I have been teaching ds bible stories by reading them over and over for a week or more, then asking him questions about it through out the day until he can answer them. I want him to know important people, why they are important, order things happen, and what it teaches us. If I can I find a verse for him to memorize out of it. We do little things to help him remeber like songs, or color pictures when I can come up with something. We are working on Matt 26- 28? ( the end of the book) right now with a small book that has one page (a pciture that he colors, then glues to the book) per important event. I was wondering if there was a bible circ that would do all this for me. I did the easy ones like Jonah, Daniel, Genesis 1:1 etc. But now I am running out of ideas. I have seen a few Bible "studies' but they were to not complete enough for me. Or they didn't tell the whole story. I haven't seen a study for kids that include the vine part of Jonah for example. Which I think is a big part of the story, and a good thing to help with character molding in Kids. Thanks for any ideas or suggestions. I might just have to keep doing it my way, hopefully it doesn't get to boring for ds. I have learned a whole lot myself. Thanks Aggie
What grade level? We did LifePac Bible for 6th grade - I'm not sure what grade level it starts with. If you are not familiar with Alpha Omega LifePacs - they are sets of 10 workbooks and a teacher manual. For the Bible LifePac, they give you certain bible readings - which we read together, then there is a section in the workbook that summarizes/explains what you just read, then there are questions to "fill in the blank" etc. and also quizes and tests. I thought it was very good. The only drawback for us was that some of the readings took almost an hour (6th grade level) before we even got to the workbook. I felt like we weren't moving at a fast enough pace to complete all 10 workbooks in a year - but maybe that's just us! Go to www.aop.com for more info. and you can find good prices at www.rainbowresource.com and www.rocksolidinc.com They may not start until 3rd grade???
FYI, Lifepacs start in K. It's SOS (the computer version of Lifepacs) that doesn't start until 3rd grade.
Have you checked out Christian Liberty Press? We're beginning the series called Studying God's Word with Book E, which is the first of four that go through the Bible in chronological order. (You can see sample lessons on christianbook.com.) For each lesson, it shows a timeline of where you are in history, gives a lesson goal, gives background text (for Bible reading), and suggests a memory verse. Then it narrates a few paragraphs telling the gist of the story and addressing some application issues, assuming you've read it in the Bible itself already. It then gives about 10 comprehension questions plus a couple of "thought" questions. Then there's generally some sort of activity or lesson review. Every few pages, there is a book overview. The first, of course, is over Genesis. It gives the author, approximate date of writing, purpose, an outline of the book, and "the big idea" summary paragraph. There aren't many activities as far as hands-on go, but we're using it in conjunction with our history curriculum (Mystery of History) and obtain our activities from there. How old are your children? HubbardsCupboard.org has some great activities for younger kids. This series is written to kids at about a 4th grade level, but again, it's the fifth book of the series (and covers the first half of the OT). Anyway. I wanted something to cover the full Bible and this has been the best I've seen. I've also found some worksheets online for free, without any kind of text or anything, for stories in the Bible if you're interested. It's quite complete!
Lifepac Bible doesn't start until 1st grade. I'll look at the devotional book my daughter got from CEF Mailbox Club. It's really cool. Simplified stories, thought provoking questions, activity ideas. I companioned it with the free Calvary Chapel site (again, i'd have to look it up). Hmmm...I'll have to dig it out. :d
Actually we are not "offically" Hs since ds is only 4. I am thinking of how I will do it later, and if there is anything that will help now, like the CC website link (thanks!) I like how the CLP sounds I will go check out their website. Is the lifepacs a good bible choice? I really dont know much about them, there is a smoking deal on a complete 1st grade on craigslist. thansk Aggie
I *DO* actually like the LifePacs for first grade. They are *VERY* teacher-intensive, but good. With a kiddo that young, I HIGHLY recommend checking out Hubbard's Cupboard!!! The page I've linked there says it's for 3-5 years, and some of it may be below some 4yos, but it's excellent!! The first grade LifePacs (at least the Bible ones) assume that your child can write letters, circle this object or that, and this sort of thing. I found it to be beyond my 4yo at this time, but we'll probably use it next year. (He turns 5 in May, and so we'll likely start using it around spring break next year. Or sometime after that.) The Bible ones are all I've seen of this curriculum, but if you can get it for a steal, it is definately a curriculum to check out. Go by and look at it? It wasn't for us in the upper grades because of the amount of reading, but I did enjoy the interaction involved with the first grade bible set.
