Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Our Bible Curriculum For 7th Grade Homeschool

Let me start by saying this post is long overdue. In February I participated in Hip Homeschool Moms' Homeschooling Giveaway Extravaganza and actually won something (thank you thank you thank you!!!). Not only that, but I won something fantastic:



I won a Bible Curriculum called: 'Apologia's Who Is God And Can I Really Know Him?'. It arrived the same week I found out I was a winner, and I took a quick look at it. I liked what I saw, and kind of thought about using it as our Bible Curriculum for next year (7th grade). But then I set it aside, and we've been busy homeschooling, traveling, planning our future months and basically just living our busy lives.

Not until today, about a month later, did I have a chance to take a good look at this book. I read through How To Use This Book and Lesson One (you can see a sample page here). I really like what I see, and want to read through the whole book myself. In the beginning of the book it lays out how to use the book. It is designed to have three lessons a week, notebooking as the student goes along, with a lot of Bible interaction and prayer.

We are definitely going to use this for next year's Bible. I assume my 7th graders can share the book by taking turns and having their own notebooks and Bibles. If that doesn't work out, then we'll order an extra copy or three. This curriculum is also designed for the older students to do it independently. Which is my goal with all our homeschool curriculum.

Now we have been really happy with AOP's Bible Curriculum on Monarch. We are using the five subject curriculum for 6th grade, and all my students have enjoyed the Bible. So much, in fact, that all four of them are already done with their 6th Grade Bible, and we are still in March. So we were not searching for a new Bible curriculum, it just sort of fell on our lap.


This is what Apologia's website says:

"Our children are bombarded on a daily basis with competing messages. Every song, movie, book, TV show, blog, and game is full of ideas—ideas about truth, morality, beauty, identity, faith, and more. Not all of these ideas are true. Some are wrong, some are deceptive, and some are outright destructive. It is more important than ever that young children be equipped to discern among competing ideas and stand in the truth. This is why Apologia has teamed with Summit Ministries to bring you the "What We Believe" Series. The "What We Believe" Series is an outstanding way to teach your child the essential beliefs of the Christian faith, but it’s so much more! With this student-directed, Bible-based curriculum, your children will learn how to use Scripture as a lens through which to view the world around them—to see everything the way God sees it—and know the truth.

Who is God and Can I Really Know Him?, introduces the concept of worldview while laying the foundational truths upon which the evangelical Christian worldview is built: God is truth and He reveals His truth to people; He is the one true and almighty God; He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; He created everything; we are God’s children and are made to love and to praise Him; God meets all our needs; sin keeps us from God; and Jesus is the only way to God."


I am really excited about using Who Is God next year, and hope my students will be as impressed with it as I am.

As for rest of our curriculum? I am currently looking at Apologia's Science curriculum, specifically "Exploring Creation with General Science" - any feedback from my readers?

For Math, Language Arts and History & Geography we are planning to use AOP's Monarch. We haven't looked at any electives yet, and I am still working on Little Miss' Kindergarten curriculum. I would love any feedback on that as well.

It is kind of exciting to get excited about curriculum planning. If you haven't read our story how and why we started homeschooling, you can do it here. Two years ago excitement and homeschooling didn't exist in the same sentence for me ;-)

7 comments:

  1. I've been hearing the buzz about this book--so thanks for the review.

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  2. You're welcome, MissMOE! I'll do another review next year once we've actually used it :)

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  3. I always loved curriculum selecting time : )

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  4. HarmlessColor, we are not there yet.. But at least the kids still would rather be homeschooled than go back to trad school :)
    Any favorite curriculum you'd like to see us consider?

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  5. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I love Apologia science but those are the only books from there that we have used. We are still several years from this book but have heard awesome things about it!

    I had fun catching up a bit on your family- loved the first day of spring post. You all seem to enjoy the snow so much! Looks like fun, we never get enough nor does it last long enough to us to enjoy many snow activities:)

    Blessings,
    gayly

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  6. My oldest has used Apologia science for the past three years, starting with General Science. He did it with our homeschool group coop and really liked it. He's having a more difficult time with Biology right now but he's doing it on his own.

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  7. gayly, good to know you like the science ones! I am leaning toward Apologia Science as well..
    Yes, we do enjoy the snow, especially now that we are ready to head South again :)

    Christy, thanks for your feedback. Mr. D took a look at the online demo page of Apologia Physical Science and was wondering if it really is different from our Monarch one (or better), so I need to really think about this.. And pray. I do need something all of mine can be excited about & to make science interesting and easier to understand..

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