The Story Children's Curriculum: 31 Lessons

Our church ordered several copies of these DVDs to use for our kids’ classes. The DVDs show menu headings but have NO CONTENT, so they are completely worthless.

I cannot say how much I love this curriculum. When I first began in children's ministry around the time churches were doing big campaigns for The Story, I came across this, and it was everything I wanted. Obviously, not everyone loves it because the reviews are low, so let me explain why I love it (and maybe why it's received such low ratings from others).1. Firstly, it's very simple. The materials are easy to gather, the games and activities uncomplicated, and interactive storytelling already written into the lesson. I personally loved this spect...even less creative volunteers (or paid staff like myself) could tell a fun, interactive story to engage listeners. It helped grab the attention of my more wiggly kiddos and put those wiggles to a productive use. It also didn't require multiple people like for a skit. And the planning on my part to make this happen was minimal.2. Here's where it's going to get more controversial. I am not a fan of screens (mostly period, but especially in an hour a week children's program). I know many people older and wiser and more experienced than myself disagree with me on this, and that's ok. But my personal opinion is that kids (my own included) get too much screen time as is. Especially when working with kiddos from broken homes as I was, what they really need are my eyes...they need my attention, my listening ear. Not a screen...that just adds noise. What they want to know is that I love them and I hear them. So I personally loved that this did NOT have a video component. I am now a SAHM and it's been almost a decade since I was a children's minister, but I think that I've honestly become even more convinced of this. If this is a deal breaker, some churches have made videos and posted them to YouTube, though.3. I also love that it is strictly biblically focused. One of my biggest pet peeves in kids min is a "moral story". Kids don't need morals. The whole reason Jesus came is because the law is incapable of saving us. They need to know Jesus. Jesus, and only Jesus. I love that there are no "moral stories". The stories are written in an engaging way, but all taken directly from the biblical text.4. It's ridiculously inexpensive. While we want to be willing to do whatever is necessary to be most effective, this curriculum allows a lot of room in the budget to allot to other things to make our ministry more effective. I had extra money for art supplies, volunteer appreciation, updating facilities, etc. Much of what is available is very expensive, and not only was this the best I've seen, it is also the cheapest.The one complaint I have is that they only did this only set of curriculum. I wish they had continued with another similarly written curriculum, because quite frankly, leaving it was disappointing. I do plan to use this in our homeschool, though. I'm still debating what to do in the off years, but I am very excited about using it for our Bible curriculum as a family.

Disappointed. I ordered these early and just gave as a gift to grandchildren. None of the DVD’s will play on any of my devices and it’s now past the return window.

Doesn’t work in any of my dvd players