Teaching the bible...where to begin?

[TwoToSchool]

Since I've decided to homeschool my oldest 2 (next child in line is preschool and not officially 'schooling') I've had so much fun learning about all the things we can add to our curriculum. I truly feel like there is so much I want my kids to know that I know they would have never gotten from traditional school...and I'm so glad we're starting now! Two of the main 'add ons' aside from our core curriculum that I'd love to teach are 'religious studies' and Latin. I guess I just don't know where to begin... Are there specific curriculum to teach young ones the bible. I feel like I need some type of outline, since I really don't know where to begin. I'd love to incorporate some passage memorization as well, but again...I don't know where to start. Do any fellow homeschoolers have a system of curriculum that works for them? If it matters, my kids are 9 and 6 and my 4 year old will also be listening in:)

[chepyl]

CurrClick.com has some downloadable Bible lessons. I just got one for 21 days of memory verses for kids. It was free! I thought It would be a good starting guide. We also listen to the Bible read aloud on my iPod. I got a free app with hundreds of versions of the Bible. You can do read aloud or pick from hundreds of study/plans. It's the YouVersion Bible App. I thried a couple free apps and like that one the best. My son also has a kids story Bible. He is almost 6. He prefers to listen now. We listen to a few chapters and then we play some classical music for a bit and it makes for a nice afternoon or morning. If he has questions I pull up info on the computer, or pull out my Bible or concordance. This low pressure method has led to some good conversations.

[Carol in Cal.]

I love the Voyages series from Concordia Publishing House. It's written for parochial schools, and it's quite Biblically conservative without being fundamentalist-ish. The folks at CPH really know how to make things age-appropriate.

[Ritsumei]

I'm using Simply Charlotte Mason's scripture memory system for our verse memorization efforts. Turns out that works beautifully for addressing behavioral and other issues that have come up - outside of the moment of stress, in a non-confrontational way. I love it. We also read daily from the scriptures as a family, and I read to the boys individually almost every day. And we're adding Bible events into our study of history, and that's how we're dealing with it. Good luck!

[raceNzanesmom]

We use Bible Study Guide for All Ages for our actual "Bible study". We only use the activity pages, one side per day. He memorizes Scripture and has some devotionals in his core curriculum (Heart of Dakota).

[Sevilla]

This is the website we use for Bible Verse Memorization - I've been really happy with it (we started at 'age 3' even though DS was older than that when I found it - he didn't mind shorter verses at first). We often make up tunes to sing the verse of the week at night before bed, and for larger verses I break them into 1-2 verses per week until we've got it memorized and then add on another.

 

http://www.centralpc.org/ministry/children/memorybk.htm#a3

[Orthodox6]

If you adhere to a particular religion that honors the Bible, I would use materials or suggestions from your faith group. I don't think we here can offer you useful suggestions unless we are from your same background.

 

Willing to help if I could, though !

[tntgoodwin]

I like Big Truth's for Little Kids. It has verses you can memorize as well with it.

[Hedgehogs4]

Why not check out SWB's Olive Branch Press? I have looked it over thoroughly and while my kid is too old for it, I think it is lovely. A wonderful introduction to the Bible and what it is.

[TwoToSchool]

If you adhere to a particular religion that honors the Bible, I would use materials or suggestions from your faith group. I don't think we here can offer you useful suggestions unless we are from your same background.

 

Willing to help if I could, though !

I had to chuckle when I read your reply, not because it was funny but because I noticed your user name is "Orthodox". Our family is Serbian Orthodox but does adhere to more of a non-denominational stance on religion. My older 2 have attended Sunday school at our home church, but do so now at a local non-denominational 'bible' church closer to our home. When I say that I want to 'teach' the bible, what I mean is that I want my children to understand the life and death of jesus as well as the biblical text that goes along with this time line. I want them to be able to apply biblical passages to their everyday lives and be able to pick out passages that fit their daily decision making process, to help and guide them. My biggest hurdle at this point is how to accomplish these things. Do I start in the old Testament? the New Testament? Simply with the birth of Jesus or the creation of Adam and Eve? Should I focus on each chapter of the bible as a unit or skip around (for example... Corinthians for one month and Matthew for another month) If there were a curriculum and workbooks (perhaps) that made this type of teaching easier...I'd be thrilled. However, from what I can see...I may need to freestyle this chapter of our teachings to fit my oldest 2 kids and my younger 3rd child as well. I guess, my biggest concern isn't so much that I can't 'verbally' teach them the bible, but that I won't be able to adequately plan for additional material to support the biblical chapters they're learning...and how to even accomplish this. Sorry for the long ramble...I tend to overanalyze quite a bit as far as home educating is concerned;)

[imhim]

Bible Study Guide for All ages. The CD with the songs is great, too. It teaches Bible, not a church's doctrines.

