Now, you may be wondering, “drew their way through? What on earth does THAT mean?” Well. It’s what makes Grapevine Studies one of my favorite educational companies. They have developed a system of learning by drawing stick figures of what they are learning. Drawing the biblical passages helps kids engage in their learning and, at least for my kids, it really seems to help them retain what they are learning. Using stick figures makes it easier, so the children don’t get hung up on the perfectionism that can take over when you ask them to draw a scene. My boys really like learning with stick figure drawing, and honestly, I think it’s really fun too!
For this review, I received PDF copies of the student and teacher books. Because I was using this for both of my sons, PDF worked best because you can legally print enough copies for your immediate family. The company does offer physical books as well if you prefer, but you cannot legally make any copies of it and I would therefore need to purchase two student books if I wanted to use it for both boys. I printed these at our local copy center, had them 3 hole punched, and stored them in binders.
New Testament Part 1 includes forty five daily lessons. There is also a plan to make that into twelve weekly lessons instead, but we chose to use it daily during our school week, which is currently five days per week. The daily lessons only take about fifteen minutes each. The student book includes the lessons, timelines, review questions, and memory verses. The teacher’s book is very easy to use. The lessons are already planned for you so basically you just need to read through the lesson plans and goals. New Testament Part 1 focuses on a lot of Jesus’ life. We learn about his birth, including how God worked with and through Joseph, Mary, and the wise men. We also learn about Jesus’ baptism and John, his ministry and his disciples.
We worked with Level 2 of this product, which is perfect for my 8 and 10 year olds. There are four levels, all teaching the same subject but each adding a bit to make it more challenging for different ages. Level 1 focuses on drawing and timelines and is geared towards grades 1-2, Level 2 adds in more memory work and is suggest for grades 3-4, Level 3 (grades 5-6) adds Bible geography, and Level 4 (grades 7-8) introduces basic Bible study skills. Other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed different levels, so you can read about their experiences here and decide what will work best for your children. My kids really love Grapevine Studies and the New Testament lessons did not disappoint us. The boys were really excited to learn more about the life of Jesus and the stick figuring really kept them engaged in the process.
