The Homeschool Bible Curriculum No One is Talking About

So I guess I can’t really say no one is talking about this homeschool Bible curriculum because I was introduced to it from ONE YouTuber – but that’s it, only one person I’ve ever seen talk about it.

I am so glad that I watched her video – catch it here! – because we are wrapping up our first year using the curriculum and I feel ready to review it for you.

The homeschool Bible curriculum is by Summit Ministries and it is called Building on The Rock. I will be reviewing their Kindergarten book titled, Truth, which I used for my first grader and pre-k-er.

Why I Chose Building on The Rock for Our Homeschool Bible Curriculum

The biggest reason I am homeschooling is to provide a Biblical worldview to my children.

Thus, finding a sound Bible curriculum is of top priority.

Sure, you can read the Bible to children and that is truly wonderful on it’s own, but being new to the Biblical worldview myself, I knew I’d want “back up” when it came to undoing my worldly views.

I chose this Bible curriculum because I loved how it presented foundational truths about the Bible and because it relates them to the Bible stories – as God’s big story.

Let me break down what the curriculum is to better understand.

What is the Building on the Rock Curriculum?

Summit Ministries, who publishes Building on the Rock, is based in Colorado and provides curriculum, mostly to private schools, that emphasize a Biblical worldview.

The Building on the Rock series is for elementary ages, kindergarten through 5th grade. It focuses on teaching 20 foundational truths from the Bible and how it relates to God’s big story.

Here is an image from Summit Ministries website on the 20 Biblical truths:

You can download their brochure for this curriculum (including where I got this image) here: https://summitfiles.org/content/Curriculum/BOTR-Samplers/BOTRSampler.pdf

Each year, the curriculum will focus on a different topic:

• Kindergarten – Truth
• 1st Grade – Wisdom
• 2nd Grade – Fellowship
• 3rd Grade – Image-Bearing
• 4th Grade – Servanthood
• 5th Grade – Stewardship

Here is an example from the teacher’s manual of the curriculum introducing a Biblical truth:

It is a spiral curriculum, meaning the topics will be introduced many times throughout the elementary years. Summit Ministries writes on their website (and in the PDF linked above) that it can be introduced at any point in elementary.

What the Curriculum Includes

The curriculum includes a teacher manual, student workbook, CD, and online supplemental resources.

Within the supplemental resources, you will find puppets for Wise William and Foolish Fred. Laminate these puppets and keep them safe, as they will be revisited characters.

I purchased two workbooks, one for my pre-k-er and one for my first grader. I figured doing the Kindergarten level would be perfect for them (a grade in between them) so we can do it together as a family.

The CD contains the foundational truths presented as songs.

Building on the Rock is meant for the classroom, so there is also a beginning exercise at the start of each lesson that would work best in a classroom. I typically skipped this section, but would improvise every once in a while.

Here is an example lesson:

As you can see, it is a somewhat-scripted curriculum.

What I Liked About Building on the Rock

I loved that it includes Biblical truths and that this first year we focused on truth. In today’s world, the concept of an objective truth is foreign to many people.

As Christians, we recognize that the Bible, God’s Word, is our truth. Many lessons included a true or false review at the end which my kid’s loved.

I enjoyed that the workbook pages weren’t too challenging. Many “extracurricular” books I have found seem too focused on writing for my young kids. This workbook included quick exercises to solidify the message from the lesson.

I loved that it was mostly open and go. You can see what I disliked in the below section on what parts didn’t feel open and go.

 

What My Kids Liked About Building on the Rock

My first grader liked:

• Wise William and Foolish Fred puppets
• The workbook
• Answering the true and false review questions

My pre-k-er liked:

• Wise William and Foolish Fred puppets
• The workbook
• The music
• Answering the true and false review questions

 

What I Disliked About Building on the Rock

I don’t know that I would say I disliked this aspect but it was just okay, and that is the second half of the curriculum.

The second half of the curriculum they call a Bible survey. This is where the curriculum teaches different stories from the Bible.

Don’t get me wrong, the stories were presented very well and I liked how it still tied in our “true or false” activity at the end for our theme of learning about truth.

The issue I had was actually teaching the material.

When it came to reading the Bible story, it was presented in 3 different ways throughout the curriculum:

1. in a PDF,
2. printed in the teacher’s manual, or
3. referencing your own Bible for verses

As a disclaimer, I did not print any of the PDFs for this curriculum and often didn’t use them (unless it was a story about Foolish Fred and Wise William).

However, once we got to the Bible survey portion, it would be slightly annoying to not know if I needed the PDF, my own Bible, or neither.

Of course, I could look at the weekly outline and prepare. But, realistically, I’m not going to do that. This is why this “dislike” is probably more a me-issue and you might be completely okay with it!

Reading straight from the teacher’s manual was my preferred choice as I like open and go curriculum.

It felt overwhelming to have my computer out for the PDF, the teacher’s manual, my kids’ workbooks, and our own Bible for the Bible verses.

It would be amazing if they had everything all together in the teacher’s manual, especially for the cost.

My only other dislike is that I wish that the songs were digital, as I often didn’t find myself getting up to put the CD into our Xbox.

Leaving the table during our morning Bible time just invites chaos for my young kids!

What My Kids Disliked About Building on the Rock

My first grader didn’t like if I read for “too long” as he felt stuck at the table and bored. He is six and has a short attention span.

You can see how long the reading is on the lessons in the examples I showed above.

My pre-k-er pretty much liked everything but did zone out on some of the “longer” stories as well.

This could be a limited attention span for the time of day issue for my kids, though.

Overall Thoughts on This Homeschool Bible Curriculum & Will We Use it Next Year

Overall, I was impressed with the Building on the Rock curriculum.

I loved the majority of it and really only disliked how it was organized during the second half of the year.

Next year, I may just do the first half of the curriculum from the teacher’s manual and then, for the Bible survey half, see the topic and read it from our favorite Children’s Bible.

So, that being said – yes, I plan to purchase the first grade curriculum, Wisdom, next year.

I will probably let you know how that goes at the end of next year!

Here’s where you can buy it (not an affiliate link or sponsored post!)

Save this Curriculum Resource for Later

If you are thinking of trying out Building on the Rock, save this post to your homeschool board on Pinterest. Or, share on your preferred social media platform. Thank you for reading!