Bible curriculum advice?

[ktgrok]

My son is 11 and in the 5th grade. We are Christian, Episcopalian to be exact. His religious education has been shoddy, which is totally my fault. His father (my ex) became a Buddhist shortly after we were married, and my son early on decided he didn't want to go to church if his father didn't go, and it just became too contentious. My current husband is much more supportive, and a Christian himself. This is also my first year homeschooling. I really want to give my son a basis in the Bible, and help him see how amazing our religion is. I don't want something that is scary or boring, he needs uplifting without being cheesy. And I need it to be something easy to teach. We are currently doing TOG, but it gives very little help to the teacher in regards to the Bible portion. I was trying to explain why God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and would have liked some help with that!! Any ideas? I was looking at Rod an Staff, my only concern is tat it will take 4 years to cover everything....a more condensed survey might be better as he is a total beginner?

[learninearnin]

I started the Rod and Staff study with DD this summer, and we've really liked it. We do 1 page a day, which completes a lesson per week, so it's good for a beginner. I've found that it really goes in depth and helps them understand what they are reading. I've also done more subject matter Bible studies that were short and specific to a particular topic, like kindness, thankfulness, etc.

[silliness7]

My 12 and 13yo boys are doing a Bible study by Starr Meade titled "The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study." It's a Bible Survey in 4 volumes. We only work on it 2 days a week. I plan to do 1 volume a semester and finish it in 2 years but you could do the whole thing in one year if you wanted. It's a worktext format and looks like it was designed to be done independently. We do it all together answerint the questions orally instead of filling out the workbook.

 

http://www.christianbook.com/important-youll-study-survey-bible-complete/starr-meade/9781433511820/pd/511820?item_code=WW&netp_id=325247&event=ESRCN&view=details

[Virg]

Maybe start with more of Bible stories rather than a curriculum? My kids really have liked Carson Dellosa's books. They are fun, short and simple. Give a nice overview of the Bible. Right now they are doing one that has a simple Bible story on one side of the page and a picture of the story on the other side with a missing item. The twins aren't interested in coloring lol they just draw in the missing item. The book we have for the second half of the year is the same idea except the opposite side is a puzzle based on the story. :) It is pretty non-denominational just basic stories.

 

The other curriculum I've really liked is this one: http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org/homeschool

 

The younger grades are very easy going with a story and then fill in the blank questions. :) Hope this was helpful!

[Harriet Vane]

My personal favorite is Explorer's, though I have a good opinion of Rod and Staff as well.

 

Here is a review I wrote:

 

A month or so ago I told folks I would be taking a look at Bible curriculum while at the Cincinnati convention.

 

When I evaluate a Bible curriculum, I look for what percentage of questions require the student to answer from the Bible text itself (I shoot for 2/3--most studies unfortunately only hit 50% or less), how factual versus opinion-based any notes are and to what degree there is denominational bias.

 

I also look for how much a good inductive process is reflected in the study--there should be factual observations, an opportunity to summarize the main point of the passage in one concise statement, and finally, application to real life.

 

I also think that younger children do well with circling the right answer, puzzles, and drawing in response to the text. However, as your child reaches fourth and fifth grades, their Bible study should include more short answer and independent work. (SWB's SOTW reflects this same progression--SOTW 1 has a lot of coloring and multiple choice on tests, whereas SOTW 4 has more short answer and not so many coloring pages.)

 

I have not found one single Bible curriculum or study anywhere, ever, that asks for a one-sentence summary of the main point of the passage. I highly advocate adding this feature in to whatever Bible study you use or teach, in any setting. A good way to do this with kids is to ask a question like, "What did you learn about God in this passage?" or "What do you think is the very most important lesson in this passage?" Keep it to one short sentence--there may be many subpoints that are good to know, but it is very valuable to be able to distinguish the main, most important point.

 

My number one pick would have to be the Explorer's Bible study, which is available at http://www.explorerbiblestudy.org. Many thanks to Jessica at Trivium Academy for recommending it. I was impressed. It has a good amount of factual observation questions, is very Bible-text focused but still includes some cultural/geographical/historical notes here and there, and has a small proportion of application questions in each unit. Information is presented from an evangelical perspective but seems more factual than opinionated. For those who may be familiar with Bible Study Fellowship or Community Bible Study, this curriculum follows the same pattern. Each unit is also laid out into five days of homework--a decently challenging but not overwhelming amount. Another key feature of this curriculum is the fact that there are corresponding adult studies as well. For a logic stage student either their older elementary OR high school study would be appropriate depending upon reading fluency and maturity.

