Books w/LHTH stumping me

[mamaduke]

I've been using the My ABC Bible Verses selection for the devotion book in Little Hands and I'm realizing that it doesn't match the Key idea. I suppose there is no way around this since the original book is out of print. I wonder if I could find it online. I really like the unit study flow of all the other areas but when I get to the devotional day, it doesn't fit the Bible theme as the key idea suggests, but it does match the letter of the week theme.

Anyone else notice this?

As an FYI side note, the 1956 edition, 1981 printing of The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes does not match page numbers for the new edition. This printing uses a one page layout for each story and picture instead of two. I can still easily follow along just by story title. Some of the words are different too. Like for Cain and Able, as one example, the old edition says that God wanted both brothers to offer lambs and Cain disobeyed by offering grain, but this is not in Scripture. We don't know why God was displeased with Cain's offering, but it is speculated that it was perhaps not his best or choice crops. The new edition, which I went ahead and bought even though I liked the art better in the old one, omits the above claim.

[Samuel'sMommy]

I know what you mean about the devotion not matching the Bible story. Samuel doesn't seem bothered by it so we'll keep using the devotional we have. We do have another Children's Bible that has a more devotional feel to it and sometimes we will go back and re-read the Bible story from it just to make sure he really gets it. We don't do school 5 days a week though so we fill in with stuff on our days off.

[Kathleen]

Julie,

I found Small Talks About God on Amazon last spring. It was used but is in excellent condition. My dd is really enjoying the stories from it this year. Last fall all I bought was the LHTH guide. We have the "old" Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, but ours does match the age numbers. I just looked and it's the 1956 copyright, but 1984 printing. It's a little book the same size as the new one. Someone gave it to us in 2000 when Grant was born. (I had the one you're talking about as a girl. )

Even with no devotional, I found that the program went fine. There's so much there even without it! Hope you and your little one continue to have a great time with it!
Kathleen

[6timeboymom]

I have the original book, but I can see how frustrating it would be if they didn't quite match!
as for the cain and abel story, I noticed that in the family time bible in little hearts. I've also stopped using the Kenneth Taylor books for the most part because of things like that I found in them that don't agree with my beliefs.

[Carrie]

mamaduke,

The replacement devotionals are not going to match the key idea, as they are matched only by the letter of the week being studied. This is only true for the key idea once each week in one box for Little Hands to Heaven. All other key ideas match well. The devotionals that were in the program prior matched the key idea perfectly. As those books both went out of print, we added optional devotion replacements. We felt this the best way to go in order to keep a God-honoring devotional in the program each week. The other option would have been to just omit all devotionals until the guide is reprinted.

As far as the Bible stories go, we do list the current "New Bible in PIctures for Little Eyes" as the Bible that matches "Little Hands to Heaven". Most of the prior versions of this Bible also match by page number, although the content may be slightly different. This is why we recommend the updated version. It is the current version that we have gone over very carefully! We also give you the Scripture reference for EVERY story, so you are welcome to read right from the Bible in order to make sure it is accurate.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Carrie]

Darci,

As far as children's Bibles go, Kenneth Taylor's have pretty much set the standard in writing for children. They have stood the test of time and are lovingly remembered by many adults from their childhood days! Almost all children's Bibles will have some quibbles in the retelling, and at the point that you are desiring a word-for-word retelling, it is best to read the stories directly from the Bible (which is why we always provide that option in all of our guides).

At our house, we greatly enjoy reading a good children's Bible to our kiddos to instill the love for God's word in their hearts at an early age. Our kiddos take their children's Bibles everywhere and pore over the pictures. When children are very young, they are just trying to take in the stories and the names and trying to understand that these were real people. The current crop of children's Bibles out on the market today, stray very far from the original Bible stories in both word and picture. So, we're thankful for Kenneth Taylor's time-honored renditions for very young children.

