How to Read the Book of Mormon in One Year
Reading the Book of Mormon in a year is a wonderful way to help your family build testimonies and to spend quality time together. To begin, decide how you’re going to do it. Are you going to read together as a family or will everyone tackle the project alone? Charts help everyone keep on track and provides a bit of motivation. A time needs to be set to read, because it’s easy to forget to do it unless it becomes a routine. If you were already reading another book of scripture as a family, you’ll need to decide if you’re going to do both, or drop the other reading.
Consider appointing someone to be in charge of motivating family members. A child or teenager is better than a parent for this task, since a parent might be seen to be nagging. Your appointed cheerleader can send cute notes, make posters to spread around the house and hand out stickers when he or she catches someone reading. This person might also leave cookies or other treats on pillows of those who are up-to-date. You may want to switch to a new person each month.
If you have young children, read first from the children’s version, and then read from the regular scriptures. This way, they understand the story or message, but also become familiar with the language of the actual scriptures. Be sure to explain difficult words.
Plan family home evenings based on the reading the family is doing. When you read about Nephi, do a lesson on courage or making hard choices, and use Nephi as an example. This helps to bring the stories to life. The Primary manuals and the Friend are excellent resources.
The church magazines are available online and provide great supplemental resources for your Book of Mormon year. The lesson manuals are also there, and you can even have the scriptures read to you at LDS.org.
If you have family members who don’t live in your home, you might enjoy getting on the telephone together and taking turns reading aloud. I knew a family that did this when a child left home a week before they finished reading, and they still talk about how much fun that was, and how much the child appreciated not being left out.
If you have grandchildren who are participating, find out their family’s reading schedule and mail or email fun little things to go along with their reading. Send e-cards to congratulate them on their progress.
If you are reading alone, keep a journal of your thoughts, questions, and experiences as you read. This can provide a treasure for your children in the future, and ensure that you really think about what you are reading, rather than racing through the material to get finished on time.
It helps to have a visual reminder of your progress. The Friend has a fun chart for children, but I use it in my own study.