How do I teach the principles of Proverbs to my kids?

July 18, 2016

Article By: Generations

Chad Roach: So here's what going on in these guides. There's three different books here. You broke up the whole Book of Proverbs, all 31 chapters, into three different volumes, one, two, and three. And then you'll go through and each proverb, you'll take a proverb or a couple of proverbs and you'll describe what's going on in the text. You'll exposit the text, you'll explain what's going on and teach those verses. And then you'll finish it up with family discussion questions at the end. Here's an example. "Is the slothful bug growing on you right now? Are you faithful in performing the simple tasks around the house? What sort of jobs do you perceive to be too difficult? Do you drag your feet at certain challenges? Give examples."



Kevin Swanson: Now, would that apply to any family in America?

Daniel Craig: Dragging feet.

Kevin Swanson: Yeah.

Chad Roach: Laziness, diligence...

Kevin Swanson: Any seven-year-old boy or nine-year-old girl, would any of those issues have any application?

Daniel Craig: I get the point. 

Kevin Swanson: Yeah, it's amazing. God knows what He's talking about. And it's for us to dig into this. And we would be unfaithful to our own children, our own families, if we did not apply this word to Him.

Chad Roach: So these are guides written for families to go through together, to assign to a student, both/and? How should a family use this resource?

Kevin Swanson: I would recommend the family come together, everybody do it together, the discussion questions are written so that you can draw on your six-year-old, and your nine-year-old and your 14-year-old, at the same time.

Chad Roach: And occasionally, that's even convicting for Dad.

Kevin Swanson: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So this is family integrated as a family Bible-study series. However, yes, there's also the workbook, The Companion Lesson Guide, for the younger ones who... Once we're working through these chapters, be sure that they're getting some of this and use this as part of their curriculum. We do our best to integrate family worship with the education of our children. It's really essential we don't tear these things apart. The academics really do fit into the religious training and the word.

Daniel Craig: So were just talking about these Proverbs Bible Study Guides, but we've also developed this Proverbs Companion Lesson book for students ages nine plus. And as I was looking through this thing...

Chad Roach: It's kinda fun.

Daniel Craig: It looks like it's fun. There's word search puzzles, there's nice clear fill-in-the-blanks. What was the vision behind this particular version of the Proverbs Study Guide?

Kevin Swanson: Well, it's one more attempt to inculcate these lessons of Proverbs into our children, and I think we can start as early as eight or nine years of age. You don't have to wait 'til they're 16. In fact, hey, there's a lot of the Book of Proverbs that really needs to be taught early on in our children's lives. But they don't get it right away. So understand, you're probably gonna have to go over the Book of Proverbs about 1,600 times before you die. But let's start early, let's be sure we're placing some of the key lessons in front of our children as early as eight or nine years of age. And that workbook can really help in that regard.

Daniel Craig: This is a curriculum, this is school work.

Kevin Swanson: Yes. All 31 chapters. So you study it as a family and then Mom can pick up that study guide and give it to her children. My younger daughter, Abigail, has gone through it, and she enjoyed it. And I think it's a wonderful resource.

About Generations

The vision of Generations (formerly Generations with Vision) is to pass on the faith to the next generation through the biblical family, discipleship, and education. We equip families and churches around the world through our daily radio programs, discipleship resources, the Christian Curriculum Project, and discipleship events and retreats.

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