night for a month was surprising. Nothing we anticipated, really. But on December 23rd, Abraham got him started and did an experiment to see how many words he knew in the story.
Basically, he just kept going. And going.
He had the whole thing almost word-perfect from verses 1-21. We were STUNNED!
So our new plan for family devotions for 2009 is to introduce Orison to important people/accounts in the Bible, reading a section repeatedly for a certain amount of time. We might not do a whole month with all of them, but the repetition has proven really good for his little memory.
And it’s had its effect on us, as well. I know a lot more of Luke 2 than I ever have before. So not only do your kids get concepts and stories from the Bible into their eager little brains, but you learn it too!
Enjoy the edited version!
Molly that is awesome!!
Ryan Ferguson has some serious competition (he’s the guy that recited Hebrews 9 & 10 at Worship God ’06 and I think he’s recited at other conferences as well).
I really think we’ll be doing this with our son Joshua (age 5) this year. We’re half way through the book of Mark with him but when we’re done I think we’ll choose a few key passages and repeat until he memorizes them. And… I LOVE how Orison looks so pleased with his accomplishment when he’s done…priceless!
One more thing…if anyone had any doubts, his hand gestures give away his last name ;)
I can just imagine the big grin on God’s face…especially after the “Gloria” interlude ;).
Too precious.
I’m the good kind of jealous right now. That was wonderful!!! I want that for our children, too. Thanks for sharing!!!
Wow… that was incredible!!!!! Orison is awesome. I love how he associates the Gloria song we sing today with the one the angels sang and made it part of the story!
When Brenton was little, his parents would play them (him and his brothers) the Bible on tape as they were going to bed. B memorized large portions of the Bible from listening to those. The would take turns picking out which Bible tape to listen to. He always liked 2nd Samuel.
Love this! Way too cute for his own good :)
He is so cute! And that is amazing. We’re going to try it here. :)
If you sold a version of the Bible of him reading it I would buy it! Oh my gosh that was too cute!!
That’s great! We’ve also been memorizing Scripture at our house… we sing the verses (to whatever tune the kids want: Jingle Bells, hymns, or made-up ones) onto a tape player and then listen to them every day… so far our oldest three have memorized Hebrews chapters 1 and 2. It’s taken many months, but it’s in their brains now, so God can move it to their hearts whenever He wants :)
I love, love it! My favorite part is when he breaks out in song. We miss him! we are looking forward to seeing yall soon.
Spoke to your folks last night downtown. Were you guys Mary and Joseph this year in the family play?
Our kids are doing the play to new years dinner relatives tonight.
This year we finished learning a song version of that same part of Luke 2.
Orison did great. My favorite part was when he sang “Gloria” the second time.
Make sure you watch this on the days that you feel defeated as a parent.
In theory, I’m not surprised; children’s brains are that way. But in experience, I’m so wowed and blessed! Love the expressive hands, range of intonation, genuine joy, apparent understanding of his recitation, and the hard-rockin’ “DEO” at the end of the musical portion!
wow! That brought tears to my eyes! oh how wonderful that he is storing these words in his heart! You must be so encouraged! Happy New Year!!!
just curious…what other passages are you thinking about doing?
That was wonderful!! Thank you for posting that. We will be trying this at our house in some form…
This brought tears to my eyes, warmth to my heart, and joy to my soul on a day when I really needed it.
God bless you!
And again he is SUPER cute. He voice sounds like Linus from Peanuts. O is a keeper.
I was looking at the recent photo of the Piper family on DG’s blog on your in-laws anniversary. Orison looks like his uncle Karsten quite a bit.
Oh…my…word! That was great. It’s not just memorized, it’s a dramatic “reading”. Hilarious!
It is sooo amazing what they remember and can repeat……and you didn’t think he was listening hehehehehe.
precious!!!
Hi. My name is Phil Walker. I coach Bible Quizzing and run an extensive K-12 Scripture memory program at Upton Lake Christian school in Clinton Corners, NY.
