Bible suggestions for appx. grade 7?

[Sarah CB]

I finished reading Family Driven Faith and I really liked what he said about teaching Biblical truths through catechism (a series of questions and answers). I ended up ordering a Baptist catechism and I'm going to see whether it will work out for us or not.

 

Beyond that, I'm realizing that dd (12) is getting older and I'd like get a little deeper with her.

 

With my younger boys I'm just going to continue reading the Bible, doing a family devotional, memorizing scripture, and (possibly) going through a catechism that is age appropriate.

 

With dd, I was thinking of adding some other reading. I looked through the Sonlight catalogue and they use The BBC Manual: Turning Your Bedroom into a Bible College, "Don't All Religions Lead to God?" (a great one for us especially because my mom is all over the new-age Oprah/Tolle stuff), Daring to Live on the Edge: The Adventure of Faith and Finances, How to Stay Christian in High School and Live Like a Jesus Freak: Spend Today as if it were Your Last.

 

Then Veritas Press integrates Bible into the Omnibus and they use (among other things), The Best Things in Life by Peter Kreeft, Chosen by God by Sproul, The Holiness of God by Sproul, Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis and The Unaborted Socrates by Peter Kreeft.

 

Has anyone worked through any of those books with a grade 7 (or thereabouts) student? Any recommendations or cautions?

 

Thanks.

 

Sarah

[Alphabetika]

I haven't worked through the books you've mentioned, but you might take a look at Starting Points, by Cornerstone Curriculum. They recommend starting it as early as 7th grade. That said, my 9th grade dd just stated it and I think, in her case, it's better suited to her age than it would have been for her in 7th. Even if you didn't want to use the whole curriculum, the Paul Little books used with it - Know What You Believe and Know Why You Believe" - are excellent for beginning to discuss faith more deeply.

[Sarah CB]

I haven't worked through the books you've mentioned, but you might take a look at Starting Points, by Cornerstone Curriculum. They recommend starting it as early as 7th grade. That said, my 9th grade dd just stated it and I think, in her case, it's better suited to her age than it would have been for her in 7th. Even if you didn't want to use the whole curriculum, the Paul Little books used with it - Know What You Believe and Know Why You Believe" - are excellent for beginning to discuss faith more deeply.

 

 

Thank you. I'll take a look at this.

[Rose in BC]

Mind you we are reformed Baptists but I did not grow up this way, nor did my parents do a catechism with us. My kids are far more understanding of our foundational beliefs than I ever was at that age (and I did grow up in a christian home). I think the catechism format is excellent and offers a lot of room for discussion. (There were a few areas we tweaked to our own beliefs but this did not seem concerning to me or to the kids who readily understood our explanations for the differences.)

 

I love Sproul (Holiness of God, Chosen by God) and have one Kreeft book on Socratic Logic but not the ones you've listed. I haven't gone through these with my children but I may (now that you've brought it to my attention) read the Sproul books with my kids in the fall. Thanks for the reminder.

[Harriet Vane]

I have not personally used it but a dear friend whose opinion I trust has used it with her children. One point to consider with that book, however, is that the reading level is pretty advanced for a couple of the books. Other books are pretty simple, though, so there is a wide range. The workbook is well-laid out also.

 

For more Bible-centered Bible study (by that I mean a study that looks specifically at Bible text) I recommend the Explorer's Quest series. Below is a review I did a while ago that explains more about curriculum I have reviewed. In my opinion many curricula do not grow at the same rate a kid's mind does, and often at the junior high and high school level the expectations are too low. My own dd (going into 6th this year) has done well with the Quest series.

 

Posted by strider on 18:50 Mar 26

 

Hi folks,

 

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.