When I heard I was on the list to review a product for Greek 'n' Stuff, I trembled at the thought of teaching my girls Greek. I've long admired Greek 'n' Stuff for their quality language programs because I've heard excellent reviews, but wasn't sure I was ready to tackle Greek (especially on top of the Latin that we're already studying in our co-op). I was pleasantly surprised (and, admittedly, a tad relieved) to discover that Greek 'n' Stuff also publishes a great line of Bible studies for children, written by Karen Mohs, titled Alone With God Bible Studies.
Product Details
The I Can Study 1 Samuel consists of 39 weekly lessons, broken into three parts, with assignments for each day (Monday through Saturday). Each week a section of the book of 1 Samuel is assigned, and each day's assignment starts with a reminder to pray, then recitation of the memory verse(s) for the week (not necessarily taken from 1 Samuel). Each daily lesson includes several questions to answer from the week's passage, and each weekly lesson also includes several thought-provoking questions (sometimes including a bit of knowledge about the time, culture or geography) and a "think and pray about it" section which serves to make the kids think about real life application of what they've learned. The 1 Samuel study is available here for $21.95, and is available in KJV or NIV.
What I like
That each and every day's assignment begins with a reminder to pray and ask God to help you study his Word. How often we just delve in out of obligation to do our "daily quiet time," without asking for wisdom and guidance in studying God's Word. I'd love to instill in my girls the habit of seeking wisdom early in their lives.
I like that, as the name implies, my oldest was usually able to study the book of 1 Samuel alone. The way the study is set up allowed her to do a little at a time, by herself, and she felt good about that. Rather than having me instruct her on what she should study, she took the initiative and did it herself. Granted, we never completed a week's lesson in a week, and she often needed help with interpretating the questions and sometimes searching out the answer, but that's okay with me - we should learn how to search the Scriptures. She still did a great job, as this was her first verse-by-verse Bible study.
Note that while this study is targeted to upper elementary, I think it can cover a wider age range it appears to me to be fairly easily simplified for younger students or beefed up for older students.
Watch out for
The study is entirely in black/white. My oldest, who has a few sensory issues, was fine with it. My somewhat hyper younger daughter, who likes all things brightly colored, sometimes had trouble focusing because it didn't keep her attention due to the lack of color and because most of the pages are set up similarly.
If you have a younger child who wants to do this study, consider using the NIV for the simpler language. The study is targeted to upper elementary-aged students, but my 3rd grader wasn't happy about being left out of a Bible study opportunity, so I ordered an extra copy of the study for her. She had some trouble studying the KJV, an I suspect the NIV would have been a tad easier for her to use.
Be sure to
Final thoughts
I really liked this study, and hope that they publish more in this series. What a great gift to our children to teach them to do independent Bible studies while they are young!
Thoughts of my crew mates
To see other reviews of this product, click here. For giveaways, other product reviews and other fun things, follow the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew blog at:
Disclaimer: As part of the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received the product described in this review (in pre-production form) at no cost in exchange for my fair, honest and unbiased (and not necessarily positive) review. No other compensation was received.
Hello! I'm stopping by from our TOS Crew to let you know how blessed I am to have worked with you this year.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you!