I am a huge fan of Classical Academic Press products so I was super excited to be given the opportunity to review God's Great Covenant Old Testament 2, A Bible Course for Children. Having been fortunate enough to review another one of their Bible studies, I knew it was going to be good.
About God's Great Covenant Old Testament 2
This study covers the second half of the Old Testament from Samuel to Malachi. You and your student will enjoy a chronological study the rise and fall of God's kingdom, the prophecies of the coming of Christ, and the lives of many prophets.
The book contains 32 chapters divided into five themed units. If you study one chapter per week, the study can be completed in one school year. Activities range from Bible readings, memory work, story time, comprehension questions, puzzles, and maps.
Our Experience
We received the student workbook, teachers edition, and MP3 files. They were everything I expected a Classical Academic Press product to be. Bright, clean, easy-to-read texts. Fun illustrations. Easy-to-understand maps. We loved it. In addition, I purchased the Old Testament Timeline and Map Set to add to our study.
Each chapter starts off with a Memory Work page. This includes the lesson scope, Read To Me bible readings, theme, memory verse, key facts, things to remember, and a "Message from the King." We would work on this page on day 1. A lot of times the bible readings were really, really long. Thankfully there are bible apps that read them to us. There's an app for everything. ;) After the bible reading we would work on the memory verse and discuss the key facts. Mackenzie really liked the Things to Remember section because it quickly sums up the main points. The "Message from the King" section helps you apply the lesson to your life.
Day 2 we would do the Story Time pages. The story is "written by" the "royal chronicler Tobias", a fictional character designed to capture the students attention. The story reinforces the lessons from the previous day's reading but in a format easier for the student to grasp. You can either read the story aloud yourself or use the MP3 files. If you suffer from "Sonlight throat" like I do, those audio files come in handy.
On Day 3 Mackenzie would work on the Review Worksheet pages. These pages review the memory verse, key facts, and story facts using comprehension questions and puzzles. Mackenzie, like last time, was more than happy to work on these pages and looked forward to them.
On Day 4 you move onto the Quiz. The quizzes cover the memory verses, key facts, story facts, the main point using a variety of methods. Fill in the blank, matching, crossword puzzles, true and false, etc.
The student book comes with four black and white maps to refer to while you study the lessons. The maps, as always, are really well done and easy to use. We pulled them out of the book and laminated them so we can refer to them for a long time. Since I had purchased the extra map set, we mainly used those. I found the set to be well worth the money. The maps were large, sturdy, colorful and easy-to-read. The timeline is wonderful too.
The teacher's guide contains the entire student text, answer keys, and tons and tons of notes. Everything from historical and geographical information to cultural and theological ideas. The notes are worth their weight in gold. And there's a place to add in your own notes too.
Once again, we are thoroughly enjoying this study. It's such an easy way to dig into the bible and we are learning together.
F.Y.I.
Website: http://classicalacademicpress.com
Age Range: Third grade - sixth
Pricing: Student Book- $22.95, Teacher Edition- $24.95, Audio Files- $9.95, Bundle- $49.95
Map & Timeline Set- $36.95
Samples are available on the website.
I am also thinking of getting the map set so it's good to know you think it's worth the cost. I really love the maps in the book as well. What a great idea to take them out and laminate them! I plan on getting this set when we finish OT 1. Great review, thanks for your thoughts and ideas!
ReplyDelete~Lori