Making sure the children learn about the Bible is very important to my husband and I. When I learned that we were going to have the opportunity to review
VeritasBible.com from
Veritas Press, I was quite excited. The children love being able to use the computer, so this would be a fun opportunity for them to learn about the Bible in an engaging way.
Veritas Press actually has two different Bible programs we were able to choose between. I preferred the idea of VeritasBible.com because it is a one year family subscription for up to 5 people. With 4 children, this was definitely the better option. Some of my Crew Mates were chosen to review the Self-Paced Bible. You can learn more about that program by clicking on the banner at the end of this review to check out the other Crew reviews. As for me, I will be focusing on the one-year subscription.
Not only were we able to have access to the program for all the children, but we also have access to all three courses, where the Self-Paced program requires the user to pick one of the three courses.
So, what are these courses? Well, we have access to:
- Genesis to Joshua
- Judges to Kings and
- The Gospels
Each of these online courses consists of 32 units which include videos, interactive teaching, music, games, and activities. These are thorough lessons of the Bible, and not just a quick breeze through of the stories in the Bible. As the student watches these videos with real life characters, they will grow in their knowledge of God's Word. While learning about a specific topic, the children will learn background information to help set the stage. They will delve into the stories and branch out into related topics that help to connect the stories in the Bible. Details such as dates, names, and places will also be learned.
Let's take a closer look at what we've been using.
When you first log in the VeritasBible.com, you will come to a family dashboard.
As you can see, the children each have their own avatar and will get onto their own lessons. The program will keep track of where the children are in the lesson. As they move down the road, they will earn banners with stars reflecting the scores they received on their work. However, these scores will not be saved in the VeritasBible.com subscription option. If you would rather you child have scores that are saved, you may want to go with the Self-Paced Bible option. As I don't keep scores for my children at this stage of our homeschooling journey, this was not a concern for us.
Once the child selects their avatar, they will be directed to their course selection screen.
I gave the children the choice of which course they wanted to start with. Tabitha chose to work on the Gospels, while Amelia wanted to start in the Old Testament with Genesis to Joshua.
When they click on their course, they will be shown their road map. As they move through the lessons, banners and flags will be added and the dots between the checkpoints will turn white.
Here is a section of Amelia's map:
And here is Tabitha's:
The banner at the bottom of the screen lets the child know which unit they are working in. Each unit has several lessons, two of which have quizzes or tests where they will earn stars.
In order to start the lesson, the student should click on the oval on the checkpoint. This will bring up the lesson in a new window. You let the video play, watching the lesson, and it will automatically move on to the next activity. You can see all the activities that will be included in the lesson you are on by clicking on the icon with 3 horizontal lines in the top left corner of the screen. This will pull up the Contents.
Amelia's lessons are presented by siblings Abigail and Asher, along with the animated animals Teb (a cat) and Tizzy (a gnat).
Tabitha's lessons are presented by Benjamin and Jude, along with some more animated animals; this time a dove Spyro and a Uz, a termite.
Amelia started out by learning about creation, and she will continue through the early books of the Bible, all the way to Joshua's last words. Tabitha's studies began with the birth of John, which moves into the birth of Jesus and His life, ending with his death.
The children enjoy watching the characters interact and teach them their lessons. A story will be told from the Bible and then it will be discussed. There are then interactive lessons to help the student learn the material. The child may have to click on some items to learn more information, or show the knowledge they have gained by completing activities such as matching, putting things in order, and answering multiple choice questions.
Learning More
Matching
Putting Things In Order
Multiple Choice
There are different kinds of games that the children can play to show what they have learned, such as Shower Sprint, Temple Maze, and Caravan
In Shower Sprint, Tabitha has to give the guests menus and answer questions. She will get them food the chef prepares and start all over again.
In the Temple Maze, she had to get Zacharias through the temple by lighting the candles.
This was done by answering questions correctly.
The temple would light up when all the candles were lit and Zacharias could leave the temple.
In the Caravan game, she needed to guide Mary's caravan around obstacles and answer questions.
As you can see, there are multiple opportunities for the student to demonstrate what they have learned.
Another way the children learn their information is by listening to their Memory song. Each course has a different song that they sing a couple of times in each topic. This song helps them to memorize the chronology of events. I caught the girls singing Amelia's together the other day:
I would love to share the video I took of them singing without them knowing, but I can't figure out how to get videos to load without taking all day. If I can get it figured out, I will edit the post.
I love that they are doing the different courses, but hearing and learning each other's songs. This is a wonderful program for teaching children about the Bible. I really appreciate the way the lessons don't just focus on telling the children the story and asking questions about it. The characters discuss what is being learned, questions will get brought up and delved into. I think it is great that they connect the story to details that are connected in other parts of the Bible.
Tabitha likes how it is silly and you learn about the Bible at the same time. (She is referring specifically to the silliness of Jude.)
Amelia loves VeritasBible.com. She likes everything about it, but especially enjoys the cat and Tizzy the gnat.
Originally I wasn't sure if the younger children would be able to complete the lessons, so I wasn't concerned with them using it during the review period. However, I think they were getting jealous of their sisters, because suddenly last week, both Hannah and Harold wanted me to add them. They have enjoyed listening to the stories, but the questions have been a bit tricky for them to do independently. I really wish there was the option to hear the questions and the answers. The way the program is currently, a child has to have decent reading skills or have a parent work along with them.
I do have to mention that you do need a computer with fast-speed internet access. I am actually afraid ours wasn't quite fast enough as the video was apt to pause while the children were watching it. The children were quite patient as they watched the videos, waiting for it to start back up. To me, that means they really did enjoy the lesson and were willing to sit through that minor inconvenience. However, if you feel your children would have a problem with this, you will just need to make sure you have a fast enough internet connection. To tell you the truth, I think there is something up with our computer. Though the lessons were still slow on our old computer, they would completely stall on the new computer. Ironic, isn't it?
