As I’ve shared before, we don’t consider Scripture or Bible study part of our school time. Oh, we might do a character or devotional study during morning time, but I don’t want my children to associate studying the Bible with school time. Too often, when children grow and leave school behind they also leave behind their time in the Word. If we develop that as a daily habit separate from school, my thought is that it will be more likely continued. So, when we received all of the pieces of the Bible Study Guide For All Ages to use I wasn’t sure when to implement it. Some of us read from the Bible before doing anything else, others prefer to do it after supper/before bed. We settled on doing it before breakfast and morning time. We received Advanced (Gr. 5 & 6) Student Pages and Teacher Pages, Intermediate (Gr. 3 & 4) Student Pages, and Bible Book Summary Cards. We also have the Wall Maps and Timeline Set plus the binder and labels for the first quarter (lessons 1-26).
Before even beginning our lessons, we spent some time cutting out timeline labels and images and map labels. We hung our maps in the dining room near where we planned to do our study. The timeline we hung on the bulletin board in the living room. We often have maps and timelines hanging so this is no big deal for us to have in our living space. If we had a dedicated school room, I might feel differently about that. *grin* It is recommended to have the maps and timeline laminated and we will once I find someplace reasonable to do so. The labels and images are all on cardstock with a glossy finish so using “the blue sticky stuff” works just fine. As you go through the lessons, some of the labels are only in place for a few lessons. Using the removable putty is necessary. The binder is great for keeping all the pages before you place them. I do wish there were pockets – either as part of the binder or hole-punched to slip into the binder rings. Those labels removed after a few lessons? Nowhere good to keep them. The labels that are cut out but you haven’t mounted yet? Again, it is too easy for them to get lost. The way this study works, repeating every four years, reusing some of these resources would be nice.
The Teacher and Student pages are very straightforward. The pertinent Scriptures are at the top. We took turns around the table reading. Even the youngest ones were able to read a verse or two (it was a teary-eyed-mama moment when this happened the first time. Reading has been the big challenge for all three of them this year – and they are now soaring). The various segments – Remember It?, Memory Workout, Guess What…, and Time Line or Map, are either the same or close enough that we are doing this all together. These, along with Get Active and Apply It! are all on the front side of the page. The reverse side, Discover the Bible has the story in comic format with panes needing words or pictures filled in or some circled, etc. These are also quite similar and are easy to do together. The Get Active and Apply It! is where the age and maturity differences are accounted for. We might still do these all together, discussing at the table the Apply It! portions, etc. But this is also where your child makes this their own. They are starting to really develop their own relationship with God. They are often pondering and praying about these things in the days to come. This was especially true in our home when talking about fleeing temptation.
I had intended to only use this with our youngest three children, they are the ones in the age ranges for the materials we received. The older girls (13-17) wanted to take part. They paired up with a younger sibling during our study times. We will be getting the teacher materials for teens – it works a bit differently than the materials we have, but will coordinate well enough. We enjoy this so much! Once the additional pages arrive and we pick this back up, we will work through at the recommended pace of two lessons per week. This will give us four years to complete all of the lessons – then start over again. And I fully expect us to keep going. These lessons are used by many in their homes and churches. Now I see why.
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