 

I also, by the way, recommend both BSF and CBS children's programs. I evaluated both. I think the CBS program has slightly more challenging homework, but also really like the way older children and teens are led to do homiletics at the BSF meetings. (Homiletics is a process of generating an outline of the passage with a final, summary statement.) I recommend either program without reservation in addition to the Explorer's curriculum.

 

I also have used and liked Kay Arthur's Bible study series for children. My own dd has used several books in this series successfully this year. However, I would steer away from *How to Study the Bible* as it is unnecessarily wordy and proved to be quite challenging for the 4th-5th grade girls I taught. The material is not hard--the presentation of it in this book was terribly convoluted, though. If you choose to do that book, take two weeks per unit and plan on really holding your child's hand through it. The other books in the series are much easier and quite doable, though--we have been satisfied with several others in the series. These books have five or seven days of homework per unit, include both factual questions and marking things directly in biblical text, and some application.

 

After that, I consider Rod and Staff to be a decent alternative. There is a solid amount of factual questions and some good information on history/geography/culture. However, there is virtually no application, and no summary statement opportunity (none of those I reviewed include this). And, even at the older grades there is virtually no short answer--format is still multiple choice and simpler responses. There is more denominational bias in the notes but can be overcome by careful Bible study. This curriculum would be acceptable even if it's not my favorite.

 

Christian Light was a lot like Rod and Staff but not quite as challenging. I also thought Christian Liberty was middle-range--not the greatest, but not terrible either.

 

I was really NOT impressed in the least with either Abeka or AlphaOmega and would not recommend those at all. They were simplistic, passive, lacked depth and do not require much from the student at any age.

 

One final thought--for high school I would gravitate towards the Explorer's adult series or towards NavPress study guides. I also think teens should be generating their own inductive notes (observation-interpretation statement--application) rather than passively responding to a Bible study guide.

 

There may well be other wonderful resources out there. This is just what I have reviewed. I'd be happy to answer any further questions.

[ktgrok]

ok, the more I think about it the more I'm thinking I should simplify. I'm thinking of just using the DK Bible that we have and assigning reading out of it, then discussing it. And adding in unit studies on Advent, Christmas, Easter, etc. Plus having him memorize the Lord's Prayer, the responses at church, etc.

 

Maybe less is more. Maybe he just needs this to be a gentle introduction, then we can work on more in depth stuff next year, when he starts Middle School.

 

What do you think?

[Dolphin]

Hi,

I am also Episcopalian and in my first year of home school. Do you have a copy of the book of common prayer at home? We are starting by doing morning prayer each day and following the schedule in the book of common prayer. I am having him work on memorizing the Lords Prayer. We are also doing Christina studies 1 from Memoria press and he is enjoying that (but my ds is 8)

I have myself fallen out of the habit of morning prayer, so this is helping me get back on track. Also, there are some nice books about just explaining why we do what we do and at what time. A childs guide to the Eucharist etc..." The Episcopal bookstore is great. They are based out of Seattle and I have exchanged e-mails many times with the when I need help with a book.

Good Luck,

Nicole

[ktgrok]

We do have a copy of the Book of Common prayer, I hadn't thought of doing morning prayer. I'll look at that and see if it will fit with what we are doing, Thanks!

[Chris in VA]

I'm Episcopalian, too, and have found Positive Action For Christ to be a wonderful curriculum. Dh is a priest, so you'd think our family would be well-acquainted with the Bible...:glare:.

Anyway, we used Grade 4. It went thru some doctrine, but very basic, and went thru some of the Life of Christ and the Life of Paul--very helpful. I can't say enough about it!

When he gets older, I found the Paul Little Books, esp Know What You Believe, to be quite helpful. I also had my then-9th grader go thru a simple intro to the Bible, learning the order of the books by memory, how a concordance works, and a very brief synopsis of the plot and main parts of each book. Super helpful.

 

There's also a Bible lapbook that can help a child become more familiar with the whole bible. I'm not sure of the link, but I believe it's free. Dd started work on that (we stopped b/c lapbooking wasn't her thing, but I did one as a prototype, and love it!).

[ktgrok]

I looked at the samples, Positive Action looks great. I like how it interweaves old and new testament ideas. Do you think I could get away with ordering the old version, the NIV one? It's only 14 dollars for both student and teacher manual if I do that.

