I've been working on these little booklets for a few weeks.
I am definitely not tech savvy by any means. I may have had a few learning curves to get through. From printing mis-haps, to page ordering, and layout in creating these. I'll admit, it may have taken a bit longer to complete than I anticipated. They are not perfect by any means but they are fun and FREE. You can't go wrong with that. All you need is a PRINTER and paper, a Stapler and an eraser. You'll soon see why an eraser comes in handy.
As a homeschooler, I'm always looking for ways to simplify and enhance learning. Thus, these journals. I've tried using primary journals, purchased from amazon, or just basic lined journals, but I wanted something more customized to our needs. I plan to open these up with my kids on Monday mornings while we do our gospel studies to kick off our homeschool week on the right start. I don't believe you can ever carve out too much time for building character. What better way, than to engage in the scriptures with my own children. One of the things I love about homeschooling is being able to focus as much attention as we want, on the studies we feel are most important.
Okay. So, What are Docrine Mastery Journals, you may be asking?
They are adorable little booklets geared towards helping your children to Master Doctrine in Scriptures.
Each booklet comes with 13 sections for you to record a scripture your family would like to study, memorize and Master throughout the year, months or weeks- however you'd like to divvy it out. (I've refrained from including too many specifics in the booklet so you can customize it to your own liking).
Each section In the booklet contains 3 pages.
The first page has a space for you to write out your scripture and reference.
Of course, since these are for kids, I've also included a cute little cloud to draw in, to facilitate bringing the scripture verses to life. I believe this visual will jog their memory of the scripture doctrine and content as well. Even though this was made for my kids, I'm not gonna lie, I'm totally planning to use this for myself! If you look at the image below, you will also notice a Goal Section. The children can make a scripture goal each time they begin studying a new scripture. They get to create their own goal. Whether it's to memorize a scripture, to review it daily, or to find away to apply the principle to their life. It could be to share the scripture with a friend or family member, etc. etc. I think you get the idea. I wanted to keep the goal open ended so they could individualize it to their own needs and desires. I think this will create a sense of joy in accomplishing their own goals. You'll notice, within the goal section is a little space that says "today, I ponderized" Ponderizing is a term that was shared a few years ago in a general conference session. Essentially, it is defined as 80% pondering of the scripture (learning and applying it to ones life) and %20 memorization. So, although memorizing is a component, it is not the primary focus. The focus is on the doctrine. So, with that, each time the child ponderizes (or does something in fulfillment of his or her goal) he or she may fill in one of the cute smiley faces. My kids are quite excited about this part.
So, that's the first page. The second page is ALL about Doctrine.
There's a space to write what doctrine or principle is found in the scriptures, and another space to write out how the scripture can then be applied to real life. There's also empty space for kids to draw or color again, if they'd like. Of course, there's plenty of lined space for them to write their thoughts, ponderings and inspiration, related to this scripture. I've included some Journal prompts to get kids started if they're not sure what to write about at first. The goal is to help the children learn to truly study and apply scriptures to their lives. I want my children to know how to seek and learn. I want them learn how to hear the voice of Christ. I want them to truly know how to build their relationship with Christ through meaningful scripture study. I want them to learn to receive answers to prayers. I don't know about you, but scriptures has been absolutely central to my developing a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I want to give my children the tools to be able to do this on their own. What they do with those tools is entirely up to them. But hopefully, this will help them to grow, deepen and develop their testimonies.
Okay, Now, onto the third page. I'm super excited about this part...
"Dah-dah-dah-dah!"... The kids will not only be mastering doctrine but they will be (hopefully) memorizing scripture. I will be experimenting and adapting this with my kids as we go so. We may or may not change how we do things, but that's why I love this journal. It's totally adaptable!
So, In the third and final page, I've included a space for them to copy the scripture 2 times, to see if they have it memorized. The first time they copy it, I plan to write it out on a white board, with blanks spaces where some of the scripture words should be. Then they will have the opportunity to see if they can accurately fill in those blanks as they write out the entire scripture. The second time they copy it, they will be writing it with no hints or help. And Finally, they will be able to say it out loud. There are three little hearts for them to fill in once they've mastered each of the 3 phases of memorization.
I'm especially excited about this because, I heard through the grapevine, a prophet once promised increased photographic memory through daily memorization of the scriptures. Okay but really, Copy work, if you ask me, is so good for children. It helps them with spelling, penmanship and of course, memorization. I feel it is great for their minds and intellects, and of course, their precious spirits. Since were homeschooling, this is killing two birds with one stone. Woot! I love any way to maximize time, and minimize busy work in our homeschool.
Now that you know how to use these journals... you may be wondering how to put them together.
These are meant be printed double sided so be sure to have that setting on before you click the print button. Some other helpful print settings to note: If your printer doesn't do it automatically, you'll want to Set the Layout to Landscape. When printing double-sided, you'll also want to be sure it is set to "short-edge" instead of "long-edge" if you have that option. This will ensure that the pages printed on the opposite side of each paper are printed in the right direction. I didn't do this at first and ended up with every other page being upside-down.
You'll want to let every page print before grabbing the papers, so they remain in order. next, you will need to fold the pages in half, making a booklet. I like to fold a few pages at a time for a finer fold. The "My Doctrine Mastery Journal" should be on the outside of the booklet, making up the cover page. In the inside you will find a place to write your name and date. In the back of the book, you should see some tips for using the journal as well as a scripture mastery chart to record and mark off each scripture that you memorize. Once you have all your pages folded and put together, you will have a nice little booklet. Lastly, this is where the eraser comes in. You will need to staple the booklet together. You will need to open your stapler-head to do this. You will then place the eraser on the underside of the book binding (where the crease, from folding your book is). This will give the staple somewhere to press into. Then, you will staple the outside binding (where the fold is) with the eraser underneath it. I like to staple the two edges and middle of the binding. Once you have stapled your binding, you will turn your book over and you'll notice there's staple edges sticking out into the inner binding of the book, if you did it right. The last thing you'll need to do is press those edges flat, so they are even with the paper. You could use a credit card to do this. I usually just use my fingers or the edge of my stapler to press the stapler edges down.
If this is totally confusing you, here's a link to a video tutorial that will make it much easier to understand.
Alrighty, so that's basically it in a nutshell. I Hope that made enough sense. But, if not, Try it out yourself and see how you like it.
You can open up the free Doctrine Mastery Journal Here.
You may print this for personal use, as many times as you'd like. Make it your own.
Feel free to share it with others too, but (for copyright reasons) please do not share the PDF file. Instead, share this direct link to my blog-post. Please do not change, print, sell or share commercially, any portion of this PDF. It is for personal use only.
You may also be interested in the FREE scripture Journal Booklet (coming soon). This one is meant for daily scripture reading. It is far more simplified. With dotted-lines for journaling on one side, and a blank page for drawing and coloring on the other side. Stay tuned. I will be updating this post with the link to the Simple Scripture Journals once they are ready to share.
I hope you find this to be useful as you are raising up your children unto Christ. I'd love to hear how you are liking this journal and how you are customizing it to your home and family. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to let me know.
Thanks for stopping by.
Signed,
Me.
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