Speaking of K-12 plans...Does anyone have a 4 year (or 5 year) cycle of Bible Study..

[Mommyfaithe]

devotional reading, hyms etc. that you use for religious studies. We are a Non-denominational Christian family... and other than read throughs, I would like to have a plan of study for our 12 years.

Thanks,

Faithe

[Wendy in ME]

Rod and Staff takes five years to go through the entire Bible very thoroughly. We are using this year and I love it. So far it seems nondenominational. It is a very straight forward study made of readings with comprehension questions and further study such as using a Bible dictionary and atlas and making family trees etc. I works great for us because I am lacking in Biblical knowledge myself and am trying to catch up.

[mom2abcd]

We're enjoying R&S here, too. (We started with 5th grade and are using the 6th grade book this year.)

[Harriet Vane]

My goals for my kids are:

 

1. Grammar stage--Gain familiarity with the Bible through teacher-led inductive process. Inductive means delving directly into the Bible text and using details of that text to determine the larger message. Down below I copied/pasted a loooong post that describes some curriculums that can facilitate that. My highest recommendation is for the Explorer's Bible studies.

 

2. Logic stage--Gain independence and proficiency in inductive study. We continue doing inductive Bible studies, but over these years the student learns manuscript study (marking things in the text) as well as how to write a Bible study or "report" on a passage themselves. The work is less and less teacher-led, and more and more independent.

 

3. Rhetoric stage--By now inductive reasoning should be easy. I have taught freshman inductive Bible study--on the whole they do well with it (able to write a study and/or a report on a passage themselves) though I think it's fine to do that in 8th grade too. High school is the time to intensively reason through their beliefs and to compare the Bible to other religions. Therefore at this stage I advocate a doctrine course as well as a comparative world religions course. I also recommend church history. (Bruce Shelley's Church History in Plain Language is fabulous.) At this stage devotional Bible study is a separate piece of life from the academic courses I recommend.

 

Here is a post I wrote a loooooong time ago about specific curriculums:

 

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.

[angela in ohio]

I really like the Christian Liberty Press Bible study books. There are two books to go through the Old Testament (E and F) and then two for the New (G and H.) They are very thorough and include actual Bible reading (not summaries,) comprehension and application (love these!) questions, plus map and timeline work. They are their 4th-7th grade books.

 

Our K-12 plan includes the Veritas Press Bible materials. That would be a way for you to do a 5-year cycle.

[countrymom_3]

Bible Study Guide for all ages is excellent, multiage and will last at least 5 years or more. At which time, you could get their next book or go through it again.

 

The lesson format is in depth, has great review, incorporates Hymns and Games and memory aides.

 

Each child has a wb for their level beginner, intermediate or advanced.

 

Bonus: It is affordable and has been around a long time. Highly recommend it.

[Hunter]

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.

 

SOW (Student of the Word) is a 6 year curriculum that assigns a basic outline every week, that requires a 1 sentence summary of each paragraph or passage. Here is a sample. http://www.sowcurriculum.com/images/dav08_copy.JPG

 

and a sample from a younger child who drew the summary. http://www.sowcurriculum.com/images/Abigail1.jpg

Edited January 10, 2011 by Hunter