A very comprehensive and useable 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, prayer suggestions and picture suggestions are all on one page. However, as with any lesson, preparation will make for a better presentation. A very complete guide to your family Bible study.

Additional but extra-cost aids include the Wall Maps and Time Line Packet, the Beginner Time Line, Children’s A Cappella Song CD, Picture Names and Label Packets, Student Pages, and Teacher Visuals. 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, 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. More 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. 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. See more on individual items below.

Customer Reviews

 
Andrea J. from Ohio wrote the following on 08/20/2009:
Teaching children to know God's Word and apply it can often seem overwhelming, especially if they are twelve, nine, seven, four and two like ours. How can the entire family be on the same page literally when it comes to God's Word, with each child eagerly interacting with the text? Bible Study Guide for All Ages attempts to accomplish this for churches, schools, and individual families. Our family began using this curriculum by simply reading at least one chapter from the Bible a day, answering questions about the text, recalling information from previous lessons, reciting Bible drills, referencing a map or timeline for context, and responding to the text with an application question. All of the information I needed as the teacher was primarily found on one page for each lesson. The layout for each lesson is as follows: topic with Scripture reference, Drill work (this encompasses Bible knowledge every Christian should be familiar with... Ten Commandments, the Apostles, Seven days of Creation, OT and NT books, arranging Bible characters in chronological order, and also incorporates finding passages quickly and underlining key events or people for quick reference), Review questions from previous lessons, Text reference to read aloud, Additional Scriptures used to prepare for the lesson, According to the Dictionary (defines unfamiliar people or concepts and further explains passages in context, which is very helpful for the teacher) Questions on the passage read, Map work, Timeline placement, song ideas from the CD, an Application question, prayer focus, and a reminder to use the stick figure visual. While we did not use every component every day, this guide gave us a framework from which we could study God's Word together. Most days we would spend time on memory work and singing (which was not necessarily from the guide), drill work, review of previous lessons, read the text, answer questions, reference a map, application discussion, and prayer. During our second year using the curriculum, we added the student pages. We found that they did a great job of reviewing lessons and provided the maps and timelines we previously had not spent much time on. Normally, each lesson took us two days to completely cover, sometimes reading the passage both days. Doing three different levels of student pages proved frustrating at times. I would recommend keeping as many students on the same level as possible unless you plan for them to do them on their own. The upper two levels, Intermediate and Advanced, are most alike and students could easily use the same level either moving up or down. The Beginner level pages were just right for my first grader as we reviewed them together. Each lesson gave suggestions for memory drill, review, application with a simple story and picture to color, and on the back side, the Scripture text was retold in cartoon block form. All three levels used similar cartoon blocks on the back side which provided review and a way for students to interact with the text. They were given instructions to fill in blanks, circle, X out, or color certain people/things, and give short answers to questions all on the cartoon. These were very well done and helped us recall important information. Additional helps are available; some we used consistently, while others may not be necessary. The Bible Summary Cards were very helpful and the front side provided a quiet coloring opportunity for my older children while I read the Scripture passage. The intent of the summary cards is to trip the memory with a picture for every Bible book. Each Bible student will become knowledgeable on the theme and key events/people for the books of the Bible. The back side provides questions to help trigger the memory as well. We purchased the timeline and maps but did not use them, finding the maps and timelines in the student pages to be adequate. The manual also provides visual aids for drill work and lesson review (stick figure drawings for the teacher to recreate), additional Bible facts for the teacher, two blank maps, tons of games, and alternate visual aid ideas. A family can easily cover one of four guides in a year. The author chose not to order the lessons chronologically "so students will have an opportunity to study great spiritual truths as faith, love, salvation, worship, the church, sin, etc. in each unit." You could possibly rearrange the units to study them chronologically. However, this would require an expensive purchase of all four units and student pages, if you choose to use them. Individually, the price for each unit is reasonable. If your family places a high value on studying the Bible together, Bible Study Guide for All Ages will provide more than enough structure to accomplish this goal. Our youngest children did not always stay engaged throughout the entire lesson, but our objective was also to develop the discipline of sitting quietly. We provided quiet activities for them while reading aloud the passage and working on student pages. They enjoyed participating in memory work and singing, but usually needed something to keep them busy otherwise. Additionally, I would read from a child's story Bible when appropriate. The author provides numerous ideas for the varying learning styles that exist. The teacher would have to determine how much time he/she is willing to spend in using additional ideas. My teacher prep time included reading the passages for two lessons, answering the questions in pencil in my guide, pulling out the suggested Bible Summary card(s), and copying any visual aids for drill work. We choose our own memory work and copied them onto index cards, but suggested Scriptures for memorization are included in the drill work with memory aids all ready to assemble (cut windows/flaps on one page and glue on top of another that displays answers beneath the flaps). Like any new curriculum, there is a learning curve. We pick and choose what works for us on any given day and slowly add in additional ideas as we become comfortable with those already in use. The only thing missing--answers to student pages, especially map or timeline work. An atlas and Bible dictionary usually provided answers we needed, but not everyone has them at their disposal. Overall, we are excited to have found a "Bible Study Guide for All Ages" and recommend it wholeheartedly.

 
Sharon C. from Fontana, CA wrote the following on 03/12/2010:
I have been using this program with my children for many years. In fact, I am in the second round with my 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son. I often get positive feed back from their youth leaders on their level of knowledge and understanding of the Word. This is the only program we have used. We are going through it a second time so that my 9 year old son gets the same benefits as my teens. The activity pages are wonderful too! We have lots of fun with the review questions. Sometimes, if they get an answer right, they will get M&Ms or Skittles (Just 2 for each correct answer. I don't want them full sugar). Other times, they will come up with sounds, and the first one to make a sound after I read the question gets to answer. I have a friend that just uses the activity pages. They are pretty thorough and can easily be used alone as well as with the program. I highly recommend this program.