Homeschool Bible Curriculum - Our Life in the Shire

As part of our daily routine, we do Bible reading, memorization, and family devotionals. This isn’t really connected to our homeschool, but just a part of our family life. I love to have many different resources, story Bibles, and such.

Bibles & Devotionals

Some of the devotionals we’ve tried, as well as Bibles that we love.

The Beginner’s Bible: Timeless Children’s Stories – this is still a favorite with my kids.
101 Favorite Stories from the Bible – another great book of Bible stories
The Jesus Storybook Bible – definitely a favorite Kids’ bible option
NIV, Adventure Bible – a good option when kids are ready for a full Bible, available in other translations as well
NIV, Adventure Bible, pink – we bought this one and the blue one for our girls
Indescribable – a really engaging devotional for kids that mixes God and Science
How Great Is Our God – also great and engaging for kids (this is the second one with 100 more devotions)
The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers – a devotion a day for little ones
The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers 2 – the second in the series, another full year of simple devotions

Bible Curriculum

I considered several options for our Bible curriculum this upcoming year, from no formal curriculum to instructor-led online video courses. Ultimately I really had to decide exactly WHAT I wanted from our homeschool Bible curriculum. We regularly read our Bibles, independently and as a family. And, my kids are pretty familiar with most of the Bible stories that can be found in kids’ Bibles. I don’t want to turn Bible time into a chore or something to check off the list. I would like to foster a true love for God’s Word, so that they CHOOSE to read their Bible and grow in knowledge.

That said, I also hope to encourage a deeper understanding of the Bible, as a whole, how it all ties together, the story of redemption through Christ, to dig deeper into the familiar stories, as well as to learn more of the history and culture.

So, while looking at curriculum, I was really looking for:

Chronological and complete study of the Bible
Little to no busywork
Something we could complete in a school year, with further levels for later

After much research and reading, I landed on God’s Great Covenant Old Testament 1. This curriculum is listed as a yearlong course for grades 3-6. However, reading reviews on Christianbook, it sounds as though many have used it with younger kids as well. My girls will be starting third grade. My youngest is a strong reader and I think could do this fairly independently. My middle has Down syndrome, and though her reading skills are improving every day, she’s not at grade level and not ready to this independently. We will likely work through this together, all 3 of us. I only purchased one student book, so I will just make copies of whatever worksheets we work on.

Note: none of the following are affiliate links. I’m just sharing as an easy reference for anyone else researching to find the best homeschool Bible curriculum! Prices listed were as of August 2021, and may have changed.

God’s Great Covenant Old Testament 1 Program – $80

This was ultimately my choice for this year, for a few reasons. For one, I liked the apparent simplicity. This Bible curriculum contains 5 themed units with 32 chapters (designed to be covered one per week.) It’s a biblical narrative from Genesis to Ruth. Part 2 covers the remaining OT. There is a NT curriculum as well. The way this curriculum is designed, it will take us from Genesis through Ruth chapter by chapter. So, if we continue on with OT 2 we could theoretically do a complete Old Testament read-through in two school years, which is very appealing to me.

OT 1 contains these units:

I: In the Beginning – God’s Power.
Unit II: By the Patriarchs – God’s Promises
Unit III: Out of Egypt
Unit IV: Through the Wilderness – God’s Provision – God’s Redemption.
Unit V: In the Promised Land – God’s Faithfulness.

Each week’s lesson plan includes a synopsis of the Bible story, a memory verse, worksheets, and a quiz. I will say right up front that we will likely not use the curriculum exactly as intended. I’m still considering how we’ll plan our week. Most likely the first day of the week we will read or listen to the story summary, discuss the theme, and introduce the memory verse. The next days I plan to read the passages directly from the Bible, as well as do some of the worksheet activities. For the quiz, we’ll probably simply discuss. I’m not big on “testing” and want to foster a love of this subject.

