Ideas to make family scripture study more meaningful?

[JJJJ130]

Over the years my husband and I have tried dozens of things to try and make family scripture study more meaningful but after a while give up and slowly end up just reading a chapter out loud again, each member reading a few versus at a time. This gets the "job done' or checked off the list, but it is not exactly spirit filled. Is there anything that ya'll have tried that has had an impact for your family? What gets the kids involved, excited, engaged? mine are nearly bored to tears.

[skmo]

What gets the kids involved, excited, engaged? mine are nearly bored to tears.

Mine get very excited and pay close attention because I occasionally feed them a few nuggets of cat food. Of course, it helps that one of them is a German Shepherd and the other is a Leonberger, but this keeps them from jumping on us while we're reading.

When we got feeling like there was a rut, we'd choose to make little mini-lessons based on scriptures we'd choose that could apply to something we'd had problems with, something we encountered at school, or just something that interested one of us. Having "kids" we could order to go to their beds certainly helps.

[bornfree]

Over the years my husband and I have tried dozens of things to try and make family scripture study more meaningful but after a while give up and slowly end up just reading a chapter out loud again, each member reading a few versus at a time. This gets the "job done' or checked off the list, but it is not exactly spirit filled. Is there anything that ya'll have tried that has had an impact for your family? What gets the kids involved, excited, engaged? mine are nearly bored to tears.

I had 6 children, and I never could get them fully engaged in reading the scriptures. I believe the blessings come and also the understanding, just for being obedient in reading each day. I tried many different things, and the children got to thinking scripture time should be a sharing time where they are highly entertained. Let them be bored to tears, they are getting more than you think.

[Joel]

don't force them to be apart of family scripture study

[Dash jones]

I don't know about LDS families, but I had cousins I'd stay with and their family had this Bible study every evening. I have NO answer to your question, I just know as a kid spending days there, during that time I was very bored. I know at least one of their kids was too. I'm not certain if it had a positive or negative effect on me. I just remember wanting it to be over as soon as possible.

It's not that I'm adverse to Bible study (I'm fine with it on my own), there was just something about listening to everyone read that drove me nutty. If it's any consolation, I was pretty bored by doing the same thing occasionally with schoolwork in class as well...so maybe it's just the individual.

[JJJJ130]

Thank you all for your replies. It helps to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this, or the only one with bored kids I think it's true that hopefully they will remember that we were consistent and it was important to us, even if every study session isn't "entertaining!"

[Obrien]

JJ - how old are the kids in question?

We never did family scripture study routinely, however discussion of scriptures and gospel applications thereof were fairly consistent for my older kids. We've just started reading the bible (NT) with the younger group, and they are old enough to understand most of it, ask pertinent questions, and see applications for the scriptures in their lives. Maybe the key is to start when they're a bit older (all my kids at home now are baptized, but no teens), rather than forcing them to try and understand complex ideas when they're not capable.

I liked Joel's post above - think about how much you like things you're compelled to do...

[shadow]

Over the years my husband and I have tried dozens of things to try and make family scripture study more meaningful but after a while give up and slowly end up just reading a chapter out loud again, each member reading a few versus at a time. This gets the "job done' or checked off the list, but it is not exactly spirit filled. Is there anything that ya'll have tried that has had an impact for your family? What gets the kids involved, excited, engaged? mine are nearly bored to tears.

Honestly I get bored with it too. I like my personal study where I can cross reference and ponderize, but reading with my kids can be a chore for all involved. Yet I think it's been beneficial.
More meaningful usually means shorter times :-w 5-10 minutes is good. Sometimes our discussions are longer than the time spent reading. Sometimes there are no discussions. I don't care for a regiment.

[Zathura]

Scripture study will rarely be meaningful if you read a book just to get through it.

It helps greatly to have a purpose. It helps to have a certain topic that everyone can study and figure out together.

It's boring to open the book and just start reading the next chapter, on the other hand, it's unpredictable and more bareable when you do a scripture study and follow footnotes or talks that explain certain scriptures that you come across.