Thoughts on Memoria Press' Christian Studies?

[KIN]

I thought I had decided on Explorer's Bible next year, but now I've seen Memoria Press' Christian Studies and that looks really good too! How independent is this for an advanced 3rd grader? Thanks!

[mcconnellboys]

We're using the second in the series for a fourth grader this year. We are enjoying it. There could be a lot of writing involved (unless you want to do things orally) so I'm not sure jow independent it would be, but it's a sound program.

Regena

[WTMindy]

It is a good overview of the whole Bible with a weekly verse, key people and events. It approaches the Bible from a fairly academic approach as opposed to a devotional approach. We enjoyed it although I find the Golden Bible they use slightly creepy (blonde Jesus).

[KIN]

How long does a normal lesson take? Are the mapping answers easy or do you have to go searching somewhere other than the book? Are they broken down into daily lessons?

[Melora in NC]

around 40 -50 minutes, total, depending on how much we discuss. I initially thought we'd do lessons 4 times a week, but we mostly do everything except the mapping one day, and the mapping doesn't take very long on the second day. Actually, the only reason I break out the mapping is because we always do the reading and questions while sitting on the couch, and the map work gets done at a table!

Honestly, my ds would not have done well independently with this program as a third grader. We used Explorer's in third grade, and it was quick and easy. My ds could do it independently, though mostly we did it together. My ds balks at writing even in 4th grade, and I feel like we get the most out of the program (and he Enjoys it!) by reading it together and doing all the questions orally. I don't bother with the tests. We talk about the places on the map as soon as we've finished our discussion, and then he does the mapping the next day. Some weeks he does mapping twice, if there have been a lot of places he didn't know the first time.

WTMindy's description of the program is very good. We talk about our faith with our kids in conversations & Sunday School, and I wanted a Bible study program that was a fairly objective, academic overview of the Bible. The Teacher's Guide has side bars (called Background and Summary) with discussion of threads, foreshadowings, connections, etc. that I find very helpful, but it is up to the teacher how or whether to present these points.

Each lesson Is broken into pieces, which would make it easy to divide the work over the week however you wanted. There is the story to read, "Facts to Know" (vocabulary), a memory verse, two sets of comprehension questions, and map work. Then, additionally, the teacher's book suggests things like how far you might want to be in memorizing books of the Bible and doing a discussion of the pictures in the Bible (this is keyed to the Golden Bible they suggest).

[Mom2legomaniacs]

We are using Christian Studies. We study it all together because we have some nice discussions with it. I agree with what others said about it not being an independent study for a younger one. I just feel that we can all learn together using this. It does not take a great deal of time to do throughout the week. We usually spread it out over 3-4 days depending on the lesson. WE also do most orally.
hth

[mom2att]

We used books 1 & 2 in 5th, and are doing book 3 now (6th). Last year we would read the Bible pages together and discuss the terms to know and memory verse (we didn't memorize it because we do lots of our own Bible memorization). Over the following two days dd would answer the questions on her own. Most were pretty straightforward, but others required some comprehension skills the would be difficult for a 3rd grader working independently. This year we read it together and do the questions orally, all in one day. I also read the supplemental part in the teacher's guide to dd, because it has some really good food for thought. We stopped doing the maps about 1/2 way through--I find them annoying because they do not seem to come from the maps in the recommended Bible story book. For some of them I never could figure out where the info was coming from. Overall, though, because I like a Bible study that just gives the facts and doesn't ask the reader to figure out what people were feeling, I think it's a great program.

[prairiegirl]

We are using it this year for the first time. I really like it. I guess you could do it independently but it would be a lot of writing. I know my third grader would rebel if I made her do it all on her own. We do it all orally. I love the map work (it is all there in the teacher's manual) and that there is memorizing of the books of the Bible -- something that I could never do with my kids on our own.

Julia
mom of 3 (8,7,5)

[Another Lynn]

It is a good overview of the whole Bible with a weekly verse, key people and events. It approaches the Bible from a fairly academic approach as opposed to a devotional approach. We enjoyed it although I find the Golden Bible they use slightly creepy (blonde Jesus).

I don't have anything negative to say about MP's Christian Studies, but it just didn't appeal to me. I've been trying to think how to describe MP's Christian Studies and I think Mindy's is right - it is very academic. While an academic approach may have its place in Bible study, I somehow felt something was lacking. I haven't tried Explorer's yet, but plan to look at it for next year based on some of the recommendations here. I'm not one to have my children guess what everyone is feeling either (as someone else mentioned), but I would like to think about application - and I'm hoping Explorer's will go in that direction.

A blonde Jesus seemed strange to me too, but one positive about the Golden Bible is that the flow of the wording is similar to the King James - if that's important to you.