My faith has become a pretty integral part of who I am and I am always on the look out for ways to instill and grow that same faith with my family. Recently I was given the opportunity to read and review the book Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible by new-to-me author Danika Cooley and published by Bethany House Publishers.
About the Author
Danika Cooley and her husband, Ed, are both committed to leading their children to a life for the glory of God. They have worked together to study and memorize the Bible and to instruct their children to do the same. Danika is an award winning children's author and Bible curriculum developer. She is a homeschool mother of four with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Washington.
About the Book
As woman (and men) of faith, we want whats best for our children. One of those things is a strong foundation for the love of God's word. But the idea of introducing the Bible to our children, especially smaller children, can be a bit intimidating. The book of Revelations or the story of Christ's crucifixion can be scary for younger children, while topics such as adultery and murder as performed by King David might not seem age appropriate.
Cooley tackles these topics as well as many more in her book Help You Kids Learn and Love the Bible. The book is a trade size paperback which contains 198 pages. Not including the introduction and the conclusion, the book is broken down into three sections:
Part One: You’re The Leader
The author believes that reading the Bible together with your children is an exciting journey that your family is able to take together. This section describes how to tailor Bible Study for the proper age of your children and how to encourage your older students to dig deeper in to the scriptures, as well as strategies to help you learn how to fit time with the scriptures into your schedule daily.
It is our responsibility as parents to teach our children the doctrine of the Scriptures. In this portion of the book, readers learn about who wrote the Bible, how we know that the Bible is true, and the main themes of the scriptures. This section also discusses subjects such as historical context of the Bible, how to teach our children to both interpret Scripture and apply it into their own lives, and how to converse with our children both by asking and answering questions about the Bible that they might have.
Part Three: A Daily Walk
This final section takes what you have learned in the first and second section of the book and put it all together in ways to really strengthen things such as scripture memorization as well guidance in coming to the Lord in prayer following what we learn from his word. This section contains age-appropriate tools such as round robin reading, quiet activities focusing on Bible reading, creative narration and more to help our kids remember what they have read.
This has been a great book to keep on my night stand beside the bed to read a few pages before bed each night. The book is less than 200 pages, but I will say, the material is of such that you'll want to read it carefully, soak it in, and digest it for a few days before just reading the entire thing straight thru. There is a bunch of really great suggestions given by the author. I have a Bible Study I would like to restart with the entire family once I finally unpack all the boxes and find the books, and once I do, I'll be incorporating many of her suggestions, especially when it comes to my son.
Connect with Danika Cooley on social media
