Free Bible Curriculum for Homeschool: Using What Works

Today I want to share a few free Bible curriculum that we have used  in our homeschool over the years. We have tried more than these. But the following Bible lessons have worked very well for us.

When my children were pre-readers or just beginning to read I used DLTK’s Bible lesson plans. I’d print out the coloring pages or the mini books and have the children work on those while we listened to the passages of scripture from our dramatized audio Bible. (Nowadays we listen to the Bible on my smart phone using a free app.) And I’d ask the children a few questions to see if they understood the lesson. This worked very well when I had 3 that were all very small at the same time.

Once the children were reading and writing we switched to Calvary Chapel’s children’s curriculum. This site offers free lessons for over 200 Old Testament Bible stories and 175 New Testament ones. What is so great about this curriculum is that each lesson has a coloring page, fill in the blank pages, a crossword, a word search, and possibly an additional activity that helps reinforce the lesson. My oldest used this until he was about 8 years old. But then he came to me and said he felt that he was too old for the lessons.

So now he uses  Padfield.com’s Bible Curriculum. He reads the passages himself and does all of the work on his own, which he prefers. Sometimes he’ll ask me questions about his studies or we’ll have some discussions about the Word of God in general.

Since changing over to a more simplified way of doing school a few months back, I have switched to a Charlotte Mason approach to Bible study with my 3 youngest. I use this reading list and read one Bible story a day. Then the children are free to discuss it if they wish, but I do not prod them to.

Hopefully one of these Bible curriculum will be useful in your homeschool as well.

Serfronya Wallace

The six loves of Serfronya Wallace's life are God, her husband, and her 4 children - whom she homeschools. Serfronya enjoys sharing educational tips and writing about her family's homeschooling journey at Cookie's Domain.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Flashcards are Your Friends

Flashcards are one of my absolutely favorite educational tools. They are the best for learning tables in math. But I have also used them to help the children learn theirs letters and colors as well. I’m sure I will find many other ways to use them in the future.

Anyone Can be the Teacher
One of the best things about using flashcards is that anyone who already knows the material on the cards can help the person who is learning. For example, when my daughter was only 4 years old she would sit next to her 2 year old brother and help him learn his colors. Anytime he got to a color he didn’t know, she would tell him what it was and then he would repeat after her.

You Can Use Them Anywhere
A lot of times I have the children pull out the cards when I am preparing breakfast or lunch. They either sit on the couch and help each other learn. Or, I have them stand next to me in the kitchen and I’ll help them with the cards while I cook. For whatever reason, this has worked remarkably well with the children learning their addition tables. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t seem so “school” like to recite math problems while Mom bakes up some muffins for you.

Flashcards are Inexpensive
For the cards to teach colors, I just cut pieces of construction paper into rectangles and labeled them. All the rest of our flashcards I have found for free on the internet. You might be amazed at what you can find printable flashcards for. Just a quick search on Google will do the trick.

Flashcards are Easy to Make
I print them out, cut them up, and laminate them. I also hole punch the tops of the cards and keep them on a ring. That way they can be turned easily; and, I don’t have to be concerned about any of the cards getting lost. The lamination ensures that the cards can be passed down to the next child, when the time comes. You can purchase an inexpensive laminator from one of the big box stores or Amazon. I bought laminating sheets in bulk years ago and I am still on the same box.

Even though the children only use the cards for a few minutes a day, that seems to be all it takes. Sometimes they will ask to pull out their cards on their own without being told to. I love when that happens!

 
Serfronya Wallace
 
The six loves of Serfronya Wallace's life are God, her husband, and her 4 children - whom she homeschools. Serfronya enjoys sharing educational tips and writing about her family's homeschooling journey at Cookie's Domain.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

To Homeschool or Not to Homeschool When Family is Sick

My eldest hasn’t been feeling well since Monday. And over the course of the week that sickness has been contracted by 2 of my other children; and 2 days ago, I started feeling bad as well. So once again, the question had to be answered as to whether or not we should attempt any schooling.

A Hard Taskmaster
In past years this was a tough decision for me to make. Everyone had a certain amount of school work to be completed each day or else that child would “fall behind”. I was very determined to make sure that every page of every school book was covered before the end of the year. I was still stuck in “traditional school” mode.

Homeschool Isn’t About Completing a Curriculum
But I am happy to report that I have relaxed A LOT about homeschool lately. My younger children now have goals that we strive to meet by the end of year such as: learning phonics or improving their reading skills, learning their addition and subtraction tables, improving their handwriting, etc. I don’t use a set curriculum with them anymore. We just use whatever materials work to help us achieve our goals. We keep our lessons short, focused, and as engaging as possible.

