As a follower of the Charlotte Mason method, we learn a lot from living books. Even though the Bible is the most living book there is, it isn’t very realistic to read it straight through with young children. I wanted my children to directly study the Bible in a chronological and comprehensive way, but I didn’t want to overburden them by tackling passages that were way over their heads.
Then I came across the Bible curriculum from Calvary Chapel that is free and available online. It consists of 325 lessons from both the Old and New Testament. I love having the Bible readings mapped out for me to use as a road map and the questions to guide narration.
Pros:
- It is extensive. There are 325 lessons on both the Old and New Testament. If used daily, this curriculum will last almost two school years.
- It is accessible for young students. It covers much more than just the well-known stories such as Noah and David and Goliath but doesn’t dwell on difficult passages of law, prophecies, and genealogies.
- The Bible readings generally follow the order they are found in the Bible, so children become familiar with the chronology of Biblical history.
- There is not a lot of commentary or interpretation. Children can learn to go directly to God’s Word without being told what it means. As Charlotte Mason wrote: “A word about the reading of the Bible. I think we make a mistake in burying the text under our endless comments and applications.”
- It can be used with a broad age range of students. My daughter is in first grade, and we do the readings together, but much older children could do this as independent work.
- Each lesson includes a memory verse, two levels of question pages, coloring page, and two levels of word puzzle pages.
- You can’t beat the price!
Cons:
- The lessons use the New King James Version, so filling in the blanks can sometimes be tricky if you’re using a different version.
- The lessons covering the four gospels follow Jesus’ life chronologically, so there is quite a bit of jumping around from one gospel to another.
- Some of the lessons have fairly long Bible readings (up to 3 chapters long) which are difficult for younger students to finish in one sitting.
- There’s not a huge difference in the levels of question pages.
This curriculum is very flexible and can be used with all kinds of styles. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly, straight-forward Bible curriculum, you might consider this resource for your family.
Come visit Beth, our newest writer, at her blog Apples and Jammies.
Brenda is a homeschooling mother of 5, who has a wonderful husband encouraging her to be the best woman that God has created her to be. Together they are very intentional about spending time together as a family. She considers her daily life with her children as her ministry and has found many avenues to encourage others to live a lifestyle of learning. She is the founder of a curriculum review site authored by a group of well-known homeschool bloggers, The Curriculum Choice.
Thank you for the link. I’ve passed this along to our homeschooling support group here in Phoenix!
I was wondering if the lessons were still available?
I really find the children curriculum very helpful
This is a wonderful curriculum! I use it to teach Sunday school and love the flexibility yet thoroughness.
I love this curriculum. The lesson have everything that you need to teach sunday school, childrens church, vacation bible school. The lessons are the complete package.
My children are still preschoolers, so I found it difficult to find stuff for them. That is when I came across Calvary’s Curriculm. They have one for preschoolers, but it is only 52 lessons long. Sometimes I can use the story, presenting it in different ways, all week. Other times it may only last a day or two. Still, some of your points are similar to what I have seen. I’m glad to see others have enjoyed it as much as we have.
CalvaryCurriculum.com has just launched its NEW revised curriculum of “The Life of Jesus – The Gospels in Chronological Order.” There are over 95 Bible Studies in this series. We are still working on a few details but the bulk of it is online for FREE at http://www.calvarycurriculum.com/cc-childrens-curriculum.php. God bless! 🙂
I love the Curriculum lessons & so do the children! We can all learn from them. The lessons have been a real blessing. Especially When you have to have a lesson at the last minute. I printed up all the lessons for our small church & anyone can go to the file cabinet to pull out a lesson & print out copies. Thank you Calvery Chapel. God Bless you.
the materials are of grea help to many of our children and help the teachers to teach well.
I really have loved using this curriculum to supplement our Bible lessons and have used it over the years. I was surprised to see the updates when I went to the site a while ago. I can’t seem to find my way around, nor can I find the OT lessons. Is it just me, or does anyone else struggle with the new format? I love websites to stay the same, sigh!
I have relied on this curriculum for years to supplement my regular curriculum and deeply appreciate its commitment to sound bible doctrine at a level that children can understand