Got Questions?

• There’s no short answer to this, so scroll on.
• I had in mind, as I wrote, kids who are old enough to listen, think, & make decisions. [Some call this ‘the age of accountability.’]
• I love the scene described in Nehemiah 8: The people who had made the long long trek back to Israel after their 70-year captivity in Babylon gathered in ‘the square just inside the Water Gate’ in Jerusalem [don’t you love the details in the Bible?] to listen as Ezra, God’s priest as he climbed the stairs onto the specially-built platform with the precious Book of the Law in his hands and began to read… And the people began to weep.
• We might call those gathered-ones’ The Nehemiah Gang:
  • • ‘…the men, women, and all the children old enough to understand’
• Obviously ‘old enough to understand’ will be very listener-specific, teacher-evaluated. As all parents know: never underestimate how much your kids can understand!
• As for RSK:
  – Children as young as 3-4 have listened in.
  – One grandma is teaching it to her 15-year-old granddaughter by phone.
  – A home-schooling mom wrote: I am teaching three children ages 9-14. I have been so impressed that the content has been so rich for the stage of each child. [See more of Angela’s note in We’ve Got Mail below.]
• A Word-hungry reader is using them as a resource for her ladies’ Bible study.
• The lessons start with a younger voice and evolve to an older audience.
  Kids will grow with the lessons.
  And the material itself builds understanding.
  Vocabulary increases. Thinking skills expand. Maturity levels develop.
  Most importantly, understanding is growing because they’re getting to know the Lord better.
  I’m not too concerned about age levels.
  The important thing is—make kids thirsty.
  And get them to the Fountain.
  • • Let everyone who is thirsty come!
      Let anyone who desires drink freely from the Water of Life.
      –Revelation 22:17b

Honestly–you’ve already done the best prep: you love the Word. That’s why you’re looking for a great Bible study curriculum. When your kids see you sitting in your favorite chair with your Bible every morning they’re getting the message that the Bible is important and valuable. That’s the best ‘soil prep’ for their hearts.

Next Best Prep: reading the free RSK Teacher’s Guide. [Many of these ‘answers’ are excerpted from there.] Yes, it will take you an hour or two. But it gives you an overview of the curriculum, the heart behind it, the rationale for the study plan and lessons parts–and probably answers most questions you might have. If not, shoot us an e-mail at rsk@rocksolidkids.org

The beauty of RSK is that once you’ve gotten familiar with the curriculum through the Teacher’s Guide, your prep work is basically done.

• The one-page Heart Matters is designed for you to read before teaching each lesson, if you desire.
• Very rarely there will be an always-optional special prep heads-up: gathering a few pictures or looking ahead to one of the Fun Stuff activities.

But there’s no need to read the lesson ahead of time in order to decide what to say. Each lesson is self-contained and written for you to read out loud.
Prep is as simple as having the lesson book and your Bible in hand when you sit down to teach.

• Totally up to you. Half an hour is good. The ready-to-read lessons have suggested ‘take a break’ places [and ideas for Fun Stuff to do!]. Some days you may decide that twenty good minutes is plenty. Other days you may want to keep going for another page or two.
• So it might take you three or four teaching times to get through one lesson. And that’s fine! There’s no rush.
• You can see why 130 lessons might stretch into three or four times that. But it’s all laid out. All you have to do is
            – Start. Stop when you’ve read enough. Pick up where you left off.

• Hey—you won’t have to look for another curriculum for awhile ☺.
• Chapter 5 And That Takes Time in the ‘free downloadable’ Teacher’s Guide articulates seven great reasons to take time for ‘the Book.’  Among them:

  -It takes time for us to want what we need!

  -Time is the best indicator of what we value. [Please see Jaci’s comment below in the We’ve got mail! Section.]

• Taking our own good time is the only feasible way to reach our most important goal:
  • • Getting to know God’s good heart by spending time with Him page after page, day after day, in the Book.

    I will never be shaken, for you are right beside me.

    Psalm 16:8

• Teachers—moms—dads—home-schoolers—Sunday school teachers—are very busy people! It seemed like a good way to serve them and invest in their students.
            – Home schoolers with other subjects to prep for will appreciate having one subject with the content all ready-to-read.
            – Christian school teachers, Sunday school teachers, and busy parents can just pick up where they left off last time on their way through The Best Book Ever with their kids.
• Some young moms, new teachers, new believers, and willing volunteers are excited about the Bible but have never led an in-depth study.
            – It always helps me to ‘watch’ someone do something a couple of times before I try it myself.
• An outline is—well, an outline. There’s no heart in it. There’s no depth to it. No details to ground the main points.
            – It’s the details, the background, the descriptions, the dialogue that anchor the ‘bare bones’ of a text and give it depth. The Bible-writers—God’s Scribes—were great writers. It’s a privilege to take time to hear them Tell the Tale.
• Writing out the lessons as I would speak them allowed me to express and model a deep conviction about the nature of the Bible itself: that it is true and living and full of heart and is meant to communicate clearly and naturally. God draws our hearts through the hearts of people who hold His Book in their hearts and hands.
• And to those for whom there is never TMI ☺
            – A written lesson [including Teacher’s Notes about exegetical questions, Key Truths to note as we’re making our way through the Scriptures] can help keep teachers focused, staying on the track of reading the Book through as the True Account, the Beginning-to-End Story, without taking one of the oh-so-many tempting rabbit trails—or jumping ahead to what is arguably the Best Ending anyone could hope for.
      