I know there won't always be complete agreement with everything in any one given program, especially in the area of Bible study. This is why we provide more than one option, always including the Scripture to be read directly from the Bible! I just wanted to explain our reason for choosing the Kenneth Taylor books, as I dont' think I've ever heard anything negative about them.

Blessings,
Carrie

[mamaduke]

I am very thankful the actual Scripture reference is given for each story as we do read that also. I find myself explaining quite a bit of the history as I find the Story Bible shallow for my 5 year old, who already knows quite a bit of Bible. He DOES however like the pictures very much and it brings the story to life for him. I agree that at these tender ages children are just trying to remember the basics of the characters names and main events.

I especially feel the slow pace, one story a day, really helps the story sink in, including the chronology of events. True CM style. When we've read the other bible story books in the past we usually just plow through them as he desires. I think he is retaining so much more this past month as we've been doing this program and using both the New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes and the original. We look at both pictures, read one or both of the stories (which are usually the same; ds loves to hear it over again) and then look up the Scripture and read that with explanation.

I usually spend 1 hour to 1.5 hours on LHTH each day. I don't know how we could ever do it in 30 min, but I do expound a lot and let him "extend" the fingerplays with his own adaptations and repetitions and do extra of all the things he loves, like painting. But part of that time is just reading the Scripture and talking about it and reviewing the previous lesson.

This program is a fine fit for us, I was just putting some info out there on some things that took me by surprise in case someone else comes across the same issue.

I too usually choose around Kenneth Taylor as I feel his paraphrases are more liberal, but will have to compare his work to the other writings available per age as the time comes. I'm thankful HOD offers choices and of course, the actual Word of God to use as our Standard.

That's the beauty of this program, we can make it our own.

[busybee4]

I can't comment on LHTH because I've never used it (but am eyeing it for my almost 3 year old little boy whom I feel needs some time during the day since I've been so busy with the girls but that's a different post!!! )

However, for the Bible time in Little Hearts I've chosen just to read from the KJV Bible to my children. At first I wasn't sure if this was the best choice because my children (as goes with most young kids) are VERY visual and LOVE to look at pictures and I wondered if the recommened Bibles weren't better. However I've been pleasenlty surprised!! My children (mainly the girls but sometimes ds shows interest) have LOVED hearing the stories right from the Word of God!! We do this right after breakfast and like someone else said I do find myself explaining alot but I think that it is to the benefit of my children (and Momma!!).

I have never had a complaint from either one of them about Bible time being boring!! (And I do it at breakfast so that Samuel will be with us...he doesn't do anything while he's eating so I've got his attention...at least until the cereal bowl is empty!! ) It has really become a highlight of our day for ALL of us. I'm sure that they would enjoy the Bible story books but I don't think that you can ever go wrong with reading straight from the Word of God!!! It's just so powerful, you never know what the Lord will do with that when they are older!!!

I understand that we are all different and have to do what works best for our personal situations and am so thankful that Carrie was very sensitive to this and understood this when writing out these plans to give us many different options to choose from!! It's been great!!! So, just pray and the Lord will lead you to the right decision for your family!!

[6timeboymom]

Oh, Carrie-I hope you know how much I appreciate all the pre-reading and work you've done picking the books! I agree that you wouldn't find any book that every single person would agree on (except the bible itself...hee hee!!) I have become ultra-picky I think, and when there's something I don't agree with I skip it or tell what I believe-ya know? As for the one devotional, I got too lazy to do the adjustments, so I just stopped using it! lol! There are just the finer points that I might not agree with-in general, the big ideas, I find them perfectly acceptable. It's kind of like how I loved the book "The Purpose Drive Life" but since he's a Baptist minister, there were finer points I didn't agree with. Otherwise I think it's an amazing book. (I'm a Nordic, Midwestern Lutheran...need I say more?? ROFL!!)
for the record, my Greyson and Gabe each have the Child's First Bible and the Family Time bible, and they will carry them around and take them everywhere with them! So I hope I didn't sound complaining-I just thought I share my opinion. I think you guys do an AMAZING job at picking out the literature for the lessons-so much that I can't stop recommending the curriculum to everyone. I've passed out all but a few of the catalogs I got...I had to keep one JUST for Greyson and Gabe to have as they like to carry it around, too, and say, "next year I'm doing this book, this year I'm doing this book..." and "read" the catalog to each other!

