I Can Study 1 Samuel Alone With God – A Review

Where We Went Wrong
Bible Study is a big part of our life at the Bee Hive. We do Bible study at our small groups Sunday night, Bible Lessons in our classes at church Sunday morning and Wednesday nights, and we read the Bible most mornings as a part of our school. We have always used a devotional, too. In the past I have been involved in most of the home bible study with the children, but I started to feel as if they needed time to study alone. My son has recently told us that he wants to be baptized and study with the youth minister at our church, so I feel like it is time to let them step out on their own faith and gain some deeper knowledge of God’s word that isn’t spoon-fed to them by mama.

When Amy from HOTM told me about Karen Mohs (author of ‘Hey Andrew, Teach Me Some Greek’) Bible Studies for kids, I was thrilled to have the kids try one. One of the mistakes I made was that after offering to review it, I decided that we would do the study “together”. I figured if all of us were doing the study, it would make it easier for ME to review it. That definitely wasn’t the best way to accomplish a study with “Alone With God” in the title. You would think I could have figured that out up front.

My children have been in war mode lately. Maybe it is just their ages? They are 9 and 11. Hopefully it is a phase they will outgrow?! It seems that any time we do chores or school they seem to find things to fight about. This Bible study, unfortunately wasn’t the exception. Monday through Friday they fought over who would read the Bible study book and who would read the Bible. The Bible study is set up so that you are supposed to do Monday through Saturday, but we always take Saturday off from school and didn’t do it on that day. When we did use it, they had sour faces and poor attitudes. Mom did, too – because I was upset at them for theirs. Our beginnings with the study did not get off on the right foot.

Then, they started to loose their place because they weren’t “consuming” the workbook. Since both of them were doing it, I asked them to write their answers on paper instead of inside the workbook. That was another huge mistake. My son is notorious for not writing his name, page numbers, or dates on anything. So there was more than one day that they did the same lesson over again due to poor record keeping.

Starting Over
One day in a particularly hostile moment, I asked them to start the study over. “WHAT?” they protested. I told them that they needed to have a proper respect for God’s Word and to stop turning Bible time into a battle. I gave them a new mandate… Fill out the consumable workbook and do the entire study ALONE (but do it out loud so we could hear it). That meant one person was using the workbook and the Bible… one person was doing the writing and the reading. The only difference was that we were doing it together by listening. This worked much better and the study began to take on the shape that I feel the author intended.

Saving Time and Ink
Previous to using this study I had gone through different chapters and written my own questions out – but it took up so much time that we didn’t do it as often as we should have. I’m thrilled that Karen Mohs has taken the time to sell an affordable product that offers personal Bible study for children. It saves me time and ink – all the secretarial work I would have spent producing my own worksheets one by one. It is nice to have these studies that are done for children so you don’t have to make them up as you go.

Specifics About the Study
With each day the children were to review their memory verse, pray and ask God to help them understand His Word, and do between 2 and 5 questions that are taken from scripture readings. The portions of scripture studied are small and easily digestible for kids. There are also “think and pray boxes” where the author shares some insight she had when writing the study and asks the children to consider these things and talk to God about them. There are thirty-nine weeks for this study if done as suggested. I Can Study 1 Samuel Alone With God makes for a wonderful curriculum to add to your Bible reading and gives mom time for her own study while the children are in God’s Word. My children really are enjoying the study and I think they would be learning and enjoying it even more if it truly were being done “ALONE” as the title suggests.

Final Opinion
When we finish this book, I think I’ll invest in another in the series and purchase TWO books so that each of them can have their own “alone time” with the Lord. I think it is a great idea to inspire children to set aside time to honor the Lord apart from their parents at a young age. Another positive thing about these Bible studies is that she doesn’t share a whole lot of personal doctrine or commentary – she sticks very closely to the scripture and asks the children to think and pray for themselves. I think Jesus (who spent quite a lot of time ‘Alone with God’ while He was on Earth) is completely in approval of this type of product. I hope it continues to bring children closer to Him and give them the ability to stand on their OWN faith – not tag along on their parent’s. We are looking forward to our next Karen Mohs Bible study.

Quick Links:
Sample Page of I Can Study 1 Samuel Alone With God (KJV)

Some Other Reviews on Sprittibee:
Order and the Organized Homeschooler
The Mislabeled Child
God’s Ultimate Passion

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