Calvary Chapel Bible Curriculum

As a follower of the Charlotte Mason method, we learn a lot from living books.  Even though the Bible is the most living book there is, it isn’t very realistic to read it straight through with young children.  I wanted my children to directly study the Bible in a chronological and comprehensive way, but I didn’t want to overburden them by tackling passages that were way over their heads.

Then I came across the Bible curriculum from Calvary Chapel that is free and available online.  It consists of 325 lessons from both the Old and New Testament.  I love having the Bible readings mapped out for me to use as a road map and the questions to guide narration.

Pros:

• It is extensive.  There are 325 lessons on both the Old and New Testament.  If used daily, this curriculum will last almost two school years.
• It is accessible for young students.  It covers much more than just the well-known stories such as Noah and David and Goliath but doesn’t dwell on difficult passages of law, prophecies, and genealogies.
• The Bible readings generally follow the order they are found in the Bible, so children become familiar with the chronology of Biblical history.
• There is not a lot of commentary or interpretation. Children can learn to go directly to God’s Word without being told what it means.  As Charlotte Mason wrote:  “A word about the reading of the Bible. I think we make a mistake in burying the text under our endless comments and applications.”
• It can be used with a broad age range of students.  My daughter is in first grade, and we do the readings together, but much older children could do this as independent work.
• Each lesson includes a memory verse, two levels of question pages, coloring page, and two levels of word puzzle pages.
• You can’t beat the price!

Cons:

• The lessons use the New King James Version, so filling in the blanks can sometimes be tricky if you’re using a different version.
• The lessons covering the four gospels follow Jesus’ life chronologically, so there is quite a bit of jumping around from one gospel to another.
• Some of the lessons have fairly long Bible readings (up to 3 chapters long) which are difficult for younger students to finish in one sitting.
• There’s not a huge difference in the levels of question pages.

This curriculum is very flexible and can be used with all kinds of styles.  If you’re looking for a budget-friendly, straight-forward Bible curriculum, you might consider this resource for your family.

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