"Faithful to All His Promises" Bible Curriculum REVIEW

clip art taken from www.childrendesiringgod.org

Disclaimer: I was given, "Faithful to All His Promises" Classroom Kit (Electronic Version) for review.  I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own!

I was  recently given the opportunity to review: Faithful to All His Promises (REVISED Version) from Children Desiring God Ministries.

"Faithful to All His Promises is a study for children on the promises of God. Children will not simply learn about some of God's promises, but rather, they will discover what it means to trust in those promises which are God's gift to us, not something we deserve. Faithful to All His Promises begins by teaching children what a promise is, what makes God trustworthy with these promises, and who these promises are for. Then children get to explore some specific promises from God to see how He has been and will be faithful to each of those promises."

(taken directly from Children Desiring God Ministries web-site)

"Faithful to All His Promises" consists of 40 lessons (to view the curriculum's complete scope and sequence click HERE).  Of the 40 lessons there are 25 specific promises taught, such as: God Will be With You, God Hears Your Prayers, and God Will Provide for Your Needs. 

This curriculum was specifically designed to use in the church.  Children Desiring God Ministry has considered that families may want to use this in their home.  Therefore, they have included helpful hints such as ways to adapt the curriculum for home, the advantages of using the material in your home, and scheduling recommendations in the Teacher's Guide Appendix.  I found these suggestions helpful!

As I began looking through the Teacher's Guide I thought it would be best to purchase the student workbook (only $5 automatic download!).  The workbook includes two pages per lesson.  The first page contains the lesson number, main ideas, scripture, memory verse, and activity instructions.  The second page is the correlating activity page that the student completes.  Take a look at the student workbook example HERE (see page 21-22).

In our home we complete one lesson per week.  Each week my children are excited to discover a NEW promise!  To make it an enjoyable experience I've placed each week's new promise, written on paper, inside a small treasure box.  My young children love to open the box each week to reveal the special promise!  We then turn to scripture and read the correlating bible verse.  I desire for my children to understand that, "mama didn't make up these promises, they have been given to us BY God found IN the bible!"  After, we tape the small promise paper to a large poster board to reflect upon and review in the weeks to come! 

We then sing the hymn, "Standing on the Promises of God" as a song we are putting to memory that correlates beautifully with this curriculum!! (See the first two verses below!

 1. Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.

2. Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
by the living Word of God I shall prevail,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain) 

I have thoroughly enjoyed EACH lesson!  It is a blessing to me to have a rich theologically, God-centered curriculum for my children at such a young age.  The promises presented are like bullets my children will have loaded and will be able to fire off under life's twist and turns.  Not only are my children learning but EVEN I have been blessed by this curriculum and have been thankful to go through it together as a family.  Each promises is like a solid brick we can build upon and STAND! I highly recommend considering going through this curriculum as a family!

More quick thoughts below...

• Although this study is intended for second grade age level I feel it is good for ALL AGES!  Learning and memorizing the promises of God has no age limit!  This study can be easily used for the entire family AND be repeated!  I foresee my family going through this study again!  
• The curriculum can simply be used as a guide for the study of God's promises.  Many times we like to have our children DO workbooks, journals, or activities.  Using this simply as a guide for reading scripture and discussing the main ideas is a wonderful simplified way to incorporate this into your family's routine, family devotions, or bible home school lessons.
• Purchasing the $5 workbook is helpful.  As I mentioned above the student workbook made it easy for me to know the scriptures, main ideas, and suggested activities without having to look through a detailed Teacher's Guide.  The student workbook would be sufficient to use for home.  (FYI: Some pages in the workbook require PDF printables from the resources DVD which is a separate purchase.) 
• THERE IS MORE!  Once you complete this study, Children Desiring God Ministries has an entire scope and sequence with more studies to work through!  Check it out HERE!  

I strongly encourage ALL parents to teach the bible at home, not just homeschooling families.  Children Desiring God Ministries supports this as well and gives us a biblical reference in Deuteronomy 6:5-9 for reflection in this area.  In the curriculum they state, "The primary responsibility and privilege of nurturing the faith of youth rests on parents." What a joy it is to act upon this God given responsibility and teach my children Christ!  I feel confident in partnering with Children Desiring God Ministries and their resources to help me teach and train my children in the Lord.

