Grapevine Studies {Schoolhouse Crew Review}

Last Fall, Lauren and I did the Birth of Jesus Bible study from Grapevine Studies. Recently, we've been able to study The Resurrection using their Multi-Level materials for elementary students.


Generally speaking, the Grapevine materials will divide nicely among four days of lessons each week. One day is spent reviewing the previous material, two days are spent completing the lesson pages, and the fourth day is a student drawing page which serves as a review. This particular study has nine lessons and a very comprehensive final review section at the end. It will take us at least 10-12 weeks to work through all the material.
The first week of each study is a bit different, though, because it gives an overview of the materials and has the student do a full timeline. We worked on the timeline for three days, completing one page in Lauren's student workbook each day.

When I first used a Grapevine Study, I didn't quite understand the point of teaching the timeline before digging in to the meat of the study. The teacher notes pointed out that their intention was to build a framework before introducing the details from scripture, similar to the way many people work the outside edges of a jigsaw puzzle before they work the middle. With that analogy in mind, I approached the first week of timeline activities with a better attitude.

The lesson pages dig deeper into the Scripture. Either Lauren or I read the Bible passage aloud, and then we work on the stick figure drawing while discussing the materials. I draw the stick figure on a white board and Lauren copies in her Student book. Even though it's just stick figures, I'm thankful for the Teacher eBook giving me an example to follow. 
In the past, Lauren and I just drew our stick figure representations using pencil. For this study, I've branched out into the realm of color. I read on the Grapevine website that the colors given in the examples are actually chosen with a purpose. Once I discovered the way the colors stand for various themes, I find it helpful to do our stick figure drawings in color. In Grapevine Studies, purple stands for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. All of the disciples that we talk about in the study are draw in green, except Judas who is black (the color also used for sin or evil).
In this picture, Lauren drew Jesus on the left in purple, and Judas on the right in black. It's a bit hard to tell, but Jesus is handing a yellow piece of bread to Judas. Lauren chose to put a bit of red on the yellow bread because the scripture tells that Jesus dipped the bread in wine before handing it to Judas. I love the way that this program allows her to add details that she feels are important.

Stick figuring through the Bible with Grapevine Studies makes for fun and memorable Bible study lessons. If you'd like to hear more about these studies, you can read my earlier review of Birth of Jesus or visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew posts from this week or last Fall.

The digital version of The Resurrection Student book costs $7.60 for a family license and the Teacher license eBook costs $11.20. The materials can be used for a wide range of elementary aged students in either a homeschool or group setting (co-op, Sunday school class, etc).





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