Bible curriculum: reformed

[ReadingMama1214]

Dd is 4.5 and we aftershock for PreK/K. She attends 3 hours of preschool 4-5 days a week (every other Friday off). We are considering joining BSF, but I'm looking for a bible curriculum still. We are reformed (PCA) in our theology and I'm looking for an affordable curriculum that discusses theology and the bible.

[Saddlemomma]

In my opinion, at 4.5,  I wouldn't worry about a formal curriculum for Bible.  I would read short selections from each book and discuss/investigate them with her. However, I would be very methodical about it and begin to train her the necessity of understanding the information in the cultural and historical context of the time period.  This may mean a lot of research and learning for you. (I know it has for me.)

 

For instance, if you're reading from Genesis 1 about creation, I would ask, "How do you think the ancient Israelites understood this?".  Get her interpretation and then launch into an investigation with her of when Genesis was written, what was the culture of those days? What were their beliefs? How many ways can the biblical Hebrew word "yom" be interpreted? For prep on this, you can watch Genesis to Creation Class 1 (start @ 8:35). Have her draw a picture of exactly how the world is described by the opening passages of Genesis 1 and supporting passages, then you draw it how an ANE scholar interprets it. You can get that info by watching this, Genesis to Creation Class 3, (start @ 39:04) to see how a scholar of ancient Near East culture and ancient Semitic languages interprets the original texts.  You will, of course, have to explain all of this to her in small chunks and in ways she will understand.  A class just on Genesis 1 could last for several weeks and involve many other books of the Bible than just Genesis.  In fact, Job has more information about the creation of the Earth than Genesis.

 

An excellent resource for you, as a teacher, would be material from Dr. Michael Heiser.  He has a website: drmsh.com and a book, The Unseen Realm which can provide insight in all these areas.  He has a Ph.D & MA in Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages (biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugarit, Akkadian,....the list is LONG), as well as an MA in Ancient History.  He is the resident scholar for Logos Bible Software.  This guy doesn't just look at the words themselves, he interprets according to the grammar structure within the writing - what a novel concept.  In other words, he's an ancient language grammar geek and very meticulous.

 

If you begin studying the Bible with your DD in this way, it will teach her to approach the Bible the way it should be - contextually, factually, and culturally - not with 21st century eyes!  I so wish I had understood this when I first became a Christian and when I started teaching my DDs.  Now I'm playing catch up with my youngest.

 

By the way, now that we are learning Bible this way, my DD is so much more interested and engaged with Bible class. It has made the Bible come alive for her, and she now refuses to use any other curricula other than from an ancient Near East scholar who can read and interpret the original languages of the biblical era.

 

Just my two cents.... 

[blue plaid]

Something simple for that age that I like is My ABC Bible Verses.  It is written by Susan Hunt, who is in the PCA.  I also like Leading Little Ones to God, though I don't know that it is explicitly (or implicitly) reformed. (It has been a few years since I used it.)

[dragonflyer]

For PreK-K: Big Truths for Little Kids by Hunt - gives stories that show what the catechism answers mean.  We also use Great Commission Publications First Catechism and Jesus Storybook Bible.

Starting in 1st we read straight from the Bible and discuss as well as memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  I plan on discussing catechism in 4th using Meade's Training Hearts, Teaching Minds.

Theology is considered the highest level of education.  I can give them knowledge of the Bible and doctrine, memorize Scripture, creeds, and catechism, teach the history of the church and good questions to ask while learning, but theology (in the classical sense) is a college level or above discipline.

[ReadingMama1214]

For PreK-K: Big Truths for Little Kids by Hunt - gives stories that show what the catechism answers mean. We also use Great Commission Publications First Catechism and Jesus Storybook Bible.

Starting in 1st we read straight from the Bible and discuss as well as memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I plan on discussing catechism in 4th using Meade's Training Hearts, Teaching Minds.

Theology is considered the highest level of education. I can give them knowledge of the Bible and doctrine, memorize Scripture, creeds, and catechism, teach the history of the church and good questions to ask while learning, but theology (in the classical sense) is a college level or above discipline.

We're actually doing Training Hearts and Teaching minds as family devotions. We just started, but Dd seems to do well with the catechism questions and answers.

 

I have looked at Hunts books and we do have a copy of the Storybook Bible which we use.

 

By theology, I meant more of teaching they why and how of our faith. Something similar to Hunts Big Truths and the book Everything A Child Should Know About God. I have a BA in theology and am currently getting an MS in Biblical Counseling, so I do know that they won't fully comprehend theology until much later, but I want them to have a theologically rich understanding of the Word and faith.

