Scripture Reading Habit Made SOOO Easy-{free printables-2013 Scripture Chart}
Ok….so this is the 2nd year I have posted this Scripture Reading Chart. Some of you may remember the post we did recently where we talked about the fact that all 5 Crafting Chicks and many other creative bloggers are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Mormons, the post can be found HERE. If you read this post, you can see the importance for us to read from The Book of Mormon in the lives of members of our church. So you can imagine that it’s also important for us to read this book with our families to draw nearer to Jesus Christ and God the Father. Until 2 years ago, it was merely a dream to make this a daily habit with our family. This has really really become easy and we’ve learned that “consistency is the key”. This is dedicated to our friends that showed us this trick….and we are so grateful for their great idea. It worked for us (I’m still surprised myself), and I hope it works for you too! Thanks Wood Family 
2 years ago at this time we embarked with a new year’s resolution that honestly I didn’t think we would be able to keep up….how’s that for a resolution! This resolution was to read scriptures every day as a family….not a whole chapter, not even a whole ten verses, just at least one verse. We just wanted to make family scripture study a habit, whether it was one verse or 20. We had tried in the past to make this a habit with no real success or consistency. BUT WE DID IT THIS YEAR AGAIN! Last year we missed 2 days and so far this year we haven’t missed ANY. That’s not to say that there wasn’t fighting and wrestling and rough housing and crying on some or all of those days; but that’s the beauty of it, that’s just how it is, for us at least…heavens…my kids are 8,7,6 and 4 and 3 of them are boys, that tells you enough right there. Let’s be honest, it’s like herding cats. If we can do this, ANYONE can do this, trust me.
SECRETS TO OUR SUCCESS: There are definitely secrets, but they are “EASY EASY” and completely no-fail as long as you can be consistent.
- BE ACCOUNTABLE: This is the BEST SECRET of them all, I tell ya…use this one page CALENDAR CHART (printable below) that represents the whole year!!!!!! Dave and I said so many times throughout the year that just the thought that we were going to have a gap on our reading chart was enough to muster up the umph to read each night, and how we didn’t anticipate that we would be motivated by that, but it worked.
- USE COLORED STICKERS & make it a game: This was also a main key for us. The child that was the most well-behaved got to choose the sticker for the chart that night. This was a major motivator for our kids.
- CHOOSE THE SAME TIME EACH DAY TO READ: For us, the time of day we chose wasn’t exactly at a specific specific time, but right before bed which was around the same time each night. If you can choose the same time each day that works best for your family, you are really setting yourselves up for success.
- KEEP YOUR EXPECTATIONS LOW: Ok this is one of those times that low expectations are GREAT. The kids are going to be rowdy, mean, ornery, and not want to do it at times…hang in there
. There should be a level of respect while reading, from my point of view, but it’s not going to be perfect. Sometimes the best things are HARD, until it’s a habit. Just tonight as we were reading, the younger two got into trouble because they were being too loud, it happens still, but at least we are reading.
WHY WE’VE MADE IT A PRIORITY?
Let’s be honest, we live in a world with shifting moral values. We cannot look to Hollywood or the media to give us accurate truths and it seems to be rapidly declining. Jeffry R. Holland gave a talk in October of 2009 speaking about the importance of scripture and it’s soooo powerful (HERE watch the video if you can). I believe that a loving Father in Heaven communicates to his children through prayer & scripture. We not only believe in The Book of Mormon, but also the Bible and The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints has recently released some amazing Bible videos HERE that no matter what your religion, you will adore. I want my kids to have open communication with their Savior. I know without a doubt that learning to be more like God will help them more in their lives than learning to be like any other person they could model themselves after. Since my job as a parent is to equip my children with the best tools possible for success, this is top priority.
(the thing that worked best for us is to print this out, front and back, on a piece of white card stock and laminate)
DOWNLOAD FRONT (8.5″x 11″): HERE
DOWNLOAD BACK: (8.5x 11″): HERE
DOWNLOAD FRONT (16X20″ POSTER): HERE
DOWNLOAD FRONT (20X24″ POSTER): HERE
Thank you for this printout! I know my family keeps on track best, when we have a visual to work towards a goal. This is going right in the middle of the fridge door.
