Curriculum Review: Grapevine Studies

I have been very pleased to have the opportunity to review Grapevine Studies as part of our Bible curriculum this year. I was offered the opportunity to review two of Grapevine’s Bible study courses. My first choice was Biblical Feasts and Holy Days, about which I was very excited because that’s an area of study in which I’ve recently become very interested. For my other selection, I chose one of my personal favorites, Esther.

We began with Biblical Feasts and Holy Days. Right away, I picked up something that has greatly enhanced our Bible study time: letting the kids illustrate what I’m teaching. As my regular readers may recall, my family has a Bible study curriculum that we’ve used for years and I’ve mentioned before that my kids’ favorite part of our weekly study is when I teach that week’s lesson and illustrate it on the white board. It never occurred to me that they might enjoy illustrating the lessons themselves.

They do!

Since we began using Grapevine Studies, I’ve set up a Bible notebook for each of the kids and they do their own illustrations for each lesson I teach. Grapevine’s slogan is “stick figuring through the Bible,” so you don’t have to be an artist to create a visual representation of each Bible lesson. And, let me tell you, what you draw, you remember…at least, that’s the case with the kids and I.

This method of illustrating the lessons being taught engages each child, no matter their learning style. They’re hearing the lesson, seeing the lesson, and drawing the lesson, so it is, at once, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. It’s fun, too!

One of the things that I appreciate about Grapevine Studies is their “teacher-directed doctrinal approach.” The lessons are presented in a non-denominational way so that each individual teacher can explain his or her specific doctrinal beliefs as it applies to the lesson.

I also really like the way that Grapevine Studies start off with the big picture before teaching the details. For example, in the Biblical Feasts and Holy Days book, we started off with a timeline that gave us an overview of when each feast or holy day was celebrated before going into detail about each. This has already given me some interesting insight into my own personal Bible reading because it gives me a frame of reference whenever any of the feasts and holy days are mentioned.

Grapevine Studies offers a variety of Bible study options for children and adults, including multi-level studies perfect for a variety of ages learning together. The studies range in length from the 50-lesson Old and New Testament studies to the 9-lesson study of the book of Esther, and they are perfect for use within your own home or for leading a Sunday School class or Bible study.

Prices vary, depending on the products selected. We used the Biblical Feasts and Holy Days teacher book ($19.95 book, $12.95 eBook) and student book ($14.95) and the Esther teacher book ($19.95 book, $10.95 eBook) and student book ($10.95). While any of the Grapevine books would provide a wonderful stand-alone Bible study, we’ve found that they’ve also proven to be the perfect complement to our regular Bible curriculum. Since our other Bible curriculum only provides material for three days a week (the way we use it), Grapevine is a wonderful resource to round out a full week of quality, meaningful Bible study.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it.  I received no other compensation for this review.  The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions.  Actual results may vary.

 

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