Classical Academic Press was so kind to offer me their God’s Great Covenant: Old Testament 2 Bible curriculum for review. I could’ve chosen the first in the series, Old Testament 1, but decided on the second book because it covers the Bible from Samuel to Malachi. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find too many Bible curricula covering that period of the Bible from start to finish.
We’re already several lessons in and I just couldn’t wait to give this product the thumbs up!
Anyone who knows my teaching style knows that I appreciate historical sequence. It makes sense to me that Bible history and world history are taught in chronological order so that connections can be made and mental pictures drawn. I’ve completed many varied Bible curricula and historical fiction books that teach Genesis through Moses fairly well, but I have yet to find something really good for the times following Israel entering the Promised Land.
Up until now, the main product we used was The Child’s Story Bible
(Yes, I know, most of the time you hear me say I DON’T want a workbook! Remember that I find value in all sorts of education – even workbooks within reason. And we have never completed anything “workbook-like” with this section of the Bible, so it was time. :))
Here’s a quick overview of of God’s Great Covenant: Old Testament 2
- It’s written for children 3rd grade or older.
- It comes with a Student Notebook and a Teacher’s Guide. The Teacher’s Guide includes everything just the same as the Student Notebook with additional teaching notes and answer keys. The additional notes are very helpful and there are plenty of places for you to keep your own notes, too.
- Lessons move along chronologically.
- Each lesson includes a nice-sized synopsis of the Bible text (2-3 pages), or you can choose to read directly from the Bible – the references are included.
- Each lesson includes a key Bible verse, key facts & vocabulary that you will need to know about the lesson, and a key question to consider about the lesson.
- After reading through the lesson and the things mentioned in the bullet above, 2-4 worksheets follow that help your child review the material learned. From the Bible reference and the key facts/vocabulary page, several small sections of questions and fun games are derived. Your child will complete fill-in-the-blank activities, matching, multiple choice, mazes and word games. The worksheets always end with a short activity for your child to look up additional verses in the Bible that relate somehow to the Bible lesson.
The back of the book provides lots of wonderful helps and charts for you and your child. You’ll find:
- A Memory Verse Summary for each of the five units, which you can choose to copy and post if you like.
- A Pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament guide that makes connections about how the Old Testament was continually pointing to the need for and the coming of Jesus as our Savior.
- Two charts that help you understand the Psalms and Proverbs.
- Charts showing the Kings and Prophets.
- A brief summary about the time period between the Old and New Testaments.
- A thorough glossary.
- Four very clear and helpful gray-scale maps.
- Two additional pages of review worksheets for each lesson should you choose to use them.
Five units each have 6-7 lessons. The lessons are meant to take one week each to complete, but we were able to complete most in 1-2 days. If you take your time with the book, it can last an entire school year. (I don’t meander around with much. ;)) Lesson units include:
- The Early Kingdom…The God Who Anoints
- The Glorious Kingdom…The God Who Blesses
- The Divided Kingdom…The God Who Reigns
- The Remnant Kingdom…The God Who Judges
- The Exiled Nation…The God Who Rescues
You will need one workbook per child since there are no rights given to copy the pages within your homeschool. Oh, and I’m still using The Victor Journey Through the Bible
My children have enjoyed our Bible time as they look forward to the “fun pages”. See what can happen when you limit workbook time? Your children start to call them fun pages!
I saw the picture of this on your blog last week and wanted to ask you about it. I’m planning to use Book 1 next year and go chronologically through all four books. I’ll be doing this with a sixth grader and a ninth grader, so I’m looking for ways to bring things up to high school level. I don’t think that should be too difficult. I will definitely pick up a copy of Journey Through The Bible, that’s a great idea. I’m so glad you posted this. If it’s not overstating things- I think this post was a bit of confirmation for me.
Love this review…sounds like something we’d like in our home school. Also, I’m really liking your summer reading list! Several of them are on my list too. Thanks for the great ideas!
It’s not easy to find reviews on this product since it is so new, so I’m glad I found you through Google! Do you think a 2nd grader who reads well would do okay with this curriculum?
Yes, I think a 2nd graders who’s a very good reader could probably do okay with this curriculum. I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to “bring along” a younger child if I was using it with older children, too. However, some of the vocabulary words, concepts and activity sheets might still be a challenge, even for a bright 2nd graders. If at all possible, I would try to hold off a year or two because older children will really be able to soak up so much more of the depth.
We’re still using it now that my children have “graduated” into new grade levels. But when we started it they were 4th and 7th grades. Hope this helps!
Hi,
Thanks so much for the review! Our two girls go to public school but we are doing “summer school” at home. I downloaded the sample unit from the website (which I highly recommend doing first if you’re not sure about it) and it is appropriate for my 8 year old upcoming third grader, and surprisingly my five year old daughter is really liking it as well. what I like most is that the material is not watered- or dumbed-down for children, while still being interesting and appropriate for them. My youngest is not able to do the worksheets, but I just read her the questions and we did the memory work. We did a chapter yesterday morning over breakfast and asked today if we could do the next one! I printed some coloring sheets for her to color while I read the lesson. Has anyone used the audio materials?
Thanks,
Rebecca
Is it worth the money to get the teacher’s guide? Can you get along without it. I found your review on Google and I’m looking forward to using this curriculum this fall!
Jonelle,
You can certainly get along without the teacher’s guide. It offers teaching notes/background notes in order to be able to expand on the Biblical content of the lesson. If you feel pretty confident in understanding the Old Testament, then I wouldn’t bother. The answer keys to the worksheets are helpful, too. It’s helped me many times from searching through the text to figure out the answers.
Would this work for 10/12 year olds or would it be for younger age groups?
Yes! It’s written specifically for 3rd-6th graders. 🙂