YES!! You will love using this. It’s funny how a simple tool can be so useful and keep you on track! Good luck!!
Love this, thank you!
Such great “motivation” tips to keep to this Scripture reading habit!
Thank you for another great scripture reading print! I was just looking at our 2012 print with the FHE and temple attendance, hoping that you would come up with another print for 2013. That seriously has helped us so much with our family prayers and scripture reading. My son loves to mark off each day after we’ve completed what we need to do. I printed ours off on card stock and, depending on what we do each day, write a different mark on the date. If we just read scriptures, we write an S over the date. If we just say prayers, we write a P. If we do both, we mark the day with an X. The FHE and temple attendance we mark with check marks when we do those. This next time around I’m going to use stickers, now that my son is a little older. Thanks again for the print! It’s been a great help in keeping our family on track with reading our scriptures and saying our prayers!
YES!!! I’m so glad! When our friends showed us this trick, it was really that simple to be able to try and do. There is something about having a black spot on a chart that was mere motivation for a long time. I’m so glad you are using it and want to do it again this year, that means it is working! Way to go! xoxo
I was really hoping you would do another calendar! Yay! I’ve used your calendar for this year and it has really helped me stay on track and remember to read! 🙂 Thank you so much!!
CONGRATS!! that’s so great, way to go on making it a habit. Sometime the simplest tools are the best.
Hi, there! I’m so happy to have stumbled upon you and your lovely chart…..thank you! Our 5 kiddles are all married now, but I’m printing off one each of these for them and our 18 grandkiddles….superb! I’m wondering if I could make 2 smaller versions, to tuck into our scripture cases for myself and my hubster…..neat!
I love that you said the word, “hubster” it made me laugh! You are so cute. That’s a great idea about making a half size one. I’m sure if you went to the copy story they could easily do that for you. Making printouts for your kids is a great idea too! Way to go!!
Thank you so much! We’re STILL working on making daily scripture study a family habit. Maybe this is the year! 😉 I can’t wait to have the large poster printed. I’m going to hang it on our front closet door. It matches my decor perfectly!
SWEET! There is something about not wanting a blank spot on a day that is motivation. The first year we did this we would always laugh at how bad we didn’t want to miss a day and how that alone was motivating. Even if it’s one scripture, do it. You will never regret spending energy making this a habit. GOOD LUCK!!!! Let us know how it goes!
Thank you for the printout. I use a reading plan on YouVersion Bible App on my phone and on my Kindle. One thing I like about this app is that it’s also audio. I try to do my reading first before anything else. On those days when I just don’t have time to sit and read, I listen. I’m the only Christian in my family. So with listening to the audio, I’m also exposing my family to the bible and to the word of God.
What a great idea! I like to do the same thing. If I can’t sit down and read, I use the Gospel Library App to listen to audio while I exercise or clean. I’m trying to also make it a habit to do that before anything else, it always makes my day so much better. Way to go for exposing your family to scripture, you never know what it might do to help them :). GOOD LUCK!!!
This is just what we needed thank you!!! I love that it has a spot for FHE and the temple all on one chart. I’m super excited to have this as a goal for next year. Thanks again.
Yes, I hope you like it and yes it’s fun to have it all on one chart, makes it easier for sure!!
I love your blog, but please don’t turn it into a forum for your church. I come here for the crafting, not to be converted. I know it’s important to you and I respect that: however, perhaps you could find another outlet for that?
