Bible Study for All Ages - A New TOS Review!

For a while I've been looking for a Bible study curriculum, but really couldn't find one that I felt suited our family ... until NOW. We have been spending the last few weeks reviewing the Intermediate (3rd & 4th) and Advanced (5th & 6th) levels of Bible Study Guide for All Ages and we are loving it. We also were blessed to receive the Wall Maps and Timeline Set which are pretty HUGE, but also pretty awesome to have alongside the lessons.

First off I'm going to spend some time telling you what is included and how the curriculum works and then we will switch to what my kiddos thought as well as my own thoughts. This Bible curriculum is to be used over the course of 4 years and has 416 total lessons. Each year you will learn both Old and New Testament which is wonderful instead of only learning the 'common' Bible stories and nothing about the life and times of Jesus. It does bounce around throughout the 4 years going from Joseph to Daniel to Jesus' birth and first year of ministry and then later (in year 3) from Moses to Hebrews and Paul to Ruth, but it seems it covers the ENTIRE Bible. What is even better is that because of the different levels (Beginner 3 - K, Primary 1st & 2nd, Intermediate 3rd & 4th, Advanced 5th & 6th as well as Teen and Adult -- which weren't a part of our review, but I'm HIGHLY interested in ordering) we can ALL study the Bible at our own level at the same time! Perfect!!

For the purposes of the review, we reviewed the Intermediate and Advanced levels and had my eldest use the Advanced level so she could work with the younger two. I thought it would be better if we could all work together instead of just my youngest. We received the following for our 2 levels:

• Advanced Student Pages, Advanced Teacher Key, & the Large Bible Book Summary Cards
• Intermediate Student Pages, Intermediate Teacher Key (this also can come with the Bible Book Summary Cards, but you only need 1 per family.)
• In addition we received the Wall Map and Timeline Set which includes 3 large maps and a 2 part timeline which is pretty big. There are multiple ways you can use these so check out the sizes and if you don't have wall space think about foam board or something like that. They are really fun and useful during the lesson and just in general.

The two levels we had were very close in what they were teaching so it was an easy transition to teaching to all. For my youngest I'd read his instructions and then the girls were able to follow along and then work on their section. You can see in this picture just how similar, yet different they are.

Intermediate

Advanced

This setup allowed my son and daughters to all follow along and work through the lesson on their own at their ability level. The student pages are pretty large  - legal sized pages - and only put together by this tearable edge that easily allows the page to be torn off ... which is great for a classroom, not so great if you don't want a bunch of pages floating around your house. It's one of my only cons to this curriculum. Since students can work together or independently, sometimes my eldest would work ahead. Then when we were working on a section she'd read the full chapter of Scripture. The year unit is broken down into 26 lesson packets.

There are several sections within each lesson:

Remember It - Review of the Bible lessons previously taught and ask specific questions that can be answered with the Scripture reference at the start of the lesson so they can read it out of their own Bible.
Memory Workout - usually a review from the Bible Summary Cards and a suggestion of a song you can sing
Guess What - cool facts and some definitions.
Time Line/Maps - where you use the Timeline and Maps

Get Active - Ways to make your learning fun and interactive. This would be great in classroom settings.
Apply It - this helps the student really apply the Scripture to their own life.
Discover the Bible - this is an overview of the entire Scripture being studied and written in a comic book style.

Here's a little video about the Timeline & Maps so you can make your own decision, but I think you'll agree they are a PLUS to have while studying the Bible.

Here's what my kids thought:

Arianna - I like the tear off pages, but that's hard to deal with if you are using it a few times a week. They will be great in a Bible class situation since they could be removed and handed out. It's a fun way to learn about the Bible. There are little comics you have to finish which help for active learning. The big wall timeline and wall maps help you visually understand where they are talking about and who else was around during that same time. And there's a mapwork and timeline work for most lessons. I like that everyone can use a different level, but we can all be on the same lesson and work together yet separately.

Audrie - I like that we can all do Bible time together. The pages are a little too big. I wish they had a way we could hole punch them and put them in a binder. But it's fun to do.

Seanan - I like being able to have my own papers to do the Bible lessons with everyone else. I think the comics are fun to read and to fill out and finish the stories.

Each lesson has taken us about an hour but I think that's because we chit chat and ask further questions. These lessons have been fun and engaging even for mom and dad as we follow along. The Teacher Key has been really helpful so I can just know what the answer is and not have to stop and look up the Scripture if I'm having memory lapse.

The Bible Summary Cards are large cardstock 8 x 10 pages that have full color on the front and all the written info on the back with questions for 'drill' time.

We also have enjoyed the LARGE (have I mentioned that they are big) Wall Maps and Timeline Set. But they are really helpful giving a visual marker for where things were going on and who else may have been around. The pieces come in a small binder printed on thick cardstock. You need to use reusable tape or that ticky tack stuff so you can remove and replace some of the places or people. And I plan to have these laminated ... maybe after we move (which might be less then a month!) The pieces would certainly last longer if they were also laminated ... but I'll have to see. Cutting them out and such has been the 'hardest' part of the whole process.

I know that we will be looking into using this for a while and probably purchasing the Teen/Adult Unit Guide so we can all work together. Please be sure to check out others on the Crew and how they incorporated  Bible Study Guide for All Ages into their routine. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.