Character Building for Families: A Review

One of the deep desires of mothers everywhere is for their children to grow to be good people.  While sometimes we get sidetracked with physical success or failure, at the end of the day we pray that their character will be what shines about them.  The tricky part of that is that good hearts need cultivating and maintenance.  Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you a couple of books that can help your family be intentional with building up those hearts with virtue and character - Character Building for Families, Volume I & II by Lee Ann Rubsam.  









Character Building for Families is a two volume spiral-bound set of topical Bible studies designed for families or small groups.  Volume I covers 12 character traits and Volume II covers only 5, but at length.  While every topic stands alone and accessible in any order, Volume II's topics are not as easily grasped by young children.  Virtues like Stewardship and Mercy in depth are better suited for older kids, whereas Obedience and Diligence are vital concepts earlier on.

The remarkableness of these studies is really in their simplicity.  There is not a large amount of devotional material, but rather wisely placed questions and scriptures to memorize.  The author's intent was to ensure that all of these character traits were given adequate time and study, but it certainly allows the parent/teacher to include their own illustrations or examples.  In some ways, it is more like an outline than anything else.  Each lesson is divided up into days and may last anywhere from 5 days to over 2 months, depending on the topic, but if we had the time more than one day's lesson could be covered in a day. 
The author, Lee Ann Rubsam, home schooled her children for 25 years, until they reached adulthood. Character Building for Families was originally written for her family. She continues to mentor younger home school mothers through social media and writing, including The Character Building for Families Blog.



As my oldest inches closer to double-digits, I am growing increasingly aware of the fear of missing something before it's too late. Character Building for Families is a great framework to facilitate all those important conversations!

Bible Study Guide For All Ages: A Curriculum Review

Bible study, like any other subject, has a wide range of approaches and usually just as many opinions about it all.  When it comes to curriculum, one of the things I appreciate most is when authors leave all the controversial opinions out or at least up to the parent/teacher's discretion.    Bible Study Guide For All Ages dives straight into the content of the Bible provides multiple avenues to learn, remember and understand what the Bible says.  This a program I had never heard of before, but will be sticking with for a while as the result of his review.   
For my two big kids (7 and almost 5), we received the Primary (1st & 2nd grade) level which included Primary Student Pages, Primary Teacher Guide, Bible Book Summary Cards as well as the Wall Maps and Timeline set. There are a total of 416 lessons altogether, but we received 1-26 to get us started. The company was very generous in all the things we were given to look at!

Student Pages -  Each child used a set of the Primary Level Student Pages.  They also offer a Beginner, Intermediate, & Advanced Level Student Pages depending on the age and grade of your student.  The student pages are consumable and full of multi-sensory learning activities designed to enhance understanding and memorization of scripture.  The primary level includes activities like fill in the blank, coloring, review questions, timeline exercises, and character building ideas.  The pages are easily pulled apart which makes the teacher in me panic a little.  There's no real reason to keep them attached because once they are used you don't revisit them.  

Primary Teacher's Guide -  This is a spiral bound book that walks you through each lesson step by step.  It is easy to follow and gives directions for every element, even the optional ones like the music CD and the Timeline.  

Bible Book Summary Cards - These come in two sizes and we received the large,  8.5" x 11" ones.  With just a few specific pictures, each card provides visual reminders of the books events on the front and a list of review/memory questions on the back.  The cards are a fun tool for comprehension and retention.  

Wall Maps and Timeline set -  This includes a timeline, three maps, and the figures to go on each.  These are really big!  If you don't have much wall space, it won't be useful to you.  However, if you have a place for it, it is a fantastic educational tool!  I know my understanding of Bible time and locations would have been much different had I grown up with something like this around.

This picture is so true in our household.  They are usually pretty enthusiastic about anything Bible related, but Bible Study Guide For All Ages has made our Bible study time easy and fruitful in all areas! Even though miss Z was on the young side, she surprised me with all the information she was remembering.  With so much interaction and application of the scriptures, our daily conversation was considerably changed for the better!  We reviewed the Primary Level, but remember there are 3 other levels that may work slightly different.  Be sure to read through the rest of the Crew's reviews to get a feel for the other levels.

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