Questions about Bible in World History

[farmfamily]

Hello all!

I have decided that it is a very important goal for me to have my kids read the entire Bible during their high school years for several reasons that I won't go into here (unless people are interested ).

I read the thread below:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16417&p=115521&hili ... 3F#p115242

and see that only "highlights" of the Old Testament are read in World History. I want to know how much of the Old Testament these highlights are? If I had my dc read the whole thing would they be doubling or tripling their reading - or more? I don't want them to have too much to process at one time too, and Julie seems to say above that this may be a problem with reading the whole Old Testament during that year. Could I spread the book out over two years and have the kids read it in smaller chunks? Is there something else in the guide that I could drop to accomplish this goal?

I have thought about reading through the whole Bible in our family Bible Time, but I think I would rather have my kids tackle it solo during High School so they can concentrate more. We are currently reading through the Book of Isaiah aloud and the younger kids get squirmy at times. I think Leviticus might be tough!

[LovingJesus]

I want to encourage you in your desire to have your kids or family read the entire Bible.

I don’t know how the extra reading would be with the World History (my oldest is in 8th). My encouragement though is it only takes reading 4 chapters of Bible a day to go through the entire Bible in a year. If read out-loud it is about 30 minutes a day. Read silently it is around 15 - 20 minutes a day.

My DH read through Leviticus last year with our 13, 11, 10, & 8 year olds. We learned a lot as a family in that particular book of the Bible.

[farmfamily]

Thank you for your encouragement!

I have been thinking of moving family Bible Time from the evening (when we currently do it) to the morning so that everyone is less tired. Perhaps that would help. At the moment we only read one chapter a day and only 5 or 6 evenings a week. It would take us over 4 years to read the whole Bible at that rate! We are reading Isaiah right now because our pastor challenged us to read the Book he is preaching on. I kind of like the flexibility of reading what we are studying in church.

I looked up that the OT has 929 chapters, so my dd would need to read over 6 chapters a day to finish it with only reading on school days. I think I would need to have her do it over 2 years if I ask her to do it independently for school. I am now thinking of having her do half of "The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study" next year with World Geography and reading half of the OT. Then she can finish the following year. I will try and do the same readings as her in my own quiet time.

I read the entire Bible through on my own twice when I was growing up, and I think it has made a profound impact on my life. My own kids have had a lot more exposure to the Bible than I did (other than my independent reading) since I went to public school and my parents didn't do a "Bible Time," but I still really have a strong desire for them to read it cover to cover.
Thanks again for your thoughts

[Carrie]

Hello! I agree that reading the entire Bible is a wonderful goal. The Bible curriculum that we schedule for the World History and the US1 years (called The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study by Starr Meade) has the option of reading through the entire Bible along with the curriculum. So, you could definitely follow that option as you go through those two years.

Perhaps, your students could do the extra Bible reading at a separate time outside of their school day? It could be as easy as doing it before bedtime.

I thought I'd also share that we have added a scheduled half-hour reading time for our family at night after supper clean-up where the family gathers together to read silently for 30 minutes in our living room. Each family member reads a book of his/her choice. We actually set a timer, and it is completely silent (as we finally have kiddos old enough for it to be quiet). It has really encouraged a love of reading in our house! Our older kiddos sometimes read their "Living Library" books or their "Literature" books for school during this time. Sometimes our boys read their Bibles or devotional books during this time too. Anyway, just a thought.

Blessings,
Carrie

[farmfamily]

Thank you for your thoughts Carrie,

I am really looking forward to "The Most Important Thing You'll Ever Study." I think it looks wonderful. We also do a reading time in the evening, but I read aloud to youngest while the others read in their rooms. I like your idea of having the whole family read silently together. I will try it when my youngest "graduates" from wanting to be read to!