Teach Your Child To Read From the Bible (Free Printable)

As a family, our faith in God and our education are two things that are very important to us. As parents, we are both lifetime learners. We spend any free time we have learning new things. Of course, reading is a critical step in the learning process, so as we began to have children, reading was a big focus. If you can’t read and comprehend what you are reading, then it is very difficult to learn. Chey, our eldest daughter, has loved reading from the time she was small. Reading came easy for her. She was even reading before kindergarten. Despite us having a history of dyslexia in both of our families, our experience with her gave us a false sense of security when it came to reading.  Jax, our second child, had a difficult time both speaking and reading. We went through the same reading process with him that we did with Cheyenne but with very different results. The whole process was painful. Many hours were spent and a lot of tears were shed. It took a lot more effort from all of us to get to the point where he could read well enough to learn anything he was interested in. Despite that, Jax loved books from the time he was small. Even though he couldn’t understand the words on the page he would carry them around and even sleep with them. Once he got to a point where he could decipher the code on the pages of the books he loved, he began his journey of learning. He would read very technically advanced books because he was interested in the topic. Some of his favorite topics included, geology, woodworking, scouting and dinosaurs. He also loved his scriptures. He loved the feeling that he got from the bible stories and the word of God. As time went on, It became clear to us that God’s word is powerful. When he would speak it, he would speak clearly and beautifully. And reading the scriptures seemed easier for him. When you think about it, God’s word is our first language. As a result of this experience, when our next two children were born, that is where I began. I knew if I had one child with reading challenges, I was bound to have more. I read many books on how to manage my son’s Dyslexia. We also took him to a Dyslexia Coach when he was about ten years old. We learned so much through that experience and as a result of what we learned, his ability to read greatly increased. When it came time to go on a mission, he had to take a reading test and he passed. He served faithfully in the Cincinnati Ohio mission field. When I think back to those years, I wish I would have had a book that would have taught me how to teach my children to read from the scriptures. So, I’ve taken note of all the things I have leaned and implemented them with my younger children and that is what this post is made of.  Here are the six steps.