You can buy this from Christianbook or other places. I’ve even seen it on Amazon. I chose to purchase directly from Classical Academic Press. I couldn’t find the the map and timelines on Christianbook, but I found it on amazon for around $37. Then I found I could purchase the full program: OT 1 student workbook, teacher workbook, map and timeline, and audio MP3 files – directly from Classical Academic Press, and it was on sale for $79 plus shipping. It probably would have been similarly priced if I pieced it together, but this seemed easiest. And, it’s always nice to support companies by buying direct. I chose to only buy one student workbook because I don’t anticipate using every worksheet. So, I will simply make copies of whatever we use.

God’s Big Story by Generations – starts at $54 for level 1 set

Update: THIS is what we are using for personal Bible reading time. It is technically a textbook, but to me it feels like a more advanced Children’s Bible. We are using level 1 for one daughter and level 4 for the other. The level 1 textbook has 40 Bible stories, and is written for a 1st grade reading level. It’s intended as a half year program. Level 2 and beyond have 65+ stories and are designed as a full year program.

You can buy the textbook and workbook as a set or you can buy them separately. I think the textbooks might be a nice step up option from our younger Children’s Bibles. After each story, there is a related Bible verse, and a small section with “Faith Lessons” where they summarize what we might learn from the story, as well as a list of vocabulary words. It does not appear that the vocab words are defined anywhere in the textbook. I’m assuming the answers are in the workbook answer key.

As a full curriculum, you would need the workbook as well. The workbook includes lists of sight words, a suggested daily schedule, and an answer key. Depending on the level, the workbook has activities for rhyming, fill in missing letter, find the missing word, comprehension questions, word scramble, and copywork. It seems as though it’s really intended as a Language Arts companion, and isn’t quite what I’m looking for in a Bible curriculum. Although, as I mentioned, the textbook looks really great!

Calvary Curriculum – Free

This is actually a neat option for elementary grades 1 through 6. It’s not a packaged curriculum, in that it doesn’t give you a neatly put together one year plan. You would need to create your own plan and timeline, and go through and print the appropriate studies. So, it’s a bit more DIY, but it could definitely be a good option for some. It’s a set of children’s Bible studies (uses NKJ translation) for a complete Bible walk-through from Genesis to Exodus. It appears to include a study for most of the major stories in the Bible. There are 163 Old Testament studies and 162 for the New Testament. Each Bible study includes links to a lesson, a memory verse, a coloring page, worksheet and activity for 1st-2nd grade, a worksheet and activity for 3rd-6th grade, as well as a crossword puzzle. It would be a bit more work to pull this one together, but you can’t beat the price! I might even pull some of the activities to supplement our studies.

Master Books More Than Words – $32

Lots of homeschoolers absolutely love Master Books. We’ve tried a few different subjects, and they’ve never been a good fit. I looked at the sample online and read through the description, and I still don’t quite know how to describe this one. It looks more like a journal/devotional to me than a Bible curriculum.

Abeka – $122

I considered Abeka grade 2 Homeschool Bible. With my girls at a different level in their reading/comprehension I was debating which grade level would make the most sense. I wouldn’t want to do them separately. So, I ended up looking at grade 2 as a good compromise option. I’ve heard great things about the flash-a-card Bible stories included in this. Ultimately I thought it might be a bit too much busy work for us though, and I really wanted more of a full and comprehensive chronological Bible curriculum.

BJU Bible Truths – $83

Between Abeka and BJU, I was leaning more toward BJU. But again, this is more of a traditional full curriculum. While I am looking for more structure than what we currently have, I don’t want it to be too “schooly” if that makes sense. Both Abeka and BJU feel very much that way, which makes sense given their origins. And there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not what I’m looking for right now. This one also seems more of a topical/character type study, rather than covering the Bible from beginning to end.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of homeschool Bible curriculum options. It just happens to be the list that I considered. I looked at some other options,, but none that really made my short list to really consider. I will try to come back and update on how we like this Bible curriculum later in the year. Enjoy!