by M. DeWalt
The Design
of the Bible Curriculum
Granite Classical
Tutorials offers a number of courses to help home-school parents teach their
children the three skills of the trivium using lessons plans, teaching
tutorials, and classical education methods. From 1st to 5th grade, in our
Grammar stage, students learn the building blocks and tools of education. From
6th to 9th grade, they learn how to process thinking skills - this is the Logic
stage. From 10th to 12th grade, they learn how to winsomely and effectively
communicate - this is the Rhetoric stage. At Granite Classical, we have
designed the Bible Curriculum to fit within the Logic stage where students learn how to critically think. It is at this stage that students begin
to more deeply and effectively assemble the information they have learned when
they were younger. If you have ever encountered a child who loves to debate,
dialogue, and dispute everything you say, then you have been in the presence of
someone well into this Logic, or sometimes called Dialectic, stage. At this
phase students begin to puzzle together piece-by-piece as they learn how to
properly examine their education, studies, and life in general.
Though
academically rigorous, a Granite Classical education is not only about
academics. The main goal of our Bible curriculum is moving the student through
knowledge and understanding toward godly wisdom and truth found in the
Scriptures.
The Benefits
& Goals of the Bible Curriculum
The goal, then of Classical Education as Dorothy Sayers writes, “to teach
students how to learn for themselves.” The Trivium provides the road map to
making that goal a reality as the students internalize, evaluate, and express
what they learn at Granite. From the writings of Plato to Shakespeare, and from
Lincoln to the Bible, Classical education at Granite embraces the wealth of
knowledge and truth found in Western civilization. The Bible class goes to the
primary sources and mines their key ideas. With the Bible as the foundation and
basis for truth, the other documents can be studied through a Christian
worldview preparing our graduates for their future education.
The 8th grade Bible course serves as an introductory overview of the message of
the Bible. This course helps each student explore the story of the Bible chronologically
providing an overview of the history, literature, themes, major persons, key
events, and topics in the Bible such as the role of God as the main character
of His own story and the relationship between Scripture's divine inspiration
and human authorship. The primary text for this is, of course, the Scriptures
and secondarily Starr Meade’s The Most Important Thing You’ll Ever Study: A
Survey of the Bible. Four-Volumes published by Crossway in 2010. By the end of
this course the student will be able to know the following:
- The
historical events and major teachings of the Bible.
- An
academic understanding of reading an ancient text such as the Bible.
- A
survey of the books of the Bible as related to introductory material and
significant passages within them.
- The
Scripture’s historical value and how it applies today.
- The
major themes, topics, people, and covenants which all are summed up in the
person and work of Jesus Christ.
The 9th grade Bible course serves as a study of the
principles of biblical interpretation, an introduction to the major resources
available for biblical interpretation, and an exegetical study of selected
passages from the various types of biblical literature. The major focus of the
course is practical—the course goal is that the students develop sound methods
of exegesis and application of biblical texts. The primary, text like that of
the 8th grade, is once again the Bible, and secondarily Gordon D. Fee &
Douglas Stuart’s How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: A Guide to
Understanding the Bible published by Zondervan in 2003. By the end of this
course the student will be able to know the following:
- Understand
the significance of hermeneutics using the basic methods of biblical
interpretation that have been practiced throughout history.The basic principles
of grammatical-historical interpretation that lead interpreters to discover the
meaning intended by the biblical author.
- Understand
the role that historical context plays in interpretation. The student
will learn to recognize how historical context affects the application of
Scripture to our daily lives.
- Know how to read the Scripture with an attentive
eye to its literary context. What genre is the text? Why does genre
matter? How does the literary situation and attitude of the text affect our
interpretation and application?
- Understand a text within the greater context of
the Bible. How does this text fit in with the Biblical metanarrative? How
does it relate to other texts that speak to similar issues? How does
understanding this text within the larger metanarrative affect our
interpretation and application?
- Understand the major genres of scripture and the
hermeneutical principles that should be applied to each genre.
- Know the important tools that may be useful in the
study of the biblical text.
At Granite Classical Tutorials, we seek to aid the
parents not just in math, science, reading, and writing; but we highly value a
student body that intellectually knows the Scriptures, how God works with His
people, what Jesus Christ has done for His people and how the Spirit works in
His people. At Granite, the Bible is taught both in overview and personal study
skills so that students may learn the Scriptures more deeply than they have
before, and learn how to use the Scriptures in their own personal study and
private devotional at home. Keeping a consistent Christ-centered message of
scriptural instruction, Granite has a wonderful tutorial program to help
develop students who are ready to enter college or post-high school careers
with a strong Biblical foundation.
