|
 |
Children need to know The Story: Children not only need to
know the stories of
the Bible, they need to know the Story of the Bible. While the Bible
contains
many stories, there is the larger story of God that is told from
Genesis to
Revelation and continues being told today as children, youth and adults
discover Jesus as their own Savior. In order for children as well as
adults to
fully understand what the Bible is telling us about God, they need to
understand how each story is important in the total story of God. The
Bible
includes hundreds and hundreds of accounts and stories about God. It is
not
necessary for children to know all the stories at one time, but it is
important
that that children understand the “big picture” of the Bible, or the
overall
story of God that begins in Genesis and has continued up through today.
Bible storying for children provides
an outline for each age
group that is a beginning for teaching children the story of God. This approach begins with
the broadest
picture possible and then as children learn the first broader set of
stories,
additional stories are added in between the prior stories to teach
children
more of God’s story. The intent of chronological Bible teaching is to
provide
children with the essentials of the story of God, not a complete or
comprehensive
curriculum. This also addresses a teaching approach that is
commensurate with
the child’s age and level of understanding, processing and reasoning,
so that
the core story of God is firmly integrated into their thinking and
knowledge
processes.
The uniqueness of the chronological
storying approach for
children lies in the method of teaching, reviewing and adding core
Bible
stories at each age level so that the child gains a solid knowledge and
foundation on which other stories are later added. The incorporation of
story
visuals and life application activities add a dimension with the
storying quilt
that reinforces the retention of the core stories.
Teaching from the age level columns: In this approach, twelve
more essential
chronological stories are suggested for children ages 4 & 5.
For teaching
the next age level, 6 & 7 year olds, the stories are first
taught from left
to right only up to that age indicated, then from left to right in the
second
horizontal column down, then the third horizontal down, etc. Additional
stories
in the chronological teaching sequence can be selectively taught from
other
story columns to the right always keeping in mind age and developmental
levels
of appropriateness. Not all stories in the complete schedule are
appropriate
for children in all age levels for teaching.
A schedule for teaching:
In the first column of core stories for the four to five
year olds,
those stories might be told over three months, one story per week, or
one story
per month during the year. However in each telling session there also
needs to
be opportunity to review previous stories from that bank of stories and
have
different children select a story and retell it, again using a
different
telling method than was used in the first or other prior telling. In
approximately one year the oldest children can have a full teaching of
the
Bible chronology and essential doctrine while the youngest child would
have a
basic chronology taught in twelve stories.
Adding additional stories:
In addition to the age level core stories, the teacher can
supplement
with any additional Bible stories and lesson topics, always keeping in
mind
that all stories are not necessarily appropriate for all age levels. For 8 & 9 year
olds the lessons up to
that column bank are taught with appropriate methods to the child's age
level,
again working from left to right only up to the age level, then going
down the
chart to the next horizontal row, left to right, down a row, left to
right,
etc.
This provides twelve basic stories to
the four and five year
olds, twenty-four stories for children ages six and seven, thirty-six
stories
for children eight and nine, forty-eight stories for children ages ten
and
eleven and sixty stories for children ages twelve and thirteen. At each
progressive
age group more and more of the gaps are filled in of the
chronologically taught
story of God.
Selecting age appropriate stories: It is very important in
the development of a
teaching curriculum that the levels of understanding of the children
are fully
considered especially in the areas of concrete and abstract reasoning
and
processing. There are some Bible stories that a 4 or 5 year old may not
be
ready to handle especially stories involving violence, death or
abstract
concepts.
The key of children retelling stories: It is important to
remember that in this
system of teaching, stories are not just told once, but continually
retold with
opportunities for the children to retell stories using any one of
several
varieties of telling methods each time a story is retold. This approach
keeps
the stories fresh and captivating as they are told. As children are
taught and
given opportunity themselves to retell stories, they are gaining the
skills to
become tellers themselves of God’s story. This approach is doing
exactly what
Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples, teaching them…”
Bible Storying for home churches and
home schooling: Bible
Storying for Kids material can be used as part of home church and home
school
teaching for children. This can be easily accomplished and can save a
church or
parents many dollars in other published curricula.
An advantage to using Bible storying
as the Bible teaching
part of a home church home schooling is this material provides the
children
with the foundation of a chronological approach to understanding the
story of
God.
The CBS4Kids teaching program can use this material as the main Bible teaching program. Hands on activities can easily be obtained and included. Numerous supplemental materials are available via the Internet for Bible story crafts and other learning activities. For home churches having children in a learning setting in a separate room from the adults during the adult Bible teaching time is workable and doable and provides children with a structured Bible learning program.