Children Desiring God Ministries Mission Statement

"Our mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things so that the next generation may know and cherish Jesus Christ as the only One who saves and satisfies the desires of the heart.

We want millions in every generation to set their hope in God. To that end, we aim to fuel spiritual desire by producing God-centered, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting resources and by equipping parents and churches working in partnership to instruct the mind, engage the heart, and nurture the faith of the next generations."

Thank you Children Desiring God Ministries for allowing me the time to review this curriculum and share my thoughts with my readers! 

Thank you to my readers for taking the time to visit "My Teacher's Name is Mama" and consider, "Faithful to All His Promises" for your family!  God Bless you!!!

Jesus, What a Savior!

Clip art taken from www.childrendesiringgod.org

 Disclaimer: I was given, "Jesus, What a Savior!" Teacher's Guide (Electronic Version) for review.  I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own!

I was  recently given the opportunity to review: Jesus, What a Savior! (REVISED) from Children Desiring God Ministries.

"Jesus, What a Savior is a study for children on redemption. Children are sinners, and the consequences for their sin are eternal. This curriculum is designed to present the Gospel, not with "us" at the center of the story, but with the greatness and worth of God at the center. Throughout the lessons, an illustration using colored hearts shows what were created to do, the effects of sin on our hearts, and the absolute need for Christ to restore our hearts."

(taken directly from Children Desiring God Ministries web-site)

"Jesus, What a Savior!" consists of 40 lessons (to view the complete scope and sequence click HERE).  I love how the lessons build upon each other in a sequential way...God, Creation, Sin, Jesus! After going through this curriculum Children will understand the gospel!  They will recognize that they are a sinner and in need of the Savior, Jesus!  Along the way they will learn WHO Jesus is and at the conclusion learn that Jesus invites them to receive Him!

This curriculum was specifically designed to use in the church.  Children Desiring God Ministry has considered that families may want to use this in their home.  Therefore, they have included helpful hints such as ways to adapt the curriculum for home, the advantages of using the material in your home, and scheduling recommendations in the Teacher's Guide Appendix.  I found these suggestions helpful!

In our home we began by completing one lesson per week.  I would often extend the lesson by watching short video clips, discussing the lesson throughout the week, or even doing an additional craft or activity that related to the subject matter.  I used the curriculum as a guide for my weekly bible homeschooling lessons.  Below is a picture of us working through lesson eight, "God Punishes a Sinful World."  This specific lesson address the story of Noah pointing out that, "God is faithful to save sinners who trust in Him."  To extend this lesson we watched an animated Noah's Ark program on the ipad! 

As I began looking through the Teacher's Guide I thought it would be best to purchase the student workbook.  The workbook (shown in the picture above) includes two pages per lesson.  The first page contains the lesson number, main ideas, scripture, memory verse, and activity instructions.  The second page is the correlating activity page that the student completes.  Take a look at the student workbook example HERE (see page 26).

 

More quick thoughts below...

• Although this study is intended for the Kindergarten age level I feel it is good for ALL AGES!  Hearing the gospel and learning of Christ has no age limit or time frame!  This study can be easily used for the entire family AND be repeated!  I foresee my family going through this study again!  
• The curriculum can simply be used as a guide for the study of the bible/Christ.  Many times we like to have our children DO workbooks, journals, or activities.  Using this simply as a guide for reading scripture and discussing the main ideas is a wonderful simplified way to incorporate this into your family's routine, family devotions, or bible home school lessons.
• Purchasing the workbook is helpful.  As I mentioned above the student workbook made it easy for me to know the scriptures, main ideas, and suggested activities without having to look through a detailed Teacher's Guide purposed for church leaders.  The student workbook would be sufficient to use for home.  (FYI: Some pages in the workbook require PDF printables from the resources DVD which is a separate purchase.  So far I have been able to simply modify those pages since I did not purchase this resource.)
• "There's an App for that!" Growing in Faith Together (GIFT) App was designed for parents to be aware of what their child is learning in church.  GIFT pages for "Jesus, What a Savior!"  are available for your iphone and ipad!  Although I have not reviewed or purchased this resource I thought you might be interested in learning more HERE!
• THERE IS MORE!  Once you complete this study, Children Desiring God Ministries has an entire scope and sequence with more studies to work through!  Check it out HERE!  

