Book 1 – Genesis through I Samuel (347 pp. Softback, £14.00)
Book 2 – II Samuel through Malachi (195 pp. Softback, £8.00)
Book 3 – Intertestamentary Period through Acts (204 pp. Softback, £8.00)
Workbooks (2 – 57 pp., 3 – 56 pp. Softback, £4.00 each)
Suffer Little Children is a series of three teacher manuals for grades 1, 2, and 3 with student workbooks to accompany Books 2 and 3. The material was written to provide unity and continuity to Bible curriculum in Christian schools.
There are five divisions in the teacher manual lessons. They are:
1. Background and introduction
2. Lesson material in semi-outline form
3. Point(s) to remember
4. Memory work of a text that states the central theme of the lesson
5. An enrichment activity, usually interdisciplinary, in art, music, or science.
Instruction is centred around Bible stories. Vocabulary fits the child’s level, and abstract concepts, such as grace, repentance, and faith, are explained and made concrete for the students’ understanding by using examples or picture-words.
Book 1 contains 125 lessons, designed to be taught at the rate of four lessons a week with a fifth school day devoted to review, testing, or supplemental activities. The amount of material is too much to be covered in one week, but because there are only 125 lessons, the teacher may proceed slowly and still finish the manual in one year.
Starting with Grade 2, student workbooks stress review of the facts of the lessons and make use of puzzles, filling in blanks, colour-cues, maps, charts, and some work directly from Scripture.
The author draws from her extensive experience as an instructor of children. she gives in the general introduction to the series in Book 1 a basis and approach to teaching Scripture, as well as the implications of a Christian worldview, and a number of practical tips concerning the art of story-telling, of asking questions, and of using visual aids. It can be profitably read by school teachers, parents, and Sunday school teachers. The curriculum is adaptable for Sunday school lessons.
“Thanks to solid Dutch Calvinism, your children are expected to learn something … Delightful, easy to use … No hype or tinsel, and definitely none of this wretched pandering to self-esteem” (Mary Pride, Big Book of Home Learning).
“We did find the children’s curriculum [Suffer Little Children and Show Me Thy Ways] very helpful. Thanks a lot!” – Lincolnshire, England