• However you choose to teach your kids the Bible—good for you!
• I believe RSK’s greatest strength is the focus on God’s good heart and plans in a slow, progressive, compelling way.
• Chapter 8 of the Teacher’s Guide articulates some RSK Distinctives.
• Many kids’ Bible curriculums are simple; some are comprehensive; a few are chronological. RSK is the only one I know of that actually is all three:
  • • comprehensive, chronological and unComplicated.
    • Click here to learn more about The Three C’s, and how Sticking to the Story keeps things simple in Bible study.

From Forever Before, God had an Amazing Vision.
Gazing far into Forever After, He could see a vast throng of people:
          In His own image
          Sharing His glory
          Blessed with every blessing in the universe
          Marked with His own name
          Filled with His own Spirit
          Gathered around His shining throne,
          Right there close to His heart
          Reigning forever and ever! Amen!
Awesome, right?
The Bible tells us exactly what God did—and why He did it.
It’s His eternal, boundless, love-filled heart bound in One Small Book.

That Great Unchanging Heart is the destination of this curriculum: RockSolidKids.
It’s the sure foundation, the anchor for our kids’ souls, certain and unshakable. It’s where the deepest longings of their hearts are met, the Living Water, where they are invited to drink freely, and never look anywhere else.

• Sure. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but there are sample lessons for you to click on in Volumes One and Two at the bottom of the Volumes page.
• Click on Supplement Material for a quick look at some of the beautiful ‘extras’ available for each lesson.

• That’s the most important question, right?!
• We focus on the truths that are right before our eyes in the Bible’s text itself.
• We notice and teach key truths right in the flow of the lesson, not as topical points. [A ‘key icon’ on the sidebar notes them as well, as a visual reminder of how often we see these same truths as the Story progresses.]
• Chapter 11 of the RSK Teacher’s Guide lists those over-and-over-again key truths about God, the people He made, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Satan. [Although, since Satan is mentioned fewer than 50 times in the whole Bible, he doesn’t get top billing in these lessons.]
• RSK is a non-denominational, evangelical, solidly Biblical curriculum.
• Seminarians would describe our view of the Bible as literal, historical and grammatical. That sounds dryly academic, but in fact it’s very practical. It means that we take the most simple, common-sense approach to studying and understanding the Bible. We believe the Bible is:
            – Literal—a true account, not an allegory.
            – Historical—real people were saying things and doing things in real places in real space and time.
            – Grammatical—written in the languages people spoke every day. So we look first for what hearers in the original context would have understood from the words, phrases and paragraphs.

• There’s no ‘magic bullet’ that will prevent our kids from becoming ‘sad statistics.’ Even the most perfect Father, our Heavenly Father, has stray children. [Adam and Eve and Solomon come to mind.] The bottom line is that people in God’s image have God-given choices.
• That said, the two Sad Stats noted on the Volumes page [two of many in the latest Barna research] are certainly related: ‘drop out’ church kids, and the fact that most people don’t read their Bibles!
            – And why don’t people read their Bibles? Not because they’re not interested in spiritual things. In fact, here are some more very relevant statistics:
            – Most people [80%] express an interest in knowing God better and in knowing their Bibles better!
            – And most say that they don’t get much help with that in the places you’d think we would [sermons, church services, etc.]
• Now that’s sad.
• But I believe the unique combination of truth+heart+taking time in RSK can play a key role in turning the statistical tide of kids exiting the church.
• Because kids who listen to God’s Word end up understanding God’s Word and believing God’s Word and loving God’s Word and reading God’s Word and treasuring God’s Word.
• Those kids will grow into the adults who, instead of heading out the church doors, will be motivated and equipped to build up the Church, the body of Christ.
            The time is coming—indeed, it’s here now—when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
            –Jesus to the woman at Jacob’s Well in Samaria [John 4:23]

• Oh, we’ve got mail—and you’re welcome to read it! ☺
• Check out what friends of RSK are saying…at the bottom of the page.
• There’s lots of comments and feedback–so keep on scrollin’!

• As my daughter tells her friends—just sit down with your kids with Lesson One and begin at the beginning. Bible in hand, of course. [Lessons 1&2 talk about how we got the Book and Who told people what to write before you take off with Genesis 1:1. A little Pre-reading, if you will.]
• Obviously you’ll need to order Volume 1 first. 😊 But I mentioned the ‘sitting down and beginning’ first because you might get a little joyfully distracted [or a tab bit overwhelmed?] seeing all the extra things you can do [Fun Stuff, Connections, coloring pages, Activity Sheets]. All wonderful and helpful–but you can integrate those into the lessons at your own pace. People have taught the simple lessons with no frills quite successfully. But your kids can’t hear the lessons until you simply sit down and get started.

• RSK Volumes 1&2 are available in digital and printed formats.
• The print copy is beautiful, and for me, there’s no substitute for the in-my-hands printed page. If the printed version is a challenge to your present finances, please let us know [rsk@rocksolidkids.org] Friends of RSK have shared resources to get the lessons into the hands of teachers like you.
• Click here to order.