Check out BJU bible too. That's what we use and have really enjoyed it. We read the stories straight from the Bible because I do find that the ones written in the teacher's manual leave things out that I think are important. Basically every week we have a memory verse to go along with the lessons, a hymn- learn one verse a week, a workbook page every day, and then the Bible story or application story with questions.
Hi Aggies! My eldest has used Lifepac Bible for 3 years. She LOVES it. (I said earlier, bears repeating). I like the structure of it and such too. It is the one part of Lifepac I'm keeping for her. If you've got a workbook learner, it's great. My son who is a hands on learner as well as a audio/visual learner needs more. We splurged last year at the convention and bought the Nest Family Videos and workbooks for Old and New Testament. What I do with him is let him watch the video once a school day (he does schooling 3 days a week officially) and then he does a puzzle page from the workbook. He does the same video for 2 weeks. I also read him the story out of his "story" bible as well as his real bible (he has an NIrV Adventure Quest Bible). It really clicks with him. I'm sorry I forgot to mention those too...you don't have to buy them all at once, you can spread it out. I'm actually wishing we had bought just the OT last year b/c we still have 4 or so left to get thru the rest of the school year. I'm also thinking of next year doing a "Who I am in Christ" Book with my kids and take one verse from the list each week to memorize, reflect on, color a picture or write a journal entry or something about. I am noticing in my kids they know a lot of the answers about the bible stories, but it's not as "real" that they are part of the story too.
I teach Sunday School To 2 and 4-5 yrs old. I use Heritage of Faith, they have a book for 2 and 3 yrs olds and then the 4-5 yr olds.( it goes up to older children as well) It is by Gospel Advocate publishers. It has the stories and work pages and and activity for the children. I also print off different things from the computer I look up the bible story that I'm teaching and print off color pages or find different activities. They have Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. I do the stories on Sunday then on Wed night for Classes I go back over the stories and give a different activity. My children do well with it. Each book for the year builds on itself. spring builds from winter and so forth. Don't know if this helps but maybe it will. TC
I have to agree with the Life Paks for bible! We still use them and next year ds will be doing the full set again cause he misses it this year! We are doing odds and ends this year remember so I just pulled some undone ones from various years and have had him work in them... but they really know thier Bible mroe than most of the kids at church, I attribute that to the AOP books!
Great help Ladies!!!! Thanks for all your responses, I am going to look into the Lifepacs. And I have bookmarked all the other webpages to search along as I get some time.
BJU is the curriculum I'd decided upon before finding Christian Liberty. I think, if I'm remembering correctly, that their chronological progression actually DOES start with their "second grade" level book. VERY colorful work pages; CLP's are b&w and probably geared towards a little older child, at least in this Book E.
I just got the BJU cat. in the mail and will check it out when I get a chance to slow down. I also liked the CLP too.
And that's where WE are, so it's perfect! LOL I just started looking at it because it's chronological, and was tickled that it happened to be on the level we needed anyway. Like I said, I was going to go with the BJU before I found it. Even for my "read and answer questions"-phobia kid, it's not too much per lesson and is working well at this time... 4 lessons in. :lol:
Yay, glad it's STILL working! I hope it continues to work. We started using them when my oldest was in 2nd grade---now he's a Junior in highschool! Wow, time sure flies!
I just bought a wonderful bible study called Bible Study Guide for all ages. It sounds exactly like what you are looking for. We are currently doing 15 lessons on Joseph. These lessons include scripture from the New Testament about the "virtue" we are studying, today was deceit and telling the truth. Then there is maps, timeline, and a constant review of questions. I like that you really get into the character of the people, not just tell the story. http://www.biblestudyguide.com Rainbow Resource also sells this set.
