One of our family’s main goals in home educating our children is equipping them to hide God’s word in their hearts.  For consistency and the best memorization results we’ve chosen the King James Version of the Bible to memorize from exclusively.  Personally, I find scripture memorization resources that pull from a wide variety of Bibles frustrating and even confusing, particularly for young learners.  Early in our journey of scripture memorization I realized that singing scripture is an excellent way to retain God’s word.  By setting the Word to song it is memorized more quickly, pops up during the day as a song gets caught in our heads, and is retained for better recall. 

As a result, I’ve made it my mission to stay informed about all KJV scripture memorization song CDs that are available.  I’m sure there are some I’m not aware of, but I keep my eyes peeled for any new resources to add to our collection.  Understandably, I was thrilled to learn of the new release of Sonbeam’s ABC Bible Memory Verse Songs for children.

In ABC Bible Memory Verse Songs, the Sonbeams choir sings 26 verses from scripture, one for each letter of the alphabet.  The first word of the section of verse set to song either starts with the letter, or in some cases (such as the letter ‘x’) the letter is featured within a prominent word in the verse.  Most of the verses are drawn from the New Testament, with a smaller number hailing from the Psalms and Old Testament.  Of vital importance is the inclusion of the scripture references themselves into the song; not only can your family sing scripture, but they’ll know where to go to share the verses with others.

Currently available as a download, I found the quality of the songs to be very professional.  The short songs feature both an adult female voice, and that of sweet young children.  The songs are mainly upbeat and catchy; particularly the song for “R” – Resist the Devil, taken from James 4:7.  The musical accompaniment is cheerful, innocent and appealing to a wide variety of musical tastes, falling into the category of simple, traditional children’s music.  The lyrics of the songs are not always exactly as the words appear in scripture.  While taken from the KJV, some portions of the verse may be repeated, and at times short portions of a verse are excerpted from their larger context and set to song.  We didn’t find this to be problematic, but some families may desire to find a resource that is exactly word for word without repeating refrains.

Over the past few days of playing the mp3 files in our home, both my children and I have experienced a quickening of our hearts to God’s word.  I catch myself singing the bright scripture songs throughout the day, and my oldest daughter is gleaning new insights from God’s word.  When listening to the song for “G” God is Love from 1 John 4:16 she excitedly declared, “Now I know who God is!  He’s love!”  As a parent, there’s little in life more exciting than seeing my children capture new insights about God and His nature.

Adding to the valuable insights that can be found in the songs is the Parent/Teacher’s Guide created by Mrs. Candace to help young students of God’s word understand the applications of the scripture songs in their own lives.  For each of the 26 songs Mrs. Candace provides the full scripture the song comes from, a devotional explanation of the verse, lyrics to the song, and a practical way to illustrate or further explore the concepts explained.  Meant to be used weekly in conjunction with the Sonbeams preschool curriculum, I can easily see the 26 lessons forming a musical unit study for daily devotions in conjunction with the songs.  Written from a conservative viewpoint, Mrs. Candace always points children to Jesus, keeping the gospel in clear focus throughout.  This short guide is truly a treasure, and in my opinion worth far more than the $3.95 it’s currently being sold for.

To listen to free song samples and to order, visit the Sonbeams website.  The mp3 download is $10.95, $12.95 with Parent/Teacher’s Guide, or $21.95 for the songs, guide and the musical accompaniment without lyrics.  Other combinations of products are also available.