It’s that time of year again when we select new hymns to memorize. This year, Bryan and I decided to let the kids pick.
We bought four copies of a different hymnal at the Missionary Acres yard sale this summer, so the majority of the songs are in those. Other than a Christmas song in December and a patriotic hymn in July, we didn’t put any requirements on the hymns they could select. To fill in the other months, we let a couple of the older kids pick a second hymn.
It was fun to see what they selected. Jayme played through them all on her recorder, so we could get a better sense of how they sounded. Some of these we have memorized in years past, so it’ll be a good way to teach the younger kids.
We’re looking forward to memorizing these hymns this school year:
Memory Hymns
August: Guide Me O, Thou Great Jehovah
September: Jesus Loves the Little Children
October: Shall We Gather at the River?
November: Who Is On the Lord’s Side?
December: Ring the Bells
January: Sound the Battle Cry
February: Jesus Loves Even Me
March: Dare to Be a Daniel
April: Surely Goodness and Mercy
May: Nothing But the Blood
June: Faith Is the Victory
July: My Country Tis of Thee
How We Memorize Hymns
Hymn memory in our family is fairly low key. We sing the song once or twice a day, during our family Bible time. During the first week of the month, we only sing verse one and the chorus.
The next week we add the second verse. Then the third. And the fourth.
If the hymn has more verses, we will combine two in one week.
The repetition is the key to learning the words.
It also helps to pick songs with choruses, since even the younger kids can typically learn that part. It’s so fun to hear our three year old singing the chorus of a song we memorized this past school year.
You can learn more about how we memorize hymns in our homeschool in this post, and find some tips to help:
7 Tips for Memorizing Hymns with Kids
Are you memorizing any new hymns this year? I’d love for you to tell me which ones in the comments section.
