Week 1
Welcome to Firm Foundations! Over the next ten weeks we’ll be learning a wide variety of fun and interesting facts to teach us the history of Christianity, to give us confidence in the historical merit of the Bible, and to understand how science points us to God. Each week we’ll be focusing on three main topics - Church History (Where did the church come from?), Science (Where do we see divine evidence of our Creator?), and Biblical Archaeology (What clues have been left behind to teach us about people in the Bible and the first Christians?). As we examine these three topics, we’ll mature together in our faith, grow in our knowledge of God and see how the evidence for faith in Jesus is everywhere and available to us. Let’s get started!
Journal and Pencil: Do you have your journal and pencil ready? You will need these, so if you don’t have it with you already go ahead and get those now. If you don’t have a journal, a piece of paper will work just fine.
First we’ll start by having some alone time with God. You can use your journal to write down what you learn during today’s “quiet time”. If you like to draw, you can draw pictures of what you have learned. Feel free to write down any questions you have too.
Note to parents/facilitators: Each day the curriculum will provide a Bible video from The Bible Project as well as a Bible reading. For younger children who aren’t yet strong readers you may choose to use only the video or to use the video and then read the Bible passage to them.
⚠ NOTE: Scripture contains reference to many kinds of sin in the process of expressing God’s redemptive plan for humanity. Videos from The Bible Project are tastefully done and true to scripture but may bring up topics that parents or facilitators will want to discuss with their children. Please be aware of this and be ready to screen videos ahead of time if your children will need more guidance in understanding these elements.
After viewing the video and reading the scripture, have children use the Quiet Time Response Guide to process and meditate on what they have learned. Parents can either print out the Quiet Time Response Guide and have children write directly on the guide, or else the questions from the guide can be answered directly in the kids’ journals.
Very young children may need to use a modified version of this Quiet Time protocol. Instead, consider having them watch an age appropriate Bible video or reading them a story from a children’s Bible and then walking them through the Quiet Time Response Guide or parts of the guide as appropriate. The youngest children may simply draw a picture of what they have learned.
The goal of this element within the curriculum is to help establish a strong spiritual foundation for children and youth, and the suggested videos and readings should be modified to best suit individual children.
After completing the 10 week curriculum, families can help their children to maintain their habit of having a daily Quiet Time with God by using these or other resources and can adjust them according to children’s needs and age levels. The Bible Project, which has videos for every book of the Bible as well as other informative, Bible-based videos, can be found on Youtube.com and all of their videos are free.
Solving Mysteries With Archaeologists! (~ 5 min)
- What is archaeology? - Museum of London (~3 min)
This video does a great job of explaining how red shift is measured by looking at the stars. ⚠ NOTE: It mentions the Big Bang, but this is an opportunity for reflection as to how the moment of creation for the entire universe was initiated by God.
Red shift | Astrophysics | Physics | FuseSchool (~3 min)
This is an excellent video by Nova. This video also briefly references the Big Bang.
How Redshift Revealed the Universe (~5 min)
- GCSE Science Revision Physics "Red-Shift" (Triple) Red Shift Video (mentions Big Bang Theory); (~3 min)
- What Is Redshift? | Astronomic Another excellent video on Red Shift (~3 min)
- Entropy: Embrace the Chaos! Crash Course Chemistry #20 Beginning of video explains entropy (~14 min)
- Entropy and Creation Great Christian video on entropy, but may be above the kids heads. Explains the puzzle illustration (~6 min)
Western Wall, Western Tunnels Overview Tour (~19 min)
- Land of the Bible - The Western Wall - Jerusalem Land of the Bible - The Western Wall (~5 min)
Today we’ll pretend to be going on a mission to visit each planet in our solar system. Using pillows, blankets, chairs or other materials, build a fort to serve as a “spaceship” for the day. Don’t forget to pack some snacks for our mission!
We’ll want to document what we learn about each planet in our journals. Write down interesting facts you hear and any questions you have. Make a separate entry in your journal for each planet including Earth. (Use the planet stickers and put the appropriate sticker on each planet’s entry in your journal after we “visit” that planet in the video below).
What’s So Special About Earth? (~8 min)
“Earth” The Only Planet That Supports Life (~3 min)
Our Living Planet From Space (~5 min)
- How did your Quiet Times go this week?
- What did you feel like God was telling you this week? (They can share their answers from their Quiet Time Response Guide if they want to - don’t pressure them).
- What questions did you have this week about the lessons or from your quiet times that haven’t been answered yet?
- Has this been a good week for you? Why or why not?
- What was your favorite thing that you learned this week?