I regularly find myself on the hunt for new Bible study materials for my kids.   We have discovered favorites in the past, but we finish them all too quickly.  I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to review Pryor Convictions, Growing Up in God’s World Bible Curriculum.   The value for the price is excellent!   Each book is $14.95, and contains enough material for at least one semester.   We reviewed both Acts, Part 1 and Acts, Part 2.  These books will last us at least a year, since we often don’t work on it for five days every week.  

This Bible curriculum is very thorough and teaches through the book of Acts.   Each verse is read in this study!   I love how it guides families through the Bible, verse by verse.  Each lesson plan is broken down into different sections:

* Growing In The Word - the verses are broken out into smaller sections, with questions (and answers) written out for us.  This section is very parent-friendly.   I love being given the questions and responses all in the same section, instead of flipping pages in a separate teacher’s manual.  

* Putting Down Roots Memory Work - every week, there are different verses to memorize!   We love to hide God’s word in our hearts, so I appreciate that this is included.  Songs from Seeds of Worship are one of our favorite resources for helping the kids memorize Scripture.   The Pryors also include a list of resources in this book. 

* Farther Afield Map Work - The authors suggest keeping a Bible atlas close at hand for reference, especially in the book of Acts when the apostles travel extensively!   Maps are included in the back of the book that can be copied and colored for reference. 

* Harvest Fun Games and Activities - These fun games help the kids retain the material kinesthetically!  They may run a race, play a map game, or any number of other creative ideas.  One of our favorites is the Wind and Fire game.  The kids blow red and orange tissue paper “flames” until they land on top of another person’s head.  Guess which chapter that relates to!

* Digging Deeper Research - This section is a great opportunity for older kids to explore certain topics a little deeper, and begin to learn research skills!  

* Food For Thought Puzzles - These fun puzzles are various activities, designed to help the kids engage even more with the Word, like word scrambles, crossword puzzles, and true/false. 

* Fruits Of Our Labor Crafts - I’m not a very crafty mom, but Pryor Convictions has done a good job putting together simple but fun crafts.   As explained to me by a friend, crafts help kids remember what they’ve learned.  They may come across it in their toy chest months from now, and it’ll jog their memory about the Bible lesson that accompanied it. 

This Bible curriculum is designed for multiple ages, elementary through middle school.   It’s also adaptable for Bible class, VBS, and co-ops.   Its suggested use is for 30 min to an hour, five days a week and a proposed daily schedule is included.

Overall, we really like this curriculum.   It’s helping my kids go deeper in the Word, and learn to study it verse by verse.   The proposed schedule is a bit rigorous for us, but that’s easy to adapt.  We can’t quite fit in five days a week worth of study!   Pryor Convictions offers a variety of different book studies, all priced at the $14.95 level, so we will look into those when we finish Acts!   Paul Pryor is also working on a video study series for teens and adults; we’ll be interested in that when it releases!  

—Product review by Sarah Falk, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, October, 2016

And Another Review:

Growing Up in God's Word Bible Curriculum: Acts Part 1&2

Paul & Heather Pryor

A part of our daily homeschool day includes working with the bible. When you have children that range in age, you need to find a program that will work for everyone. What if you could find a program that was written by a homeschool mom after using it with her own children at home? Pryor Convictions Media did just that with Growing Up in God’s Word Acts, Part 1 and 2.

Growing in God’s Word Acts Part 1 and 2 is a great family bible study. Each one of the two books contain 13 lessons and each lesson lasts for a full week if you follow the suggested schedule at the beginning of each of the two books.

Heather Pryor has taught the bible to children for over 20 years, and in her experience, she has come up with this great bible study for everyone. She reminds us that we must be enthusiastic in teaching the bible to our children, we need to admit when we don’t know an answer and we need to know that these children we are teaching are smarter than we think. She recommends that we don’t “dumb down” the bible for them and to set the bar high.

With this in mind, we take a look at the actual lessons presented. Each lesson has many different sections to it. The most important of these is the “Growing in the Word” lesson text and discussion. This part takes the longest and is done on the first day of the week. We spend time reading the bible, in this study it is Acts, chapter by chapter. Each chapter is broken down into smaller sections. After reading a section, we take the time to discuss and answer some simple questions. At the end of the reading we review the questions we answered while reading. You can use this as a discussion right away or as a graded assignment at the end of the week.

“Putting Down Roots” is the part of this bible study when you work on memorizing part of the reading for the week. This needs to be practiced over and over again each day of the week. We worked together each day, helping each other memorize the verse suggested. Each week, you are able to pick from 2-3 different verses. You have the chance to pick which one works best for your family.

Also included in the weekly lessons are Farther Afield: Map Work, Harvest Fun: Games and Activities, Digging Deeper: Research for older students, Food For Thought: Puzzles and Fruits of Our Labor: Crafts. All of these sections take learning the bible to a fun new level for every age.

With all of these sections, it is recommended to use this curriculum for five days each week. You can expect to spend anywhere from 30 minutes up to an hour each day in bible study. But this curriculum lets you pick and choose which of the activities you want to use. If you don’t have an older child, skip the Digging Deeper, you choose. The core, though is making sure you do the lesson and memory work for all ages.

We have loved using this with everyone in the house. While Baby Girl is still a little too little (under 2 years), Little Miss (5 years) has been working with her big brothers and gets excited when she knows a review question answer before they do. I never would have thought that she was capable of studying and memorizing the bible had we not tried Growing Up In God’s Word. She is able to keep up with Ray Ray (8 years) and Moe Man (16 years) no problem! Even mom and dad are learning while using this bible study!

With our different age groups, we have explored every aspect of this curriculum, and love every part of it. I have to admit that I was worried at first that it might be “too much” for all ages, but I am glad that I listened to the introduction and didn’t change a thing while talking with the kids on this. They have shown me just how much they pay attention and how much they can learn when I give them the chance.

If you are homeschooling multiple ages and are looking for a bible study, I highly recommend Growing Up In God’s Word Acts, Part 1 and 2 for your house.

-Product review by Amanda Hopkins, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, October, 2016