If you start your school day with the subject "Bible study"

[5wolfcubs]

Will you please share how/what you do?

 

I've never had "Bible" as a time slot on our school schedule. I didn't want to relegate it to a subject, and generally used curriculum that integrated the Bible -- KONOS, TOG, MFW. But not this year...

 

I've been fiddling with my school schedule all weekend (we start tomorrow) and it just seems complicated, incomplete, and not what I want it to be. Last night, I went to Ann Elliot's blog that was recommended in another thread.

 

Now I'm thinking of starting the day with Bible for all the children. My dh is skeptical, having listened to me whine & moan about lack of hours in the day/individual time for each child/the baby interrupting/etc...

 

I'd like to hear about how Bible time looks in your home -- the good & the bad!

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Right now we are doing Apologia's Who Is God? We do a section then we usually have a good discussion about it. We do that first thing in the morning before starting math.

 

To be honest that seems to be the best part of the day. We all cuddle up on the couch and do it together. We have a good talk about values and morals and family expectations and such. That is my favorite time of the day!

[LittleIzumi]

We don't really have Bible study per say, but we start each day with a prayer, children's scripture story, and some kids' church songs. Our version of circle time, I guess (I have littles).

[OnTheBrink]

Our church isn't liturgical, but we do read scripture daily as a body. I read that in the mornings and then dd does a study I downloaded from somewhere (wish I could remember where!) and once a week she does the lesson from "It All Begins with Genesis".

[rwjx2khsmj]

We are involved in a Community Bible Study class that meets once a week. We spend our first 15 minutes each morning doing our "homework" for the next class.

[The Girls' Mom]

The girls read a selection from the Bible to themselves, and we have a time for talking about prayer needs/requests. They also have a quiet/prayer time. They seem to like it better if I actually write them on their schedules, because it reminds them to do it. Our days usually end up better when we remember to do these things. I also try to set aside a short time for myself in the mornings just before everyone gets up to study and pray. I don't always make it, but when I do things just seem to go more smoothly on those days.

[Daisy]

Our morning begins with...

 

1. Prayer

2. The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study: NT Survey by Starr Meade. We read a passage and answer the questions orally. This is a Jr./Sr High program but my children have had no problems with the questions. We are taking our time and just working section by section through it.

3. We are memorizing the Shorter Catechism so we take a few minutes to practice it.

4. The kids work on the Awana memory work (We don't take too long because we split the kids up in the evening and work on this again with Dad).

5. We sing a song. (Right now we are working on a few that our church sings that my youngest didn't know all the words to).

 

After that I start working on math with my oldest and my son works independently on his science. And we hit the ground running. :D

[bbsweetpea]

We start with Bible. My daughter reads a story out of her bible daily and then we work on a lesson out of their lifepac or a "Bible project". We also read books about missionary's and rehearse our bible memory work for Awana during this time. The kids love starting with God and it normally makes the rest of the day go smoother.

[ByGrace3]

We start each morning with Bible, and end each night with family worship. In the mornings, we read a story from the children's Bible, discuss it. Practice the Old Testament books (song) and review our weekly memory verse (as well as last weeks) ABC verses. We finish with a song and prayer. In the evenings, we are memorizing catechism questions (Big Truths for Little Kids), read from the Bible (currently Psalms and Proverbs) sing a hymn (try to focus on 2-3 a month) and pray together.

[scrapbookbuzz]

When we were homeschooling, which we may be coming back to, we did the Bible lessons scheduled in the curriculum (Sonlight) or we worked on their AWANA verses. I'd highly recommend that you schedule it. Yes, you don't want it to be a "okay, got that done" subject but something is better than nothing.

[petepie2]

Right after breakfast, I work with the two oldest on scripture and catechism memorization. I then have DD practice looking up verses in the Bible. These could include memory verses, catechism verses, or things to do with her Sunday School material. Other Bible study happens throughout the day with TOG or other Bible story read alouds before naptime (for the boys). I'm also going through the book Who is God? by Apologia with DD a couple times a week in the afternoon. LOVE IT! At bedtime, DH reads from Leading Little Ones to God to all of the kids. So, in short, Bible is spread throughout the day in different forms. If I didn't have a toddler and a baby, things would maybe look different. I would love to do Leading Little Ones to God right after breakfast, but my toddler does not cooperate with this. He doesn't get the concept of "I'll read your book when I'm done with this book". Besides, it's a very special time with Daddy. It may be that in the years to come I'll get a Bible curriculum that DD can do somewhat independently, especially for the years when TOG isn't as heavy with Bible reading.