[Harriet Vane]

I looked at the samples, Positive Action looks great. I like how it interweaves old and new testament ideas. Do you think I could get away with ordering the old version, the NIV one? It's only 14 dollars for both student and teacher manual if I do that.

 

Yes. Order the NIV if that is the one you want.

 

This curriculum was not in my review posted above, and I feel badly that I forgot to include it. I have a good opinion of this Bible study.

[siloam]

Katie,

 

I love Bible Study Guide for all Ages. It is an inductive approach, but unlike most inductive approaches it doesn't go straight through the Bible. I covers the Bible in 4 years. It doesn't have any specific doctrinal approach. You read the passage, cover comprehension questions, talking about application (they stick to character type stuff and try to avoid doctrinal issues). It also had review, memorization helps and an activity book, if your child prefers that, or you can not use the activity book and just work from the teacher's guide.

 

My dd prefers to do a little writing as possible so here we both read the current passage separately (usually a chapter or two) first thing in the morning, then later when we work together I would have her review her memory work (including the books of the Bible), we would go through the review questions, and then we go through the passage questions. I don't really use the music or applications becuase we end up naturally discussing that sort of thing while doing the questions. I also don't use all the memory work, because it would just take us too much time, but what we do use I love.

 

Heather

[ktgrok]

Thanks. I just ordered it!!!

[kristavws]

Katie,

 

I love Bible Study Guide for all Ages. It is an inductive approach, but unlike most inductive approaches it doesn't go straight through the Bible. I covers the Bible in 4 years. It doesn't have any specific doctrinal approach. You read the passage, cover comprehension questions, talking about application (they stick to character type stuff and try to avoid doctrinal issues). It also had review, memorization helps and an activity book, if your child prefers that, or you can not use the activity book and just work from the teacher's guide.

 

My dd prefers to do a little writing as possible so here we both read the current passage separately (usually a chapter or two) first thing in the morning, then later when we work together I would have her review her memory work (including the books of the Bible), we would go through the review questions, and then we go through the passage questions. I don't really use the music or applications becuase we end up naturally discussing that sort of thing while doing the questions. I also don't use all the memory work, because it would just take us too much time, but what we do use I love.

 

Heather

 

We just started using this program this year, and so far I really like it. We used Explorer's last year, and my oldest really did not like it.

 

Krista

[Mrs. Lilac]

I have to second the vote for Positive Action- we loved that one! :)

But I've looked into and heard great things about several of the others, especially Bible Study Guide for All Ages.

[MerryAtHope]

Your son asked a great question, I've wondered that for years! I finally understand!! Check out this link that discusses how the plagues were there to disprove the Egyptian gods to both the Egyptians and the Israelites, to pronounce judgement on the Egyptian gods, and to show both God's power and the Egyptian gods' powerlessness. It's a fascinating study! Pharoah was also considered a god--so the times that he hardened his own heart, he did so because to let the Israelites go would be to say that he was not a god. When God hardened his heart, it was so that the Egyptians could know He is God--the article cites several verses in Exodus that say just this! In fact--and I've read over this and never considered it before--Egyptians who believed were spared the effects of some of the plagues, and Exodus says that "many other people" went with the Israelites when they left. Fascinating!

 

As for what to do for Bible--we literally read the Bible together, read study guide notes in the margins, discuss and pray. I try to read some OT history, Psalms & Proverbs, a Gospel, and some other NT books each year. We just read a chapter a day and I track what we read so over time we'll read through the whole Bible, some books more than once. Pray about it and see where God leads you. I hope you find something good to do with your son!

 

Merry :-)

[ApronMama]

Is Bible Study Guide for All Ages intended to be done daily or a few days a week? How much time do you allocate daily?

[siloam]

Is Bible Study Guide for All Ages intended to be done daily or a few days a week? How much time do you allocate daily?

I don't know how they wrote it to be, but I know people who do both. My dd and I do one lesson a day. I have a fried who does the reading and questions the first day and the activity pages the next. They have a lot of activities for memory work, and if you were to do all that you could even add a 3rd day.

 

It takes probably less than 5 mins to read the chapter and 10 mines to do the questions. If you want to do all the memory work that can quickly add another 10-20 mins, which is why we don't do it. It is cool stuff, but not worth the time here. For example they have the names of all the major people mentioned in the old and new testaments and you have the child put them in order. Even doing just the old or new it takes a while to get them all in order and then check the answer key to make sure they got it right and fit in any stragglers.

 

Heather