Getting to Camp One Verse at a Time

Sending our children to camp is a wonderful, but expensive summer activity. It is about $300 per child, and so we have not sent them each year. Cassidy has been a couple times, Austin went twice when we were in Ethiopia, and Dane has been once. Going this year was out of the question because we just didn't (don't) have the money. I have even had to cancel three road trip excursions that I was going to make.

Then something happened. Two of my children were dealing with a sin issue. This was something that really needed to be addressed. We had been addressing it, but it was not going away. Then I had the idea to give them a passage from the Bible to memorize. Now you have to know my children and memory work to appreciate this story. I have tried, tried, tried to get them to memorize a verse at a time.

Last fall, the children worked on verses as a group. No good. No one really learned. I did have Austin work with the kids and get them to learn a couple, but that was it. I figured there must have been something wrong with my children. Others learn, why can't mine!

But in desperation I gave the passage Exodus 20: 1-20 to two children - a big and a small one. In no time at all they had both learned it.

I realized then that I had something. These two children had shown me they could memorize passages. Perhaps the key was that they were on their own working on it. So I decided to give it to the other two. I now had Cassidy, Austin, Cooper and Raine memorizing this passage.

What I did was buy them each a notebook from the dollar store. Each different. Each attractive to that child. I then gave them a version of the Bible that I felt was good for them: International Children's Version. It is very readable and simple to memorize, yet true to the original meaning.

They each sat down and wrote out the passage. Some wrote the whole thing out. Others wrote out what they were going to memorize that day. The ones that were more proficient would memorize 3 verses a day and the ones that struggled memorized 2 verses. It proved to be quite painless for them all! They would spend about 15 minutes writing out the verse and about 30-60 minutes practicing.

It became a routine. During quiet time, while doing dishes, mowing the lawn, having a shower, walking through *stores*, I would hear children quoting their verses. It was absolutely wonderful! One day, I drove to the town near me and on the way there it was remarkable. All the children had their verse books and they were all on different parts of their passages. I had Cassidy's verse book in the front and he and I were both using it. I could just imagine God looking down from heaven and seeing this car where five voices were simultaneously practicing the Word of God quietly to themselves. I have to say it was the best moment in all our memorization for me!

I then had an older child do something that was upsetting. I was reading my Bible one night looking for a word of comfort/direction/guidance. I came to Psalm 119. In this verse it says: What can a young man do to cleanse his ways...

This was perfect. I continued reading and loved what I was reading. It was relevant to all of us. So I added this to our list. We had already conquered The Ten Commandments. Why not this one?

During the course of memorizing this passage I remembered that a Bible Camp in the Interior of our province had a deal where the child could memorize himself to camp. For every 20 verses a child could have a day at camp for free.

I decided to call up the camp and see if the ones our children had already done would be accepted, since they were not on the camp list. They were thrilled to hear the children were memorizing and said, Certainly!

I printed out the required verses and put them in plastic page protectors. The children then copied them out verse by verse into their notebooks. Each day they were required to memorize 2-3 verses before their play began. I had no battles, no complaining, simply because it became something we did every day. Even Briton and Savannah began memorizing verses. Because they both have language problems, it is much harder for them, so they were not at the calibre of the older kids, but they did well!

By the time, Cassidy was ready for camp two months later, he had memorized 108 verses. He headed to camp and the Director picked up the verse book, chose a verse, and Cassidy spoke it out. He was very impressed with Cassidy. Cassidy's cost for camp? $67 (His memorization saved him nearly $250!) Not only that, but 108 verses are now hidden in his heart!

When it came time for Cooper to go to camp he was also ready. Before he went his dad said, "It'll be good if he can remember them." It was the funniest thing. I turned to Cooper and said, "Cooper, Exodus 20: 1-2"

Ray bust out laughing when Cooper proceeded to race through the passage. I then showed off a little more and kept on giving him passages, and passage after passage, Cooper did not fail. He was able to recite 106 verses.

At the end of it, Ray said, "They should start giving memory verses instead of spelling bees!"

I agree. I like spelling bees, but memory verses change the heart!

On the last days before camp, as Cooper was practicing his last verses, he would grin and say, "I'm so proud of myself." He wasn't being bigheaded; he was simply so amazed at himself, and he sure deserved to be. He is 7 years old and blew the socks off the Director at camp! His camp cost us $27!!

Reciting His Verses

Cooper's First Sleep Away Camp

Filthy Upon Pick Up Day!

Cooper's Book

Fat Little Book Full of God's Word
A Real Precious Keepsake

Austin was the third child to get to camp. He had extra weeks to do the work and so was able to keep on memorizing past where the other boys got to. He did the full 140 verses, and somehow ended up with 2 extra. He recited his verse for the Director and earned his admiration, FREE CAMP, plus $13 tuck money for all of his hard work.

The Director told me each time I dropped off the children how our family had blessed him and inspired him by the fact that they had earned their way to camp. Truly, we were blessed. Those children could have taken a Campership, but I really don't feel that we could. That just wasn't an option. We are building a house. We have made that a priority financially. But there is no reason the children couldn't *earn* their way to camp. And truly, they spent a good hour or two a day working on their verses, and so they really did earn their way to camp. And I really think that is the *best* way to get to camp! They get camp and hide God's Word in their hearts.

Tom said the verses would be up on the website by November. I asked him if he could please put them up sooner, so we could get on with memorizing in September, rather than cramming in May - July. By the time I dropped off Austin at camp (August) he had already printed out the sheet. Let the memorizing begin!
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