Our family reads the Bible every morning and evening. We keep our study short to make it doable and peg it to everyday events, like breakfast and bedtime, to incorporate it into our routine.
During breakfast, we read the Bible, practice a memory verse, pray and sing a hymn or the doxology. We go slowly through the text one book at a time, reading a handful of verses each day depending on the content. We often reread passages a few days in a row to increase understanding and ignite discussion. We ask the kids open ended questions and we welcome their questions, even if we do not know the answers. Some mornings we are met with blank stares and some we are interrupted by tantrums, but many days are marked by engaging conversation. We have found that story-like books are easier for kids to follow than meaty theological passages. So we stick with the four gospels, Acts, Genesis, Exodus and other Old Testament history books for now. There will be plenty of time to tackle Paul’s letters and the prophetic books when they are older.
Though we do not read the meaty books in full, we do memorize verses from them. Small bite statements like Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and Psalms work well for memorization and spark excellent discussion for life-application. We memorize from the English Standard Version (ESV) or New International Version (NIV), but we read aloud from the beautifully-worded easy-to-understand New Living Translation (NLT).
I found a used hymnal then sat down with plastic sticky tabs to mark the ones I knew. My repertoire has since grown. If you do not know many hymns, you can start with short ones like Glory Be to the Father, Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow and Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus. Recordings are available online. You may already know Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing and Be Thou My Vision from their acoustic versions. Christmas can be a great time to add hymn singing to your day. Flip to the Advent section of your hymnal for those wonderful carols.
I like to read the story of Christ’s birth in December then follow a gospel from Advent to Easter. You can align your readings so that Jesus is born on Christmas, enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, is crucified on Good Friday and is resurrected on Easter! Sing O Come O, Come Emanuel in December and Victory in Jesus in April! This is a great way to read one gospel a year. In 2021, you can read through Luke, in 2022 through Mark, in 2023 through Matthew and in 2024 through John, then in 2025 reread Luke and so on. After Easter, you can choose another book of the Bible to read together. Acts follows Luke well since it is written by the same author and reads like a story. Matthew follows Genesis and Exodus well since it was written from a Jewish perspective and quotes the Old Testament often. For older children, Hebrews follows Matthew well since it too was written to Jews who knew the Old Testament well.
At bedtime, we read a children’s Bible story and pray then sing the doxology. Twenty minutes a day adds up quickly. At one story a night, we read through a few versions a year. When we finish one, we just reread another. Through this daily reading, the kids 1) become familiar with the Bible’s most famous stories, 2) gain a broad overview of the overarching themes from creation to the fall to redemption and 3) steadily get to know the character of God. Aside from aiding their understanding, picture Bibles give them images to hold in their imaginations while we read The Holy Bible. For our first year, we prayed The Lord’s Prayer together every night. Now, everyone takes turns praying. If someone doesn’t want to pray, we ask him to name some things he is thankful for.
Here is a peak into our favorite picture Bibles:
The Big Picture Story Bible shows the overarching story of the Bible to young children very well. The readings are short and the pictures are simple. This may be my children’s favorite version.
The Jesus Storybook Bible has slightly longer stories. This version beautifully connects every Old Testament story to Christ’s coming and every New Testament story to His purpose. 
The Beginning Reader’s Bible is a collection of selected short passages from the International Children’s Bible translation, rather than a paraphrase. The illustrations are excellent. This is my favorite version. 
The Jesus Calling Bible Storybook is written in conversational language. The voice is personal and encouraging. Short devotionals are sprinkled through-out its pages. 
Catherine Vos’ superb retelling of the Bible has remained popular since it’s first printing in 1935. This is not a picture Bible. The passages are meaty so it is best suited for older children.
We have also used the Westminster Shorter Catechism and New City Catechism at times.
Five years ago, when Chris and I decided on the values we wanted to foster in our children and the family culture we hoped to establish, faith was our top priority.
- We want to honor the Lord in our parenting.
- We want our children to trust God because they know Him from their own experience and through His Word.
- We want them to have truth tucked into their hearts to guide them in years to come.
- We dream that they will grow up to “love God with all their hearts and soul and mind and strength” and “love their neighbor as themselves” as Jesus instructs and to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever” as the catechism teaches.
- We want them to live submissive to God’s kingship and aware of his might.
- We want them to readily pray for themselves and for others in any situation or temptation.
- We want loving others to be a natural outpouring of Christ in them.
- We hope conversations about God and the Christian life will be a common and comfortable topic around our table.
Only God can control the outcome, so we prayerfully follow His instruction in Deuteronomy 11:19 to tell our children of His works and words, then we trust Him with the rest.
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