Keeping it Interesting
I’ve been reading through Charlotte Mason’s first volume, Home Education, when I came across this: “Therefore, let the minds of young children be well stored with beautiful narratives of the earlier portions of the Old Testament and of the gospels; but, in order that these stories may be always fresh and delightful to them, care must be taken lest Bible teaching stale upon their minds. Children are more capable of being bored than even we ourselves, and many a revolt has been brought about by the undue rubbing-in of the Bible, in season and out of season, even in nursery days.” (Page 251, Home Education).
This made me think. I grew up going to church multiple times a week and heard many of the Bible stories numerous times. Perhaps you’re like me and many of the stories are “old” by now. How do you make them interesting and not stale- for you or your children? This is question worth pondering.
On the flip side, one thing we have to remind ourselves is that for young children many of these stories are new for them, especially for form 1 students. I remember the first time I read through the life of Christ (one of the gospels) to my oldest son, it was great to see how amazed he was with everything Jesus did.
The warning Charlotte Mason gives in Home Education is definitely something that happens: it gets boring and old. However, the stories from the Bible should be fascinating and capture the imagination. I think one of the dangers comes when you read the stories in homeschool and then the kids also get Bible stories in Sunday school and in classes at church. It’s something we need to watch out for with our kids. What are the signs that the stories are getting boring? One day my oldest sone said to me something like, “Didn’t we read this already?” He is really good at narration and remembers things we read 2-3 years ago really clear. He’s just finishing Form 2b (4th grade). So this year instead of going through one of the gospels (again) I started going through the book of Acts for something different.
I want to suggest some practical ideas to help keep the stories fresh. Firstly, you can choose one story (or person) and go in depth. Secondly, you can talk about the culture, historical background, and bring in maps (which is a great idea to do anyway!) to help the students picture what it might have been like back then. Instead of a regular spoken narration, you can have the students draw a picture or act out the story (acting out is always fun, but make sure it’s appropriate for the age of the students).
Sometimes bringing in archaeology can be helpful and one of my personal favorites is bringing in pictures of where the stories actually happened. I had the privilege of studying abroad in Israel for a semester in college many years ago and it was amazing. It really helped me better picture where many of the stories took place. Of course now you can find many pictures and videos of these places online. One great resource is a huge model (that’s in Jerusalem but you can find pictures of it online) of how Jerusalem looked like in the 1st Century. Speaking of which, it would be super fun one school year to celebrate some of the Jewish festivals to help some of the stories come to life. Finally, For a different way to do narrations, you can have students narrate from the perspective of someone in the story (or even from the perspective of an animal that might have been there).
Charlotte Mason talked about bringing in pictures to illustrate some of the Bible stories. Bringing in drawings from great artists is also wonderful. For me, personally, I try to only use paintings and drawings that are historically accurate (or as accurate as possible). There are many older paintings where the clothes and locations don’t fit the time frame the stories actually happened. It would be like if someone were to draw a picture of Noah and his ark in today’s world, with Noah and his family wearing t-shirts and jeans. It’s a bit weird. (Speaking of Noah’s ark, you can have a comparison to how big Noah’s ark is compared to an airplane or a famous building.) However, if you do choose to have students look at a picture that might not be historically accurate, it could be a good discussion point: “Do you think they actually wore clothes like this?” “How about the building in the back- does it look like it fits?” “Why did they include __ in the picture but not _ ?” “If you were to paint this what would you include in the picture?”
I hope this article has given you some ideas as I contemplate and brainstorm how to keep the Bible interesting for myself and my family. Remember, keeping the Bible interesting is not only for our kids but also for ourselves. If we are bored, how in the world are we going to teach it well to our kids?
Rachel Bubb 2024
Do you find yourself thinking about topics and wanting to process them through to completion? Us, too. We would like to offer our blog as A Large Room, if you will, of Charlotte Mason topics, written by moms, just like you, about topics we are all interested in.
We would love to hear from you.