Teaching the Bible Through the Years

As I begin to put together a few ideas for next year, I am tracing the homeschool journey we took with our older children. Basically, I am putting together a listing of what we used when. If it worked, then I am keeping it in the plans for the younger children. Below you will find the curriculum and books we have and will use for Bible lessons.


Bible Basics 
Preschool / Kindergarten - At such a young age, most of our studies are introductory.

Vocabulary
Our faith has a lot of words which may be hard for little ones to understand. We want our children to know what is meant by words that are used often in the Bible and during church. Our favorite resource is an older copy of My First Bible Words: A Kid's Devotional, by William O. Noller & Kenneth N. Taylor.

Bible Overview
From the time our children are born, we read straight through a toddler Bible than progress to a story Bible. Ultimately, we reach a 'regular' Bible. In this progression we typically reach Egermeier's Bible Story Book around Kindergarten age.


Bible Reading
Early Elementary (1st - 3rd grades) - Building on our children's introductory knowledge, we begin a more formal approach to reading the Bible and studying it. Several of the resources which we used are listed below.

Old Testament and New Testament Curriculum
God's Great Covenant, published by Classical Academic Press
Veritas Press Bible Series, published by Veritas Press

Extra Helps
The Victor Journey through the Bible, by V. Gilbert Beers
What the Bible is All About: For Young Explorers, by Frances Blankenbaker
Daily Life at the Time of Jesus, by Miriam Feinberg Vamosh
A Chronological New Testament
How the Bible Came to Us, by Meryl Doney
People of the Bible: Life and Customs, by Silvia Gastaldi and Claire Musatti
Bible Animals (The Bible Discovery Collection)

Reading on their Own
The Beginner's Bible - Once our children are reading reasonably well, (either first or second grade) we start them on their very first journey through a Bible story book. They read one story per sitting.

A junior Bible version - We individually choose junior reader Bibles with chapters and verses for each child when they turn 6. These are the Bibles with the full text, but uses words from a child's reading level. Our children learn to find verses and passages in these. As their reading improves, they naturally turn to their own junior Bible version to read.

A 'regular' Bible - During the spring of their third grade year, our children are given a Bible. It is a grown up version of the text (NASB or ESV). We purposefully purchase ones without any study notes or guides. There are typically maps in them and sometimes a suggested reading plan, but nothing else to distract them from God's Word.


Catechism
For our family, we spend four years asking and answering the questions of a catechism. We do this as a family and the children have ranged between second and eighth grades.

Westminster Shorter Catechism
Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, by Starr Meade
The Westminster Shorter Catechism CD set by Holly Dutton


Bible Study
For Older Elementary (4th to 6th grades), we introduce individual Bible study skills and a Biblical world view.

Personal Bible Studies
Discover 4 Yourself series, Kay Arthur

Personal Bible Studies for Girls
Write Upon My Heart character study published by Keepers of the Faith
A Virtuous Girl, by Michelle Zoppa

Personal Bible Studies for Boys
An Honorable Boy, by Michelle Zoppa
Lessons in Responsibility, published by Pearables

World View
What We Believe series, Volumes 1 - 3 (we are awaiting availability of volume 4), published by Apologia


More Intense Bible Study
During the Junior High Years (7th and 8th grades) we hope to build on their Bible study skills and strengthen their Biblical world view. The resources we have used follow.

How the Bible is Set Up
30 Days to Understanding the Bible, by Max Anders

Learning Bible Truths
The Truth about Grace, by John MacArthur
The Truth about Forgiveness, by John MacArthur
The Truth about the Lordship of Christ, by John MacArthur
The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey

World View
The New Answers Book (1-3), by Ken Ham
The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns



* In addition, we study the lives and ministries of missionaries around the world, from past and current years.

A Trip to the Science Museum

Saturday was a school day, one of our 180 required days of school for the year.  However, this wasn't a normal day of school for us.  There were timed tickets and packed lunches to remember.  For, we were on our way into the city to see for the first, and possibly only time in our lives, The Dead Sea Scrolls.

