sunday school materials

I get so bored with the sunday school materials the Lifepay or whoever-they-are denominational people supply us. If I was in fifth grade, and I was learning that stuff, for like the 800th time, I'd be pretty bored. Besides the fact that the teaching plans are very specific, you have to read the story in these watered-down "kid-friendly" words, on a page with a colored-pencil type sketch of the particular Bible character we are learning about (they make them look really old and evil). But teaching it? Even worse. And they leave no time for games. But a lot of time for multiple choice question worksheets. Oh, and don't forget the CD they added this year that has kid's talking in southern accents and singing hymns.

It's just the Sunday School program EVERY Seattle kid can totally relate to /sarcasm. I'll give them credit though, a southern accent is a novelty up here, and they grew up with grunge-y indie rock at their house so they did like playing the CD. ("Look Heidi I'm a cowboy!!" *runs around the room in circles to some southern-y gospel hymn*) I can't really laugh at them because, I'll admit it - when I was in fifth grade I thought anything east of California and west of Washington DC was all made up entirely of cowboys. And no water.

Anyway, I amuse myself every quarter reading the Suggested Sunday School Material - and then I do my own lesson series. Every week. From The Bible. Without a worksheet. Or a kid-friendly story version. And they don't have to memorize the verse from King James Version - it can be from another version that maybe makes like, more sense.

I found a big roll of paper that we laid out into a giant life-sized board game (games and tokens the same kind of thing as The Game of LIFE) and used it as a review game. It was super fun, and the kids remember everything - I think maybe one question was answered incorrectly. I'm pretty happy with how sunday school is going, but the kids are what keep it going. Their parents aren't interested in church or what the kids learn there, but the kids like coming back - to learn. It's pretty cool to know kids like that.