TOS Crew Review -- Children's Bible Hour

Children need to see how faith interacts with real life. The best way to see this is lived out in the lives of those around them. But, since I don't think you can ever have too much godly role modeling, I enjoyed seeing these books come into our home. Each book, produced by Children's Bible Hour, shows children what it looks like to live out their faith in a different setting.

The idea behind these four books, called the Season of Faith series, as per their website is:

	Spring: This is a time when people experience new life in Christ. Faith develops and Christians begin to share the Salvation message with others.		Summer: The season when faith grows under God’s love and care. Fruit is witnessed and triumphs are gained through applying His Word and striving to be the best we can be in Christ.
	Autumn: Times of struggle and temptation, peer pressure, making mistakes, and scary transitions happen during this season. Even though it might seem like nothing good can come from this time, God has promised us He will be there. He will teach us how to forgive and then grow in grace.		Winter: This season is the most difficult. Deep struggles, mourning, trying to make it through difficult times, or the death of a loved one can pull us away from God. He teaches us to lean on Him for comfort and peace.

Product: Children's Bible Hour
Details: Four books on CD with accompanying picture book. Each book puts the kids in a challenging situation that requires them to live out their faith.
Price: $10.00 each book set. ($40 for all four)



What we loved . . .

• Faith grounded. I cannot get enough of God centered materials in my home. These are a great addition to our bedtime routines. Not only are they interesting stories, but they remind us of the most important even in history and our responsibility to keep it in mind each day.
  
• Quality products. One thing that sometimes keeps me from buying faith-based materials is a lack of quality in the product. I don't want my kids to ooh and aah over the monster truck book and be bored by the lack of visual attraction to Bible books. These books have great pictures and seem fairly durable as well. The CD's are well done and interesting to listen to.
  
• Discussion Questions. The website even offers questions to prompt more conversation with your child after listening to the books. We always look for ways to take our learning deeper and more interactive, these questions are a good addition to an already great product.
• Great bedtime helper. We like reading books together, but some nights I am short on time, or don't really want to read "just one more." These CD's generally take about 15 minutes and tell a great, meaningful story as the kids drift off to sleep.
  

Some considerations . . .

• They might seem to move a little fast. The reading itself is at a very listenable pace, but my son especially likes to discuss each page of the book as we read through, and he kept calling me back in the first night to slow it down. So, we read it together the first time so he could ask all his questions, point to everything in each of the pictures, and ponder to his heart's content. After that initial lengthy session, he has been quite happy to listen to the CD.
• Hearing check. This will likely not apply to your kids, but for those of you out there that don't hear higher sounds well, you might not be able to hear the page turning chime. Not that this would apply to me, I'm clearly not old enough to have any hearing issues. My son kindly reassured me that there was a very clear sound there to tell him to turn the page, and when I turned the volume up, it was definitely there.
  
• Sensitive listeners take note. I didn't find anything offensive in the stories, but some of them do talk about kids facing difficult situations. If you have a sensitive child you might want to pre-listen to the stories, or make sure you are on hand to discuss some of these situations.
  

These books appeal to a range of ages. While they have spent most of their time in my preschool son's room, many of my older children have enjoyed them just as much. Many kids, even through 10 years of age would benefit from listening to these books, and even older kids could benefit from the conversations they prompt.


For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: These Seasons of Faith book and CD sets were provided to me free of charge from Children's Bible Hour as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.