Book 1

The first is a K-2 enrichment book that is used with The Story Bible. This three-year program will read through all the Bible stories with the children once. Each lesson will review big words and ask comprehension questions.

Book 2

The second part is for grades 3-5 and it covers the stories of the Bible in three years. This part is based on The Golden Children’s Bible. Each lesson covers Facts to Know, Comprehension Questions, Geography, Activities, and Memory Verses.

Book 3

The third part is a one-year overview of the entire Bible. It can start at grade 6 and it relies on the student’s understanding of the stories of the Bible as they read through the Reader which has an overview of each book. The Student Guide will then review key people, terms, and geography, and an outline of each book.

Common Questions

Questions that commonly arise ask about the Bible storybooks that are used in this program. While the student and teacher’s guide refers to the required storybook pages, they also refer to the stories being taught. So one could use any story Bible to complete this course, but it would be best to use the recommended resources. These resources are the closest to the text that I’ve seen, which is one of the strengths of this program. Without getting theological, or imposing judgment on characters and situations, these texts faithfully tell the stories that are recorded in the Scripture.

The course is a Bible literacy course, not a theological treatise or Bible study. It tells the story and helps the student remember the characters, time, and place. As such, it is a good resource for all Christians who want to know the Bible well, commit passages and texts to memory, and understand key phrases and words.

Quick facts:

• Read through the Bible in three years with the K-2 Enrichment book
• Read through the Bible again in three years with the Christian Studies books I-III
• Read through an overview of the books of the bible with Christian Studies book IV
• Each part can be done independently of the other
• Bible story resource with parts 1 and 2 not required but it is strongly recommended
• This is a Bible literacy course, with memory verses required every week.
• Add in memory verse flashcards to help with memorization
• Learn the books of the bible and an outline of each book by the end of all 7 years
• Memorize 200+ trivia questions
• Create a timeline of events
• Can include maps of the geography for classroom or kitchen walls
• Grades are a recommended starting place, but it can be used in higher grade levels as well

by Hester VanBraeden

Hester is a second-generation home-educating parent who is keenly aware that her own education is not complete, and comfortable that it probably never will be. She has many years of experience with children, books, and curriculum. She loves to travel to worlds and times beyond the present with her children through many books. Hester and her husband have four children and live in the lower mainland of BC.

The post Curriculum Spotlight – Christian Studies appeared first on Classical Education Books.

Their flagship product, Teaching the Classics is an eight-hour seminar for parents, teachers, and readers. It gives them a tool for reading literature that acts like a pair of glasses which are to be worn whenever you read a book. This method shows how every story has the same structure, and it provides a long list of questions that will equip the teacher or parent to begin a Socratic Dialogue. By using dialogue a teacher can help the student engage with the story in a way that challenges his own views and opinions, rather than asking the student to assess a story whereby he just applies his paradigm to the text. Teaching the Classics also reviews literary devices and their importance to understanding classic literature.

This program is for all grades and beyond. In fact, it’s easiest to start to learn how to teach with dialogue using kids’ picture books. A shorter story means less that gets in the way of spotting the key elements. But we can use this with texts as complex as Tolstoy or Tolkien. Beyond the seminar, the only thing you need is a desire to learn, and a good book.

Once you have completed the seminar, Center for Lit helps us choose books for each grade level in their book Read Roadmaps. This guide also gives us a summary of each book and short notes for the teacher as tips for Socratic dialogue.

If you want to have complete lesson plans for select books, you can use the Ready Readers. The Ready Readers Series have texts for Elementary to High School, even one for The Chronicles of Narnia. Each Reader provides several lessons for each book and they cover specific questions mapped out for the teacher, all within the scope of what was discussed in the seminar Teaching the Classics. You must watch the seminar to understand the scope of what these books are doing. I highly recommend the Ready Readers as a reliable support for teaching literature in the form of a Socratic dialogue.

Quick Facts:

• Teaching the Classics is the central piece of this program. It’s all you need.
• Teaching the Classics is a DVD seminar with a workbook that can be done as a group. You will need to purchase additional workbooks for each viewer.
• Reading Roadmaps is a K-12 booklist with summaries of Teaching the Classics story chart.
• Ready Readers are open and go lesson plans for selected titles.
• This method can be used on any text, you do not have to use the Reading Roadmaps or the Ready Readers.

by Hester VanBraeden

Hester is a second-generation home-educating parent who is keenly aware that her own education is not complete, and comfortable that it probably never will be. She has many years of experience with children, books, and curriculum. She loves to travel to worlds and times beyond the present with her children through many books. Hester and her husband have four children and live in the lower mainland of BC.

The post Curriculum Spotlight – Center for Lit appeared first on Classical Education Books.