8.31.2006
More Work Than it's Worth?
The last few days I've been reworking the curriculum for the children's ministry. Before we took over the program two and a half years ago, they were using two different programs. One was especially for the 3-7 year old class and was very basic and topical. The older class had a curriculum developed by Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. That program took the kids through almost every book of the Bible over the course of two to three years (OT on Wednesday nights, NT on Sunday mornings).
When we took over the ministry, we didn't make any changes at first. However, there were several things that made us change things up a bit. First of all, Olya and I were teaching that smaller kids on occassion and realized that it was too simplistic for them. The material didn't even cover a full year of Sunday mornings and therefore the kids were getting the same themes over and over and not being challenged enough. The second thing that came up had to do with the older kid's class on Wednesday evenings. They finished the book of Job and came to the Psalms. The curriculum however, only covered three or four Psalms and the teacher leading the class remembered another program that had a more comprehensive look at the psalms. This material had been developed by CC Modesto and was actually a lot more thorough overall than the CC Costa Mesa stuff. I decided to ditch both of the programs we had been using and adapt the Modesto program for both of our classes. The older kids would go through the whole thing, while the little kids would have some of the lessons with difficult concepts taken out.
This system worked great until we were away on furlough this winter. During that time, Pasha decided to go to one service on Wednesday night instead of two. Additionally, we saw a drop in attendance for the kids on those nights as well. We decided to go to a combined class for the kids to have a decent class size as well as allowing for the teachers to rotate weeks and be able to take part in services. The problem that came up though, was that the two classes were using different versions of the same old testament curriculum. I now needed to think over what lessons would be appropriate for a combined class.
Another problem came up just after we returned from furlough. The oldest class on Sundays started studying the book of Revelation, but it only contained three or four lessons. The previous program, though week in the psalms, had a great set of lessons for Revelation. So, we decided to fill in the holes in the new curriculum with the old set. At this point, I figured that it would be best to review the two different programs and make our own.
I do need to make one confession. When I talk about revamping the curriculum, I'm not actually talking about writing lesson helps, memory verses, crafts, etc. to go along with each Scripture. For one thing, there would be a lot of information to translate and we just don't have the time for that. Secondly, I decided from the beginning that I wanted the teachers to study the passage on their own and figure out what to emphasize and what verse from the passage or elsewhere was good to highlight to support the theme. As far as crafts and games go, we have a decent sized collection of books in our resource cabinet that the teachers can draw ideas from if needed.
Basically, the work is coming down to discerning which stories and passages are able to make an interesting lesson, while being age appropriate. I also want as comprehensive a selection as possible. So, I have been scanning the Bible with the lessons from the other programs next to me looking for anything else can be included. One additional element I changed was to split up the lessons on the four Gospels for the older kids into seperate books. The older kids have really enjoyed studying each of the other books, even asking for tests on the material when they finish. I decided to allow them to do the same with each of the Gospels so they can appreciate the uniqueness of perspective with each one. This has been a little challenging to figure out, but I think the kids will end up appreciating it.
Anyway, that's probably a lot more detailed than you really care for, but I didn't really have anything else on my mind to write about. Maybe I'm trying to do more work than is really needed, but I want to leave the Sunday school thinking that I did everything I could to leave it better off than when I took over. Hopefully, it has all been pleasing to the Lord.
When we took over the ministry, we didn't make any changes at first. However, there were several things that made us change things up a bit. First of all, Olya and I were teaching that smaller kids on occassion and realized that it was too simplistic for them. The material didn't even cover a full year of Sunday mornings and therefore the kids were getting the same themes over and over and not being challenged enough. The second thing that came up had to do with the older kid's class on Wednesday evenings. They finished the book of Job and came to the Psalms. The curriculum however, only covered three or four Psalms and the teacher leading the class remembered another program that had a more comprehensive look at the psalms. This material had been developed by CC Modesto and was actually a lot more thorough overall than the CC Costa Mesa stuff. I decided to ditch both of the programs we had been using and adapt the Modesto program for both of our classes. The older kids would go through the whole thing, while the little kids would have some of the lessons with difficult concepts taken out.
This system worked great until we were away on furlough this winter. During that time, Pasha decided to go to one service on Wednesday night instead of two. Additionally, we saw a drop in attendance for the kids on those nights as well. We decided to go to a combined class for the kids to have a decent class size as well as allowing for the teachers to rotate weeks and be able to take part in services. The problem that came up though, was that the two classes were using different versions of the same old testament curriculum. I now needed to think over what lessons would be appropriate for a combined class.
Another problem came up just after we returned from furlough. The oldest class on Sundays started studying the book of Revelation, but it only contained three or four lessons. The previous program, though week in the psalms, had a great set of lessons for Revelation. So, we decided to fill in the holes in the new curriculum with the old set. At this point, I figured that it would be best to review the two different programs and make our own.
I do need to make one confession. When I talk about revamping the curriculum, I'm not actually talking about writing lesson helps, memory verses, crafts, etc. to go along with each Scripture. For one thing, there would be a lot of information to translate and we just don't have the time for that. Secondly, I decided from the beginning that I wanted the teachers to study the passage on their own and figure out what to emphasize and what verse from the passage or elsewhere was good to highlight to support the theme. As far as crafts and games go, we have a decent sized collection of books in our resource cabinet that the teachers can draw ideas from if needed.
Basically, the work is coming down to discerning which stories and passages are able to make an interesting lesson, while being age appropriate. I also want as comprehensive a selection as possible. So, I have been scanning the Bible with the lessons from the other programs next to me looking for anything else can be included. One additional element I changed was to split up the lessons on the four Gospels for the older kids into seperate books. The older kids have really enjoyed studying each of the other books, even asking for tests on the material when they finish. I decided to allow them to do the same with each of the Gospels so they can appreciate the uniqueness of perspective with each one. This has been a little challenging to figure out, but I think the kids will end up appreciating it.
Anyway, that's probably a lot more detailed than you really care for, but I didn't really have anything else on my mind to write about. Maybe I'm trying to do more work than is really needed, but I want to leave the Sunday school thinking that I did everything I could to leave it better off than when I took over. Hopefully, it has all been pleasing to the Lord.
# posted by Dave : 12:19 AM