 

I think I'll buy Hunts books and start there.

[ReadingMama1214]

In my opinion, at 4.5, I wouldn't worry about a formal curriculum for Bible. I would read short selections from each book and discuss/investigate them with her. However, I would be very methodical about it and begin to train her the necessity of understanding the information in the cultural and historical context of the time period. This may mean a lot of research and learning for you. (I know it has for me.)

 

For instance, if you're reading from Genesis 1 about creation, I would ask, "How do you think the ancient Israelites understood this?". Get her interpretation and then launch into an investigation with her of when Genesis was written, what was the culture of those days? What were their beliefs? How many ways can the biblical Hebrew word "yom" be interpreted? For prep on this, you can watch Genesis to Creation Class 1 (start @ 8:35). Have her draw a picture of exactly how the world is described by the opening passages of Genesis 1 and supporting passages, then you draw it how an ANE scholar interprets it. You can get that info by watching this, Genesis to Creation Class 3, (start @ 39:04) to see how a scholar of ancient Near East culture and ancient Semitic languages interprets the original texts. You will, of course, have to explain all of this to her in small chunks and in ways she will understand. A class just on Genesis 1 could last for several weeks and involve many other books of the Bible than just Genesis. In fact, Job has more information about the creation of the Earth than Genesis.

 

An excellent resource for you, as a teacher, would be material from Dr. Michael Heiser. He has a website: drmsh.com and a book, The Unseen Realm which can provide insight in all these areas. He has a Ph.D & MA in Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages (biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugarit, Akkadian,....the list is LONG), as well as an MA in Ancient History. He is the resident scholar for Logos Bible Software. This guy doesn't just look at the words themselves, he interprets according to the grammar structure within the writing - what a novel concept. In other words, he's an ancient language grammar geek and very meticulous.

 

If you begin studying the Bible with your DD in this way, it will teach her to approach the Bible the way it should be - contextually, factually, and culturally - not with 21st century eyes! I so wish I had understood this when I first became a Christian and when I started teaching my DDs. Now I'm playing catch up with my youngest.

 

By the way, now that we are learning Bible this way, my DD is so much more interested and engaged with Bible class. It has made the Bible come alive for her, and she now refuses to use any other curricula other than from an ancient Near East scholar who can read and interpret the original languages of the biblical era.

 

Just my two cents....

No that sounds excellent! And really what I think I want. I don't mind doing the research and may spend some time working ahead and creating a plan of study. I want a more meaningful time in the Word together with her.

[Mama Geek]

Something we have been doing for a long time now is just reading from the bible.  The spring we actually decided to read through the whole bible a chapter or 2 a day with dd in Chronological order.  Sometimes it is more and sometimes it is less.  We often stop and talk about what is going on and sometimes it is my daughter and I and sometimes it is all three of us.  We are starting to go through Story of the World for history and she is remembering things we have read in the bible.

 

We also did 2 of these books to help us get into reading everyday.  I liked them because they had the bible verses that you could look up and read...a summary, a prayer, and discussion questions and were pretty short for younger kids.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0785279881/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[cintinative]

I really like all of Starr Meade's stuff. We have done Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, the similar book on the Heidelberg Catechism (Comforting Hearts, Teaching Minds) and over the summer we did the devotional book on Galatians (God's Mighty Acts in Salvation).

 

Gently, I am little confused on why you want theology if you are already doing Training Hearts, Teaching Minds. For a 4.5 year old, I would think that would be more than sufficient for "theology." Maybe I am misunderstanding you?

 

If you want her to learn more Bible and Bible application, I would suggest one of Starr Meade's Bible books like this one.  https://www.amazon.com/Wondrous-Works-God-Family-Bible/dp/1433531585/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1473197668&sr=8-7&keywords=starr+meade

 

At first glance, you think it is just another Bible story book, but it is a lot more than that. There is some great discussion.  Also, it has great questions (not just comprehension questions, but discussion based questions).  

 

I have not looked at Susan Hunt's children's stuff so I am sorry to say i can't speak to that. 

[ScoutTN]

Seriously? A four or five-year old?

Keep it simple! Enjoy the younger years.

 

I love Starr Meade's books, but they are not written for preschoolers. Susan Hunt's books are good, though my kids did not love them.