[i.love.lucy]

We're doing the Explorer's Bible Study together via the free download. But I only have about 24 weeks of it because they have changed their website and no longer offer it for free. We start with that and prayer and will work in our Ephesians 6 memory work. I will probably also add in some memory work on the shorter catechism as the year gets going.

[mom31257]

Together:

We are reading through the Psalms this year each day. There are 150, so I'm dividing up the longer chapters so that we read something every day. We discuss the verses and pray together. Two days a week we are also doing, "Who Is God" by Apologia.

 

Separately:

DD 8th is doing SL Core 100 which includes daily readings in several books this year.

 

DS 2nd is doing BJU 2nd grade Bible curriculum

[ChrisOR]

We read a chapter aloud per day, starting in Genesis. It took us three years to read Genesis through part of Psalms, skipped the rest of Psalms through the end of the OT, then the entire NT. Sometimes we talk about the "most interesting part" or "what was new to you" or a simple narration, or sometimes nothing said.

 

Honestly, it is the one thing we've done in three years without a single complaint. God is good.

[Entropymama]

We use Calvary Chapel's curriculum It's free to download. We start the day by reading the section and talking about it, then there are coloring pages and worksheets at different age levels so everyone works on that for a bit. It's nice because they learn about the same thing but at their own level. Then I do our read alouds while they color their Bible pages.

[mazakaal]

We've always started with Bible Study using Bible Study Guide For All Ages, working through the volumes slowly. After my 12yo finished volume 4 in 5th grade, we changed things a bit. Now we start with all the kid together and I read a Psalm and 3-4 verses from Proverbs, talk about that for just a few minutes, then I do BSGFAA with the two youngest while the 12yo goes off and does his own Bible study. Last year I used Studying God's Word for him which was fine, but not life-changing. This year he's just stared Explorers Bible Study. I'm going to have him do the 5 daily lessons on his own, but on the 6th day we'll sit together and discuss it.

[specialmama]

As for not having time for it, I find that if we skip it, the whole day sucks. If we give Him our firstfruit, the best time of the day, unrushed, and don't even think about everything else, then He will order our day and we will accomplish so much more. Matthew 6:33 says "seek first His Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." For the Christian, it ought to be more important than math, LA and science. If we want a relationship, then we have to be willing to nurture that relationship through reading of the Word, prayer and fellowship with other believers.

[Annabel Lee]

:iagree:

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. We read 10 - 20 verses from the Bible together, stopping to explain/discuss as needed. Currently we're in Matthew and are just going forward w/o a schedule.

 

Then we read the short Keys for Kids devotion together. Finally, I read to them from a book on some sort of character or manners - currently it is A Little Book of Manners for Boys. When that's done, I might use some of the things from Old Fashioned Education (free).

 

I've got Leading Little Ones to God and Battlefield of the Mind for Kids that I'd like to go through w/ them as well, 1 at a time, maybe in place of Keys for Kids at some point.

 

They do AWANAS too, which hasn't started for us yet this year. I'm debating whether to shelve our normal routine and have them use that as "Bible" to allow time for practicing that or not. I didn't last year and they didn't get very far in their books. I like a PP's idea of having them practice AWANAS w/ dad.

[Virg]

We do Bible first :) The twins are using Carson-Dellosa's Color Draw n Learn this year. I read the story to them first, we go over the comp question and application question. Then I call everyone together and we do prayer. I write everyone's (bazillion) requests on the white board, then we go around the table, taking turns praying. We do the pledges next. We split back up and the twins do the activity that goes along with their story.

 

I have also found that the day goes so much better if we don't skip it :) Even on days we aren't doing "school" because of field trips or appts.

[Hedgehogs4]

our first "subject" of the day is "devotions" and we are using the Apologia world view curriculum and so far really enjoy it. i find that the children are so much more peaceful and focused when we begin the day with the Lord that our school days invariably go better than when we neglect it.

[imhim]

My children are young 7 and under - usually during breakfast, while they eat, we go through some of Veritas Press Bible cards - we are doing NT at this time - and look at the painting, and discuss, and read the back, and then read the BIble verses (given on the back). We do this or Storytime with the Millers, Bible verses, plus Proverbs for Parenting talking about the character quality the Stortime book talks about that day.

[LindaOz]

We have our family Bible time (minus dh who leaves early) around the table at breakfast. That way it is both prioritized and made part of the routine of our day rather than a school subject. My four older dc all have their own personal Bible times before breakfast as well.

[Guest aquiverfull]

We start with Bible first every morning, but I've been thinking about changing it to lunch time. It's been difficult getting started each morning and doing the Bible first just seems to slow us down. However, I've been wrestling with that because I feel like starting with Bible and prayer enhances our day and seems to make everything go smoother.

