Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Sometimes God is in the little things...

In March or April, I sat down to do some planning for 2009-10. One of the things I left with a question mark was Bible. I jotted some notes as to what I wanted in a Bible program, which I'm prettying up here a bit:

  1. something I can do with everyone
  2. something that doesn't involve a ton of preparation time from me
  3. something that doesn't involve a lot of reading and writing for anyone but Connor
  4. something that would let Connor dig into his Bible and really start to explore things like the meanings of words, or how things tie together, using Bible study resource materials like concordances, atlases, and word study books
  5. something that is comprehensive in its coverage
  6. something that is not "cute" nor is it working at being "relevant" to today's youth culture
  7. but yet is something that they can enjoy
  8. preferably something that either is later old testament (we have done Genesis, well... a lot) or New Testament
  9. and something we can afford

So yesterday, I got an email from Grapevine Studies, as I get the chance to review one of their products for the TOS Review Crew. I'll be reviewing the Old Testament Overview (link is to the level 4 student book, which is what Connor will be using). I hadn't even remembered that I had listed out what I wanted, but after talking with a friend, I was reminded. And I had to report on how this lines up:

  1. I can include everyone, even Trina (not officially, the recommendation was a notebook and crayons... but I know she'll be listening, and memorizing too)
  2. It doesn't appear to need a lot of prep time, once I get through the initial "how to use this course" stuff.
  3. The author of the program had students with reading struggles, so the program is very adaptable in that regard.
  4. Level 4 is teaching them to use a Bible dictionary, a concordance, and a topical Bible. That is explicitly built into the course (honestly, I am likely to learn as much as Connor in this part!)
  5. Certainly comprehensive
  6. Cute could be argued. Definitely not trying to be hip or cool...
  7. My guess is that they will love this.
  8. Okay, well, we're starting back over with Genesis. Again. But that won't be all year, and really, most of the stuff we've done is in weeks 2-5 of this overview, so I think that will work.
  9. And, hmmm, my price is printing it out, and writing up a review.

4 comments:

Jen said...

I was looking at this 18 months ago so I will be very interested to read your review when ready.

Best wishes
Jen in Oz

Debra said...

Jen --

I really like what I see so far! We get a fair amount of time to actually use this in our schools, so the review won't be happening until later this summer. But at the moment, well, I wish I had been able to purchase this back when I first saw it at (shhh... CHEC...). I think this would have been a very good thing for us these past couple years.

And I'll be sure to comment on how it works with the reading challenged student perspective too :)

So are you blogging somewhere? I'd love to follow you!

Penny said...

I was describing Grapevine Studies to a friend, and said, my first impression was "adorable" and then I said that "adorable" isn't a good description, because that seems to imply "lightweight" and this certainly isn't "lightweight". I haven't come up with a good one-word description yet, but it certainly is fun and full of stuff to learn in a unique way!

Penny (notnewtoautism.blogspot.com)

Debra said...

Penny -- oh, too funny! No, adorable is not the right word!! But yeah, the pregnant stick figures are adorable!

I don't think I have a one-word description yet either. And this study is definitely not lightweight by any definition. I am really, really looking forward to doing it. I think we're going to start next week.