Bible Study: THE Living Book

Bible Study: THE Living Book

"All our teaching of children should be given reverently, with the humble sense that we are invited in this manner to co-operate with the Holy Spirit."

~Charlotte Mason 

"What is required of us is that we should implant a love of the Word."

~Charlotte Mason 

The knowledge of God was the principle and primary knowledge in Mason's programmes, and her philosophy made clear to mothers that from this knowledge flowed all good, true, and beautiful things. As Christian educators, we certainly value the study of God's Word. It can often be a challenge, however, to infuse and incorporate it into our days without it becoming a chore instead of a delight. 

In diving into Mason's approach to studying God's Word, and the many ways that it is implemented among modern Charlotte Mason educators, I quickly found that it has many moving parts. This, at first, can be overwhelming. However, what I have learned is that many, small, attainable moving parts that are "fixed" into our schedule and routine are so much more life giving, and effective, than one big, massive undertaking with the title of "teach your children God's Word." These moving parts are "fixed" because they aren't a list of spiritual boxes I am attempting to check, but rather a host of ways in which the living and active Word of God is simply a part of our daily lives. 

If I were to list out these aspects of Bible Study, it would look like this:

Personal Daily Reading

Bible Journal

Bible Lessons

Worship

Scripture Memory

Catechism and Creed

Hymn Study 

Scripture Recitation 

Christian Studies

Devotions 

I warned you, the moving parts seem overwhelming! I am so very glad, however, that I persevered through that overwhelm, and added these elements of study to our days, one at a time, until each of them felt as much a part of our lives as eating and sleeping. 

First, let's look at what each of these elements of Bible Study entails, and then I will show you how they are each a small, attainable, life giving part of our days. 

Personal Bible Reading and Bible Journal 

Personal Bible reading is the reading of God's Word silently, each day. A Bible Journal is a book full of written narrations from daily Bible reading. 

Bible Lessons

Bible Lessons are the reading and narrating of God's Word, chronologically, each school day. 

Worship

Worship is the praise and glorification of the Lord, together, as part of the school day. (and other times, if desired) 

Scripture Memory 

Scripture Memory is the memorization of verses and portions of Scripture, strictly for the purpose of "writing God's Word on the heart"

Catechism and Creed

Catechism (and Creed) is the learning, memorizing and reciting of catechism answers, and a creed that expresses your tradition's core theology, for the purpose of making your basic beliefs second nature and a part of who you are. 

Hymn Study 

Hymn Study is the study of the great hymns of the Christian tradition, learning about their history and the great theology and ideas that they contain. 

Scripture Recitation

Scripture Recitation is the use of Recitation (the art of beautiful reading) to read Scripture aloud expressively, committing it to the heart and mind. 

Christian Studies

Christian Studies is the study of apologetics, theology, church history, exegesis of God's Word, hermanuetics, etc. This is the "meaty" study of God's Word and His church.

Devotions

Devotions are the daily application of God's Word to life. 

Here is how each of these things fit into our days: 

My boys start each day with their own Personal Daily Reading and Bible Journals. Neither is a fluent reader (one is 4 and one is dyslexic), so they each have a picture Bible. My 8 year old's Bible is an Easy Reader, and he usually only struggles himself through a 1/2 page, looking at the pictures for context. My 4 year old simply looks at the pictures. Then they come to me in order for me to read/clarify what they have looked at. They each narrate these "readings" with drawings in their Journals. (My 8 year old often copies a sentence or two as well.)  They repeat this process in the evening, before we begin the rest of our evening routine. Although they are not actually "reading", the habit of approaching God's Word themselves, daily, is important and one that is worth the effort. 

During our Treasure Time, we have our Bible Lessons. These lessons are the reading and narrating of one chapter or one episode of Scripture. These chapters/episodes are chronological in both the Old Testament and the Synoptic Gospels (as per Mason's method for Bible Lessons). Reading and narrating is all that is required for these lessons, and all that is needed.

Also during Treasure Time we work on our Scripture Memory (repeating a verse or passage once each day for the term), our Catechism (working our way through the questions, adding more questions as we master the answers), Creed (repeating the Nicene Creed once each day), and worship with two hymns. (One is Holy, Holy, Holy which we open each Treasure Time with daily, throughout the entire year every year. The other is one of our term's hymns.) Bible Lessons take 15 minutes, and the entire process of opening our Treasure Time with Scripture Memory, Catechism and Creed, prayer and worship takes about 10 minutes.

During our Morning Lessons, we have Hymn Study and Christian Studies each scheduled once each week. Hymn Study is a 10 minute lesson either listening to, reading, narrating, or learning the story of our hymns for the current term (following the Delightfully Feasting Hymn Study Schedule). Christian Studies is a 10 minute lesson reading and narrating a book covering theology, apologetics, etc.

Also during our Morning Lessons, we have Recitation scheduled twice each week. One of these lessons is used for Scripture Recitation. (The other is used for a poem by our term's poet). Recitation is a 5 minute lesson reading the passage of Scripture (or poem) with expression and care.

We end each day with our evening routine, which includes Devotions. Each child has a devotional that applies the Bible to their daily life. Four nights each week, one boy is with me and the other with Dad, alternating. During this time, we read their personal read alouds and devotions to them. The other nights each week, we read a family Devotion altogether. Our entire evening routine (also including a game or activity, and a podcast or current events) takes 30 minutes.

Each of these things, in their proper place and given the proper priority and affection (imperfectly, of course) adds up to much study of God's Word and much worship of God Himself. Faithfully implementing and carrying out (imperfectly, but faithfully!) each of these aspects of Christian liturgy and study has created an atmosphere in our home of God's Word being a part of all that we do and all that we are, rather than a list of things that we have to accomplish in order to check the "Christian Homeschool" box.

I pray that this explanation enables you to do the same, in the way that works for you and your born persons. It is required of us, after all, to implant a love of the Word. We don't do this in our own strength and our own power, however, and are simply invited to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in this teaching. Our cooperation is given by our faithfulness to make God's Word our first priority and to let all things flow from there.

May All Your Days be Spent....Delightfully Feasting
Crystin  <3