Scripture Typer - A Free Memory Verse App

When T(age 18) was little, he was very good at memorizing and reciting verses.  That's him below, repeating part of John 14.

He was our oldest, so naturally we pushed him to succeed.  And, because he was oldest, sometimes we pushed too hard (a rookie parenting error).

When he started AWANA (a Wednesday night verse learning program for children) as a preschooler, we not only ordered the regular club book (with it's tiny little half verses) for him, but also the extra extended book, full of longer, more complicated passages.

As he grew a little older, we continued "encouraging" him to learn the passages, and earn every patch and trophy he could along the way.

I had always been good at memorizing, myself, and I have to admit my competitive, type-A personality might have kicked into overdrive, just a bit.

T, however, does not have a type-A personality, and by about the 5th grade he'd had enough pushing.  He dug in his heals, and refused to learn another verse.

Needless to say we learned our lesson, and backed off a good deal with the younger children - letting them set a slower pace if they liked, and ultimately switching over to a Wednesday program that combined more teaching and game time in with a single verse per week, learned by the whole group together.

Unfortunately, by the time we had learned our lesson, it was nearly too late for T (poor first child).  His determination to stop memorizing, gradually morphed into a belief that he couldn't memorize. A belief that is about to be tested, as he's enrolled in a Bible college class that requires the memorization of several passages - word for word, with proper punctuation.

Happily, he found Scripture Typer, a free Kindle app that makes memorization a snap, by walking you into it step by step.

1. Download a verse, or verses off the internet, from your favorite Bible translation.
2. Type the first letter of each word, as you read through, and familiarize yourself with the passage.
3. Memorize the passage by typing in the first letter of each word, filling in the blanks of words that have been dropped away (different words drop away each time through)
4. Master the passage by typing the first letter of each word onto a completely blank page, filling the words in as you go.  If you type the wrong letter, the word will be filled in for you in red, and your score will be marked down.
5. Repeat the Memorizing and Mastering steps over the course of several days, until you have the passage down pat.

Even T is willing to give it a try.