The Illuminate Bible series offers Protestant homeschooling families in-depth Bible study for first through twelfth grade. While there are classroom versions, homeschooling courses have been optimized for that setting, and those are the versions I am reviewing. Courses are being created for pre-K through kindergarten that will correspond to the courses for grades one through six, but I’m not reviewing those until they are complete.
The Illuminate series was thoughtfully designed to present the plan of salvation and provide students with an understanding of the overarching story of the Bible. It teaches about creation, the Fall, redemption, and restoration. While the program does not present a chronological study of the Bible, many of the courses are structured chronologically. The guide books explains, “We believe the best way to study the Bible is through a careful presentation of its central message—the story of God’s grace and glory, which is ultimately expressed in Jesus Christ” (1st-6th Grade Guide Book, Vol. 5, Homeschool Edition, p.9).
The homeschool courses are designed as courses that can be used for grades one through six and those for grades seven through twelve, so I’ll review them separately.
Illuminate Courses for Grades One through Six
The courses for grades one through six are presented in six volumes:
- “God Our Savior—an exploration of God’s work of salvation
- Our Faithful God—a focus on God as one who keeps His promises
- Our God of Mercy and Grace—a study of the wonderful mercy and grace God shows His people
- Jesus, Our Prophet, Priest, and King—a discussion of how the Old Testament points to Jesus
- Jesus, God’s Son—a survey of how Jesus is fully God
- God Will Triumph—a review of how God prevails for all eternity” (still under development)
The volumes work best taught in sequence, but they don’t have to be.
A single guide book for each volume covers grades one through six, but three student books are labeled for two grade levels each: 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th, and 5th-6th. Students across all six grades learn together, completing activities at their own level in their workbooks. The guide book for each volume is about 300 pages long. Both the guide book and student books are printed in full color and include appealing illustrations.
Each volume should take two semesters to complete. Weekly lessons should take a total of about two and a half hours.
The reading of a Bible passage begins each day’s lesson. The location of the passage is at the top of the lesson, but you will read from your own Bible. Similarly, a weekly memory verse is learned together, but only the location of the verse is provided, and you can have children memorize from the Bible version you prefer. After the Bible passage, the lesson in the guide book is “scripted” with information to be read directly to students. The guide books have many full-color illustrations that children will need to be able to see. Cuddling up together on the couch might be the best way to work through the parts of the lessons you do all together, although older students might want to read the information for themselves.
The next four lesson days present supplemental Bible passages, commentary, archaeological evidence, and historical information that deepen understanding of the main story and make connections to other passages in the Bible. The fifth day of each lesson includes oral review questions for the previous four days. Suggested answers follow each of the questions, so you don’t want your children viewing the guide book for this part of the lesson. Note that some of these questions are similar to those in the student workbooks, so I would use them only after students have completed their student book pages. The review is followed by an application activity that suggests a way for students to implement what they have learned.
Vocabulary words are bolded and are included in end-of-week reviews. A glossary at the back of the guide book has definitions, and parents might want to discuss the meanings of these words as they are encountered.
Daily lessons conclude with a Prayer Point and a Christ Focus. The Prayer Point can be included in a group prayer, and the Christ Focus wraps up the lesson with a clear doctrinal statement, such as this one from page 275 of the 1st-6th Guide Book: Volume 5, “Everything in the Bible points to Jesus. The temple, priests, and sacrifices were pictures that showed what He is like (Heb. 9: 23-28).”
These courses are more content-rich than many Bible courses for the elementary grades. Most lesson activities are reading, writing, answering questions, discussing, and praying. However, Tuesday’s part of the lesson include a hands-on activity, usually the same for all three levels. In addition, Monday through Thursday lessons have a small box that says, “Summarize: Use an activity from pages 283-284 (for Volume 5) to summarize the lesson together.” Suggested activities on these two pages are primarily designed for multiple students, but some can be used with one or a few students. For instance, “Picture Book” has students draw and write to summarize what they have learned. “Freeze for False” has students dance in place while the teacher makes true and false statements about the lesson; students must freeze when they hear a false statement. “3-2-1” has students write down three main ideas taught in the lesson, two things they learned, and one question they have. Summarize activities are an important reinforcement tool, so you should try to implement some of them, even if not four days a week.
