Bullying has become such a hot topic everywhere lately. Many schools across the nation are trying anti-bullying programs and many parents feel desperate to protect their kids. There have always been bullies but it seems in today's culture it is reached a whole new level. You truly have to worry about your child being seriously hurt or broken inside forever. Children are even committing suicide because they feel there is no one that can help them.

There is now a curriculum called Bullying and the Bible and it is providing children a Biblical foundation that they need to not fall victim to bullying or to engage in bullying themselves. This curriculum ranges from $27.00 to $39.00 depending on the year and set you pick. It can be used with children ages 5-16 in church or homeschool settings.

Each lesson, which should last about an hour, is broken down into a combination of the following parts depending on if you are teaching older or younger students:

1. Lesson Capsule: This intro will give the teacher an at-a-glance capsule of what the lesson will cover and what students should learn.

2. Top of the Lesson Attention Getter: Repetition helps kids learn. Ask everyone to repeat together the definition of bullying, which will be included in each lesson.

3. Intro Material Presented by the Teacher: This introduces the bullying theme and the scripture reading for students, showing them how an ancient Biblical story is very relevant to today. Some scripture readings are longer than others, depending on the length of the story in the Bible. For shorter stories, there will be a longer intro to be read, giving students about the same amount of time to gear up for their discussions

4. Scripture Reading: Students can break out into small groups at this point, or if your class is small, involve students by having them read the scripture aloud.

5. Lesson: Using either a household object or a model of the craft associated, each lesson will teach on one of the six specific anti-bullying concepts. A "Teaching Script" is presented in bold for ease of preparation and delivery.

6. Discussion/Craft/Game: (40 minutes) The discussion is the meat of the lesson, which will get kids thinking and applying ancient stories to situations they’ve either seen or been involved with concerning bullying. The objective of the teacher will be to keep the discussion moving at a good pace and now allow for too much digression. I suggest that you arrange it so that students take turns, going around the table, answering questions. If someone is stumped, move to the next person. For younger kids, there are crafts that will reinforce the lesson with a take-home item and games that are fun and engaging.

I am a homeschooler and we attend a very small church so we rarely face bullying, however I know it can happen ANYWHERE. There are neighborhood kids, outings and coops where bullying can occur very quickly so the messages I went through with this curriculum were still great for my kids. I found they kept my children's attention and we had some GREAT discussions on bullying. We talked about how to deal with it if it comes up and how we want to act around others. The author Mary-Kate Warner has a gift for teaching children God's principals. You will see this in everything she writes.

Make sure you check out her site, she has WONDERFUL things, including lessons on teaching Sunday School.

You can buy her curriculum here.

Blessings,

Angela