I have nine living children between the ages of 2 and 20.  My oldest moved into town in January while she attends college.  Even so, she is often here.  Our routines have changed over the years, mostly depending upon my inspiration as family manager.

We have several different scripture study times in our home.  By having more then one if we skip one or two or three we are sure to hit it at least once daily.  It actually makes life less stressful and our family is confident that we have kept the Lord's commandment in this area.

First Method:  We have a family scripture.  When things are super hectic or late or we're sick then we will gather together for prayer and quote our family scripture.  For our family it is,

"And if your eye be single to my glory your whole bodies shall be filled with light.  And that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things."   D&C 88:67

Second Method:  I am a big proponent of regularly studying your personal statement of belief.  In my church that is the Articles of Faith.  Our children memorize them along with other scriptures.  When we have a little more time, but not much more, then each person in the family quotes a scripture or article after prayer.

Third Method: We read the scriptures together.  Because we have seminary students (three this year) we read the required chapters together.

Fourth Method: This is what is done most often lately.  It is a new program because up to six months ago we did scripture study entirely as a family.  But six months ago we divided our evening scripture study into two groups, the older ones who read with dad the seminary requirements and the younger ones who go with me for scriptures and bed.  For the younger ones, we might just quote, we might read from one of the church volumes, or I will tell my favorite scriptural stories.  Remember, that even though we separate for this we do lots of other scriptures during the day as an entire family.  This has added a peace to scripture study that our traditional evening study (Third Method) didn't have.  The older children are ready for more concentrated doctrinal education and reading interaction and the younger ones tend to bounce around.  Younger in our family are my three little girls, ages 7, 5 and 2 1/2.

Other Scripture Activities We Do Regularly:

Memorize scriptures
I mentioned memorizing The Articles, but we also have seminary scriptures and personal family favorites that we work on.  For the family favorites, I take a topic and find one scripture or group of scriptures per person.  I type it on the computer and print it out (colored paper is nice because it is easy to find among school white paper.)  On the paper is the opening primary song for the week (or two weeks, or month) and the closing hymn.  In between each child's scripture is listed.  The youngest starts and says her scripture.  Then she repeats it slowly and the others repeat after her.  We all follow that pattern until it is over.  It doesn't take long.  Over several days the scriptures are memorized and we have discussed what they mean and other ideas that they bring up.

Articles of Faith
I developed a curriculum for my children based on my church's Articles of Faith.  The same can be done with any statement of personal faith.  I suggest that your statement of faith be broken into a few specific points that will allow you to explore their meaning and the depth of your religious doctrine, especially in discussion with your teens.  For us, there are thirteen Articles of Faith and they are perfect for this purpose.

Dr. Glenn Kimber's Hook Dates for History has you memorize ten dates per subject and then you "hook" onto those dates the events and people surrounding the time frame.  So when you study the Old Testament you only have ten dates but countless information can be taught to those dates.  The dates give an overview of history while the stories give the depth.

By having a few statements of belief you can use the same learning pattern.  You can hang all the doctrine on those overview statements.  This allows a tremendous amount of both free-form and structured discussion and at a deep level which is very important to the teens.  I know that my children will grow and leave home and I want them to know...from me...how to respond to the questions and attacks concerning they will come across in their life.  I find that it is best during this time to use books only as reference.  Our youth are ready and thirsting for knowledge and the flow of each conversation will address what is on their minds.  I suggest that you take one statement of faith and study it for only about a week.  You will come back around to each statement often so more depth is added each time.

Missionary Discussions
We have a son who will be leaving in 201 for a mission.  My husband is going teaching the missionary discussions with all of the children.  Most of the teaching in the home is done by the mother.  When the family is involved in homeschooling she is even more in the spotlight.  Having one subject that father is the teacher is important for his relationship with his children.

History
About once a year I go over Old Testament History and other history periods dealing with religion.

Have Fun!

Try different techniques to enliven family scripture study.

1.  Read a verse but pause and let the children yell in the missing word.
2.  Read a verse but put in the opposite or the wrong words and see if they can catch it.  For instance, "And God said, 'Let there be sunshine'..."
3.  Do a scripture chain.  Start with a base scripture and link it to other related scriptures.
4.  Act out the stories.  My children especially love to sculpture their stories.  One child takes other family members and position them to tell a favorite story.  And everybody guesses what it is.
5.  Have patience when they interrupt to ask questions.  The questions may lead to something totally different.  As long as it is still focused on the subject then pursue their train of thought.  My husband struggles with this because he is task oriented and wants to 'get through' the verse or chapter and talk later.  If that is the way your family prefers to study then have somebody who is recorder and have him write down the question to be pursued later.

Scripture study is an important part of the home learning environment.  It isn't always a peaceful and enlightening event.  Often it can be noisy and frustrating or even boring!  But it is the consistent involvement with the scriptures as a family that blesses lives over the years.  Don't expect it to always be perfect but do enjoy the process of growth and closeness it brings over time.

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