As far as what we do, since I have a wide variety of ages, I read out loud from a children's story Bible, then we discuss and have a short prayer. After that, my little ones color a coloring page that I printed from online and my 11 year old goes off and reads the story from her Bible.

[Chris in VA]

We started with a devotion, using Leading Little Ones...for K-1, and Little Visits...for 2nd.

Last year, we used Positive Action for Christ as a Bible study. We kinda liked it, but ended up not finishing it--I think it's solid, fairly interesting, etc., but somehow, it didn't click with dd.

OTOH, she read all 4 Gospels on her own, reading thru like a book, iykwim. She seems to have gotten a lot out of that.

 

IDK--her brother did Omnibus in high school and also did devotions on his own with the One Year Bible. He did a few other books on basic Christianity (Paul Little's stuff, for example).

 

I'm not sure what to say, but I do understand what you mean.

[Quad Shot Academy]

Will you please share how/what you do?

 

I've never had "Bible" as a time slot on our school schedule. I didn't want to relegate it to a subject

 

I feel the same way. I have the kids that can read make Bible reading part of their daily routine: wake, eat, dress, chores, and Bible. They read until they find something meaningful and then they read it out loud to me and tell me why it is meaningful to them. I encourage them to read what the pastor was talking about in his sermon, to flip to a highlighted portion or start a new book that they don't remember. I encourage them to highlight verses of sermons they enjoyed, Kids 4 Truth verses (like Awanas) that they have memorized and just ones that are special to them. I expect them to spend about 5 minutes, but usually they get caught up and spend about 20. Then they have play time until school starts.

[Poke Salad Annie]

We are going to start the New Testament Padfield study for homeschoolers today. I am very excited about this.

[Harriet Vane]

Don't be afraid of calling Bible a "subject." Studying in depth, in a scholarly way, does NOT have to be drudgery, and will NOT kill the interest. Rather, the depth of study makes it MORE interesting.

 

For most of the elementary years, my kids have done Bible curriculum either written by me or using high-quality, in-depth studies. My favorite curriculum is Explorer's (http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/), though I have also used Kay MacArthurs' materials for older elementary students. We snuggle together on my bed, read the selected passage, and I help answer questions as needed. We also pray together.

 

When dd got older, her Bible work became much more "schoolish" as I was teaching her inductive method (and related Bible study skills that are more adult). In her case, Bible has become a school subject, BUT she also does a private quiet time. The school subject is scholarly, and directed by me. Her quiet time, however, is directed by HER. Dd simply reads a bit of the Bible (of her own choosing) and prays to herself. It usually takes her 10-15 minutes at most.

 

I attended public schools up through 8th grade, and then went to a wonderful Christian school for high school. This was the pattern that was common to my friends--we had private quiet times, but also studied it in school. For me and for my closest friends, our school study increased our interest level and supported our more personal devotions. Also, as an adult, I am sooo very, very grateful for the logical, rational foundation my studies gave to my faith.

[pamd]

We start each day with the boys devotional and then when have just started R&S bible and love it. You can change it to work for you. It is based off of KJV and hard for kids to understand sometimes. I have found that if I put God first in all I do the rest will be added and makes for a much better day. The last two years we just did devotions and talk about them and prayed for God's help. Do what ever works for your family but let God be first and you will be amazed how time works itself out and allows for everything else to flow. Blessings to you and your family and we will keep you in our prayers.

[Whereneverever]

We do one Bible story a week, reading it daily. Sometimes I can find it in Bible storybooks and readers, sometimes it's rereading the Bible. We do a short activity or writing project, then we are done.

[Verity]

Last year we read the Children's Illustrated Bible and Did You Know Devotions. We started off each day with this and sometimes I would play some kids praise songs from Youtube, especially the fun songs that the kids could dance and clap to. With three energetic boys this accomplished two things at once. The kids got a brief overview of the Bible in one school year, this was good because we had been out of the church for several reasons and though we prayed with the boys we had neglected their bible education.

 

This year I am using Sonlight Core 2 as part of our history and reading so we are currently reading the bible verses directly from our children's bibles then discussing the verses. We are also doing the weekly bible verse and listening to the God Our Provider cd track. We pray for the family and friends and anything else that comes up during this time and I tie in the bible study (in the Old Testament again at this point) to our study of history and geography.

[Homeschooling6]

We are using MFW Exp1850 for Bible at 8:00 a.m. (everything is scheduled)then continue with school.

 

The Word of God is taught through out our day as well. Not only in our curriculum but in life. There are many moments to minister to our children.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Homeschooling6

[Tonia]

Right now we just read a bible story and/or a section from Leading Little Ones to God each morning. DH does a weekly Bible Study with dd (Grapevine Bible Study) and also reads a devotional with her a few times a week. Probably when she's older we'll do a more formal study of the Bible. Anxiously waiting to hear more about the Bible program from Peacehill Press - we might do that next year.

