Friday, March 07, 2014

Read Through the Bible with Your Kids {No Pressure Version}

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From the time my kids were itty bitty, I've faithfully read and taught the Bible with them at least 5 days a week throughout the school year. But, we've never read through the entire Bible. There are books we haven't read aloud like Numbers or heaven help me, Song of Solomon.

Toward the end of last year, I started thinking that reading through every page of the Bible with my kids was something I really wanted to do before they left the nest. I can't believe I am typing this, but I am closer to my first born leaving the nest than I care to admit!

With a 14-year-old, a 12-year-old, and an 8-year-old, I knew 2014 was the year we needed to start this blessed endeavor.

In order to carry this out, I knew I wanted a "no pressure version" of reading through the Bible. What do I mean by "no pressure?"

Well . . .

I didn't want to be bound by reading a certain number of chapters in certain books on certain days, etc., a daily quota to meet, if you will. I didn't want to set the read-the-Bible-in-one-year goal and then fail to meet the goal. (I don't do well with failure!) I wanted reading through the Bible to be a blessing and not a chore.

Not that any of those things are bad. However, I am a natural task master, and I want to do everything in my Jesus' power to NOT treat this as a task.

So, our simple goal is this: to read through the Bible. If we can do it in one year, great. If not, we will continue on in 2015.

What does this "no pressure version" look like in our home? First of all, I printed off this list of the Books of the Bible and hung it up on our dry erase board. We pick a book and read it until we finish it. We read for about 20-30 minutes Mondays through Thursdays. Dad does Bible study on Fridays. (We will count the book, Matthew, he's teaching, but it will probably take a LONG time to get through it!)

So far, we've read 11 of the 66 books. Some we've read in one day, others have taken several days or even weeks like Proverbs. We are also reading some Psalms along with the other books we're reading.

When we finish a book, I highlight that book in green on our Books of the Bible List.

I like that I don't ever feel like we're getting behind or that we must hurry through some portions just to catch up to a schedule.

This "no pressure" reading through the Bible system is working really well for our family!

Have you ever read through the entire Bible with your kids? What worked for you?

*Update as of January 2015

Update as of 2016: It did take longer than one year for my children and me to read through the Bible together, but I am so glad we didn't give up! It actually took closer to a year and a half for us to get through, especially since we only read together 5 days a week instead of 7. This is one endeavor that I will never regret. :)

Linked to Thoughtful Thursdays

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