I like to start out our day with a Bible study or a devotion. Getting into God’s word before we start our day seems to help us all have kinder attitudes towards one another and helps us get our priorities in order.
I’m always on the lookout for new Bible studies that are kid friendly and fun. We had just completed a Bible study so I was very excited to have the opportunity to review Firmly Planted, Gospels, Part 2 (the Family Study Guide and Student Workbook) by Jay and Heidi St. John, through Real Life Press resources.
Firmly Planted
The Firmly Planted Bible study series currently contains five different studies:
- Firmly Planted – The Books of Moses, Part 1
- Firmly Planted – the Books of Moses, Part 2
- Firmly Planted – The Gospels, Part 1
- Firmly Planted – The Gospels, Part 2
- Firmly Planted – The Gospels, Part 3 (new!)
These studies are designed to help families study the Bible together, including even little members of the family.
Each lesson includes fun student worksheets (ones for ages 4-11 and ones for ages 11 and up) that compliment the lesson like crossword puzzles, word searches, coloring pages, and much more. The studies are available in PDF format or you can purchase the hard copy. I was given the hardcopy for my review. All the pages were already hole punched so I just slipped everything into a 3 ring binder.
The Gospels, Part 2
The Firmly Planted Gospels (Part 2) contains 10 lessons. Each lesson covers five days so it should take approximately 10 weeks to complete.
The first day is an introduction to the week. It includes the scripture reading, an in-depth explanation of the reading, memory verses, and discussion questions. During the next four days the daily devotions expand on the first day’s teaching by focusing on smaller bites of scripture followed by discussion questions and things to think about.
Lessons Included in The Gospels – Part 2:
- Parable of the Sower
- The Story of Two Sons
- Jesus and Zacchaeus
- The Woman Caught in Adultery
- The Rich Young Ruler
- The Triumphal Entry
- The Last Supper
- Gethsemene
- The Crucifixion
- The Resurrection
Firmly Planted got its name from Psalm 1:3 which says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord; he is like a tree, firmly planted by streams of water who yields its fruit in due season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
In keeping with the theme, Firmly Planted uses cute little icons throughout the study to help organize the different sections. For example, “The Seed” introduces the key concept for the week. And “Planting the Seed” features the Bible memory verse for the week, with one shorter verse for younger students and a longer version for older students.
The student pages that go along with each lesson are not specific to any particular day of the week so you can use them whenever you like.
Thoughts and Usage
We started out using this Bible study in the evenings before bed. However, with work schedules and evening activities, it worked best for us to use this in the mornings before we started our day.
On Monday I would read the introductory section of the lesson. We worked on memory verses and usually completed a student worksheet as well. Tuesday through Friday we completed days 1 through 4 of the study, usually incorporating a variety of student worksheets into our study as well.
Pros:
- I love the student worksheets. My kids enjoyed doing the mazes and coloring while I read the lessons.
- I like that the daily devotions are short and easy. If I got behind one day, it was easy to catch up.
- The in-depth teaching helped my kids get more out of the study. I really appreciated the explanation of the Bible reading provided at the beginning of the week.
Cons:
- It was hard to know how to use the student worksheets. I think they are great additions to the study but I would’ve liked to have certain worksheets assigned to each day so that we know what to use each day.
- I would’ve liked to have the Bible memory verse printed under each new day’s section. I sometimes forgot to review the memory verse with the kids since it was only mentioned once at the beginning of the week.
Overall, I’m very happy with this Bible study. It’s fun and very easy to use, includes almost all age ranges, and is a great way to incorporate solid Biblical truth to your day. We will continue to use our study and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a great family Bible study.
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