My life calling is encouraging people to memorize Scripture and discover the true Biblical God through Scripture. I was greatly blessed by Orison quoting LUKE 2.
I run Scripture memory support groups on and off Facebook. I wanted to let you and your friends know about the first national Bible Bee for ages 7-18 that is handing out $260,000 in cash prizes. (www.biblebee.org)
Also, Scriptorium2009 is a celebration of Scripture April 24th – 26th at Hannibal, MO that is free (including lodging and food) to everyone who quotes at least one chapter. We get participants from around the country age 4 – 89. You can learn more about this through my website or email me to learn more about anything I wrote. Sorry this sounds a little like a shameless ad.
I mainly want to encourage you and your family as you continue to seek God through His Word. In Christ, Phil Walker (845)416-8010 philjohn1558@yahoo.com
This whole post brought much joy to my heart. I’ll tell you, though, I most enjoyed O’s rockin’ ending of “Angels…” He’s the cutest 4-year-old metal head EVER!
Wow – that’s amazing! I love that he has such expression – not many kids that age could do that! You must be so proud! :)
What a great video! Good job, Orison!
Molly! I absolutely loved this! My favorite part was the very end when he starts grinning from ear to ear…he is so pleased with himself! He puts me to shame! Love you!
This was wonderful! We had the privilege of learning this, too, when our children were small. We normally are involved in Awana, which is truly a great program. That makes it hard to do family memory time like this, and like we have done in the past. I miss it right now. Our children had memorized lengthy passages just through the repetition. We had “Sweet Sundays” where they would get ice cream for adding to the verses they knew in the passage. I think the use of one long passage aids so much in memory, because the review is built in. I wish we could find a way to do that again and let the kids still do Awana.
Molly, that’s super precious. I know you know that already. :) It makes me think that he could be the next Linus! so so sweet.
I think there’s just something about having “Piper” for a last name that makes you guys into awesome parents :) You both never cease to amaze me as I struggle with my own 6 and 3 year olds. Thanks for the stories. You doing this really IS worthwhile.
Very impressive… my favorite part was the “it’s like a choir” comment he made about the multitude of heavenly host. Children are so precious – thank you so much for sharing this video!!
I’m not even a mom yet, but that video brought tears to my 22-year-old eyes. I am so encouraged by your commitment to reading Scripture to your kids. How awesome God is to use your little one to teach you about Himself when you weren’t even trying. Seriously, Molly, be encouraged. This is incredible!
Thank you for posting this so we could all share the treasure that is your little boy, Orison. That was just so precious!
My favorite part was the acting out of the shepherds being afraid.
THIS IS THE GREATEST BLOG POST I’VE EVER READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is amazing. sounds like he will be a pentecostal preacher.
So beautiful!
I would have assumed that most children would be bored of it by the first week, but you just proved me wrong – in a great way :)
[...] memory at Christmas January 2, 2009 — Bill Haughery This is amazing video of John Piper’s grandson appears on Molly Piper’s blog. During the month of December, [...]
Well, this was a God sighting for me, as I’ve resolved regularly to memorize scripture this year. Thank you so much for sharing this! Please tell Orison he has inspired a lot of people to treasure the word of God in their hearts in 2009.
this is so sweet…I just love it!
Those hand gestures must be genetic…
That was a great dramatic rendering. It really brightened my day. Thanks for sharing.
Just watched the video with my wife and four children. We all thought it was wonderful. The two year old was singing along and imitating the hand gestures. Great stuff.
Beautiful! A favorite video for all time.
This is great!
This reminds me of something that contributed to my conviction that homeschooling is the way to go. A family that was homeschooling in the church I attended when I went to college(back in the ’80s) had their two children (ages 5 and 7, I’m guessing) reherse Luke 2:1-21? before the entire congregation (around 200 or more folk) for their Christmas program. They alternated verses and gave a wonderfully expressive rendition of this same passage.
