CBS

I mentioned earlier that we are homeschooling our oldest daughter, Cora. She's finishing up Kindergarten at the moment, and it's been a good year! We are doing reading, writing and math but we also wanted to do things to keep her involved with other kids her age. A good friend of mine had told me last year about this Bible study she and her daughters went to every week. I looked into it and knew the kids and I would need to be a part of it. 

Starting in September, we joined a Community Bible Study campus. We LOVED it!!!!! Let me tell you a bit about how it works. The kids are split up into age-appropriate classes and learn Bible stories, memorize Bible verses, have a time of singing, and are just loved on by their teachers. The women are split up into core groups (small groups) of 10-14 people and study from the same book. This year we studied the book of Romans. We would open each time corporately with singing, prayer and a short introduction. Then, we split into our groups, go over that week's lesson, ended with prayer and joined back together with the other ladies. We then spent the last 45 min of our time with a couple songs, and then a review/talk about what we studied that week. 

Even though David didn't join us, this time was such a blessing for our family. It was encouraging for me to spend 2 hours in Bible study with other women. What made this so wonderful was knowing my kids were having a GREAT time upstairs and were also learning about Jesus. Yes, even my 1 year old was told a Bible story, etc. I could not have been more impressed with how the children's program was run. The women who taught the children (infant to grade 12) LOVED Jesus, LOVED the children and LOVED what they were doing. It was so evident every. single. week. My 3 kids would RUN to their own classes barely saying goodbye! You know your kids are having a great time when they can't stop to say bye! Cora made a new friend and that has been a fun stage for all of us!

We have registered for CBS, which starts back in September. How does this go along with homeschooling? Well, David and I see it as Cora's Bible time. Yes, we still do things at home, but for 2 1/2 hours she is given intentional Bible lessons, crafts, etc. We saw in Cora and Ben so much growth in their spiritual lives. We chose, as a family, not to do other school work on Wed. Cora is in K, and I have learned that at this age they don't need to sit for 8 hours doing intense schoolwork. It worked well for our family. 

Would I recommend CBS to you and our family? ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!! Follow the link I listed above and see where the closest campus is to you and sign up! They have all sorts of ways to be involved, it's not just for women and children. They have for college students, men only, co-ed, and a prison ministry. They're also international! There is a fee to sign up, however NO ONE is turned away. If you can't pay the fee then you just tell them and no questions are asked. I paid $55 (the asked amount) for our family of 5 for the ENTIRE year (Sept-May). However, if we were to have paid what it actually costs it would have been over $400 for us! They discount it greatly because they want everyone to come. I urge you to get involved! You will not regret it!!!