Home School Review--Christmas Joy Bible Study!

Hello Everyone!

I am super excited today because I have yet another fantastic Home School Review for you!  Today I am going to be sharing with you another of the great Bible Studies done by the Bible Stories From the Heart team--this one is called "Christmas Joy," and I probably don't have to tell you that it is all about the Christmas story!

In case you missed my previous review of the "Love Drops" Bible study also from Bible Stories From the Heart, you can read all about that study here:

Love Drops Bible Study

As I shared in my previous review, these Bible studies are actually written to be used by adults, either in small groups in homes, church groups, or individually.  But since I am a home school mom, I look at them in an entirely different way--and that is as a fantastic curriculum choice for Bible class!  What I really love about these studies is that they have EVERYTHING--a Bible passage to read and apply to your life, discussion questions to help start a conversation between you and your child--and help guide them in learning how to apply what they read in the Bible to their own life, as well as a great Bible art coloring page at the end of each lesson!  I think the more ways we can help our kids apply the Bible the better--so if they are reading it, discussing it, reading some of the poetry that is sometimes included (and perhaps even memorizing the poems!), writing out a S.O.A.P. application page, as well as creating an art project--well, that is just helping them apply the Bible to their lives in SO many different and creative ways!  And these are studies that both you AND they will enjoy!  What a blessing to be studying the Bible together with your children!

The "Christmas Joy" Bible Study is PERFECT for starting right now, at this time of year!  There are a total of four lessons in the study.  When I do these lessons with my 12 year old daughter, we roughly spend one week on each lesson.  Sometimes we take a day or two longer,, and that's o.k., we just go through at our own pace!  One special thing about this Bible study is that there are Christmas poems and some extra coloring pages included in a section at the back of the study (these coloring pages are in addition to the art coloring pages included for each lesson) and there is also a bonus craft idea showing how you can make a display using some smaller versions of the coloring pages and hanging the on ribbon.  This would make a beautiful addition to your Christmas decorations!  What better decoration than using God's Word and hanging it where it will remain in your child's thoughts!

My daughter and I started the "Christmas Joy" Bible study last week.  The first lesson is focusing on the character of Mary, and what it would have been like for her when the Christmas story unfolded.  The focus verses were Luke 1:26-38, Which is when Christ's Birth was announced to Mary.  After reading the story right from the Bible (the passage is printed in the study from the NKJV, or you can look it up and read it in the version of your choice), there is some Biblical history given of that time period.  We learned a little bit about how Jewish girls were brought up at that time, and what commonly would have happened to an unmarried girl then who found herself pregnant--she would have been stoned to death or sent away as a slave!  Mary was highly honored--but along with this great honor, she accepted great risk.  She trusted God to protect her through her pregnancy, and He did!  We also learned that before Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, angel visits were not a common occurrence!  Around six months before Mary's angel visit, her relative Elizabeth had been visited by Gabriel and told she would be having the baby John the Baptist--but before Elizabeth, it had been over 400 years since the Jewish people had had any sign or word from God!  So it wasn't like Mary could just explain everything to her family by saying "Oh, an angel visited me!"  I mean, she could--and I'm sure did--tell them that she had an angel visit, but it wasn't like that was going to explain everything to them and remove all their doubts!

After learning more of the Bible history, there is a focus verse of Luke 1:38, which reads "Behold the maidservant of the Lord!  Let it be to me according to your word.  We then focused on specific words and phrases  of "Behold, Maidservant, Of the Lord, Let it be to me, According," and "Your Word." We learned more about exactly what is the meaning of each word/phrase.

Following the Focus Words, we came to the Lesson One discussion questions.  The questions we had were as follows:
1.  Do you consider yourself a "servant" of your Heavenly Father?  Why or why not?
2.  Are you willing to be used as a "vessel" by God?  Give examples to support your answer.
3.  Is your faith in the Lord as strong as Mary's?  What areas of your faith are your strengths?  Your weaknesses?
4.  What can you do today and this week to strengthen your faith?

After the discussion questions we came to the art page for that lesson.  Like the lesson itself, the art page focused on Mary and is a beautiful reminder of how she trusted God.

You and your child can color the page just as it is--you can use crayons or colored pencils--or my daughter and I like to trace the pages onto water color paper and then water color the picture.  You can make it very simple for a younger child--or a little more challenging for an older child.  You--or they--can change things to personalize the art page however they would like to.  On my art page, I really felt like I wanted to put in a Bible verse illustrating the picture, so I did!

Do you see how easy it is to personalize these studies for your family?  They really give enough structure to really help give you some substance to work with--and yet are flexible enough to work well with any age group you may be teaching at home!

Just to give you an idea here are two more of the wonderful art pages included in this study!  I don't want to give them all away--but if you decide this sounds like something that would work great for you or your home school I do not think you will be disappointed!

Aren't these sweet pictures?  And they can also be made into some home made Christmas cards done by your children!  Or they could be a Christmas gift for Grandma and Grandpa!

"Christmas Joy" is available in a paper book format at Amazon, at this link:
Christmas Joy

It is also available as a pdf on their Esty page here:
Christmas Joy pdf

If you are purchasing "Christmas Joy" to use as your own personal devotion, or to use with just one child, you might want to consider a paper book format.  But the pdf version is fantastic if you are using it for several children, as you can print for your own immediate family the number of copies you need.  Or you can simply read the Bible study off of your computer or tablet, and only print out an art page for each child.

And last but not least--another way to connect with Bible Stories From the Heart and view samples of some of their other Bible Studies is over on their web page, which can be found here:
Bible Stories From the Heart

Thank you for joining me in this Home School Review!  As you can tell, I think "Christmas Joy" is the perfect thing to use with your children in those wiggly weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas!  These weeks can be difficult ones for children to focus on regular school things--why not give them something different and help your children focus on the REAL meaning of the Christmas season!

~Susan

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Disclaimer:  I received a free pdf copy of "Christmas Joy" in exchange for my honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are completely my own, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE these Bible studies and have used (and purchased!) several of them in my home school for our Bible class.