A recent blog post inspired me to think about our Bible curriculum for school. Long ago, I had planned to have a Bible curriculum for school, separate from what we did for our family devotions. But when my oldest entered Year 1, we had craziness going on and I didn't do much research--I just used Penny Gardner's list of readings for Old and New Testament because it had been recommended and it was easy. We read one passage a day and just kept going until we finished. When my 2nd child entered Year 0.5 (our made-up year between K and 1st), I no longer wanted to use Penny Gardner's list, so I used a list from Calvary Chapel instead, and used it in much the same way. I've not been completely happy with this, but since it was working and other matters seemed more pressing, we just kept on.
I'd like to sit down now and read all the appropriate CM passages plus the relevant PR articles, but that's not going to happen just yet. I'd like to look at all the PNEU schedules and map out a master plan for Bible for us for our whole school career, but that isn't going to happen either.
What I have done so far is to take the PNEU schedule for Bible for children age 6 and put it into my own Year 1 schedule.
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The call of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-5)
Esau and Jacob (Gen. 25:27-34; 27:1-45)
Jacob's dream (Gen. 28:10-22)
Joseph's dreams (Gen. 37:1, 3-35)
Joseph in Prison (Gen. 39:1-7, 10, 16, 17, 19-23)
Pharaoh's dream (Gen. 41:1-16, 25-31, 34-43, etc.)
Joseph and his brethren (Gen. 42-45)
The birth of Moses (Exod. 1:7-12, 22; 2:1-10)
The birth and call of Samuel (2 Sam. 1:1a-3a, 9b-11, 17, 20, 24; 2:18-19; 3:1-21)
David the shepherd boy (2 Sam. 16:1, 4-20, 23)
David and Goliath (2 Sam. 17:1-11, 13, 17-18, 20-46, 48-53)
Elijah and the ravens (2 Kings 16:30-32; 17:1-16)
Naaman the leper (2 Kings 5:1-19)
Daniel (Dan. 1:1-4, 6, 7, 17-21; 3:8-10c, 11-14, 16-30; 5:1-16, 13-17, 23-31; 6:1-23)
Psalm 23
The story of the shepherds (Luke 2:1-20)
The story of the Wise Men (Matt. 2:1-15)
The Child in the Temple (Luke 2:25-32)
The boy Jesus (Luke 2:40-52)
The baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:13-17)
The call of the first disciples (Mark 1:16-20; John 1:43-51; Luke 5:27-32)
Early works of healing (Mark 1:21, 22, 29-45)
The daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43)
The stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-41)
The feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-21)
Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)
The Entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11)
Easter morning (Mark 16:1-8; John 20:11-18)
Jesus at the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-14)
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
The widow's mite (Mark 12:41-44)
The lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15:1-10)
The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
The Good Shepherd (John 10:1-18)
The Ascension (Luke 24:50-53; Mark 16:20)
Memorization
Psalm 150
Psalm 19
Psalm 23
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It works out to one story to read a week (plus Psalm 23 one week) and one psalm to memorize each term. This is a lot less than we had been doing, but I welcome that. If it's important to go slowly and savor the books we read, is it not equally important to go slowly and savor scripture? This is also only our "school" Bible, not our "home" Bible, so this will not be all we do. Add in what we do at church, with which I am usually very pleased, and I think we'll have a well rounded approach.
I still want to work out a schedule for Proverbs, and I want to decide how to handle doctrinal studies. CM's students would have read Proverbs once per year over the course of a few weeks, if I interpret the schedule in the Book of Common Prayer correctly. They would have covered doctrine as they studied the catechism for their confirmation. I know many people recommend reading one chapter of Proverbs per day so that the entire book is covered each month, but I have never been comfortable with that approach as it bites off too large a chunk at once and goes through it too fast. As for doctrine, we cover the essentials with Leading Little Ones to God, which we go through again and again during family devotions, covering one concept a week. I'm looking at some other options for my older students, but haven't settled on one yet.
Have you considered what, if any, in-depth study to do for older kids? My oldest will be starting Year 5 soon and I'd like to help him incorporate a personal, deeper bible study to do on his own in addition to family bible time. But I am unsure of what mechanism or aids might be useful. Obviously there is a lot of material out there to choose from, but what I love about AO is that the "products" we end up with are so personal, so meaningful, and not voluminous-- like the timeline, the BOC, the dictation/copywork notebook, the map he's making for Pilgrim's Progress. Know what I mean? I want him to have and work on something along those lines...
ReplyDeleteSarah, I have tried different things for personal Bible study for my older student (Year 5 this year). We have done Peregrina studies (http://peregrina1.wordpress.com/). We have done one of the Kay Arthur books for young people. Right now my dd is working through a study I wrote/am writing for her going through the 10 commandments using Dr. Laura's book about them as a commentary of sorts.
ReplyDeleteI have not yet found anything I loved and would heartily recommend. SimplyCharlotteMason has some studies too, but I haven't tried them yet.
CM had the student working through a portion of the OT and a single synoptic gospel per year at this age during school time. I wonder if we couldn't work out a simple way to make that into a personal devotional "project" in some way?
Kathy, Thanks for sharing this! I love getting new ideas by seeing what other families are doing.
ReplyDeleteWe memorized Ps. 23 last year, and then during the summer I read Philip Keller's A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 and the kids LOVED it. Maybe yours would, too! If you are interested, you can read my review of it to see if you think it's a good fit.
Thanks for reminding me about that book, Brandy! I've never read it, but I've heard of it. I wouldn't have thought to use it with the kids, though. During Lent each year, we focus on the parable of the Good Shepherd (to prepare for Easter, when the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep), and I think that book might give an extra dimension to that. It might be good to do that during the Easter season after Easter Sunday. . . I'll have to see if my church library has it.
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