Bible Study Guide for All Ages {Product Review}

We are a Bible loving family. I am always on the lookout for ways to bring bible stories to life for my children and I'm rather picky about the type of curriculum I like to use. It is sometimes hard to teach both of my boys at the same time using the same curriculum or program. Enter our review of Bible Study Guide for All Ages. Could our review of the Advanced (5th & 6th grade) and Intermediate (3rd & 4th grade) student guide pages be just what I was looking for?

About Bible Study Guide for All Ages

The Bible Study Guide for All Ages is a bible curriculum that takes the whole family (all ages) through the bible at the same time. Every year, some of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament is studied. Not only will the students learn the big picture of the bible, but they will also be able to memorize key points from the bible stories as well as practice applying the lessons to their own lives. There is different material available for the different age groups. If you are studying as a mixed aged class or as a family, getting the Unit Teacher's Guide would be the best bet. If however, you want to hone in on different age groups, you can check out the student study guide pages for the following ages:


Advanced (5th & 6th grade)
Intermediate (3rd & 4th grade)
Primary (1st & 2nd grade) (requires a teacher's guide)
Beginner (3-K)

As your child finishes or graduates out of the level they are in, they simply pick up with the next lesson in the next level up! So if you stopped at lesson 104 in the Primary, your child can simply start with lesson 105 in the Intermediate and be right where they need to be. You can see the order of study of the 416 bible lessons here. A teacher's guide is not required for the Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced levels without the Wall Maps & Timeline, when teaching at home with one or two students. Each of the student guide sheets measures 8.5" x 14" (legal size) and is on a tear off pad. Bible Book Summary Cards and the Children's Songs CD set. Both referenced in the student pages. Additionally, you can purchase the Unlabelled Wall Maps & Time Line if you have the wall space to use it! They coordinate with the study guides, AND are added to the lessons in the Teacher Key for each level.

There are 26 one page (front and back) lessons in each pad. You need one pad for each student. A full year of lessons would be 104 lessons in all covered as 2 lessons per week year round OR as 3 lessons per week during a school year. There are a total of 416 bible lessons which covers 4 years worth following this schedule. While it is possible to buy the lessons one set at a time ($5.95 ea), you can also buy a whole year's worth for $67.80 in the Starter Packet (basic edition). This starter packet also includes the Bible Book Summary Cards and Children's Songs CD set.

Our Thoughts on Bible Study Guide for All Ages

Bible Study Guide For All Ages is an open and go program. Each of the lessons for the intermediate (grades 3 & 4) and advanced levels (grades 5 & 6) focused on the same part of the Bible. This allowed us to read the same bible lesson, with them each doing grade level work. While I was given a Teacher Key to go with the advanced level, I didn’t use it very much. I think it was most useful to go over any of the map work.

We started with Unit 1 which consists of 26 lessons. Lesson 1 starts with the story of Joseph and Lesson 26 ends on Jesus’ Youth. I have never had a bible program that spends as much time on the story of Joseph as this study guide did. Lessons 1-14 of the 26 lessons are just covering the story of Joseph ending with his death leading up to the Exodus. It was unusual to study his story in such depth, but I LOVED IT. There is so much IN the story of Joseph that I feel this study guide really explored all aspects of it.

Teacher Key with the answers AND the gray section is for including the Wall Maps & Time Line or additional studies to take it further.

The intermediate and advanced study guides follow the same design.
Here is an example from Lesson 13…
Both start with a notation to what passage of the bible will be covered. For this lesson, it is Genesis 48. The study guides begin with a Remember It? section. This is a review of past lessons in this unit (or earlier bible lessons). This particular lesson included yes or no questions. Next up, the Memory Workout section. For this lesson, the students were given instructions to name the four divisions of the New Testament books, and to tell a Bible story using one of the pictures that followed (a tent and a tree). Next on the study guide is a Guess What… section that provides extra bits of information that coordinate with the day’s lesson. On this one, it is information about the importance of a firstborn son in OT times and of the importance of the right hand. Once these sections are completed, the student is to flip over their page. The back page of the study guide is devoted Discover The Bible where the student learns the bible lesson for the day. I read Genesis 48, and then guided the boys through completing the back page activities which tell a summary of key points from the story. Once this is done, we turn back to the front page and finish the study guide. Lesson 13 is a map review. The students are to work through the instructions to identify key things on the map. Next up is the Get Active box. This is where the students are told to DO something—here they are to get a sheet of paper and write or draw what they think of when they think of a baby. Then they are to be reminded that children are a gift from God. The last section for the lesson is the Apply It! portion. Here, they are given a bible verse and then are asked questions relating to real life applications of the lessons to be learned from the study. Finally, the students are encouraged to discuss with God lessons they learned from the guide that day.