[Terabith]

Telling God's Story looks very good if you want a curriculum. Your oldest is at a very good age for Memoria Press's Bible curriculum. Classial Academic Press has one that looks good, too. Honestly what I have done is to get some good story Bibles and read through them. There are a lot of great story Bibles for different ages. Egermiers is a really nice one for kids your age, although we have the old edition. I'm not sure if the newer one is as good. You could also assign your older kids to read sections from either a translation you like (NIV, NRSV, etc) or from something like the Picture Bible. For memorization I made a list of passages that I thought would be good to memorize, and we work through those.

 

And of course they do religious education at our church.

[Recovering Sociopath]

You might also ask the children's ministry director at your church. Mine has an office FULL of catalogs with resources that could be adapted for a home school setting.

 

We are about to start Telling God's Story with our 1st grader and Kindergartener, and I'm very excited about it.

[robsiew]

We like Grapevine materials. They have an Old Testament and New Testament overview that might be good for you. It has memorization as well.

[Narrow Gate Academy]

I like to begin Bible study by giving an overview of the chronological story of the Bible during the elementary years before moving on to study specific topics or books. We read Egermeier's Bible Story Book at a pace of one (or sometimes two stories if they are really short) story a day. Some days I let the kids practice narrating the story back to me and other times I just ask the questions in the back of the book to make sure they were paying attention. With your age span, I'd consider doing Bible memory work separately. We use the memory box system from Simply Charlotte Mason. There are also suggestions for verses for various ages on the site. HTH

[morosophe]

My son really loved Leading Little Ones to God. It's a systematic theology, rather than a Bible story book or strict Bible study. It is, however, very Bible-based, using Bible stories or passages for all of its lessons, and recommending Scripture to read as well as to memorize at the end of each lesson. It's a very general, gentle introduction to the Christian gospel, sticking with basic Bible truths agreed upon by most Protestant denominations, at least that I'm familiar with. (I'm not too familiar with Roman Catholic or Orthodox doctrine at all.) I just think that sometimes it's just a little easier to figure things out in various parts of Scripture once you have a general overview of the message of the whole thing. (Sort of a whole-to-parts instruction, I guess, although I'm really shaky on deduction vs. induction and whole-to-parts vs. parts-to-whole instruction in general.)

 

Plus, it's been in print for ages and is fairly cheap to purchase. That never hurts, right?

 

A Bible story book for your youngest that I haven't seen recommended here is The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, by Kenneth N. Taylor. This, too, has been in print for decades, and is fairly easy to get used.

[Guest ChristyfromGA]

Hi my name is Christy and I have eight children--five of which are homeschooled. Through the years I've always desired to have Bible a part of our homeschooling but have not wanted it to be dull and dry. For the first time ever I'm reading the Bible from beginning to end. We started in January reading a little each day out loud every day that we homeschool. I am reading out of the New Living translation so we all understand it easily. We don't have a pre-determined amount to read each time, but are progressing nicely. Currently we are in the book of 1 Kings and hope to finish by January 1st. We have truly enjoyed our raw Bible study time. Sometimes we sing a song that we have heard that includes a scripture or a story that we read that day. One other resource that my children have enjoyed is a small children's "book" Bible called Family- Time Bible in Pictures by Kenneth N. Taylor. He wrote the Living Bible. It has beautiful pictures, and I mean really detailed pictrures, and small Bible stories. I used it as a reader in the second grade and my kids love to say, "I've read the whole Bible by myself" when they get through with it. Just thought I would share what is working for us. I have enjoyed doing something structured with the Bible, and the Lord has really blessed our times together. I can feel that it is truly a "living book".

 

Blessings,

Christy

[MeganW]

My kids are a bit young, but have still REALLY enjoyed the videos "What's in the Bible with Buck Denver".

[warneral]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0789415038/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=3066583975&ref=pd_sl_47xgy1cfv3_e

This is out of print, but I found one in good shape from Ebay for 5.00 shipped recently. I like this bible b/c it takes NIV verbage and does the stories suitable for children. It is a good segway to the language of the Bible, while still having pictures and applicable stories :)