You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (ESV)
Therein lies our vision for homeschooling our children.
Sometimes I miss the boat here. The truth is, I’m not always diligently teaching our children God’s commands as I should. But my goal is to constantly have the Lord and his commands and his goodness upon our hearts as we sit in our home, as we walk along the road, when we lie down at night, and when we rise the next morning. It’s my goal. It’s my vision. It’s my prayer.
Rewind a few years to when we first started homeschooling and picture me, a mom in survival mode. (Who am I kidding? That’s me today!) I’ll now mention what I wish someone had told me back then: to start with, just open the Bible, read a verse together and talk about it; if you’re feeling more adventurous, read a longer passage together. (Psalm 100 is one of our favorites.) While we use (and love using) certain tools for teaching our children God’s truths, the Bible is the one thing we need. If you are feeling overwhelmed with working through a “Bible study,” go back to the basics and just read it together. I guess all I’m trying to say is… to study the Bible you must read it first.
Now that I’ve shared that important thought, I’m switching gears. I really wanted to share this with you as we approach Easter because… well, it has just been so cool.
When I was granted the great privilege to teach a group of middle schoolers at our church’s Wednesday night program, I decided we’d start out with pursuing a study of Biblical Feasts and Holy Days. For some time now, I’ve been interested in learning about the feasts that I’ve so often overlooked in the Old Testament. As I grabbed the Grapevine Studies Biblical Feasts Study, I expected to learn quite a bit. What I didn’t expect was the glorious whisper-shouts I’ve expressed each week as my eyes have been opened and I’ve made those brainwave connections myself as we connect the feasts and holy days to the New Testament fulfillment.
Wow. I mean, wow. I’m still in the infant stages of learning about the feasts, but I’m so glad we’ve embarked on this study. I have loved sharing these moments with our middle school class, and this study has been a great way to introduce us to an idea I’ve always had trouble comprehending.
Biblical Feasts & Holy Days Study: What It Is
The Biblical Feasts & Holy Days Study includes lessons on Purim, the Sabbath, and the seven feasts of Leviticus. It begins with a timeline overview of the biblical calendar and the offerings associated with each of the feasts.
Each feast is then studied by reading Scriptures, drawing stick figures associated with those scriptures, answering review questions, and memorizing Scripture related to that particular feast or holy day.
The student book includes lesson pages, timelines, a map, review questions and copywork pages for memory verses. (A traceable version of the student book is available for young learners who need help with drawing stick figures.)
The Teacher Book includes lesson notes, timelines, stick figure drawings, a map, lesson goals & key points, memory verses, and review questions & answers.
What I love about the Teacher book…
- ease of use
- ability to open and go
- stick figures are simple to replicate
- terms are provided for extra dictionary or concordance research if you’d like to dig deeper
- lesson review questions, as well as entire lessons, are provided for going back over all that we have learned up to that point
- scripture summaries are included, which helps me pull out details I may have missed while we were reading from the Bible (yes, this happens to me: my mind wanders too much. Must. Focus.)
- a life application discussion question for each lesson helps us connect how this particular lesson or biblical truth applies to us today
- specifically for this study, I love how it takes us through the Old Testament feasts and holy days and then shows us the New Testament fulfillment
This study can be divided into 13 weekly lessons of about 30-50 minutes each, or 46 daily lessons of about 15-20 minutes each. It takes our class approximately 30-40 minutes to complete a weekly lesson, which allows for some extra discussion time as we close out the lesson.
Download a sample lesson from the Biblical Feasts & Holy Days Study here.
Also, if you’re looking for an in-depth resource for celebrating the feasts in your family, check out Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts by Richard Booker.
There are so many things I’ve shared about Grapevine Studies over the past couple of years. You can check out the different studies available on the Grapevine Sample Page.
We received this product in exchange for a review. These are our honest-to-goodness, bona fide opinions about this product. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more details!