A Review of Teaching the Bible

One of the most important things we can do is teach our children the Bible from a young age. My friend, Alyssa, has written a wonderful curriculum guideline that makes teaching the Bible to my little ones so easy and fun!

Teaching the Bible is written for toddlers through early elementary aged children. There are twelve units covering the Old Testament and New Testament, from the Creation through Jesus's second coming. Each unit contains lessons that inlcude the Bible story, scripture references, full-color memory verse posters, and lots of fun hands-on activities to reinforce the Bible lessons. 

memory verse poster for the Creation lessons

It's so much easier to explain how a curriculum works by showing you some example lessons. I started this with Unit One with Zeke (age 5) and Zoey (19 months).  Unit One is broken down into five lessons, with different sub-lessons under that. It took us a month or so to get through Unit One, but we went slower than suggested. You can definitely speed it up or slow it down to suit your needs.

We took two weeks to complete the Creation lessons because there were so many activities that we didn't want to skip any of them! Here a just a few of the activities we completed:

A sensory bin containing pictures that depicted "daytime" and "nighttime." Zeke used a flashlight to find the pictures and then sorted them by whether it was an activity we do during the day or night.

We made suncatchers with contact paper and tissue squares.

We made rain using shaving cream and colored water. They loved this! Then they played with water.

Zeke used bubble wrap to paint some fish. He then cut and glued them to a piece of blue paper. 

The sample lesson I'm going to show you is Unit One, Lesson Five called "Jacob and Esau." We read the story from several children's Bibles that I have. Our memory verse was Proverbs 3:5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." 

To introduce the story, I put a stuffed animal in one paper bag and a smooth, wooden block in another. I had Zeke close his eyes and feel the items in the bag, describing them to me. We talked about how Esau was hairy, like the stuffed animal, and Jacob was smooth, like the block.

We read the story using one of our children's Bibles. I love the fact that you can use any Bible you have, even using the actual scriptures instead of a children's Bible if you prefer. We've used several different children's Bibles, reading the story in a different one for a few days.

Zeke and I completed an All About Me worksheet with his favorite things. I helped him write a little, but he did a good job on most of it! It's always fun to see the answers kids come up with. 

The next day we talk about how Jacob disguised himself as Esau. I gave Zeke some art supplies and asked him to make a mask of anything he wanted! He chose a goat. He did such a great job with this paper plate goat mask, even making a goat headband to wear!

The other activity was to make soup together, but we haven't had a chance to do this yet. But you can see how simple yet impactful the activities in this curriculum are!

Some of my favorite things about Teaching the Bible are:

• The memory verses include hand motions that make memorizing easier, and the memory verse posters are full-color and beautiful!
• There are so many fun ideas listed each week. You can pick and choose the ones that fit your family's need the best.
• The activities are simple using items that are found around your house. 
• The stories go in chronological order and include Old and New Testament stories.
• I can tailor the activities to my toddler and my kindergartner, and they both get so much out of this curriculum.
• It's truly an open-and-go curriculum with little prep.

I am going to continue using this curriculum because Zeke and Zoey both really love when it's "Bible Time!" They are learning so much, and Zeke has retained so much information. I also love that he is memorizing scripture. The pages are very print-friendly, and the instructions for the activities are super easy to understand. I like that Alyssa included a "Bottom Line" for each activity! That ensures that you're driving home the main idea of the lesson in a way your children can understand and remember.

Teaching the Bible is available here! If you order the entire year-long curriculum bundle, available in June, you can use this code to get 25% off! The units are available individually right now!

MYFULLHEART25

Friday Favorites: Not Such a Great Week

This week wasn't the best week we've had in a while. I decided to wean Zoey last Friday, and I can happily say that she is totally weaned now. She still asks to nurse, but she is asking a lot less than she was at first. I've had some pain and soreness, but I think it's getting better now.

We did have some days with sunny weather.

Zoey also got sick on Sunday - and she's still not quite 100%. She's been whiny off and on all week, due to the sickness and the weaning. This wasn't the best time to wean, but I didn't realize she was going to get sick. I took her to the doctor on Monday, but it's just a virus. All of her flu and covid tests came back negative, and her ears looked good.

She put her stickers on her shirt.

Zeke got sick on Wednesday night with fever and a sore throat. His throat was red with white bumps - just like it did when he got strep throat. However, he had his tonsils taken out in August exactly for this reason. He got strep throat at least once a month. I took him to the doctor, and while his rapid strep test was negative, the doctor said it looks just like strep throat to him, and his lymph nodes were really swollen (also happened when he got strep). Evidently some people will still get strep throat after a tonsillectomy. Ugh! 

I called out letters for him to find on the posters.

Titus's baseball game was canceled Monday due to rain, and we got more rain all throughout the week. Today we have had some bad weather already with more to come this afternoon, so his practice was canceled today too. 

My week wasn't the greatest, but I think it's important to always remember the good things that did happen. So here are some of the highlights:

Zeke and I did get his schoolwork done this week, and he made this adorable kangaroo pencil holder!

Zoey and I did not get any tot school done this week, but we did sit on the porch and play with play-dough a few times. She loves play-dough, but she still wants to eat it! I'm ready for her to quit tasting it every time I let her play with it.

We did start Treehouse Nature study Spring, and Zeke really liked dissecting a bean seed. 

The boys and I spent Thursday afternoon picking up the yard and doing some things that needed done. 

