Hello! I am on the education committee at my church and we are interested in knowing what other churches are using for Sunday School curriculum and if they are enjoying it. We are currently using the Dwell curriculum from Faith Alive, but are hoping for something more relevant and up to date, we are just not sure what that looks like.
Thanks!
Hi Aleasha,
My name is Karen DeBoer and I work for Faith Formation Ministries as a Creative Resource Developer. Prior to that I worked as part of the editorial team for the Dwell curriculum. Our Faith Formation Ministries team is in the process of considering ways to add to Dwell and it sounds like you may be the person to speak with for some ideas! I'd love to learn more about your experience with it. (We've also been using it at my church for the past several years.)
I'm also familiar with many of the other curricula available and would be happy to speak with you about others that may work in your setting. Feel free to email me at kdeboer@crcna.org.
Finally, here are a few tools that you and your education committee may find helpful in your search for curriculum. The first is a Ten Question Tool for Choosing a Children's Curriculum which breaks the process down into ten great questions. You can read more about it here and you can view a video about it here. You may also want to check out the Recommended Resources page on the Faith Formation Ministries site for some other ideas.
Hey Karen,
My name is Rachel Kapteyn and I work as the Children's coordinator at our church. Our church is busy with many things and we are finding our volunteers are busy and maxed out. I'm sure you heard this a lot. Recently I've looked into introducing one of your "Recommended Resources" curriculums called "Buck Denver asks...What's in the Bible?" to ease prep time for volunteers. Can you let me know your thoughts about this program? Rachel
Hi Rachel,
I do hear that a lot! And I know from experience how frustrating it can be to have to remind folks that children are worth the one hour of prep time it takes to tell God’s story well with them. So hang in there as you seek to do that!
Re: What’s in the Bible? If you’ve determined that video curriculum is the way to go in your setting, I would recommend taking a look at the What’s in the Bible? videos as they will line up better with Reformed theology than videos from other publishers. (Unlike KidMo or 252 Basics for example.) If you are familiar with the Veggie Tales videos you will already have a sense of the quirkiness that’s found in this series because it’s created by former Veggie Tale creator, Phil Vischer. I have not read through enough of the written curriculum content to comment specifically on that content (although look for a review of it in the new Children’s Ministry toolkit from Faith Formation Ministries later this year) but I would suggest signing up for the free sample download Vischer offers on their site and reading through those pieces, using the 10 Question Tool for Choosing Children’s Ministry Curriculum as a guide. Finally, here’s a link to a review I found on the approach Vischer takes with the videos. Hope that helps!
Hi!
We are currently using Kid Connection from Faith Alive. We looked at Dwell but didn't feel it fit our kids. Kid Connection is older, but I love the 4 year scope and sequence. I'm trying to add bits and pieces to it (multimedia, additional large group activities, and special Sundays) so that we've got the best of both worlds.
Im curious what ages does your program run? I find that gets a bit tricky; I like your have one story so each family can go home and discuss one lesson, not 5, but it also has to be approachable for each age. I do know a couple churches in our area (1 CRC, 2 others) that are using material from Orange and love it. I personally like knowing FaithAlive's stuff comes from a Reformed perspective rather than examining other material, but that might be something from you to look at!
Margaret Schuurmans I have been teaching Sunday School for many years. We recently started DWELL and it is going not too badly. I find that it is very much like the LIFE curriculum. We used Walk with Me and Kid Connection. I found that Kid Connection was very juvenile. It did not suit our age group at all. Walk with Me was ok, but I was told that it was being discontinued. Hope this is helpful.