[4besitos]

While ours isn't techinically Bible...maybe the schedule part of it will help you. We are Catholic so we start the school day by listening to Saint of the Day on the computer. We then move into prayer part, we go over our prayer list and we have prayers. I have them learn a new prayer each school year from the Diocese list and we repeat ones they already know. If I have a color page for the Saint of the Day, they have the option to color it. This morning part takes about 10-15min as I might show them artwork depicting the Saint or have them find the country where they were born on the globe.

 

It seems like Bible verses, learning the names/order of the books, reading a childrens Bible version stories, Christian songs would work well for this.

 

We have started this way for years, through puking pregnancies, C-section recovery, nursing babies, distracting toddlers, etc. We do religion as a seperate school subject so there is more in depth study each week, this is just a nice way to start the school day.

 

yvonne

[Kipling]

For the last two years, I have picked a book of the Bible to read through. Last year, we read Proverbs, this year is Acts. We read about 1 chapter per week, broken down into a few verses each day and then talk about the verses. We also use our Bible time to practice Scripture memorization. We do it right after breakfast while still sitting at the dining room table (not where we do school).

[5wolfcubs]

Thank you all so much for sharing about your days!!

 

We read Psalm 1 today and 3 verses from Proverbs. I prayed. And then we sang "Father I Adore You" like ring-around-the-rosie with the baby in the middle.

 

It went well. The whole day has gone well. Just like you all knew it would. :001_smile:

I will definitely be referring back to this thread for ideas & encouragement to continue!

[Homemama2]

We don't consider Bible a 'school subject' really....because we continue it on summer break. What we have been doing this year is following the Penny Gardner Old Testament readings (I got this from Ambleside Online). We read it right out of my bible, but it's not much reading (today we read Gen 14: 17-24 for example). We talk about it some...pray and sing a hymn or chorus and memorize verses w/ Awana. What I like about this set of readings is that they try to leave out some of the things that may not be as appropriate for younger children (like my 1st and 3rd grader). There is a New Testament list that I plan to use next year.

 

In the past we've used Leading Little Ones to God (wonderful!!), the Golden Children's Bible (we just read through it...great realistic pictures) and for K we read in the Beginners Bible (cartoon pictures).

[~Tara~]

We use Veritas Press. Started with it late last year and are continuing through "The Gospels" this year.

I was also one who never did Bible as a subject. The elders had a devotional book that they kept up with, that was it. I also felt like we just didn't have enough time in the day. Oh it *sounded* great, I just didn't see how I could make it work at the time. Had to get myself in line for that as well.

 

But now, after breakfast, we have a set starting time, where we all meet to go over our Bible lesson. Day 1 we read the card, I generally have at least 2 kids read it as well, as suggested in the curriculum. Then we answer the worksheets together. The younger ones just draw a picture about the lesson and write/copy the lesson title, verse reference and date according to their ability.

 

As someone else stated, it really does make a difference in our day. I had found starting my OWN day with my OWN Bible time helped me better manage the day. That carries over with starting my KIDS' day with Bible and time together. It may not always mean a 'smoother' day, but *I* feel better having started on THAT note and find I am overall, better able to handle any 'situations' that arise.

 

Oh, here's a link: http://www.veritaspress.com/products.asp?dept=1047

[mcconnellboys]

I generally only spend 10-30 minutes a day on it in any given year. I've done full blown Bible studies in past (including ASCII, Memoria Press Christian Studies, a Zondervan study, etc.). I've done daily devotionals. I've read from children's Bibles or just from my adult Bible. I've used children's Bible verses set to music.

 

This year, I'm starting the year with my son reading a chapter a day from a missionary biography. I think he's reading three of those. Then I'm using some resources detailing how the Bible was created, etc. and he's covering that. I have an older study Bible that I'm going to go through in order to use the good questions it contains for discussion. Then I think I have him reading a couple more missionary biographies, listening to the Bible on tape, and watching some videos on other religions of the world to end the year.

[Beth in SW WA]

We listen to worship music or hymns every morning to help set the tone for our day. I simply play them on our iPod in the kitchen softly while we're eating and waking up.

 

As for Bible study, I am using CLE Bible 2 this year. I read the teacher portion which takes about 10 minutes and then we answer the questions and have a quick prayer. Abi then does the LightUnit lesson by herself which takes about 10 minutes.

 

I can't imagine not starting our day with Jesus. Actually, yes I can. When I forget -- or don't make it a priority -- the whole day seems wonky. :)