Review: God's Great Covenant

I've blogged before about how our days are sometimes a bit crazy and how there never seems to be enough time to teach each of my students individually. That's true some of the time, but there are thankfully periods of time when our lives slow down and I can spend more time one-on-one with a child working through a particular subject.

I'm thrilled with the way that the God's Great Covenant Bible curriculum from Classical Academic Press fits so well into our crazy lives. It's flexible enough that I can allow Brennan (5th grade) to work independently, but the awesome teacher's manual allows me to step in at times to study a section or two with him more deeply.

According to the publisher, "God's Great Covenant, New Testament 1 teaches the gospel using stories, worksheets, memory verses, quizzes, and a little boy named Simon, who shares about the world Jesus lived in."

When Brennan and I started using the materials, I read the lesson portion aloud to him and he completed the review worksheet on a different day. I later tried to have Brennan read the materials himself. What I found that worked best for him, though, was using the audio files. Brennan listened to the audio for the lesson independently and then completed the worksheet. I really like the review worksheets in the God's Great Covenant. They require a working knowledge of the lesson materials and ask the student to think about the message in the scriptures.

For me, the real beauty of these materials lies in the Teacher's Edition. It contains so much more than just the answers to the student review worksheets. Many of the pages have notes covering every bit of space left on the page. Some of the teacher notes add historical information, some include cross-references to other relevant scriptures, and some point out areas for further discussion. If you'd like to see several sample pages from the Teacher's Edition, you can find a link here on the Classical Academic Press website.

I love that I can assign a specific lesson for Brennan to complete independently and then discuss some of the points from the teacher's edition with him. For instance, Chapter 2 deals with the three angelic messages that foretold the birth of Christ. I learned in the teacher notes that Zechariah (or the Greek form Zacharias) means "Yahweh remembered." I also learned more than I previously knew about the way priests were chosen by lot to place burning incense in the Holy Place (a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity). Further in the lesson, the teacher materials contrasted Zechariah's initial response of unbelief with Mary's faithful response to the angel Gabriel.

Would Brennan learn from the materials without those discussions? Yes. Would we both learn more when we are able to add in the teacher's information? Absolutely!

These materials work for my family -- both for the regular crazy weeks and for the weeks when we can slow down to really study something. It works for the weeks when Brennan simply completes a lesson independently and for the weeks when I can discuss a few interesting points from the teacher's edition with him. Not only do I look forward to using the rest of this book with Brennan, I also look forward to using other books in the series with his younger sister.

Classical Academic Press offers three books in their God's Great Covenant series -- two for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament. The New Testament materials are recommended for fourth grade and up, and I think they'd work well for fourth through sixth graders. I received materials that included the student book ($26.95), teacher's edition ($29.95), and downloadable audio files ($9.95). The New Testament 1 Bundle is offered as a package of all three products for $56.95.

If you'd like to hear what the other members of the review crew thought about God's Great Covenant Bible Study materials, please visit The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew blog here.

Disclaimer: I received God's Great Covenant New Testament 1 Bundle package as a member of the 2011 TOS Homeschool Review Crew, and I received no other compensation. In return, I agreed to give an honest review of the materials and how they worked for my homeschool family.