I’ve also enlarged it into a two-page version (one of many reasons that I’m obviously my mother’s favorite child).

The calendar’s dark grey days indicate on which Sundays wards will hold Sunday school classes (the first and third Sundays of every month). The alternating bands of grey and white show which weekly assignments will be combined and taught together in a single lesson, during each of those Sunday School class sessions. For example, during the week of Mar. 3–9, the reading is D&C 19. During the next week of Feb. 10–16, the reading is D&C 20–22. Sunday school will not be held Mar. 9 (a second Sunday of the month), but it will be held Mar. 16 (because it’s a third Sunday of the month). During that class session, the teacher should cover the reading assignments for the previous two weeks, or D&C 19–22.

Structure of the Doctrine and Covenants

Early Church History (during the presidencies of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young) divides pretty neatly into five periods:

• 1820–1830. New York (and Pennsylvania)
• 1831–1837.  Ohio
• 1838–1839. Missouri
• 1839–1845. Illinois
• 1846–now. The West (and later the World)

These divisions are used in my reading schedule above; the section numbers are in colored circles, indicating which part of the Doctrine and Covenants you’re in. Note that this is the same color scheme used in the StoryGuide Scriptures Reading Chart for the Doctrine and Covenants to show the same broad divisions; the StoryGuide charts also go further to portray a couple levels deeper into the structure of each part and unit. (Note that a lone section is colored white, D&C 111. That’s because it was received in Massachusetts, the only location that doesn’t fit neatly into the five listed above.) I also used this same five-color scheme in all my Study Aids for the Doctrine and Covenants to show the same broad divisions. These D&C study aids include my Section Titles and Divisions in a Chronological Reading Checklist [forthcoming], my Geographical Timeline of Early Church History, and my biggest ongoing project: the StoryGuide Scriptures. I highly recommend looking through all these study aids and using them to orient yourself when reading the Doctrine and Covenants, and sharing them with others. In particular, of all the study aids I’ve created and placed on this website, I think those last two—the timeline and the StoryGuide edition of the D&C—are perhaps the most significant and useful.

This year’s Doctrine and Covenants curriculum also includes occasional enrichment readings called Voices of the Restoration, which are included in a dozen of the weekly readings, in the manual. Those are indicated on this schedule with a “VotR” checkbox.

I have also added two more features that go beyond the Church’s standard reading schedule.

First, I’ve inserted a few section numbers a second time, in grey dotted-outline circles, so reader’s can read the D&C in chronological order. These consist of sections 74, 1, 133, 107 (roughly the first half), 99, 134, 137, and OD-1. I recommend reading these in chronological order because they simply make more sense within the storyline. Technically there are about a dozen other sections that are also numbered out of chronological order (for example, D&C 94 reads slightly differently when read in order, after D&C 97). But those all differ by less than three months and so aren’t wildly disorienting when read in simple canonical order. But the seven I’ve inserted into this schedule are numbered more than a year out of chronological order, and so it can be really helpful to lift them out of canonical order and read them back in chronological order. All these dates are based on my custom-designed StoryGuide Scriptures, which has icons in the margins that make it easy to read the scriptures in chronological order. My StoryGuide volume of the Doctrine and Covenants also includes a continuous storyline that runs between each section, providing context and historical outcomes for each section.

Second, I’ve inserted checkboxes (checkcircles?) for the chapters of Saints as well, the Church’s recently published official 4-volume history. Ambitious gospel learners can thus read Saints in tandem with the Doctrine and Covenants this year. (I wish the designers of Saints had simply inserted margin icons for every section of the D&C, since I’m sure so many readers want to do this.)

Conclusion

Note that in parts of the world where they don’t meet on Sundays, they’ll have to tweak this schedule somewhat.

We’ve been instructed, of course, that the reading schedule is flexible and is only a general guide. A reading schedule like this can be helpful, though, so people can pace themselves and know in advance which passages will be likely be discussed during any given Sunday school class session.