Taking Sick Days is OK
So now  if we need to take some days off - or even a week - to recover from illness, then it’s not a big deal. My oldest does use textbooks. But if he’s sick then I let him rest and we rework his assignment due dates once he’s well. Some work may be combined or possibly skipped if he already has a solid understanding of it.

Netflix to the Rescue
If any of the children still want to have school then we may watch an educational video or 2 on Netflix and then discuss what we learned afterwards. But that’s about it. I want the children to have all the time they need for their bodies to recover without them having to worry about making up work or falling behind.

Serfronya Wallace
 
The six loves of Serfronya Wallace's life are God, her husband, and her 4 children - whom she homeschools. Serfronya enjoys sharing educational tips and writing about her family's homeschooling journey at Cookie's Domain.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

5 Ways to Take the Frustration out of Handwriting in Your Homeschool

My 7 year old was having a terrible time with handwriting. He would get so frustrated every time he had to practice. I had tried handwriting worksheets. But that was upsetting for both of us. Then I switched to copywork and that was working a little better, but handwriting time still wasn’t that great. 


Don’t Re-Invent the Wheel
I started thinking back to when I was teaching my oldest to write. And I wondered why those frustrations never came up. Yes, all children are different, but; handwriting really was a non-issue with my eldest. Then I realized that with him there was no “formal” handwriting training. I just started having him write things for me once he showed an interest in it. So, a few months ago I switched to using the five ideas listed below with both my 6 and 7 year old. And everyone is much happier now.


Informal Handwriting in Your Homeschool
1. Have the children write lists for you. For example, you can ask them to write a list of school supplies they need, your grocery list, or a list for Daddy that he’ll need when he goes to the hardware store. They may even come up with lists of their own.
2. Write letters to family members. My children are always excited to write to Grandma and Grandpa, who live in a different state.
3. Send postcards if handwritten letters are too much for your child right now. To help ease my son into informal handwriting, I had him write on a postcard to his grandparents. He only wrote “I love you” and signed his name. But I told him to take his time and do his best work since it was for his grandparents. And he did.
4. Have the children write titles for or label the pictures or artwork that they make. Again, this isn’t a lot of writing but it’s still practice.
5. Give the children “how many words in ____________” activity sheets. For example, in my son’s comic coloring and activity book their is a page that asks how many words can be made from the word “Spider Man”. My son spent a great deal of time coming up with words and writing them down. 


I Still Have Standards
My only requirements with this method is that the children hold their pencils correctly and that they must write to the best of their ability. If they don’t know how to spell a word or how to form certain letters correctly then I’ll write it out for them and then have them copy it onto whatever they are working on. I still check all of their writing and have them rewrite letters, if they aren’t formed correctly. But since the children are now writing something fun or useful,  the frustration has disappeared.


Serfronya Wallace
 
The six loves of Serfronya Wallace's life are God, her husband, and her 4 children - whom she homeschools. Serfronya enjoys sharing educational tips and writing about her family's homeschooling journey at Cookie's Domain.
 

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!

Using Netflix in Your Homeschool

Originally, my husband and I decided to subscribe to Netflix so that we would have movies to watch for ourselves. But I quickly discovered that this video streaming service is a goldmine of educational programming. So much so, that my elementary aged kids are currently using Netflix exclusively for their Science class.

I found Beakman’s World and originally I was going to use the half hour show to supplement Science class. But since revamping our homeschool in November and taking a more simplified approach to my children’s learning, I figured the show itself might be enough. And so far, so good.
The children enjoy the program so much that they are just gushing to tell me what they learned after watching it. I listen and let them share as many details as they want. Then I ask what fact they'd like to draw a picture of and put a short description of in their notebooks. Then I let them have at it. So far, they have been notebooking about such scientific topics as volcanoes, gravity waves, and the storm spot on Jupiter.
Here are some tips on how to use Netflix in your Homeschool.

1. Subscribe to the streaming service, if you haven’t already. It’s under $9 a month. That’s much lower than the library late fees I used to incur from overdue DVDs.
2. When you are on the Netflix website do a search for “PBS”, “Discovery Channel”, “National Geographic”, and “History Channel” to find a lot of educational goodies.
3. Put the programs that you are interested in into your queue so that you don’t have to search for them again later on.
4. Decide which programs will become a part of which subjects in your homeschool.
5. Have your children watch them and enjoy!

Serfronya Wallace

 

The six loves of Serfronya Wallace's life are God, her husband, and her 4 children - whom she homeschools. Serfronya enjoys sharing educational tips and writing about her family's homeschooling journey at Cookie's Domain.

Thank you for following The Homeschooling Blog!