I strongly encourage ALL parents to teach the bible at home, not just homeschooling families.  Children Desiring God Ministries supports this as well and gives us a biblical reference in Deuteronomy 6:5-9 for reflection in this area.  In the curriculum they state, "The primary responsibility and privilege of nurturing the faith of youth rests on parents." What a joy it is to act upon this God given responsibility and teach my children Christ!  I feel confident in partnering with Children Desiring God Ministries and their resources to help me teach and train my children in the Lord.

Children Desiring God Ministries Mission Statement

"Our mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things so that the next generation may know and cherish Jesus Christ as the only One who saves and satisfies the desires of the heart.

We want millions in every generation to set their hope in God. To that end, we aim to fuel spiritual desire by producing God-centered, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting resources and by equipping parents and churches working in partnership to instruct the mind, engage the heart, and nurture the faith of the next generations."

Thank you Children Desiring God Ministries for allowing me the time to review this curriculum and share my thoughts with my readers! 

Thank you to my readers for taking the time to visit "My Teacher's Name is Mama" and consider, "Jesus, What a Savior!" for your family!  God Bless you!!!

Verbal Math Lesson Review

Photo Taken from www.mathlesson.com

Disclaimer: I was given, "The Verbal Math Lesson Series" (2nd Edition) for review.  
I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are my own!

This post contains affiliate links to the Verbal Math Lesson books.

I was  recently given the opportunity to review the e-book set "Verbal Math Lesson Series" (2nd Edition)!  Being a classroom teacher for over ten years has given me plenty of opportunities to teach math and use different methods and curriculum to accomplish that goal!  I was very curious to review this material as a way to encourage students to become more proficient at mental math.

There certainly seems to be a lack of mental math these days with the availability of technology!  Yet being able to compute in your mind is essential to becoming a proficient math student!

Mental computation focuses on automaticity (producing correct answers quickly) and the process the mind uses to produce the correct answer!  In order to accomplish mental computation the student must also have a solid foundation of number sense (understanding numbers and operations).

After reviewing this series I told a friend it's best described as brain exercises!  For example, when we begin an aerobic exercise routine first we need to learn the routine.  After it is learned, we practice the routine repetitively and master the exercise.  Likewise, with math we need to LEARN  (understand the particular problem and ways to arrive at the solution) then PRACTICE to yield mastery!  The Verbal Math Lesson provides the PRACTICE (all done verbally) to yield mastery.

The Verbal Math Lessons Series advertises itself as a "supplement for learning speed and accuracy in doing math problems."  What that means is this is not an all encompassing curriculum for math.  This should be viewed as an additional resource to go along with a current math curriculum you may be using.  This book set will not eliminate or substitute a math curriculum yet it will enhance your chosen curriculum in the area of mental computation. 

Furthermore, when I was considering this material for my students I was curious as to what part of "math" the series covered.  Did it consist of operations, fractions, geometry, counting coins, telling time, reading a calender, etc.  After reviewing each books' table of contents I was able to have a better understanding.  Book one consists of counting, addition, and subtraction.  Book two consists of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Book three includes properties of numbers, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, counting money, converting time, fractions, and algebra.  Each book advances the difficulty of each skill so skills are building upon each other in a sequential order.

What I like about this book is the ability to TALK about math!!  I also appreciate the one-on-one approach.  I feel a student would choose sitting with their teacher solving math problems verbally over doing a worksheet independently, any day!

How I would use this supplemental math series...
Children need to be taught math.  There are many ways to teach math to children to help them learn and understand.  Using different learning modalities to teach math is essential to develop good mathematicians. Different modalities can be achieved through a variety of activities including singing math songs, using visual aids, reading math books, playing games, independent work, or verbal discussion (just to name a few)!  The Verbal Math Lesson provides one way to reach your math student.  I feel it will provide a positive math experience, a personal/caring interaction between teacher and student, and great brain exercises to work towards mastery of certain math skills!  More specifically I would use a specific verbal math lesson after the concept or skill has been explicitly taught in a variety of ways.  It would be used to reinforce the taught skill and move the student to metal math computation mastery!  Furthermore I would not hesitate to use a visual aid, 100's chart, paper/pencil, etc. if the child needed to have explanation on a particular problem/lesson in the Verbal Math series.

I appreciate the opportunity to review these materials and look forward to trying them with my children and students!

Have more questions?  The Verbal Math Lesson has a FREE 76 page download of the material that you can review to see if this would be right for your student(s)!  Download them HERE