Over the past 4 week, What’s in the Bible has been conducting a blog tour leading up to the launch of the final installment of the Old Testament. Volume 9 – God Speaks! will launch next week!
My friend, Amy Dolan kicked off the tour by talking about their vision and ease of use, then Dale Hudson chimed in with what he liked about volume 2. From there another blogger talked about how the books of Leviticus and Numbers came to life leading to Matt Guevara sharing what makes a good curriculum and why WITB fits that bill. Other bloggers continued to review each of the volumes and share what they enjoyed…that leads up to this {almost} final blog in the Race to the Finish.
These have all been great reviews and I’m tempted to follow in their vein, but instead I’ll share what I think they missed. Don’t get me wrong,I love What’s in the Bible…but not just because it’s a good curriculum, I love it because my kids love it. Not just my biological kids, but the kids at camp and the kids at church. What’s in the Bible is making a huge impact in my ministry. Like Larry tells Bob, “It’s for the kids, Bob.”
While Phil Vischer is the mind behind this and Veggie Tales, What’s in the Bible is not Veggie Tales. VT tended to lose its appeal as children grew older whereas even my 5th graders are enjoying the teaching of Sunday School Lady, Buck Denver, Chester Wigget, and the other WITB characters. In fact, I’ve heard kids say that they didn’t want to miss a day of camp because we might show a clip from WITB. That’s huge!
I watched Volume 8 with my kids and watched them learn issues about the poetic books that I didn’t learn until seminary. The Jellyfish Labs group has a way of breaking down the difficult issues in a way that children can understand and relate that learning back to something they have already covered.
For example, this issue was about the writings. It talked about ancient poetry before jumping into the book of Job which helps clarify that the story is about something. Then, while in that story talking about the meeting between God and Satan, they jump back to the story of the Garden and explain how the Hebrew word that was used wasn’t about a specific being but was literally an adversary…and then tied it to the New Testament story so that we could see that the adversary was Satan…which lead my 9 year old to say, “So Satan is God’s satan.”
I love that WITB teaches my children theology, big picture theology. I love that WITB gives a holistic view of the sections of the Bible to my children – it helps them to better understand why the books where chosen and how they fit into the Big Story. I love that WITB creates a yearning for more. And, I liked that at the end of this Volume my oldest son and I had a talk about why the Song of Solomon is something better read when he’s older.
In short, WITB is something your kids will get, something they will enjoy.
As I promised Tuesday, here’s how you can enter to win a free copy of volume 8 and find out how much you and your kids will enjoy it (or, if you are ready to buy, just click the link on sidebar):
Use the Rafflecopter link below to register – you’ll get an entry for leaving a comment, tweeting about this post, or liking of Facebook page…do all 3 for 3 entries.
I’ll announce a winner next Tuesday… in the meantime, if you’d like to read more reviews, head over to http://promos.whatsinthebible.com/racetothefinish/ While you’re there, enter your e-mail address for a chance to win a complete set!