[Carrie]

Oh Darci,

I respect your opinion and am SO glad to have you on the board! I'm happy that each one of you is finding a way to make HOD a fit for your unique families! I understand that we're not all the same and was just intending to clarify why we picked the Bibles we did and which children's Bibles are used in the programs!

I agree that it is a needed skill to pre-read carefully and to gaurd our kiddos hearts and minds!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Scottypenguin]

This is a link with a schedule of how to use My ABC Bible Verses with LHTH.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/pdf/MyABCB ... tional.pdf

This is a page with links of schedules to use with other books in the HOD curricula that have gone out of print.

http://www.heartofdakota.com/updates.php


Does that help?

[mamaduke]

Hi Scottypenguin,

Welcome to the group, and thanks for taking the time to post those links. Yes, I've seen them before. The My ABC Bible Verses schedule is printed inside the cover of the guide. Very helpful to have, of course.

Carrie, I understand completely the need for replacement; due to the other book(s) being out of print. The My ABC Bible Verses book is a very nice complement to the study and emphasizes scripture memory and letter recognition, which is right on target! My ds5 enjoys the devotion days, and I enjoy the lessons it teaches. I simply didn't notice for about 3 weeks that the key idea wasn't matching (duh), because I was only using the replacement schedule and not looking at the key idea box, (which was the correct way since it doesn't match anyway.) I knew that the letter was matching and that is great. I was just wondering what the out of print book was like in the flow of the unit since it kept the same bible theme idea as the other bible stories and activities.

I know too that the "old" Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes is not the suggested book. I simply liked the older artwork and thought the text and page numbers were the same. They obviously are for some printings, but not all.

So just posting for the benefit of someone else to know these areas that differ from the surface. Clearly all my own choices.

I'm so sorry if I put you on defenses. My tone must have been wrong and maybe I should have just kept to myself. Please forgive if I'm out of line. Again, this product is an answer to prayer and I plan on using it for the long haul. Thank you for your tireless work in creating it "For His Glory". )

[Carrie]

Oh, Juie! No worries here! I just wanted to make sure (for other moms reading the thread) that they realized which books were scheduled in the guide and why we were using replacement devotionals, which makes that particular key idea not match

Moms who are new to the program often come to the board to "lurk", and I get the most interesting emails about things moms read on the board ( especially when they get confused)!

So, I always like to clarify as best as possible on any threads that may make the choices that go with a progam unclear to the new readers!

I'm so glad you're enjoying LHTH, and we look forward to getting to know you even better!

Blessings,
Carrie

[jewel7123]

I just wanted to bump this up for those interested in finding a children's Bible that has a bit more meat to it than those by Kenneth Taylor. I read the reviews on Amazon for "A child's first Bible" and "The new Bible in pictures for little eyes" and saw that some reviews stated that the Bible stories were too watered down and brief. I considered using my NKJV Bible to read the stories from, but I was curious to see what other children's Bibles were available. I stumbled upon "The one year Bible for children" by Gilbert Beers and after browsing it on Google Book Search decided this was the book I was looking for! The stories are more in depth and there are great questions at the end of each story. There aren't illustrations with every single story, but the ones there are have a real quality to them and aren't cartoonish as with some children's Bibles. Just thought I would pass on my find to anyone interested!

Here is the link for Google Book Search:

http://books.google.com/books?id=ckuZEE ... s#PPA15,M1

[mamaduke]

Thank you for posting that link. I looked at it right away and that Bible looks very interesting. Please keep me posted on how it works for you with the HOD program. Which guide are you using?