You have all been so great in helping me make decisions on math and science that now I have another area in which I need help. I need suggestions for Bible curriculum. I have never used a Bible curriculum at all and have no clue what is even available. I know CLE has one and I am looking at that now, but other than that I have no clue. This is for a 3rd grader. Thanks!
I am really fond of Positive Action for Christ's Bible curricula. The 3rd grade curriculum is called Growing with God. What I love about this curriculum is that it's more than just learning the Bible, it's also about learning to apply it, live it, and memorize it. The memorization portion isn't just randomly chosen verses out of context, but rather it's whole passages broken out into smaller segments to be learned each week, and then the whole passage is put together for a week. Also it's written to be used with your favorite version of the Bible and it will still make complete sense! For us that is a big plus because very, very few curricula uses the KJV for their scripture quotes and it's confusing for my boys who are only used to KJV. Another great point is that the TM is available in print or if you want to save some money you can get it on CD-Rom, this is great for me because I use my laptop for school anyway. You can check out their curricula at www.positiveaction.org
Just for future reference, Birbitt, the CLE, R&S, and Lifepacs are all KJV. I've looked at Positive Action for several years, and don't know why I haven't just gone ahead and made the switch!
Thanks Lindina, I knew a few were KJV, but not many considering all that is out there. Lifepacs and CLE (which are similar I believe) aren't a style that works for my kiddos. Don't know why but they get frustrated knowing that they have to do 10 workbooks for a year instead of just one...even if the 10 are smaller. I do LOVE R&S, but for some reason have never bought them, I don't know why, I just never did.
Actually, R&S first through fourth grades, as you probably know well, but somebody else following this discussion may not -- are Bible Reading, where all the reading is taught using Bible stories. We're using them for Bible, with other stuff for reading. We used their fifth and sixth grades of Bible and thought they were wonderful. I was looking forward to using the seventh and eighth grades Bible too, but that student has moved on and isn't with us anymore. BTW, CLE's Bible for first through fourth grades is now in the Sunrise Editions. First and second grades have a one-page Bible story (with the full story to read aloud in the TM) with a one-page activity, and NO quizzes or tests. And these 1-4 are only 5 lightunits so you can either do them every day and get done in half a year, then do something else the rest of the year, OR do them every other day for the whole year. Actually, the 4th grade has 5 additional "optional" units that until they get the 5th grade up and running, can be used for 5th grade OR done in the second half of 4th grade. So these Sunrise ones aren't like the Lifepac ones anymore.
How about just a memorizing a catechism and reading some stories? My children are memorizing this catechism. It was written by the church historian, Phillip Schaff. Then, just read the Bible stories. Is anything else required?
Cornopean, obviously it is up to every Christian parent how much and what to teach their children of Scripture and what it says. Some prefer to have a story-based curriculum with comprehension questions, others prefer simply reading stories, others prefer teaching a specific catechism... Just like how to homeschool - it's all choices!
Honestly nothing is actually required and I suppose that is why I have never done any sort of Bible curriculum before. When she was 5 we read stories from a children's Bible story book and she colored pages to go with each story. That is it and we haven't done anything since as far as an actual curriculum goes. She does memorize passages of scripture. She is working on Luke 2:8-14 now and knows two others also. I would like something that engages her, sparks her interest in the Bible stories. I'm not sure if I should just read aloud the Bible to her each day?
Birbitt~what do you mean by this? Sorry I don't understand. And can you tell me if I should order the TM for the Kindergarten level? Thanks!
Here are two free ones I like and use all the time: http://www.bibleclassbooks.com/bible-curriculum.html (I'd say about 3rd thru 8th for this one, but adaptable for high school) http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm (I'd say PreK thru 6th for this one, and it continues on to the NT with a link at the top of the page... this is just the OT page.)
Some Bible curricula can only be used with one specific version of the Bible, because they use fill in the blanks or other types of questions or activities that only match the wording of that one specific version. For example, the one cited from Calvary Chapel uses the NKJV, so if you try to use the NIV with it, some of the words won't fit exactly. So with the Positive Action curriculum, you can use NIV, or KJV, or NKJV, or NASB, or whichever version you prefer, and you can still find answers for all the questions. BTW, the one from Christian Liberty also uses KJV, in case anybody's interested.
We've never done a Bible curriculum, either, other than Awana when the kids were younger. I'm looking at CLE for my ds14 next year for Old Testament survey. My kids have their own Bible reading time each day, but I think we have been lacking in OT history. I might order a set for myself, too.
We have been using Lifepac this year for bible and I am not happy with it at all. I was looking into CLE bible for next year. I already use their math, science and social studies and am happy with those so I think I am going to get their bible program too. I was looking at the samples on their website and it looks like the CLE bible 1st grade is much better than the Lifepac bible 1st grade.
I'm just now seeing this sorry. What I mean is that their Bible curriculum is written in such a way that the verses are not printed in the books, you need to look them up so you can use any Bible version you like, aslo the activities are written in a way that none of the questions or activities are version specific. Yes I would order the TM, because there are awesome activities and such in the TM!