 

Read a good story Bible daily and teach the First Catechism. Use the Ask Me Whooo Cds to teach the catechism. Do some of the Scripture memory verses that go with your child's Sunday school paper. (If your church is not using Great Commission or another reformed Ss curriculum, see if you can change that.)

 

Just participating worship every week will teach her tons. Read Robbie Castleman's Parenting in the Pew.

[lulalu]

We work on stories and retelling. I tell many without reading ( we work on storytelling) and am able to add in lessons or applications doctrine etc that way.

Also memorize Psalms- at 4 we learned Psalm 114 since it gave a short overview.

Doctrine at this age (imo) comes through memory work through a catechisim.

And then the habit of family worship adds in a lot too.

[Guest]

We don't do a formal one at that age, just devotionals (quickies) and the Prove It Catechism, which we only needed to modify on one point since we had a quibble with the language. It is reformed and excellent in content, all the kids who are kindergarten on up are memorizing the questions/answer/verse reference list in varying spots.

 

http://www.vor.org/rbdisk/html/proveit/

 

Our current church is non-denom but probably closest to Reformed Baptists and Presbyterians except on things like paedo-baptism, and this was very solid for us. I'm much looser on daily devotionals, some vary in quality but there are a lot of good ones. Ruth Bell Graham's "Step Into The Bible" was a favorite and needed fairly low editing ;)

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004B8W05U/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1#nav-subnav

[calihil]

We are Reformed as well. We use a good children's Bible story book and use a children's catechism. We like the one from GCP.

[ReadingMama1214]

Thanks everyone!

 

We enjoy Starr Meads because of how short and quick it is. I've enjoyed doing the Westminster shorter catechism with her. She's memorized the answers to the couple we have done.

 

I was originally trying to find a devotional to match what I'm studying. More for convenience and bonding time.

 

Our church used the Jesus Storybook Bible curriculum. It's pretty decent from what I can tell. I don't have any say in the curriculum though. The older kids do The Gospel Project.

 

I do like the idea of reading through the bible together though. That sounds like a great way to do it. Our devotions at night are based on the catechism question and not too scripture heavy

[SamanthaCarter]

The Jesus Storybook Bible. Over and over. :) 

[Heathermomster]

My Church uses the following:

http://www.onestoryministries.org/

 

We have read through the Catherine Voss Children's Bible. With both kids, we used Mead's family devotion on the Westminster Catechism. I currently use Meade's Wondrous Works of God with my 3rd grader.

[ReadingMama1214]

My Church uses the following:

http://www.onestoryministries.org/

 

We have read through the Catherine Voss Children's Bible. With both kids, we used Mead's family devotion on the Westminster Catechism. I currently use Meade's Wondrous Works of God with my 3rd grader.

Thanks! We're currently using Meads devotional on the Westminster. I really enjoy the memorizing of the catechism at this age.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 8, 2023 by SilverMoon

[Shelly in the Country]

I did catechism and Leading Little Ones to God for the most part at that age.  Starting in first grade I use Gertrude Hoeksema's series, Suffer Little Children from Reformed Free Publishing Association.

[Hunter]

My boys were tweens and teens during our reformed stage. Religion has been eclectic for me. :lol:

 

But for any age, the heart of reformed is daily family worship. Gather your chicks and pour yourself into them.

 

And for the more conservatives, catechism and psalm singing. I do like the simplified children's catechisms before hitting the Westminsters. 

http://www.reformed.org/documents/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/documents/cat_for_young_children.html

 

Psalm 46 from the Scottish Psalter makes me tear up with memories.

 

 

The links are all different now, but my boys preferred the Genevan to the Scottish Psalter as it reminded them of a favorite part of a video game that used a certain tune.

 

Family worship was about 1 1/2 hours in the morning. We read sermons, studied church history, read about martyrs and missionaries, prayed from Operation World, memorized scripture, sang psalms and hymns, did word studies in Hebrew and Greek, and so much more.

 

Bible studies when they were done were part of their school work and a school subject. Sometimes we used Mennonite stuff. They practice nonresistance which is not a reformed belief, though.

 

From day 1, my boys learned to sit in church. Nursing at first, then sitting with a little baggy of cheerios in their lap. Church and family worship and me living my faith in front of them even when they adopted their dad's non belief, still shaped them. My oldest an athiest always, thanked me and fretted in his 20's about how he would raise his children without them being exposed to what he had been. He said family worship time was THE thing that defined who he was, and even got him many of his jobs. He said the stuff that came out of his mouth just made older men do whiplash head turns to him and ask, WHERE did you grow up????!

 

Good luck!