Background:
As I'm so fond of saying, I'm "just a mom" and when I originally designed DLTK's Bible Section I had other moms in mind. I think it's important for parents to work with academic teachers to reinforce school lessons, I also think it's important for us to work with Sunday School teachers to reinforce Bible lessons.
My problem was always that I'd rarely receive material from the Sunday School teachers to reinforce the lessons. I am in no way placing blame here! -- the expense to Sunday Schools to purchase materials for all the students to take home is prohibitive and these teachers already donate so much of their time to teaching our children. So I decided to design my own crafts, coloring pages and activity worksheets to do with my girls (and share them all with you here).
It never really occurred to me that the Sunday School teachers needed help, too. There are so many wonderful curriculums out there already.
Awhile ago, a Sunday School director sent in a DLTK's feedback form she'd filled out on the local library computer. She had recently taken on the task of directing the Sunday School at her local church. The trouble was, she and the rest of her congregation were not as blessed with funds as many of us are.
As I said, there are wonderful curriculums out there, but most of them cost money -- and not every Christian has that in abundance.
She asked if I might try to put together brief teacher guides pulling together the material I already had on the site.
I have no idea what denomination she was or what exactly she had in mind (she was on a library computer so we couldn't correspond).
I've tried to keep these guides "basic" (non-denominational), the supplies free or at least inexpensive and the messages a good mix between bible reading based and Christian message based.
This is a bit nerve-wracking for me -- as I've said there are a lot of great curriculums out there. This is not meant to replace them... just to provide some consistency and assistance for those who don't have access to them.
As some of you may know, I have been working on the Bible section of the site for over four years now. My sister-in-law started this website, and has done a fantastic job! She needed some help as the website has gotten rather large, and she's helping me out as I'm a stay-at-home mom with 3 and 4 year old girls.
I do most of the writing and add material, Leanne still does the crafts and artsy stuff that I'm not gifted at. We work together to try to get out the lesson plans for you.
A big thank-you to all of you who have sent such encouraging comments, ideas, songs and recipes! It means a lot to know that people are using the material and find it useful.
I just completed a whole pile of games to go with the Bible lesson plans (crossword puzzles, mazes, and word searches) to go with the anagrams, cryptograms and Word Mining Worksheets. Presently I'm going to be adding to the Word List sections. This Word List section will tie Sunday School and education together. We are hoping it will be useful for separate school teachers and home schooling moms that want to provide Christian education to their children.