TOS Crew Review- Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Several years ago our family started nightly family devotions.  While we do miss an occasional night due to other commitments, our nightly time together has come to be one of our favorite times of the day.  We not only use it as time to catch up with each other and gear down for the night, but it gives us time in God's Word daily being led by dad.  We have approached it several different ways through the years and have found what works for our family, mostly, but the one area that has been the most challenging is being able to apply the daily reading of the Bible to our family's wide age range of kids. We are not out to entertain them, but we do want to capture their interest.  Remember, we are dealing with a just-turned-6 year old to a 19 year old.  What pertains to one is not always the best for others.

Yay Bible Study Guide for All Ages!  As soon as I saw this, I knew I wanted to review it.  I have not been disappointed!

Bible Study for All Ages is a Bible teaching program for ages 3-adult, designed to allow you to teach different ages and levels the same lesson at one time.  This is HUGE for families like ours who desire to learn together but have different ages of kiddos. Each year, using 104 lessons and built in reviews, they span both the Old and New Testaments, covering the whole Bible in 4 years.

Yes, we received all of that in the mail!  It was like Christmas around here!

Let me tell you about what we received.

Beginner Student Pages-
These are made for ages 3-Kindergarten, or kids who are not independently reading.  The are double sided, extra long, tear off pages...think a legal pad turned sideways.


Beginning Time line-
The most wonderful part of the program in my opinion.  These beautiful, 8 1/2 x 11in cards are colorful and engaging, teaching children basic Bible facts.


Advanced Student pages-
Similar to the beginner level, but adds timeline and map activities for 5th-6th graders.


Bible Book Summary Cards-
Another amazing set of fact cards to review each book of  the Bible.  The front of each card has pictures representing the specific book of the Bible you are studying, with facts and teacher questions on the back.


Children's Songs CD Set-
This is a collection of some old, well-known songs as well as new ones to teach concepts taught in this program.  It is a 2 disk set with 90 acapella songs.  Trust me, sometimes memory work is just easier when sung!

So let's talk about how it works! Luckily, with all that wonderful stuff came a quick start cheaters guide!  Let's face it, with any new product there is a learning curve, so when you are trying to teach two different children or groups of children together it takes time to find your groove. We found that starting with the Get Active part of the sheet was best for us.  Since different activities were listed on each level, I read ahead and chose which one I thought the boys would like best.  Each activity is scripted for teacher ease.  Below is one that involved hiding an item and finding it and helping to guide others to find it.  At the end of the activity it connects what you did with what you will learn.  The other one my boys loved was building with blocks and having a plan.

Next we would do the Remember It? activity, each boy independently.  This short section reviewed what was learned the days prior with questions and answers, singing, and timeline or summary card review. Then my older son would read us the part on his sheet marked Guess What.  This part always had neat facts about the lesson, kind of like a mini history or vocabulary lesson.   We would then read the assigned Bible text together.  From there, each boy would turn their worksheet over to do the Discover the Bible "work" part of the lesson.  While they oldest did his work independently, I would go through the beginner level with my youngest.  Each picture is matched with a number that you read aloud and then has something for them to do...underline, color, or circle a specific thing they see.  Once they had each completed that part of the worksheet we would flip back over, read a key verse and complete the Apply It section.  For the advanced level it was thinking about the message and applying it to their lives by answering a few questions.  The beginner level had a quick scenario to read and discuss, questions included, and a picture to color.  We would end our time with prayer focusing on the theme for that day. Sounds like a lot, I know, but again, once you get into the swing of things we progressed very naturally through each part.   What did we like? Everything about it!  Really!  I think the multi-age idea is ingenious and wonder why it took us so long to find this program.  I love that the program includes fun activities that engage younger children and are active.  I love that there are flashcards to use that reach your visual learners and music to teach your auditory learners.  I love that there is coloring to engage your younger kids and maps and timelines to challenge your older ones.  I love that the Bible is not watered down.  The reading portions are large!  Like an entire chapter large, which at time is a challenge for younger students. This is a good way for them to learn to be attentive and not just be taught what someone deems "highlights" of the Bible! The best part - being able to study the Bible together as a team.  While for now we have used it as our school time learning, we will begin to use it for our family devotion time in the fall, once finished with our current study.  I look forward to working through the entire Bible with Bible Study Guide for All Ages! Component prices- Beginner Student pages can be bought in lesson packs for $5.95 each. Beginner Time Line is $24.95. Children'S Song CD is $19.95. Advance Student pages are also $5.95 per set. Bible Book Summary Cards are $24.95 and also come in a back and white version to color yourself if desired. There are also Primary and Intermediate levels available that were reviewed by fellow CREW members, so make sure you check other the other reviews posted to see what would best fit your family's needs!