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[Slache]

@TechWife

I'm considering using the Inductive Study Bible for 7th through 9th. If you didn't know there's an actual how-to study bible put out by the company available in NASB and ESV and no one wants to mark up their regular Bible here. I was wondering, how long do you usually spend on one chapter? Do you see a flaw in my plan?

I will accept answers from non TechWives. 😁

[Harriet Vane]

I taught inductive Bible study method to a small group that age over the course of two years. I have also taught inductive method to a zillion ages, both Bible study itself but also the how-to in seminars for volunteers teaching in a church setting. 

 

The first of the two years that we focused specifically on inductive method, we simply did some Bible studies using the Precepts line called Discover4Yourself. Some are better than others in that line. I think the How to Study Your Bible for Kids one is unnecessarily complicated and convoluted--it required a lot of handholding as well as some modification from me for the class to manage it.

 

The second of the two years we chose to do a Precepts-style manuscript study with no curriculum but just me teaching it. This is totally different from what I think you are planning to do, but I'll write it out here just as an option to ponder for sometime. The first semester we worked with the book of Obadiah and the second semester we did the book of Jude. Those were deep studies that looked at that short book for about fourteen weeks. We did that so that they could generate the following, week to week:

--Precepts style notations directly in the passage. To do this, I typed the text onto a blank document with no verse reference numbers, double spaced. That is what the girls worked with. We talked together about what kinds of things we saw in the passage and made a list of Stuff To Mark, then they marked it with various colors and symbols. They took immense delight in choosing their own colors and symbols. For example, we always mark any mention of God--the different girls chose whatever color and tiny picture or marking they wanted to use. And so on. We took a couple weeks on this stage (one week talking together, then a couple weeks in which they would mark roughly 10 verses give or take for homework and come back to report in class).

--Historical and cultural background (researched from other sources, NOT commentaries--we focused on factual sources like a Bible Dictionary, etc.). 

--Timeline

--Map and scenery

--Character descriptions

--Bible study questions for groups

--Key verse

--Commentary (a report at the very end explaining what verses mean and what the most important bits are and why)

 

 

To answer your question specifically--focus on one *episode per week* in the Bible book you do. An episode can run from 10-25ish verses. If it's a story narrative, it's easy to go a little longer. If it's dense theology (like the book of Romans), keep your selections shorter. Keep your focus on quality, not quantity.

 

 

At any age, it's essential to avoid hyperfocus and lingering too long--this leads to boredom and burnout. That goes triple for junior high age. Approach like this:

--Get the basic facts (reading comprehension). There's nothing too deep about this. Just lay out who, what, when, where, how, repetitions, details, etc.

--Some facts about the passage will have some depth. For example, if it addresses a specific problem, there may be a few nuances to explore simply to establish what was going on. Focus on fact collection, not interpretation.

--Cross reference if the passage offers one, such as when a writer quotes from the Psalms. If there's no obvious cross reference, then don't go there yet.

--Once all that is done, then and only then try to determine in just 1-2 sentences at most what message the writer is trying to convey to the audience. This is the interpretation stage--what's the Big Point? It's easy if you've done excellent inductive fact collection first.

--Then see if/how that message matches up to our modern context. Some lessons are usable as is. Others have to be interpreted with an understanding of the changes wrought by time, language, and culture.

 

Edited to add--After you've done all that nifty stuff, then cross referencing is awesome. The idea is to determine exactly what that specific passage does and does not say first, without getting messy with other passages. Once you know that (the interpretation), it's cool to expand on the interpretation to look at what other parts of the Bible say as well.

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Harriet Vane

[TechWife]

I think I solved the message problem @Slache! 
 

For that age look at Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days. It’s a good introduction and it walks you through the process step by step. After that you can either do In & Out studies with them or you can use your Inductive Study Bibles and follow the directions in the front of each book. I think doing Teach Me to Study would give them a good base for using the instructions at the beginning of each book - it would explain a lot and they would understand the “why” behind the instructions.  I think doing that is a really good idea - they’ll internalize the skills easier than doing the in & out studies & they will become natural to them & will instinctively use them for years to come. 

[Slache]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

I think I solved the message problem @Slache! 
 

For that age look at Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days. It’s a good introduction and it walks you through the process step by step. After that you can either do In & Out studies with them or you can use your Inductive Study Bibles and follow the directions in the front of each book. I think doing Teach Me to Study would give them a good base for using the instructions at the beginning of each book - it would explain a lot and they would understand the “why” behind the instructions.  I think doing that is a really good idea - they’ll internalize the skills easier than doing the in & out studies & they will become natural to them & will instinctively use them for years to come. 

I have already started this. 🙂

I still wanna know how long you spend on a chapter though.

[Guest]

I tried to get @TechWife tagged for that Christmas thing I organize and it didn’t work. So, TechWife, if you want to do the Christmas thing I organize again, just let me know. 

[TechWife]

2 hours ago, Slache said:

I have already started this. 🙂

I still wanna know how long you spend on a chapter though.

Oh sorry, I forgot that part of the question. Also apologize if I’m repeating myself with what follows.
 The answer to your question is “it depends” - yeah, not helpful! Very generally, 1-2 weeks per chapter. A book of history, like one of the gospels, most likely one week unless it’s an unusually long chapter. For an epistle, two weeks because they are more instructive and some of them are one very important verse or concept right after another. That will give you time to dig in. 

Another way to approach it would be to stealthily figure out how far they get with 30-45 min of focused concentration then pace accordingly. With your ages, it would probably be better to start with 30 minutes in the fall, increase to 35 or 40 minutes after Christmas break and then, if they are managing that well, 45 after Easter.  

A third approach, and probably the most straightforward, would be to download the Precept Upon Precept sample lesson for the book you want to study. It will include the table of contents which will show you how long is spent on each chapter for that study. 

Does this help?

[Slache]

6 minutes ago, TechWife said:

Oh sorry, I forgot that part of the question. Also apologize if I’m repeating myself with what follows.
 The answer to your question is “it depends” - yeah, not helpful! Very generally, 1-2 weeks per chapter. A book of history, like one of the gospels, most likely one week unless it’s an unusually long chapter. For an epistle, two weeks because they are more instructive and some of them are one very important verse or concept right after another. That will give you time to dig in. 

Another way to approach it would be to stealthily figure out how far they get with 30-45 min of focused concentration then pace accordingly. With your ages, it would probably be better to start with 30 minutes in the fall, increase to 35 or 40 minutes after Christmas break and then, if they are managing that well, 45 after Easter.  

A third approach, and probably the most straightforward, would be to download the Precept Upon Precept sample lesson for the book you want to study. It will include the table of contents which will show you how long is spent on each chapter for that study. 

Does this help?

Yes! Thank you. And I was planning on this with just the 12 year old. We have family and individual studies. I think my others would go mad.