My Simple Preschool: Bible

Join me every week as I show you how me and my 4-year-old Certain Little Someone do simple preschool at home.

No curriculum, no pressure, but lots of learning!

We’ve covered Phonics, Handwriting, and Math in this series so far, but honestly? By far, the most important subject in our preschool homeschool is Bible. We begin each school session with prayer and a simple Bible lesson in an effort to establish a routine that honors God first and foremost. Truthfully, all true knowledge proceeds from God, so it just makes perfect sense to begin our learning by kneeling at His feet first.

In each Bible lesson, we read a Bible story or learn a Bible truth, and also commit Bible verses and truth to memory. We don’t necessarily follow a systematic approach - no curriculum, remember? - but we do use some tools to provide a sense of order and sequence to the process of learning.

In this post, I’ll share with you the tools I use currently or have used in the past, as well as some exciting new resources I’ve recently discovered.

Bible Knowledge

At this age, Bible stories are the most effective way to communicate Biblical truth. If those stories are combined with pictures, so much the better! Almost any children’s Bible or series of children’s Bible stories will work; in fact, for K3, our entire Bible curriculum consisted of the Sunday School papers my Certain Little Someone brought home every week! If your child attends a Sunday School class that includes lots of take-home papers, I think it’s a great idea to utilize them to reinforce at home what he’s learning in church. And since those Sunday School curriculums generally follow a progression of some sort, you don’t have to worry about coming up with your own system. (As the children get older, of course, they will require more systematic and thorough instruction, but I think it’s an ideal solution for the littlest ones.)

Other resources we have used (and continue to use) include:

The Beginner’s Bible

My First Study Bible - I love how this one gives some background to each book of the Bible, plus it introduces the main characters and authors. Each story also comes with a probing question, and includes some additional facts about the story.

The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos - This one’s a classic, and for good reason! It’s ideal for slightly older children (at least 5 years of age), but it goes through the entire Bible in such beautiful language, I cannot help but include it here. You might think the language too stuffy for young children, but year after year, my class full of 5-year-olds sat enthralled through each story. And there were tears in every eye - including mine! - whenever we read of Jesus’ crucifixion and death.

Arch Books Bible Stories - This collection of rhyming Bible stories will engage younger children and still teach Bible truth. They are typically readily available in Christian bookstores on a rack in the children’s section.

The Jesus Storybook Bible - This is a favorite of many, although I don’t personally own a copy. Yet!

The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes - I grew up on this, and still have very fond memories of listening to the recording of it, as well as listening to my mom read it.

A is for Adam - We are currently working through this great resource from Answers in Genesis. It teaches the Gospel by telling the story of Creation and the Fall of Man through the use of alphabet rhymes. Admittedly, the rhymes are kinda cheesy, but my Certain Little Someone is enjoying memorizing them… and internalizing the truths they contain! Each letter of the alphabet and its rhyme come with an eye-catching picture and several different teaching and learning activities. We are working through it pretty slowly, one letter each week, in order to really have time to delve into all the truth that’s taught.

The Beginner’s Bible - This one is a favorite of My Certain Little Someone. We have an older edition, but we’ve worn it through! I think half the pages have fallen out, so it’s about time to invest in a new one.

Bible Memory

Small children are like sponges - now is the perfect age for them to commit all kinds of Scripture and doctrine to memory! You can choose one of several different systems to help you choose what Scriptures you want your child to memorize:

• Character-Building Verses: Choose verses that focus on character qualities you want to instill in your child’s life. Wise Words for Moms is a great place to start.
• Famous Passages: Now is the time to teach children lengthier passages of Scripture they will remember throughout their lives: The Lord’s Prayer, The Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalm 23), The Love Chapter (I Corinthians 13), The Armor of God (Ephesians 6), etc.
• Coordinate with the Bible Study: Pull verses from whatever Bible stories you are working through.

Currently, my Certain Little Someone is in the AWANA program at our church, so those are the verses we work on throughout the week. We also work on the stories and activities in his book so he can get full credit for those.

We’ve also been working through a Baptist Catechism for Little Children, although we don’t do every single question. There’s a whole list of catechisms for children here if that one doesn’t suit your fancy.

Other posts in this series:

Phonics-Phonics, Part 2-Reading-Reading, Part 2-Handwriting-Math-Days of the Week-Bible-“Other”