I decided to do the ESV 52 verses to memorize in 2009. I think maybe I should incorporate my practicing into my interaction with my kids (bedtime, meals, etc) so that they might be blessed by my efforts as well.
Thanks for sharing!
Unbelievable. You’ve given me enormous confidence in my own children.
How cute is that!
Your little man is just wonderful! I loved this!
That was precious. I love Orison’s expressiveness.
this is awesome. I just love Orison!
you are very donky.
He reads it with expression! These are not just words! He really gets it! Go Orison!
That is so precious! I too thought of Linus from Peanuts! And I thought he wouldn’t have use so much emotion since it was memorized but nope- he really got into that! It melted my heart and gave me a hope and challenge with our daughter!
OMG(oodness!) He is sooo cute – and very smart! What a blessing. I just happened to be surfing blogs and your title “memory verses for kids..” or something like that – caught my attention
Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year Molly!
Magic! Brilliant! Awesome! When my kids can talk better, I will certainly do the same. Great example.
Thanks for sharing this! Really encouraging!
This is so precious Molly! Fewer things bring more joy to my heart than hearing little ones store up God’s word in their hearts! It was simply irresistible, we had to share it on our blog.
This is beautiful and wonderful! Anybody can memorize His Word and store them in their heart! You are bless to be able to teach him and have him to recite it. Thank you for doing this to your wonderful son. I am planning to share this with others to see this!
Hungry to eat His Word,
‘Guerite ~ BoldLion
[...] By jessicalankford This was just way too good not to share. Glory to [...]
That is sooooo cute! It brought tears to my eyes to see that. I hope that our son Noah will know God’s word like that at a young age as well. It’s definitely an encouragement to read more of the Bible to him. Thanks for sharing. That was precious!
[...] Extended Scripture Memory for Kids (and parents) During the month of December, we decided to read Luke, Chapter 2 every night before bed with Orison. We would do our [...] [...]
dare i ask about the un-edited version?
Hey, that’s better than “A Charlie Brown Christmas!”
Great job, Orison!
You have inspired us all:)
Incredible! How I need to culture Orison’s memorization skills. I love his expressions about the Glory of God and the shepherds’ fear. They are so incredibly true. However my favorite was the Gloria interlude…I can honestly say I have heard the Christmas story for 25 years, had the mental image of angel in the sky, mouths moving and things happening, but until now there had never been any sound. Thank you Orison for helping to put sound to the story where there should definitely be sound!
[...] Luke 2 Jump to Comments This is pretty darn wonderful. [...]
Oh boy, this is painfully cute.
that is one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. ever.
this is awesome! we’re totally going to try this with Noah. I guess if he can remember his favorite books word for word, he could learn scripture too! Go Orison. Noah loves watching this over and over again.
also, what a great voice! that’s my favorite part when Orison starts singing “Glo-oo-ooo-”It’s like a choir” oria!”
[...] His mom explains how this happened. [...]
Molly & Aber, That is SO AWESOME! I’ve showed video to Keith,Amanda &Emma. We all love it! Emma wants to watch it over & over. She says,”Can I see him? When can I see him? He cracks me up! I love this part! “(when he sings).He is a cutie and very smart! Be proud! Love, Barb
My daughter’s first/second grade class memorized that this year. They do every year. They simply read it with actions together every day once, sometimes twice. And most kids can say it all. My job is to check memory… so it means I got to hear it 19 times very Friday. Now I know it all, too!
Kids, and us I suspect, can learn a lot more that we imagine. We do AWANA and memory for school, so I don’t do much more at home, but I think in the summers, we might start on long passages. In school, every year, they typically learn two chapters of something – one year was Philippians, this year is Ephesians.
This is so amazing! I can’t even handle it! I don’t know you or your family, but this brought tears to my eyes. Praise Jesus!!!!
