Bible Focus for the new guide?

[Missy OH]

The history and science sounds great! I'm wondering if you are able to share what the Bible focus is going to be for the new guide coming out yet?

Also, I know the new guide's TM does not come out until August (I think), but when are they normally up on the website to purchase? We will be purchasing next year's curriculum around the end of Feb., and I'm wondering if I will be able to purchase early?

Blessings,
Missy

[my3sons]

I'm getting excited for the next guide too! I know Carrie will respond here too, but usually the new guide is available for pre-purchase at the time of our first book fair, which is usually around April or so. Then, the guide ship sometime in August. The Bible focus answer I will leave up to Carrie, but I know some decisions have been made there, and they look exciting.

In Christ,
Julie

[Missy OH]

Thank you! I'm hoping you all will be at the Cincinnati Convention this year! I was not able to attend last year, but plan on going this year. Would I be able to purchase the books there?

Blessings,
Missy

[Carrie]

Missy,

I am so glad that you are excited about the upcoming guide! We are too! I'll pop back and share the direction of the Bible study when I get a bit more time.

Right now I can say that we will be in Cincinnati and that our plan is to have the display copies of all the new materials with us, along with a sample week of plans. You will be able to order at convention with all the new materials arriving after we get home from convention (or for you to take with you, depending on how much material we take to convention for purchase).

Our first convention happens to be earlier this year (the first week of March), so we'll hope to have the new product up on the website by then for pre-ordering and previewing.

Hope that helps!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Missy OH]

I'm very excited! I hope I get to go this year!

Thank you!

[tnahid]

What other conventions will you be attending? I like in KY, so what would be the closest? Thanks!

[Carrie]

We'll be posting our conference schedule on our website soon. It's in the hands of our web designer now. Some exciting new conferences are on the list for us this year! So, we may be nearer to you than before.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Carrie]

Missy,

Thanks for your patience on this one! I have a bit of time today, so I'll share a little more about the focus of the Bible sections in the upcoming guide. First of all, for the student's independent devotional time, we will be using "Heroes of Faith: Hidden Treasures in Hebrews" by Evelyn Wheeler. This is the same author who wrote The Hidden Treasures in Philippians study that we are currently using in RTR. Both are very Bible-centered studies.

As part of the Hebrew's study, students will also focus on the lives of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, David, and Jesus. Along with the Bible study, students will be memorizing the heroes of the faith chapter throughout the year, which is found in Hebrews 11 through 12:3.

For the Bible study with the parent time, we are considering having students meet twice weekly to go through the Biblical Worldview study Who is God? And Can I Really Know Him? published by Apologia. We need to go through it very carefully first, but are pondering it. The link for this book is here: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/ ... cts_id=136

We are very excited about the idea of this study and find as we go through it that it is deeper than it looks at first glance. It also lends itself very well to discussion. In order to make room for a worldview study, we would have to move the study of Pilgrim's Progress by Answers in Genesis forward to our guide after this one. So, we are pondering the best fit for these resources and also pondering whether the students will need a bit more of chance to mature prior to heading into the Pilgrim's Progress study or not. No firm decisions are made yet on these two resources.

The music in this upcoming guide will be Hymns for a Kid's Heart Volume 2. We are planning to schedule this Hymn study and singing into our time with the parent once each week. The kiddos will also sing these hymns during their daily quiet time.

Anyway that should give a good glimpse into more of plans for the new guide.

Blessings,
Carrie

[8arrows]

It is really helpful to know what is coming. I usually pick up a couple of things to do in the summer. The Apologia book could have been one of those. Now I know just to wait! Thank you so much for keeping us updated. I really appreciate it.

[Carrie]

Thanks, 8arrows! It's so good to "see" your smiling face again!

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Carrie - Thanks for sharing about this! We are currently doing RTR's Evelyn Wheeler study on Digging for Treasure in Phil., and my ds is really enjoying it. When we do our daily check of what he's done independently, he is always wanting to share the "gems" he found in his independent Bible time with me, and I can tell he's taking it to heart. I am excited he will get to do her study on the Heroes of the Faith next. I desperately want most of my ds's heroes to be from the Bible, and pairing this along with the memorization of the faith chapter and the Bible passages chronicling the lives of the Bible characters you mentioned is going to be a very stirring combination! Thank you for constantly drawing my dc back to the Word - as far as I'm concerned, my dc's Bibles cannot be open and used enough - the more the better, so I appreciate HOD meeting that goal of mine beautifully.

We are doing the Hymns for a Kid's Heart in Bigger Hearts now with our second ds, and enjoying it so much. Our church sings both hymns and contemporary music, which we like, but I don't feel like my dc would know their hymns very well if it weren't for us doing them in HOD. My oldest ds still (secretly ) loves to sing with me, so I'm looking forward to that special time we will have once a week in the upcoming Bible time to learn more hymns together. I am also glad he can practice it on his own, and have some private time singing praises to God each morning too! There is not a better way for me to wake up than to hear him singing - not that he is the best singer, but that he is singing praises to the Lord.

I've looked over the Apologia study in detail before and am excited you're considering it! I want that foundation clearly laid for my ds, and I liked the look of the way that study seems to does it. I am glad that we'll do "Pilgrim's Progress" for sure, and in some ways chomping at the bit to do it. But I also do not want to do it too young. I also REALLY want to be sure my ds does not read it before he is mature enough for it. Thanks for pondering so much to choose a good time to do it!

I rank raising my dc to know the Lord personally as my #1 goal in homeschooling. Thank you for taking the time to keep Christ at the center of our learning in HOD - I rest easy at night because of it.

Love in Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Ladies,

I wanted to pop back and mention one change is that we will not be including Hymns for a Kids' Heart in this guide as we thought originally. Instead, we plan to do a hymn study in the guide to come after Revival to Revolution.

For the music portion, this guide will contain a composer study that we are very excited to see falling into place.

Blessings,
Carrie