Fall Scripture Memory Verses for the Whole Family

Family memory work runs on two things. Short verses and a fixed time.

Eight verses follow, one for each week between the start of school and Thanksgiving. All of them are short enough for a six year old and worth having at forty. Psalm 65:11 sets the season for the whole list. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. It is a harvest verse, which makes it the natural place to start a family in September.

The Eight Verses

1. Psalm 118:24. This is the day that the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

2. James 1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

3. Psalm 100:4. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

4. 1 Thessalonians 5:18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

5. Ephesians 4:32. And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

6. Galatians 6:9. Let's not be weary in doing good, for we will reap in due season if we don't give up.

7. Psalm 145:9. The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.

8. Colossians 3:17. Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Rhythm

Say the verse once at the start of dinner every night, all together. That is the whole practice and it takes fifteen seconds.

Fifteen seconds times six nights is ninety seconds a week, and by Sunday most of the family has it. Anything longer will be abandoned by October.

Put It Where They Eat

Write the week's verse on a card and prop it against the salt, or tape it to the fridge at child height.

Change it on the same day each week so it becomes a small event. Sunday afternoon works well.

Let the Little Ones Say Part

A three year old can say the last four words while everyone else says the rest. That counts and it keeps them in it.

Do not correct too closely. A verse learned slightly wrong and cheerfully is better than a verse learned exactly and resented.

Review on Sundays

Before you swap the card, run through every verse learned so far. By the eighth week that takes two minutes and the children will be faster than you are.

Keep the old cards on a ring in the kitchen drawer so nothing gets lost between seasons.

Start This Week

Write Psalm 118:24 on a card tonight and put it against the salt shaker.

Say it at dinner tomorrow without explaining the project first. Children join things that are already happening more readily than things being announced.