Positive Action for Christ Bible Curriculum Review

It had been very hard for me to find a Bible curriculum for Wyatt this year.  He is only five and a very smart little boy but very active at the same time.  I needed to find a curriculum that would hold his interest until the lesson was complete, would be on a level that he could understand and easily relate to, be engaging and exciting and yet, teach him basic Bible concepts and stories through the use of it. I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review Positive Action for Christ school curriculum for elementary children.  I chose the Kindergarten level "Learning About God."

The Kindergarten study teaches children about God through the lives of the major characters throughout the Bible.  It includes activities to help children comprehend and apply Biblical truths. The Teacher's Manual comes in a hardback 3 ring binder that is nicely organized and easy to store.  It includes 35 lessons (one per week), objectives, teaching strategy section, weekly character traits, practical applications and interesting stories. The week's lesson can be taught over a 3, 4 or 5 day period and there is a class schedule for whichever method you choose to teach.  There are also answer key pages that correlate with the student manual.  If you'd rather not have a book, you can purchase the Teacher Manual on CD instead.

The Student Manual is a regular workbook that includes vocabulary sections, puzzles, artwork and maps, life-application sections and is presented in full-color format.  The material is usable with any Bible translation and includes various levels and types of thinking skills.

My Thoughts:  I loved the layout of the Teacher Manual that made it extremely easy to plan how to teach each week's lesson.  The Bible story is told straight from the Bible and then the Biblical truth from the story is presented in a modern day format that the child can grasp and relate to in an everyday setting.  There are also scripture memory verses you can teach each week if you'd like.  We are currently using The Well Versed Family for scripture memory so I don't utilize this portion of the lesson but it would easily be teachable if you do not have a scripture memory program already.  I also like how it ask review questions at the beginning of each lesson and how questions are presented to your child throughout the lesson to reinforce what they are learning. These questions help keep Wyatt on his toes because he never knows when I will be asking him a question about what we are discussing! In fact, Wyatt can still tell me each Bible story leading up to the current week's lesson thanks to the review questions throughout the book. 

Wyatt loved the Student Manual.  He always pays very close attention to the lesson as I am teaching because he never knows what the craft/activity will be for that day and he wants to make sure he knows all the details of the story so he can successfully complete the work from his book himself.  One of the things I love about the pages your child completes is that it gives them a wide variety of activity to complete.  Some include coloring, mazes, puzzles, cut/paste, color by number, etc.  Each day's activity is different so your child doesn't get bored or no what to expect for that day's work.  With some of the lessons, there are even optional coloring pages your child can complete.

One thing I found interesting is that the Read and Share Bible correlates great with the Learning About God curriculum.  Wyatt has really enjoyed using this Bible as we learn about the Bible stories and characters of the Bible.  While some of the stories are not necessarily covered in the Bible, the majority of them are and this Bible has been a great addition to our curriculum.  This Bible is not endorsed or sold by Positive Action for Christ. It is simply something we discovered and I thought I would share.

The other thing I liked about Positive Action for Christ Bible curriculum is that you could use them in a Sunday school class, VBS, on the mission field, etc. because the lessons/activities are well organized and easily prepared.  You could easily adapt it to any setting where you needed to teach children the Bible or characters from the Bible in a simple to understand and teach format.  The materials are fairly well priced as well.  The consumable Student Manual is $12.95 and the Teacher's Manual is $33.95 in print and $19.95 on CD-ROM.  

We have chosen to use the 5 day period of lessons and Wyatt always wants to start his day with Bible Time.  He loves this way of learning more about the Bible and each day's lesson and activities hold his attention, keep him engaged and teach him basic Biblical truths.  In fact, the girls have been so intrigued with his Bible curriculum and watched him have so much fun with it that they have requested it for their Bible curriculum next year!  So we will be purchasing the 1st grade, 3rd grade & 5th grade Positive Action for Christ Bible curriculum for next school year for our children.  If you are looking for a full Bible curriculum that offers a wide variety of activity and teaches Biblical truths using the Bible and modern-day application, I highly recommend you check out Positive Action for Christ.  

I am also linking with The Homeschool Curriculum Review Roundup and you can read more great reviews on their site.

Disclaimer:  I was given a copy of the Kindergarten Bible Curriculum for review purposes only. No monetary compensation was received.  The opinions expressed here are my own.