Book Talk Tuesday - Big Truths for Little Kids

One of the things that I have not been doing enough on the homeschool front is bible reading and discussions around this topic. We have been trying to adjust our schedule to be able to attend bible camps and the weekly sessions at the church but it always clashes with our timing and primarily Dumpling's nap time. With one more year before she goes for Catechism classes, I decided to bite the bullet in letting her skip her naps for this upcoming year.

On the homeschool front, I faced some challenges in getting good resources to go through with the kiddo.W What I am looking for is the exposure to God's words but yet brought to a level which she will be able to understand better. One of the resources which I really like is the title below:

Written by a mother-son team, Susan Hunt is a wife to a pastor and the former Director of Women's Ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America while the son, Richie, is a Director of Children's Ministry at his church. Susan holds a degree in Christian education from Columbia Theological Seminary and she has written a number of books. (Source)

I am not an expert in bible verses etc., so this book works beautifully for me. The story is woven around a pair of siblings - Cassie and Caleb and how they learn and explore about God's words and presence in their everyday lives and with their friends and families. Each chapter in the book starts with the review of some questions and answers which is then followed by a reading and some discussions. 

:: The Q&A
The Q&A is the first part to all readings and in this, it describes and explains concepts in a very simplified manner which I feel is easily understood by children.

:: The story

Each chapter then comes with a story where traits and beliefs are woven in the story. In the story below, Caleb was planning to build a tree house with his 2 friends Angus and Daniel. Daniel, not quite understanding the implication of his actions, decided to take some wood that he saw at a building site. 

What I like about this is that instead of a traditional approach where adults are often used to discuss the rights and wrongs with the children, in this book, most of the time, the discussions are from the children. In the story below, on the next page, Daniel says that it was OK because no one saw and would know that he took the wood. 

The boys then reminded him that "God knows". When Dumpling and I read through this part, she went "Oh" and pondered for a moment. And I could see that she was thinking hard about it. True enough, about an hour after we were done, she said to me "Mama, it is true. Others may not know but God knows and we know too."  

:: Discussion and Prayer
After the story (which usually spans over about 1.5 - 2 pages) the next section would be the "discussion and prayer" section. This is where both Dumpling and I would sometimes have fairly long discussions over the story, what happened and where God is in the story / where God is in our everyday lives and how we should glorify him. 

From a homeschooling perspective, I find some terms hard to explain to the kiddo and this is where this book comes in handy for me. What I also like about it is that there is always a verse at the end of each chapter where we will read and decipher as well as ending it off with a prayer, always in line with what was read and discussed earlier. 

This is a lovely resource to include in your homes for your preschoolers (4/5YO and up). We are doing this on a weekly basis and it has been an insightful journey both for me and for the kiddo. Highly enjoyable and highly recommended! 

Here's the link if you wish to view more inside pages on Amazon. I bought this title on Book Depository previously.