My mom came and sat with Zeke and Zoey on Wednesday so I could go to town alone. I enjoyed being able to run errands in peace! I went to the library by myself, too. That was nice!

Maybe next week will be a little more productive, and I hope both the little ones will feel much better. How was your week?

Currently: March 2024

I'm joining Jennifer again for this month's Currently blog link-party! It was fun last month, so I decided to join in again this month. 

What I'm LOVING:

I'm loving that my oldest son got married on Saturday! He went on a mission trip last summer to Nicaragua with my parents, fell in love with a girl from a small village in the mountains, kept in touch, went back in December and proposed, and got married March 2! He will be staying there until the summer when she can get her tourist visa and come here. He's also working on her spousal visa (which takes longer than a tourist visa). Here are a few pictures from the ceremony down there. They're not professional because they just do things differently down there! 

I'm also loving my new dining room table! I've been in search of a table that seats 8 that will fit in my smallish dining room, and this table and chair set is perfect. I love the color of the wood, and the chairs are comfortable and large! Now I'm in search of placemats because I'm afraid it will get dirty. I told the kids, let's not eat at the table for a few days! They just looked at me like I was crazy.

I'm loving that Zeke has really been making progress with his reading. Going through his word list is much quicker and more fun than it was at first. He picks up on new concepts really fast, so I'm thinking he will be reading by summer!

What I'm LOOKING FORWARD TO:

I'm looking forward to the end of summer when Eli and Gendeling will be coming home. We're going to have a reception/wedding shower for them, and that will be fun! I can't wait to meet my new daughter-in-law.

I'm also looking forward to these beautiful spring days that will be here soon. We've had some warmer weather lately, and I love being able to spend so much time outdoors. Baseball season has begun, and it's way more fun to watch the games in cool, spring weather than in hot, muggy, summer weather. We have been spending much more time outside!

What I'm PLANNING:

I'm currently planning for our church's Vacation Bible School since I'm the director again. It's fun to plan, but it's way harder to find the time with a 17-month-old! Our theme is The Great Jungle Journey by Answers in Genesis. Jungle themes are easy to find decorations for!

I'm also planning out Treehouse Schoolhouse's Nature Study for Spring. I think it will be really nice to have a planned-out nature study for Zeke. There are so many beauty subjects she incorporates into these unit studies, like art and music and poetry as well as science and nature, copy work and narrations. It will stretch Zeke's mind a little, and that will be a great thing for him. We started on it today, and I really think he is going to enjoy it.

What I'm WEARING:

I've been wearing a mix of jeans and maxi skirts. I try to wear a skirt or dress to church each Sunday, and honestly, I enjoy wearing skirts and dresses. I have been wearing some skirts during the week, too, simply because they're comfortable and cool! Jeans are so uncomfortable to me. The older I get, the less I care to be uncomfortable in my clothes! I'm going to pick up some more skirts for the spring and summer next time I go shopping. I rarely take pictures of my outfits, so this one is the only recent one I could fine! Eli snapped it one day after church.

I've also been wearing my Birkenstock chunky clogs a lot this winter. I broke out my Birkenstock sandals and realized I need some new ones! I usually get one pair a year, but I wear them almost daily, so they wear out quickly. I think I'll buy two new pair this year! These are the ones I'm eyeing:

What I'm EATING:

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary lately. When Eli and I went shopping for his wedding clothes, we at Sbarro pizza and it was delicious! I cooked a pot roast for lunch after church Sunday, and I made Rod a chicken pot pie with biscuits on top Friday evening per his request. I have been eating these Resee eggs that are so good - they're the only Resee candy I like (well they have bells and hearts, too). The outer shell is hard chocolate, and the peanut butter filling is smooth. I don't like regular Resee cups!

That's it for this month's Currently post! 

ABC Jesus Loves Me: Year One, Week Eleven

Zoey is 17 months old, and we're using ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One - the free curriculum. I make a loose "lesson plan" for the week with the ideas on the website and a few extras that I come up with.

TUESDAY:

I put some cotton balls into a whisk and showed Zoey how to pull them out and push them back in again. This is such a simple fine motor activity! She didn't play with this as long as I had hoped, but I kept it out for later this week.

Her color this week is white, so I pulled out our white Kwik-Stix paint stick. She loves these! She painted her cat coloring page, her last Color Train, and then I gave her some black cardstock to paint on. The white showed up so well on the black!

THURSDAY:

Zoey is loving stickers at the moment, so I let her put a bunch of white dot stickers on some brown cardstock today. Zeke helped hand them to her since she can't peel them off of the sticker sheet yet. Zeke and I decided it looked like snowballs!

She is really into using glue sticks and paint sticks, so she used a glue stick all over her I is for Infant coloring page, and then I helped her glue some yellow "hay" on the manger.

I had written in my plans for her to transfer cotton balls with a spoon, but decided to give her some large jingle bells to transfer. She really liked doing this! Her attention span for these activities is so short, but she did this for several minutes before letting me know she was finished by throwing it on the floor.

FRIDAY:

I cut out two mittens in four different colors (yellow, green, blue, and red) and helped Zoey sort them into matching bowls. She liked this, and I was a little surprised to see how well she could sort when she wanted to!

Next we did some water-coloring painting. As always, she painted her face. I don't know what her fascination with face-painting is!

She glued some infants (clip art) on the letter I's.

She stamped cats on the cat worksheet using silver ink. It was the closest thing to white ink I had!

And that's a wrap in Tot School for the week.