What Bible curriculum do you use? That’s a very common question I get. There are lots of programs, schedules, workbooks, etc, out there to choose from. We typically don’t use any of them. We read, read, read — the Bible. We read lots of other stuff too but we read the Bible consistently. We discuss what we’ve read either right then or throughout our day or when the discussion presents itself.
There is one exception I make. When my boys are right at the 9th grade level, I like to study Bob Waldron’s History and Geography of the Bible with them. This is a chronological study of the Bible concentrating on the geography of the areas the events take place. During this year, we strive to read the entire Bible during the school year. That’s pretty hard to do and still keep up with all our other reading. The first year we did this, we were able to read the entire Old Testament during that school year. So the following year we read through the New Testament twice. We finished it by the winter break so when we started up again in January, we read it again.
One year we decided to listen to the Bible on CD. Now that was nice. I’m always the one doing the reading. It can be exhausting. I didn’t realize how much it took out of me to read as much as 8 chapters a day, every day, until we listened to the Bible on CD. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable to listen to someone else read it and read it so well. We were able to listen to the entire Bible that year.
Something I have begun doing in my personal studies is to read a book over and over again. This is easy to do with the smaller letters in the New Testament. Read 1 Peter in its entirety every night for a week. It’s amazing how much more interesting and how much more I get out of it the more familiar I am with it.
I did this with the boys this year but at a much slower pace. We were memorizing the “I am…” passages from the book of John. I wanted them to get a good feel for the book and see where the passages we were memorizing fit into the book. We read one chapter every day until we had read it all. Then, after we finished, we did it again, and again. We read it 3 times before moving on to a different book. The younger boys would begin anticipating what would happen next and they were always glad to get to the parts we had already memorized.
It’s so important to instill a love of God’s word in our children — a respectful love. We need to let our children know that the Bible is the only book that really matters. It’s all fine and good to read secular literature but when we compare the huge amount of literature we read to our children and we require our children to read it is huge compared to the amount of Bible reading/study we require of our children.
I read some advice years ago about how to make our children be better readers. It said that our children need to see us reading, then they’ll want to read. They should see us reading for pleasure as well as for learning. The same is true with the Bible. Our children need to see us reading our Bible. They need to know that we read our Bible because we love God and we love His word and we want to find out everything God wants us to know.
If you’re new to Bible study, it can be daunting at times. Parts of the Old Testament can seem very repetitive and pointless to read. I encourage you to read through it. It really helps to read as a family because it will keep you motivated to persevere. There is a set of books that I recommend to help understand the tough parts and to keep the big picture in focus. It is a set of 9 books that cover the whole Bible. It is written by Bob Waldron, the same author of the book mentioned above. The books are relatively inexpensive and easy to understand. You can see them here: A Lamp To My Feet. He has also written a small book to help organize your Bible study — The 3 Cycle Approach- A Method for Organizing Bible Knowledge.
What will be our Bible reading schedule for this next school year? I’m not sure. I have a son that just has 2 years left in our little school. Maybe we’ll read the Old Testament this year and the New Testament twice next year. Giving him one last chance to take part in our daily Bible reading before he leaves for college.
Thanks for your web site im finding out homeschooling can be done!! looking forward to teaching my daughter!
Thanks for writing this. We study the Geography book in an adult study with Mike. It brings tears to my eyes for I remember much of that study and how beneficial it was to all of us.
I take note of the A Lamp To My Feet. I know we would benefit from them too.
Now we study following the Shaping Hearts for God’s Bible readings, and reading from the NKJ as well as the Catherine Voss Bible for children which gives you perspective and so far (we are in her second book in the OT) it has no opinion but a close to the Bible with verses and words similar or identical. I like that it recaps and gives you a bit of historical and geographical background and details.
The DeHoff’s Bible Handbook is concise and good to also give you a broad idea of what the books of the Bible are about, but I am seeing that A Lamp to my Feet as more complete. I am glad you wrote this, I was kind of looking for something in this direction.
Hugs
Mike was a special person. He influenced so many people and his work does and will follow him.
I was prompted to write this after our CM meeting this week. We discussed studying the Bible at home. You would enjoy these meetings. You should make a trip up here some time. We meet the last Tuesday night of the month.
Will you be at Kleinwood tomorrow night?
I always love reading what you write. I’d like to go back to school…your school. Thanks for the inspiration to immerse myself in God’s word, adjusting the ratio to lean heavily that way instead of toward the words of men. I think I need to take myself off automatic emails of men’s words that sometimes make me question too much what I already know to be true.
Thank you, Cheryl. It’s always a challenge to keep a balance in our studies. We need to have a good secular education but we need to have a better spiritual education.