Rose Johnson
Seattle, Marshill church
This is really wonderful. It is inspiring and challenging for all Christian believing parents who desire to raise their children in a godly manner. Thank you Pipers for sharing this with us. May God bless your little Orison for treasuring ‘gold’ at this age!
We learned memorizing the scriptures in our childhood (both verses and chapters) which both my wife Susanna and I inherited from our respective parents in India. We too have been passing the same tradition to our children Our daughter Gracia recited 1 John 4:8 on the World Sunday School Day when she was two years old. Since then she has been learning verses and chapters (now 14 years old) with her younger brother Jonathan (now 10 years old) and regularly recites in our family prayers. Besides numerous verses and passages from Genesis to Revelation, she and her brother already have treasured Psalms 1, 23, 34, 91, 100, 103, 121, Eph 6, etc. Children really learn faster than the older ones. It is amazing!
[...] http://thepipers.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/extended-scripture-memory-for-kids-and-parents/ [...]
You may have a little preacher on your hands! That was wonderful. Thanks for sharing it.
[...] Read the whole article on Extended Scripture Memory for Kids (and parents) here: http://thepipers.wordpress.com/2009/01/01/extended-scripture-memory-for-kids-and-parents/ [...]
Precious and beautiful! I love it :)
That’s so good! Kids really are good at memorizing things. I know a family that does that, but they include a lot of hand motions with it. Really helps the kids to remember.
[...] recently, I read this post from a link I found somewhere….in the month of December this family read Luke Chapter 2 to [...]
Out of the mouths of babes…. That was so beautiful! I think he made me more excited about the Christmas story than i’ve been for a while! Thank you for your faithfulness in raising this little boy! Praise God!
i can see i’m certainly not the first to say this, but this is so fabulous! i love the animation he gives to his reading. just great.
That’s AWESOME!!!
Hi Molly,
I just discovered your blog and went straight to Orison’s AMAZING recitation of Luke 2. I’m truly impressed. Keep up the great work!
Dale
P.S. I also enjoyed learning how to fold a fitted sheet from your video.
Well, now I know why no advent book wasn’t good enough. Why didn’t I just stick with scripture?? So precious!
This is seriously cute!
[...] Memorizing Scripture for Kids Ok, so this is link day! I had to share with you one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen (and yes, I know I say that a lot) but truly! Check it out here [...]
Absolutely precious…and full of purpose, treasuring God’s Word in his heart!
God bless you.
[...] Taken from Molly Piper’s blog [...]
Thank you for sharing this! I am inspired & challenged to do the same with my two boys!
Merry Christmas and hope your family will be blessed in the new year!
I watched this after Abraham linked to it on his blog.
I think I’ve said this before… but I think you might just have a future music major on your hands. :-D
Glory to God in the highest, indeed.
this is fantastic! you need to upload this video here: https://www.d6family.com/d6stories
thanks for sharing!
I stumbled upon this, and absolutely love it! I have a ministry were I dramatically present extended passages of scripture, including books like the Gospel of Mark, Ephesians and Jonah, so I was delighted to see how repetition of story affects the very young. I want to try this method of memory myself now, and see how it works for us big guys. you can check out clips of my work at http://www.imaginetheword.com Great job Orison!
(Molly, every night before we go to bed, Shalom (5) asks if we can watch “That wonderful Orison Piper boy” — and she tells everyone we meet that “there’s this boy we saw, and he memorized ALL of Luke 2 after just listening to it every night for a month and you should see him say the WHOLE thing!” — so, it’s just us here every night, again and again, being inspired by Orison. Last night, Shalom recited for us the three verses she learned yesterday — and she wants me to tell you how wonderful she things Orison is, loving Jesus like that. We agree! :)
Thank you, Molly — for everything. For being you!)
All’s grace,
Ann
[...] the glory! I saw this earlier this week, over at Provocations and Pantings. It reminded me of this, I first saw a few months back. I am amazed. Makes me wonder, am I discounting my kids [...]