1. Make sure you are on the same page.
   One of the main things I’ve learned between both my children is that the bigger the print, the easier it is to read for small children. So we purchased large print Bibles. Of course, that isn’t always comfortable so I am truly grateful that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has scriptures in different sizes that all land on the same page. From the tiniest set of scriptures to the largest, they all share the same page. So, when we are reading scriptures together as a family, we all are literally on the same page. To buy your Bibles of different sizes, go to your local Deseret Book or LDS Book Store or shop at the LDS Store online at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
2. Begin with the New Testament.
   We suggest that you begin with the New Testament. Learning about the life of Christ is powerful for everyone, of all ages. There are a  lot less books to learn the order of so it will be easier for children to find their place and feel successful. Teaching the books in order is a lot easier as well. Once they learn all the books in the New Testament, they can use the process of elimination to determine which testament a book is in.
   Teach them where to look to find the page numbers, chapter and verse numbers to keep you all on the same page.
3. Teach your child to follow along.
   You can do this easily with all your children. Have them sit on your lap while the words are being read and move your finger along or you can use an index card with a corner cut out or a magnifying glass.  When the reader gets to a verse or chapter, have them say the verse or chapter number aloud. This is a good time to  point out punctuation and the difference between words and sounds. When someone loses their place you can play find your place games, by having everyone look up and then say a word and have them find their place. As you probably remember from school, being able to find words quickly and being able to follow along is a great skill to have and is useful for reading comprehension and answering the questions at the end of the book. I remember being of reading age, and having a baby sitter that would read me stories. I was so very impressed that she could remember her place no matter how many times she was interrupted. I was completely fascinated by that trick.
4. Let your child read what they can.
   There is so much power in reading God’s word aloud. When my son Jax, had been out on his mission for a little over a year, I had a dream. I was dreaming about something else completely, when the scene changed and I was in a darkened forest. Jax was there. He wasn’t wearing his suit or tie. Instead, he was wearing green Military or scout clothes. He didn’t say anything to me, but I could tell he was very upset. I understood, that he wanted to come home. He was frustrated because he couldn’t speak well and he was done. He had, had it. I told him in my mind that, if he came home, he had better mean it, because I didn’t have in me to send him away again. It would completely break my heart. The dream changed right after I said that, back to whatever I was dreaming and I woke up. As I was waking up, I was praying, pleading and crying, “Lord how can I help my son?” and the answer came very clear. “Tell him to read his scriptures aloud.” Now, whenever he speaks about coming home in a few months, he gets really sad. He loves his mission and has been very successful. From this we learned that not only does reading aloud help with reading, it helps with speech as well.
   Getting even your smallest child involved is easy, teach them a word that is used frequently in the Bible. Here is a good list for the King James Version for the most popular words used. For example, the first word is “and”. When the reader gets to the word and in family scripture study, have the reader pause and wait for the little one to read the word “and.” Then, when the child is good at reading the word “and” they can learn to read the word “the”. So the reader can pause at the word “and” and the word “the” and the child can read the words. As the children follow along, while good readers read, their little minds are processing and making connections with the sounds and the the shapes of the letters. For early readers who are struggling to read an unfamiliar word, go syllable by syllable not letter by letter. For example, if a child is struggling with the word, “people”, say the syllable, “peo, (pee)” and wait for them to finish the word. If they do not, then continue with “ple”. I have found that once I say the first syllable, they can usually figure out the word by context and that is an important skill for early readers to know. Plus, the other children in the room won’t get as frustrated with the time it is taking for the emergent reader to read  the word.
   Another great way to help your children enjoy reading is during hymn time on Sunday, share your hymnal with your children and point out the words and have them follow along. Pretty soon they will recognize the words because they know they song.
5. Teach your children story structure and retell.
   Help your child find the location of all their favorite stories, and get really familiar with where they are located. This way, they can find them on their own every time they wish to read them. Then, using one of their favorite stories have them summarize what happened in the beginning of the story, in the middle of the story and then at the end of the story. Here is a link to flannel board stories that the children can color from the Friend Magazine. Bible story songs and finger plays are also a really fun ways for small children to learn language skills and enjoy scripture time.
6. Write it down.
   Have your children write down the word they are working on, or the verse they want to memorize. Have them write it and read it every night until they are comfortable. Write notes in your children’s journals about what they learned during scripture study, have them write down verses they liked or draw pictures of the stories they read. Have them practice their handwriting on whatever level they are on by copying a verse or writing a thought down that they might of had during study time. When their questions are answered, be sure to write down the verses in their journals and then put the date on the verse, with a description. I can not count the amount of times this has helped us looking back at a trial or blessing. Having the inspiration we received, written down, has helped us deal with things at the moment and are like an old friend when looking back. There have been times when all of us have received the same scripture during a trial we were facing as a family. We all recorded the scripture and when we came together, realized that God was talking to us all. It gave us confidence in His word and His divine love for us and it made us pay attention.
7. Work on reading comprehension and inspiration.
   Richard G. Scott once said,
   “The scriptures which we have give prophecies and promises, and they have been fulfilled in our day. What a glorious blessing! For when we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want Him to speak to us, we search the scriptures; for His words are spoken through His prophets. He will then teach us as we listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.”Shortly after my son Jax had gotten his drivers license, he lost his wallet, and with it , his new found freedom.  He was very disappointed. About a week later, I was driving him home from seminary and he recited this quote. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I didn’t know what to say. Honestly, I had my doubts that it would work in this situation. But he looked so sure that God would answer his prayer. He had spent the whole week looking and praying to find that wallet and he was so sad. So we prayed together and opened the scriptures. The big book of all the texts, The Bible, The Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, we call the Quad, opened up to Jacob, Chapter five, verse 24. It reads: “24 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said again unto his servant: Look hither, and behold another branch also, which I have planted; behold that I have nourished it also, and it hath brought forth fruit.” The words jumped out at us and we just knew it was a clue from a loving Heavenly Father. We searched every tree, live plant, and fake plant in the house. We didn’t find it that day. But the next day, I was cleaning the house and moved a box and right behind that box was his wallet. Directly across was an arrangement of branches we had gotten from a department store. There were different kinds of foliage mixed in together. It was the only tree we hadn’t looked by. We want to teach our children how to hear God’s voice. Helping our children hear God’s voice through His word is one of the most important things we could ever do. So, we try to remember to start our family scripture study with a prayer and we encourage our children to ask God questions. And then point out the answers we see them in the verses. The answers come when we have unwavering faith that they will. We ask questions like, “Heavenly Father, what do we need to know about this situation?”, “What am I missing?”, “Where should I look for more information?”, “What is this telling me I should stop, start or continue doing?”, and “Who needs my help?”.  The answers sometimes come directly in the verses we read or through the Holy Ghost as we are reading. The bookmarks below, are active reading skills that can help get your child thinking about the words they are reading and what they might mean to them personally. It was designed to help with reading comprehension.

In summary, there are six steps that have helped us teach our children to read from the Bible; make sure you are on the same page, teach your children to follow along, have your children read what they can, work on reading comprehension and inspiration, teach your child story structure and retell and to write down what they are learning.

Hugs,

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