Every other day, the study guide switches from a map assignment to a timeline assignment, otherwise the other aspects tend to remain the same for each lesson. The boys really appreciated the routine of these lessons. In fact, my oldest son appreciated it so much, he frequently worked through the lesson all on his own, needing little to no assistance. He simply left it out for me to look over when he was done. He loved having the freedom to work through it independently. This allowed me time to read and go through the lesson with my younger son who needed more time and one-on-one attention with it.

The boys both preferred the map work to the timeline, but they just both like maps in general. I was THRILLED that through our review, both boys learned and memorized the Twelve Sons of Jacob! That was something on my list for the next school year to accomplish! The daily practice and review made it so easy for them to it! The Memory Workout always noted for them to “Sing the Song, “Twelve Sons of Jacob” from Disc 2, Track 40. Obviously there is a CD to go with these lessons, but we didn’t need it. We just kept practicing them every day.


One of the things I also liked, was the incorporation of the Bible Book Summary Card. We were given a stack with Bible Book Summary Cards for every book of the Bible. The front of the cards has illustrations relating to what the book of the Bible is about. The back of the card has longer explanations to the front, with questions to ask the students. This helps them learn what the book of the Bible is about in a much easier to remember way.

When I hold up the Genesis Bible Book Summary Card, the boys can quickly tell me that Genesis is split up into three basic sections. The first section covers the beginning of the world focusing on three main people: Adam, Eve, and Noah. The section section illustrations remind them that there were three men in the middle of the book of Genesis: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The tents on the card are to remind them that the men were travelers without a home. The three small illustrations are to remind them of the three promises made to the three men: the land of Canaan, many descendants, and the whole world being blessed. The third section illustrations are to remind them that the last portion of Genesis is devoted to the story of Joseph and his move to Egypt and the joining of all of Israel there. These cards are GREAT tools for anyone studying the Bible—not just the students!

Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about this curriculum. It is taken straight from the Bible without any particular denominational doctrine in it (as much as I can see so far). The work is definitely grade appropriate and the consistency of the lessons as well as the continued review keeps the lessons in their minds. I have never had a bible program that stuck in my 7 year old’s brain as this one has! He has LOVED working through it. Another pro is that it can be worked on independently by my 12 year old. I like that it doesn’t take very long. I would say the longest lesson took us maybe 20 minutes? And that was just because it was a long chapter to read that day. The only thing we really modified were the Get Active sections. They are mostly for a group setting and they didn't work for us.

The price is right for these lessons—just $6 for each set of 26 lessons. There are 104 lessons in a one year program (2 lessons per week year round or 3 lessons per week during school year)—you can buy them as you need them, or purchase a Starter Pack (Basic edition) for $67.80, which would provide you with the 104 lessons, Bible Book Summary Cards, and the Children’s Songs CD set! I really don’t know if you will find a better or more in depth bible curriculum anywhere.

I plan on moving forward with getting a whole year for my youngest son who will be starting 3rd grade this fall. This is PERFECT for his learning style. My oldest is a bit “too old” for the Advanced since it is geared for grades 5 & 6 and he’s entering 7th grade this fall with a lot of bible knowledge already. I think the best part of the this curriculum though was making him do the Apply It! section. He had to write a statement using the word "I" or "Me" to describe what God is saying in the lesson to him for his life. This made him really have to think hard about the overall lesson for the bible reading. It was a very good exercise for him to practice with his bible study. I won’t be getting him any more of the advanced level pages once he’s completed the ones we were given. If I had the room, I would add the Wall Maps & Timeline Set to our collection too, but sadly, I just don't have the wall space!

Want to Know More?

For the last several weeks, we have been reviewing the Bible Study Guide for All Ages in the Advanced (5th & 6th grade) and Intermediate (3rd & 4th grade) levels. You have read our thoughts on these two levels, but what about the Primary, Beginner, or Wall Maps & Time Line? Make sure you visit other crew members to learn more!

Facebook * Twitter

***

I am so thrilled to have found a bible study guide that works so well with my youngest child! It is worth the cost to have something so detailed and interesting for him to work through. I highly recommend this product to anyone desiring to have a Bible Study Guide for All Ages that is focused ON the Bible! I would totally invest in the Unit Teacher's Guide if I had a large family and wanted to just do group studies!