Middle School Level Bible Curriculum Recommendations

[dsbrack]

I'm looking for a middle school level Bible curriculum from a Protestant perspective. I would like something that goes through each book of the Bible and provides background information on the themes, authorship, and audience of each as well as pointing out larger threads that run throughout scripture. I am not looking for a character study or something with a heavy theological emphasis. What have you used that meets some or all of these requests?

 

Any reviews on the Bible curriculum "The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study"?

[Slache]

We are doing TMITYES and it does not meet your requirements, but it's good. Download the free sample.

McArthur does, but he doesn't have books for every book. NT books are blue, OT are beige. Also Weirsbe. Both are for adults but they've worked here.

[LauraClark]

Could you do Bible study together? Read a chapter or so and then you point out the major themes? That has been working at our house.

[alisha]

We really liked the bibleproject.com videos: https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/old-testament/.

It's not a curriculum, but it definitely covers the overarching themes. They are called Old Testament Overview and New Testament Overview when you're looking in the video category section. It's about a 5-10 minute video on each book of the bible (longer ones, like Genesis divided into 2 videos). They have a new "animated" series that has come out since we finished the OT & NT ones, but we haven't watched them yet. 

They do have a section called Bible Studies which have some discussion questions, but I don't know anything about them. I'll let you explore on your own if you're even remotely interested.

[dsbrack]

8 hours ago, alisha said:

We really liked the bibleproject.com videos: https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/old-testament/.

It's not a curriculum, but it definitely covers the overarching themes. They are called Old Testament Overview and New Testament Overview when you're looking in the video category section. It's about a 5-10 minute video on each book of the bible (longer ones, like Genesis divided into 2 videos). They have a new "animated" series that has come out since we finished the OT & NT ones, but we haven't watched them yet. 

They do have a section called Bible Studies which have some discussion questions, but I don't know anything about them. I'll let you explore on your own if you're even remotely interested.

This looks like what I want.  I think we'll watch the overview videos and read some chapters from each book throughout the week.  Thanks!

 

[ChocolateCake]

Last year, I paired The Bible Project with Christian Studies IV from Memoria Press.  It's like a Bible outline in workbook format.  I think we spent a couple days per week reading the reader, a few days reading scripture and a day at the end of the week filling out the book.  https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/christian-studies/christian-studies-iv/

[blendergal]

You might find this book helpful:

God’s Story in 66 Verses: Understand the Entire Bible By Focusing on Just One Verse in Each Book

https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Story-66-Verses-Understand/dp/1400206421

[ivey_family]

We have used Bible Road Trip by Thinking Kids Press for six years now, and are finishing our second trip all the way through the Bible.  It has been our most loved and successful subject to date.  It is a multilevel curriculum with reading and questions for each day, along with a book that supplies the background info, additional activities, memorization, and notebooking pages.  Currently, we just do the reading together, and discuss the questions.  We’ve done other parts of the program at other times, but our discussions can be lengthy, so we just focus on that now.  I feel my kids have a fantastic overall understanding of the whole Bible, and it gets better each cycle.  I was actually considering looking for something shiny and new next fall, but as I’m thinking about how well we’ve done with it, I’m going to stay the course!

[Hunter]

If we are not bargain shopping for the cheapest possible option ...

Old, but still good, is the original 4 binders for Bible Study Guide for all Ages. You can get them as pdfs now. There are a TOOOOOON of add-ons that have been added over the years. Skip it ALL. Even skip most of the original main lessons. Look at the stick-figure picture and the read the assigned portions of the Bible. A picture tells a thousand words. It really does. All the books of the Bible are covered, but not every verse. 

Get a hardcopy or Kindle edition of the OLD Schofield Bible for the timeline dates that are conveniently on every page, if you are okay with Usher dates. I don't care if Usher is "wrong". The most expensive timelines keep changing, and want to sell me a new one, over and over. I no longer believe them that their current theories are not "wrong" as well. BTDT too many times. I might as well stick with a "wrong" that is in the public domain and doesn't keep changing. You can get free pdfs with the dates, but they are big and sluggish. Free text notes don't include the dates. The Kindle version from Cambridge Press is not free, but it loads nicely and includes the dates. The hardcover book is even easier to use.

Any old study Bible or Commentary will give you decent book intros and outlines. I use Vernon McGee's Briefing the Bible, because I have his 5 year radio program on a solar powered player. And the briefing style appeals to me after taking several semesters of paralegal/law classes. I don't think it is better than so many other options in general for others. The pdf is a free download on the Thru the Bible website.