It was an amazing experience for our family!

 

 

 

 

{No photography was permitted of the actual Dead Sea Scrolls.}

Afterward, we moved through the regular exhibits in the science museum and even sat through a lecture/show in the planetarium.  There was plenty of hands on learning activities.

 

 

 

 

All in all, this was one memorable day of school!

Teaching Hymns

As Christian parents, who strive to hide God's Word in our children's heart through memorization, we also employ another tool to transmit God's message of love.  That tool?  Singing hymns. 

Often times the words from various hymns are from the Bible or summarize a Biblical thought/message.  By singing and often times, memorizing, the words our children have another way to remember God's Word. 

Personally, I cannot sing on key or clap on beat.  Therefore, I rely on CDs, a hymnal, a musically gifted daughter, and these great books by Bobbie Wolgemuth and Joni Eareckson Tada:

• Hymns for a Kid's Heart, Volume One
• Hymns for a Kid's Heart, Volume Two
• Christmas Carols for a Kid's Heart

There is also another volume called Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart, which we do not own, yet.


Related Post:
Teaching Christmas Carols

Three ABC Bible Resources for Young Learners

Throughout the years, each of our children has started learning to read by first learning their ABC's.  For me, it is fun to try to incorporate the ABC's into as many subjects as possible.  During that prekindergarten time, our children are immersed in the ABC's.  We even use a few ABC Bible resources.  Three of our favorites are:

The Memory Bible: Learn 52 Bible Verses, created by Stephen Elkins
Bible Stories From A to Z (ages 5-9), by Mary Murray
Sing the Word from A to Z, by Anne & Steve Harrow

The Memory Bible: Learn 52 Bible Verses offers a little of everything all within 52 short devotionals.  The book is set up alphabetically.  Twice the book goes through the alphabet (capital and small letters).  Each letter has a memory verse, devotional story, Bible passage, and song.  The accompanying CDs are narrated by Kirk Cameron.  The CDs only have the Bible verse, passage, and song for each letter.

For a more hands on approach, we use Bible Stories from A to Z, by Mary Murray.  It is a workbook with 26 lessons, one for each letter of the alphabet.  Each lesson focuses on one aspect or story from the Bible.  Along with the story, there are questions, craft suggestions, and simple worksheets.  The pages are reproducible and easy to use with multiple children.

Our family's favorite alphabetical songs are found on Sing the Word from A to Z.  What a fabulous way to hear and learn Scripture!  The Harrow family has assembled a lovely CD.  Seven years after my oldest son learned the songs, he still sings along with them when we play the CD for his younger brother.

Learning the Catechism

Ever wonder what a catechism is?  It is a set of questions and answers that explains the Christian faith.  There are a few different catechisms available. 

For our family, we use the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  It has 107 questions and answers that our children are memorizing.  They learn about a quarter of the catechism each school year, and will use four school years to cover the entire catechism.  During the school year, we cover one question and answer each week.  A few weeks are spent reviewing previously learned questions and answers. 

To help the children understand each question and answer, we use Training Hearts, Teaching Minds, written by Starr Meade.  The questions and answers are written in modern English.  This is extremely helpful for our younger children who sometimes have difficulty understanding some of the words and phrases used in the catechism.  The devotional is set up to cover one question and answer for an entire week.  Six daily devotionals are included for each one.  The devotionals are short and include suggested Biblical verses to be read from your own personal Bible.

Our children memorize the answers to each question we study.  To aid in this memorization, we play the corresponding song from The Westminster Shorter Catechism CD set by Holly Dutton.  These songs are fun and helpful.  Our children sing along to the lyrics, which are the question and answer, for each catechism question.  This year, we are using Volume 3.  Aside from helping to learn the answers, these CDs are fabulous to help review previously learned questions and answers.