General Questions
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One (Echoing) Story is a two-part lesson that is designed to act as an introduction for the rest of our resources. Students follow our StoryMap as they help you tell the entire story of the Bible. This lesson teaches God’s goal from Genesis onward and shows how a cycle of themes repeats through every covenant story. As students learn the order of the cycle and the order of the covenants, they’ll be able to understand how every passage of Scripture fits in the bigger story.
Whether you continue with OneStory’s resources or use resources from other ministries, we hope this two-part lesson will help your students see the big picture of what the Bible is teaching and how they can enter into this story.
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While we designed many of the lessons for a homeschooling context, this primarily means that they are suitable to use with a wide range of ages.
Our lessons and other resources have been used as family devotionals, Christian school curriculum, Sunday School curriculum, as well as and in after-school programs.
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We’ve been excited to hear from many people who have used these resources in Sunday Schools, Christian schools, youth groups, and after-school programs. One congregation even turned our StoryMap into a giant flannelgraph!
Because curriculum is contextual, we continue to call it a homeschool curriculum because that is our primary context. If you use it in another context, just expect to make modifications so that it can best serve your students.
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We’ve been intentional about designing resources that can be used with a wide age range, so we adults can grow and learn alongside our kids. While we designed the lessons and worksheets for 3rd graders and older, younger students still often enjoy the videos and discussion.
We’re in the process of developing resources that allow younger students to be more highly engaged. We’ll announce them in our newsletter as soon as they are available.
Homeschool Curricula Questions
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Teach Us to Pray and Giver of Rest are our two homeschool curricula with 32-lessons each.
We also published several smaller units on an online platform. As soon as they are converted to PDF we’ll announce it via our newsletter. -
While the curriculum is geared towards 3rd-6th grade students, it was written with entire families in mind. We’ve used it with kindergarteners as well as high school seniors.
Younger students tend to most actively engage in the opening activity and video but may need to transition to another activity during the discussion and practice exercises. We don’t recommend the worksheets for students younger than 3rd grade.
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Each lesson includes material for a 30-45 minute session. If your family needs a shorter lesson, read our response to modifying the curriculum.
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This curriculum takes a relational approach to instruction that merges biblical study with spiritual practices.
Its components also take different learning styles into account. Using the 4MAT instructional approach, it seeks to interest students in the material, identify and review objectives, provide opportunities to develop skills, and bridge gaps between head, heart, and hands. For these reasons, it is ideal for families to experience the entire lesson together. However, we recognize that it isn’t always possible to spend 30-45 minutes on a lesson and may need to customize it for your family.
To customize the instruction for your family, you’ll want to take the purpose of each section of the lesson into consideration:
The Engage section is designed to last approximately 5 minutes. The purpose of this section is to introduce students to the lesson in an engaging way. This is particularly important for students who have a difficult time transitioning to a focused activity or who may have very little interest in the Bible. Many lessons will also briefly refer back to the Engage question to make a connection with a larger point.
The core of the lesson is the 15-20 minute Explore section based on a BibleProject video. It connects the video to previous lessons and alerts students for three things to listen for in the video. It also includes a conversation guide to help your family think about and remember the key points.
The Practice section guides students through a 5-10 minute, hands-on interaction with Scripture.
The Imagine section includes reflection questions that help students discuss what it could look like to live this lesson out in real life. Plan to allocate at least 5 minutes for this section.
Each lesson concludes with a special Prayer.
If your students are interested in studying the Bible and you only have a 15 minute block, prioritize the Explore and Prayer sections. Some students may be able to complete the Practice section on their own. The Imagine section could be incorporated into family discussions as you eat or drive.
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Each curriculum consists of 32-lessons. This works out to 1 lesson/week over a school year. You could also make it a unit study and cover 4 lessons/week for 8 weeks. To spread it out over a semester, teach 2 lessons/week.
The fourth lesson in each unit serves as a review of the entire unit. The eighth unit serves as a review for the entire curriculum.
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Our curricula follow a rabbinic approach to discipleship, with an emphasis on building relationships while teaching biblical literacy skills and practicing spiritual disciplines. The end goal is not Bible knowledge alone but rather an integration of that knowledge into daily life with Jesus. Our approach is both academic, with a focus on learning objectives and assessment, as well as devotional, with attention given to spiritual formation and heart response. The goal is to integrate head and heart, knowledge and practice, and reason and imagination.