Guide Books
The guide books have Suggested Daily Schedules showing what to cover in the teacher guide and which student pages to use for each level. There are no images of student pages in the teacher guide. Answer keys for all three student books are at the back of the guide books.
Both the guide book and student books include a Seasonal Unit with four weeks of material to be used at appropriate times to cover Christmas (one week), the Resurrection (two weeks), and the Second Coming of Christ (one week).
Student Books
The student books all address the same topics taught from the guide book, but most activities are adapted for each level.
For 1st-2nd level, students discuss answers rather than do as much written work. The discussion questions are provided on the student pages since parents will likely be working closely with young students. There are hands-on activities for three days each week rather than just one. On review day, students have a coloring page.
Questions for the 3rd-4th level are usually easier than those for 5th-6th. Sometimes third and fourth graders are given multiple-choice responses, while older students fill in blanks. Some questions are the same for both 3rd-4th and 5th-6th. For Review day, both 3rd-4th and 5th-6th usually, have a puzzle, word search, maze, anagram, scrambled letters, code, or some other fun activity that reinforces the week’s lesson.
I mentioned previously that the hands-on activities on Tuesdays are the same for all levels, and they are often too young for fifth and sixth graders.
Illuminate Courses for Grades Seven through Twelve
The courses for junior and senior high students follow a similar progression to that of the lower grade levels, but the guide book for lower levels doesn’t work for upper level courses and vice versa. These courses dig deeply into doctrine, theology, worldview, and practical application. Titles and content descriptions of the six volumes for grades seven through twelve are:
- “God’s Glory: The Reason for Everything—an exploration of the greatness of God
- The Glory of Christ: The Center of History—a concentrated focus on Christ
- Faith: The Response to God’s Glory—a study of God’s relationship with His people
- God’s Glory as He Builds His Kingdom—a discussion of how God’s kingdom grows
- Living for God’s Glory—a survey of the ways in which we are to live for God’s glory
- The Triumph of God’s Glory—a review of how God prevails for all eternity”
There is only one student book covering grades seven through twelve for each volume. Both the guide books and student books use limited colors and minimal illustrations, although the graphic design of the layout compensates well enough for older students.
The 7th-12th Grade Guide Books are laid out in a fashion similar to those for the lower level. They explain the program, provide a Suggested Daily Schedule, and then provide the lesson material for the year’s lessons. They include four Seasonal units for four weeks, but with two weeks for Christmas and one each for the Resurrection and the Second Coming.
The lessons are designed so that students can work independently, using both the guide book and the student book.
Each week’s lesson is designed around a key concept and a key Bible passage, both stated on the first page of the lesson. Every lesson consists of a series of articles for students to read from the guide book. These are under the headings: Story Elements, Context, Connections, Doctrine, Application, Worldview, The Bible &…, and Christ Focus. Students also should read the pertinent Bible passages that are the focus of each day’s lesson. Occasionally, a word or a phrase will be bolded and printed in yellow-orange to show that it is a vocabulary word. These words are defined in a glossary at the back of the guide book.
The student workbook has questions to answer under the headings Story Elements, Context, Connections, Doctrine, Application, and Worldview. Some questions require students to look up Bible passages. Most questions in the student workbook require answers written in one or more sentences, some require short-essay answers, and there are occasional multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions.
Six-page unit tests, found in the guide books, have all three types of questions plus columns to match. Answer keys are at the back of each guide book.
These courses are ambitious with in-depth coverage of many areas. They have strong theological content as well as discussions of worldview issues and practical applications that answer the question, “So why do I need to know this?” The courses require a lot of reading—about two pages of fairly dense text from the student guide every day plus Bible passages. And the student workbook questions add to the academically oriented workload. Because of the design of the course, it should work best for students who are independent learners with strong reading skills.
Summary
The entire Illuminate series focuses primarily upon Jesus Christ, drawing from the entire Bible for each course. The courses show how both the Old and New Testaments point toward Jesus. These courses should work well for homeschooling families who want to learn together and are looking for courses that make connections between both Old and New Testaments, while also teaching Protestant doctrine.
