As part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, I was sent Classical Academic Press God’s Great Covenant, New Testament 1: A Bible Course for Children to review.

From the Classical Academic Press website:

Teaching the Bible to young children can be a large task, and is often divided up into many small stories. However, if you would like to teach your students the truly big picture of the Bible, and show them how God has been at work in his people since before creation, you will find God’s Great Covenant to be a unique, surprising, and excellent Bible curriculum. The Bible, taught chronologically, by means of simple and direct stories, chants, and meditation on God’s character define God’s Great Covenant. Even many adults find themselves learning new facts, making surprising connections, and being blessed by reminder of God’s faithfulness, and how he always keeps his promises. Taught from a covenantal and reformed theological perspective, and rooted in Scripture, you will find this series to be a blessing to your classroom or family.

 

From the Classical Academic Press website:

In God’s Great Covenant, New Testament 1: A Bible Course for Children, students will follow the story of Jesus, the Messiah and King, as He is born and fulfills all God’s promises. But Jesus does not arrive as people expected. The people were looking for a mighty warrior to deliver them from the oppressive Roman government. Instead, He came as the suffering Savior, who would die as the sacrifice for sin and death. He was building a kingdom that was not of this world—it was the kingdom of God. He is the Son of Man, God’s Servant, the Messiah, and the Son of God. Each of the four units in this text emphasizes one of these names of Jesus. God’s Great Covenant, New Testament 1 teaches the Gospels to students in fourth grade and up, using stories, worksheets, memory verses, devotional guides, quizzes, and a little boy named Simon. In the introductions to the text, students will also learn about the historical, cultural, and geographical setting of the New Testament. This book is a most comprehensive and heartfelt study of the Gospels, and many parents and teachers will find themselves learning along with their students.

The God’s Great Covenant Student Book, pictured above, has everything the student needs. The lessons to read, as well as maps and worksheets. The text is intended to be written in by the student. No permission is given to copy the worksheets. That is the only thing that I didn’t like about this book. I think the $26.95 price is high for a consumable book. I think for that price, the work sheets should be reproducible. I have multiple students, though. You may have only one or two students and think the price works well with your budget.

Here is a sample worksheet:

You can view more samples of the God’s Great Covenant Student text.

God’s Great Covenant is divided into 36 weekly chapters. Each chapter contains a weekly memory verse, a key facts chart, a worksheet, and a quiz. Each lesson also has a “Think About It” question to encourage the student to consider how to relate to God in their own lives.

God’s Great Covenant is written for fourth grade and above. I’ve been using it with my 5th grade, 11 year old son.  He really likes the little boy, Simon. I think having this boy included helps the students to relate to the lessons better. This is not a book of Bible stories, though. I’m finding God’s Great Covenant to be a well-written, in depth Bible curriculum for this age group.

There is also an Audio File available with the lessons read aloud. My son prefers me to do the reading aloud for him, however, it sure would come in handy. Especially on the days when Mom is feeling a little under the weather.

 

The Teachers Edition contains pictures of the student text, with lines for the teacher to write notes. It also provides answer keys and notes for the teacher. It also has additional facts to expand the historical, geographical, cultural, and theological concepts introduced in the student text.

 

Here are a couple of sample pages from the Teacher Edition:

You can view more samples of the God’s Great Covenant Teacher Edition.

 

God’s Great Covenant, New Testament 1: A Bible Course for Children is available on the Classical Academic Press website. The Student Text sells for $26.95, with the Teacher Edition selling for $29.95 The Audio Files are $9.95

 

See what other The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Members are saying about God’s Great Covenant.

 

 

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a free copy of this book and digital download in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. My opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

As part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew, I received a copy of Bright Ideas Press Christian Kids Explore Biology and Student Activity digital download to review.

 

 

From the Bright Ideas Website:

Bright Ideas Press publishes curriculum that moms love. We promise to publish Christian-oriented curriculum that will fit into your hectic life, curriculum that is both affordable and easy-to-use with children of different ages at the same time. The team at Bright Ideas Press prays that our products and resources will not only simplify your life but also inspire, encourage, and enable you to effectively educate your children.

 

 

 

From the Bright Ideas Website:

This user-friendly, unabashedly Christian, one-year science curriculum for elementary students includes teaching lessons, gorgeous coloring pages, hands-on time, memorization lists, review sheets, creative writing assignments, and an awesome supplemental book list! Written for 3rd through 6th graders, it can easily be scaled down for younger students, making this an excellent choice for teaching all your elementary-aged kids together. The schedule of 35 weekly lessons calls for teaching twice weekly, allowing a family time for projects, exploration of resource books, field trips, etc. The conversational style gives students the basic information they need, making this an ideal first course in life science; especially useful for those following a classical approach!

 

Since Christian Kids Explore Biology is written for elementary students from 3rd to 6th grade, I’m using this with my son Zach, a 5th grader. I love that this curriculum is Christian and doesn’t hide it. I don’t need to worry about getting into the middle of a lesson and having to do my own lesson to correct what we just read.

This over 290 page book, contains everything that you need for one year. Teacher notes and instructions, text and reproducible pages. Christian Kids Expore Biology is great for using with multiple students on different levels. Two teaching sessions a week is recommended. Each lesson is divided into two sections, Teaching Time and Hands-On Time.

Teaching Time begins with the text to be read. This can be read by the student, or out loud by the parent. My son still likes me to read out loud to him. There is a Daily Reading Sheet for the student to fill out, as well as built in review, flashcards and vocabulary. There is also a supplemental reading list for researching topics of interest.

Hands-On Time, which is recommend to be done on a different day than Teaching Time, is when the kids get to do all the fun hands on activities that they love. The student activity sheets, experiments, and filling in their student science notebooks. The student science notebook is a notebook of your choosing. This is where the student keeps their notes, drawings and activity sheets. At the end of the year, this notebook is an excellent record of what the student has learned.

The book does grant permission to reproduce the student activity sheets and other activity pages. These reproducibles are also available as the Student Activity Book digital download. No more trying to get the big book to lay flat for copying. I love the convience of the digital download. With coloring pages, activity pages, experiment forms and more, the Student Activity Book (or reproduciable sheets from the book) reinforce the lessons in a way that kids love.

 

Christian Kids Explore Biology is available on the Bright Ideas Press website for $34.95 The Student Activity Book digital download is available for $7.95.

 

 

See what other The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew Members are saying about Bright Ideas Science books like Christian Kids Explore Biology.

.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a free copy of this book and digital download in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. My opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”