I’m so glad that you feel comfortable sharing your thoughts about this and I appreciate your honesty. Our blog won’t become a forum, but it’s been a great experience sharing more of who we are and what we believe. If you come upon these types of posts and you aren’t interested in reading them simply skip over them and rejoin us on posts that you are interested in. We value our readers so much and hope you stick around 🙂
Years ago when President Hinckley challenged all of us (about in August) to read and finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year, we took the challenge. Having 5 children, from toddler to teenager, it wasn’t always easy. Sometimes one of the kids would come in to read without bringing the best attitude. I prayed about what I could do and the next day when we met for scriptures I told them this, “Christmas is coming up in a couple months! We always try to come up with something we can give to the Savior for Christmas. Sometimes we try to not fight as much with our siblings, or we help each other every day secretly, etc. How about this year we give a different gift? How about we finish the Book of Mormon as a family before Christmas day as our gift to the Savior?” They all agreed. Then I proceeded to tell them that it was their choice how they wanted to give that gift. If they wanted to come to scripture study a little grouchy, or happy, or kind, then than was their gift that day to the Savior. It REALLY changed the feelings of scripture study! And it has been our tradition every year since….finishing the Book of Mormon each year before we open Christmas presents as our gift that year to the Savior. Thanks for the great prin-ables!!
WHAT A COOL IDEA!!!! I love this! I’m going to do this with my family next year. Thanks so much for sharing. I LOVE hearing everyone’s ideas about how they are going about doing things. VERY COOL.
xoxo
I can’t get these to download at all.
These are AWESOME! Thank you so much!! I love how you included both FHE and the Temple too. Perfect!
I can really see this working for my family. THANK YOU so much for sharing it with us!
I can’t get it to print right. It is the 8.5×11 but it prints huge to it doesn’t fit on the page. Any suggestions?
Hi! I’m excited about this printout! What kind of stickers did you use? And did you just put them on top of each number? I know these may be dumb questions, but I want to get it right! Thanks for the post!
Love this thank you so much! I especially love the spots to mark fhe and temple too!
Thank you for this! Hopefully this will bring more of the spirit into out home! You are an angel!
I used this last year and it was fabulous! Thanks so much!!
This is wonderful! I am teaching RS on Sunday and I was thinking of teaching on daily scripture study. Would you mind if I copied enough of these for sisters in my ward, and passed them out on Sunday?
Thank You!
Thank you THANK YOU! I wish I would have seen this sooner 🙂 We REALLY need to make family scripture study a habit (along with FHE and monthly temple attendance) and you put ALL three of those on the chart! How great! Plus, it’s adorable.
Thank you SO much for this. I printed one in January, and it’s been so motivating to see all the stickers add up over the last 7 months or so. One thing that’s been fun for our family is to reward ourselves every so often. After the first month it was something small (cookies I think it was), then a few months later we got a fun cake to celebrate, and just a couple of weeks ago, we went to the movies to celebrate our 6 mo. of scripture/FHE as a family. It’s been so wonderful, and it really has helped us be in better habit of doing these things. There’s just something about visually seeing progress!
Oh. My. Happy! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Each month we choose a hymn, scripture, and article of faith to memorize. Each night before bed we hold “family devotional” when we sing, pray, and recite (a super easy 5 minutes– even our 2 yr. old has it down by the end of the month). We want to add actually reading the scriptures to our devotional, but knew we’d need a good tool to keep the kid’s (and adults!) motivated for the few more minutes it will take. This chart is perfect and extra special since it includes FHE and temple reminders. I sincerely hope you’re planning a 2014 version! Many heartfelt thanks!
Love your ideas! The incentive of choosing the sticker would definitely work for my 6 and 4 year olds, and their example might be the best motivator for my 3 year old. I echo Kela in a request for a 2014 version. Thanks for sharing this!
Do you have a 2014 calendar? Thank you!
Are you making a calendar for 2014?
thank you so much for this free printable. I printed it off at the beginning of the year and a half meet such a big difference in our scripture study. We have read the scriptures over 95 percent of the time. Thank you again so much!
We have loved using the 2013 Scripture Reading Chart this past year. It has really helped our family with consistency. I wondered if you would be making one for 2014. I looked around the site quite a bit but could not find one. Thanks for the help! Love your site!
Are you making a 2014 version? Pretty please? This is awesome!
Do you have a 2014 version? We LOVED the 2013 version!!!
We sure do! Here’s the link to it. https://thecraftingchicks.com/2013/12/scripture-reading-habit-made-super-easy-2014-scripture-chart.html
This is so cute! Do you have a 2014 version?!
JUST KIDDING! I just saw the link above my comment. Thanks so much!