The Hands On Bible

When the Schnickelfritz was baptized last month, we decided it was time for him to have his own Bible.  We had plenty for Bible story books, but not an actual translation for him.  Apparently we were no alone in our thinking because his Children's Minister also presented him with a gift Bible.   Obviously, working with kids, she knew what would appeal to them--she get's The Hands On Bible.

This is a New Living Translation, which helps him understand what he reads or what is read to him.  Throughout the book are science experiments, craft projects, journaling ideas,  character biographies, etc.  For example, when we read about baby Moses in the basket there is an experiment on floatation--it almost turns Bible time into a unit study.  Fritz spent three nights looking for the "hidden messages,"  lillipution print directing the student to other Bible passages to reenforce ideas.  His theme in Sunday School this quarter has been training to be a super spy, so he pored over the Bible with his magnifying lens.

In the back is a reading schedule.  The schedule doesn't expect the kids to read through the whole Bible, but it does include hundreds of passages to give a good overview.  We started this schedule and I was preparing to skip from Cain and Abel to the story of Noah, but Fritz saw all the numbers in Genesis Chapter 5.  Fritz may be the world's first mathaholic so we couldn't skip this chapter.  We started by reading the text--each man was a certain age, had a son, and lived so many more years having other sons and daughters.  Fritz had to figure out each man's lifespan before I confirmed his answer by reading the next verse.

We then had a list of names, equations, and answers for each man.  Fritz then wanted to add everyone's ages together, but even as he did so he recognized that there was overlapping so it didn't tell him how many years were covered in the chapter.  We then  mad a timeline on the board, coloring in each man's lifespan from start to finish.  We also looked to see who lived the longest and the shortest.  We discussed the fact that Methuselah could have spoken to Adam and Noah.  And we talked about the extraordinary fact that Enoch never had to die.

I was so blessed to see how earnestly Fritz is taking his Bible study time and can't wait to continue this with him.  I may even take some ideas to share with the boys at Royal Rangers.