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Bible Curriculum - focus: Relationship with Christ


CookIslandsMommy
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Does anyone recommend a Bible curriculum that specifically guides child towards a living relationship with Christ. 

 

I was thinking that perhaps there are 2 ways Bible curricula can go:

 

1) Geared towards children that already accepted the gospel & have a relationship with Christ & have accepted Him as Lord

OR 2) Geared towards children who need to hear the gospel message...

 

I am thinking of a curriculum that lays out the gospel and then focus on guided a more discipling message.

 

What are your thoughts or experiences?

 

Thanks Sherid

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I don't know the ages of your child, but if they are on the young side, I highly recommend Leading Little Ones to God.  It is laid out so well and is so very well written.  We do it as a morning devotional, but there are is a hymn, memory verse and a corresponding passage of the Bible and a prayer.  It is really solidifying their understanding of God and developing their prayer life.

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Sherid, I'm sorry no one got to this!  Um, I'm not sure it's divided quite like you're thinking.  I'm really short here on time, but you have approaches that are more factual (catechism, the VP Bible series), and approaches that are more application oriented (BJU).  CLE was sort of right in the middle.  I haven't seen Abeka.  The Greenleaf Guides would be right in the middle of that too, surveying but also really lending themselves to a devotional approach.

 

When my dc were young we read through various Bible story books, Kenneth Taylor books, the Marian Schooland book, Helen Taylor's Little Pilgrim's Progress, missionary stories, etc.  I think you can't go wrong with variety.  Scripture Memory Fellowship has WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL scripture memory materials.  What a delight!  

 

To me I wanted that multi-pronged approach, with surveying the Bible, application and heart, catechism, scripture memory, missionary stories, singing and learning hymns.  Have you seen the Joni Erickson Tada books on hymns?  Your 8 yo is at a delightful age to do them!  Pick one and learn a hymn a week, a hymn a month, whatever suits you!  You can read books on the stories behind the hymns if you enjoy those.  Just keep it very REAL.  Whatever warms your heart will flow over to them.   :)

 

We did the BJU bible one year.  It's fine.  There are some neat things about it like the mapping.  I would look for some structure, with all those types of things I listed, that warms YOUR heart and makes YOU want to talk.  

 

I tried to do things my dh *wasn't* going to get to and to encourage *him* to do the things that *he* would be good at.  I think that mix varies with the man, the relationship, whether there is a spouse, etc., so find the mix that works in your family.  It's just if there *is* that kind of heart with the father to share, it's nice to nurture that.  So I tried to do the singing, scripture memory, missionary stories, etc. and make time for my dh to do the Bible reading and Bible stories.  But you know, find your mix.  Now I have my dd reading through Warren Wiersbe commentaries.  Some people have really strong opinions on how it has to look in the family, and I just think it should be REAL.

 

PS.  I know that's a confusing thing on how to handle salvation with kids.  Christ wanted all the kids to come, and he didn't divide them into two lines, the ones who were saved and the ones that weren't.  He taught them and all wanted to see child-like faith in them all.  Nurture that and let God work out the rest.  Sometimes it comes later.  It's not like something we make happen.

 

PPS.  Have you seen the drawing/study books from Notgrass?  I got one but my ds isn't ready for it yet, sniff... :)

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I love OhElizabeth's suggestions.  For us, we've just read a storybook Bible and talked about it.   My favorites for the very young are The Jesus Storybook Bible, and Catherine Vos Storybook Bible.  I pick verses I want them to know and we talk about them and add as memory work.  I think it is so important to take things the Lord is showing to you, and you just extend them to your children.  It's a journey you walk together.  HTH!

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We're getting pretty close to Christmas/Advent, so you might like to consider some kind of Christmas study then.  We've had book lists in the past.  

 

Christmas Carols for Kid's Heart (Hymns for a Kid's Heart, Vol. 3): Bobbie Wolgemuth, Joni Eareckson Tada, Sergio Martinez: 9781581346268: Amazon.com: Books

 

Bartholomew's Passage: A Family Story for Advent

 

Tabitha's Travels: A Family Story for Advent

 

Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent

 

Sanseri (author of SWR) has a neat study, and of course there are all kinds of things online.  It's fun to do those kinds of things too.  You can memorize the Christmas story.  Since we're so close to November, you might like to start something like that.  If you started now and did a few verses a week, you'd get through Luke 2:1-20 pretty easily.  

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We use old story new and long story short. It has you read passages straight from the bible, and then helps explain it to kids while talking about the gospel (even the OT - making connections with how the OT topic points ahead to Christ and God's plan of salvation)

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Well the Jesus Storybook Bible led my daughter to Christ.  The entire Story Bible is about Christ and Christ is about the Gospel...the entire Bible points to Christ, either our need for him or what he has done or would do 

 

Leading Little Ones to God led my son to CHrist.  He was so moved that he got down on his knees and prayed to become a believer, and began showing clear evidence of that soon after...

 

of course these were alongside loving discussions about our need for a savior and His desire that they be saved etc,

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I see Jesus Bible Storybook suggested on this thread and that's what I was going to recommend. My kids were older when I first learned about it (here, of course), but I have heard good things about children coming to Christ because of this book. I really like the audios ("One ticket to not Ninevah." Love it!) but I see there are dvds out now too. I prefer the book and audio to a dvd, but that's just me. YouTube has videos of TJBS too. 

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I definitey would do the book, because I laughed so hard so many times and cried so many times while reading the Jesus Storybook Bible.  It was a whole event for my kids and they loved to talk about it...

 

if we had purchased the DVD's I know I would have gotten distracted with dishes or daydreaming about to-do lists in my head...it would not have been the same!  We did it together three times!  Then my dd read it herself another 3 times, at least.  She was 7.

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I definitey would do the book, because I laughed so hard so many times and cried so many times while reading the Jesus Storybook Bible.  It was a whole event for my kids and they loved to talk about it...

 

if we had purchased the DVD's I know I would have gotten distracted with dishes or daydreaming about to-do lists in my head...it would not have been the same!  We did it together three times!  Then my dd read it herself another 3 times, at least.  She was 7.

 

  :iagree: The book is always better!

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I'll have to look at The Jesus storybook. I've been looking for the same thing. My girls do alpha and omega switched on school house bible. It has been great to teach them about the people in the bible and at Church they've told me they know all the answers when they do the bible studies but I want to do something that will focus on their relationship. I was thinking of having a weekly bible study somewhere with just me and them. I have done devotions then a discussion on the devotion and I feel like that has helped them grow more. My other idea is a weekly family prayer night where everyone prays together. I think books and curriculum are great but talking to God is a big part of that relationship so I want to make sure to foster both parts of the relationship. 

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Well, I don't need a curriculum to teach my children to have a relationship with Christ. I do that when I rise up and when I lie down and when I walk on the road.

 

For me, a Bible study should be just that: studying the Bible. There doesn't have to be a specific theme or focus, because it's all good. I want my dc to be familiar with the books of the Bible, and the people who live in it, and how God worked in their lives, and what they thought about God, and what He thought about them, because all of those things will relate to my dc during their lives. I want them to have the necessary tools to be able to study the Bible on their own when they are old enough, and to be able to use the Bible to share the Gospel with others. The things that seem learning by rote, such as memorizing the books of the Bible, and the 12 tribes, and the 12 Apostles, are things they will *know* so that they will be free to use their brains (and their spirits, of course) to study more in depth.

 

For this, all I need is...my Bible.

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