Bible Study Guide for All Ages - Unit 1

Comprehensive, teacher-student interactive study of the Old and New Testament, the Bible Study Guide for All Ages meets the needs of families or classrooms using a wide variety of teaching methods: drills, interactive lessons, map/timeline work and more. Rather than taking a strictly chronological or topical approach, this program takes a historical perspective and connects the Old Testament and New Testament into one big picture of God's story. The program is non-denominational and can be used with the Bible version of your choice.

Beginning with an outline of Biblical history, the first thirty lessons examine the lives of Joseph, Daniel, and Jesus. For this reason, it is recommended the units be completed in order. Once children gain an overview of the main idea of the Bible-story, the gaps are filled-in with more depth and understanding. The optional, but highly recommended Timeline helps children fully grasp the chronology of the Bible.

Flexible for your learning needs, the program offers two pathways. Purchase the Unit Teacher Guide (104 lessons) without Student Pages for a discussion-based study. While this may take more teacher prep, all you need is the Unit Guide and a Bible. The Guide contains everything you need for teaching: program philosophy and instructions, lessons, game suggestions, reproducible student resources and more. The second path is divided into 4 different levels: Beginners for 3 years to Kindergarten; Primary for grades 1-2, Intermediate for grades 3-4, and Advanced for grades 5-6. Teens and adults should use the all-in-one Unit Teacher Guide to guide them through the Bible text, review and memory work, application, and the timeline/map work.

Both pathways follow the same plan of study, however, are not exactly aligned. Because of this, you will need to decide to use either the Unit Teacher Guide or the leveled programs with Student Pages and Teacher Key/Guide.

Families choosing to use the leveled programs (Beginner, Primary, Intermediate or Advanced), will need the Student pages. The Teacher Key is optional, but helpful in the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels, as the student pages guide you through the daily lesson. If you use the optional Wall Maps and Time Line, the Teacher Key is necessary, as it includes instructions for use. For the Primary level, the Student Pages and Teacher Guide are required, as it is designed to bridge the gap between readers and non-readers. Following this pathway, you will not need the all-in-one Unit Teacher Guide. Lessons 1-104 have been updated this year and feature new covers and a slightly smaller size. Content is the same, but the editions have a different organization.

All student materials have black and white, cartoon illustrations throughout the lessons. Textual information increases from level to level, yet the Advanced level still retains plenty of the black and white illustrations. While the program is designed to use with the Bible version of your choice, the Student Pages use the vocabulary of the New International Version, though other versions can be used with minimal difficulty. Student pages for the Beginner level (ages 3-5), Intermediate levels (ages 6-8), and Advanced (ages 9-11) help students visualize and interact with the lessons. Each set of student pages contains 26 lessons. Beginner level activity sheets include memory work, timeline activities (which reference the Beginner Timeline), activities to become familiar with the structure of the Bible, pictorial representations of Bible stories and Bible study application. More advanced student pages include comprehension activities, more advanced memory work, map and time line work (using the Wall Maps/Timeline packet), activities for interacting with Bible stories, and Bible lesson application. Whether you chose the Unit or Level approach, there are optional, helpful teaching resources that are referenced in the teaching material.

Optional resources include: Bible Book Summary Cards, Children's A Cappella Song CD, Teacher Visuals, and the Wall-Maps & Time- Line packet (or the Beginner Timeline).

A very comprehensive and usable program for gaining Bible knowledge. The program consists of four units, each with 104 lessons. Units are neither strictly chronological nor strictly topical, but are devised to cover aspects of the Old Testament and the New Testament, while putting events in historical perspective. The program uses a wide variety of methods to help us remember the stories, including mapwork, drawing stick-figure pictures of the Bible stories, review of previous lessons, and drill of important facts. This course is designed to be led by a teacher and is not self-instructional. Lessons require little preparation time, since the drill, review, scripture texts, explanation of terms, questions, mapwork, timeline placement, songs, memory verses, and prayer suggestions are all on one page and story visuals are available for each lesson. However, as with any lesson, preparation will make for a better presentation. It should be noted that this is a very complete guide for your family Bible study and the program can be done simply and thoroughly from just these guides. While any version of the Bible can be used with the Units, the Student Pages use the vocabulary of the NIV.

Additional but extra-cost aids include Student Pages, Teacher Guides/Answer Keys, the Wall Maps and Time Line Packet, the Beginner Time Line, Children's A Cappella Song CD, the Picture Names and Label Packets, and Teacher Visuals.

Student Pages for the Beginner level (age 3-grade K), Primary (grades 1-2) Intermediate (grades 3-4), and Advanced (grades 5-6) help students visualize and interact with the lessons. Each set of student pages contains 26 lessons, which are similar in format between levels. Beginner level activity sheets include memory work, time line activities (which reference the Beginner Time Line), activities to become familiar with the structure of the Bible, pictorial representations of Bible stories, and Bible study application. Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced student pages include comprehension activities, more advanced memory work, map and timeline work (using the Wall Maps/Time Line packet), activities for interacting with Bible stories, and Bible lesson application. While the use of the Wall Maps/Time Line and Beginner Time Line is referenced in the material, small time lines and maps are included with the lesson pages. The Primary Teacher Guide (spiral-bound) is necessary in order to use the Primary student pages because it provides lesson plans along with the answer key. The Intermediate and Advanced Teacher Keys provide answers and suggestions for using the Wall Maps and Time Line. While helpful, these would not be absolutely necessary if the teacher was comfortable with determining the answers. Both the Student Pages and the Teacher Keys have a very minimal binding and it's obvious the pages are meant to be removed as they are used.

The CD consistently gets nice reviews from customers, and contains all the music used in the program. The mix of common children's songs with less popular songs and a variety of action songs will provide a nice accompaniment to your Bible study. Other maps, visuals, and charts are helpful and add a nice visual component to your studies.