God’s Great Covenant Bible Curriculum

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 by Catherine Vos along with The Victor Journey Through the Bible.  Both are awesome, by the way!  But, God’s Great Covenant: Old Testament 2 has given me the workbook study feel that I was looking for.

(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:

1. The Early Kingdom…The God Who Anoints
2. The Glorious Kingdom…The God Who Blesses
3. The Divided Kingdom…The God Who Reigns
4. The Remnant Kingdom…The God Who Judges
5. 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 alongside this study.  It goes along perfectly with the lessons and gives an extra visual understanding that I feel is important for cementing the information.  Quite simply, we read the God’s Great Covenant lesson then open The Victor Journey Through the Bible book to see if there is anything we might like to see or read.  It only adds a couple of extra minutes to the lessons.

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!