Rod & Staff Bible ... How much teacher time?

[Blossom'sGirl]

I am still trying to decide on this or the Explorers bible study. I showed both of them to DH and he thought the Explorers would be much less time consuming for me but I keep coming back to R&S with maybe doing the Explorers for the Wisdom words study in between.

Thanks!

[Beth in Central TX]

I've used the R&S Bible program in 5th and 6th grade. I don't plan any teaching time because the program is very straight forward. The Bible does the teaching for me. For example in R&S Bible 6, Lesson 2, Part A, there's a short introduction to the lesson that the student reads. Then a passage from the Bible is given to read (1 Samuel 17:1-11, 32-37). Based on the reading, there are 4 short answer questions, 7 multiple choice, and 7 matching problems. At the logic stage, my boys can do this program on their own. If there's a question about the Bible passage, I'm here to ask, but for the most part, I use it as their individual devotional time each day. We talk about what they are reading during our general "how your day went" update at dinnertime, and before each chapter test, there is an oral review to do, but based upon the lesson setup I described, I don't see a need to plan for any specific teaching time with this program.

Others may approach this program differently, but this is how it works best for our school. I've never seen the Explorer's Bible study, so I can't compare the two.

HTH!

[BarbinTN]

Just my 2cents worth here in regards to the Explorer's Bible Study. I used Words of Wisdom with my 5th grader and it was dry, boring and often too hard. Job got old fast in that each verse sound the same, kwim? Also, Psalms was kind of the same for us. We dropped it and are doing A/O Lifepacs although I plan to try R&S next year for Bible. I like the variety in A/O but I think it is a bit shallow, that's why I wanted something different but Explorers isn't it.

Good luck!
Barb

[Blossom'sGirl]

That's what I kinda thought about Explorers too. I don't really want to turn my oldest off to Bible study by making it to be a lot of writing. I already have tears in that department in many other subjects My dc don't go to Sunday school (or even church right now) but I still want them to have a good foundation in the flow of the Bible. On the other hand, he needs something to force him to do it or it won't happen - just like MOM. I'm really leaning to R&S and from what I can tell they stick to the facts and try not to incorporate their specific interpretations.

[strider]

They are both good curriculum, though I think that Explorer's is the better one. I appreciate the level of analysis Explorer's requires, and the commentary that is included is fabulous. Either Explorer's or R&S is a strong choice, and I would think teacher time would be about the same. I have not personally taught R&S, though I reviewed it thoroughly, and I have extensive experience teaching inductive skills seminars to all ages. If I had not gone with Explorer's this year, I would have either written my own (as I have in the past) or R&S was my second choice.

Like Barb, I have been doing Words of Wisdom with my dd this year (5th grade). I think it can be a big switch in mindset for many kids specifically because it is not a historical narrative. In grammar school, most biblical curriculum (especially church curriculum) is focused around the stories of the Bible, with short memory verses from other parts of the Bible. Therefore the kids' exposure to non-historical-narrative text in the grammar school years is pretty limited. An in-depth study of biblical text that is not a historical narrative can therefore feel harder to a child. However, I really do think that sometime in the middle years (5th-8th) it is time for kids to transition to studying the more abstract (less concrete) parts of the Bible, in-depth (epistles, poetry, even <gasp> prophecy).

My daughter and her friends have done well with Words of Wisdom (Explorer's Quest). (I teach a small group of little girls--5th and 6th grade.) It has not been too hard for this group of girls.

I have found that using NLT text at least part of the time does clarify things for the girls. The Explorer's studies reference NKJV, and often you do have to use that specific text when a question requires specific wording. However, my girls have learned to comfortably check the NLT for clarification when the poetic language gets confusing.

One other thought on Words of Wisdom is that the approach to Psalms and Proverbs is more of an overview, and not as much a minute analysis. My girls had always done a fairly detailed analysis of smaller blocks of text in prior years, so it took a little getting used to to read larger blocks of the Psalms for the weekly lesson. It's a very valid approach--just different from what they were used to in a weekly Bible study. There is value in the middle and the high school years for having both the skills of detailed text analysis as well as studying for a larger, more global perspective.

I can answer any further questions if you have them. The bottom line--either curriculum is a solid choice.

[Jean in IN]

DS is doing R&S 5 this year. I look over it every couple of days to see if he's understanding it, but like Beth said, it's all pretty straightforward.

I also have my 2nd grade, dd, read the 2nd grade reader and answer questions in the reading workbook for Bible. Again, she is easily doing this on her own, no teaching time.

Jean