While all of the families use the Bible as a core part of their curriculum, one family in particular uses it for everything possible. They taught their children their ABCs, how to read, write, do basic math, spelling, and most of their grammar through the Bible. I was very intrigued by this and (respectfully) grilled the mother about it. She is very patient with me when I have a case of one hundred questions. I asked her how she came up with doing her homeschooling that way, and she told me about all these different resources she used to figure it out. The thing that intrigued me the most was how she used the Bible to teach writing, spelling, grammar, and neat penmanship.
They copy the Bible by hand. I asked how they got this started, and the mother showed me a booklet by Art Dappen called The Education of Kings. It is a series of essays he's written on the topic, and discusses how after reading Deuteronomy 17:18-19 he came to the conclusion to do the same thing himself and have his family do it as well. I found it so inspiring, and as a result I started doing it myself. Since June of 2011 I have been copying the Bible by hand. Right now I am currently in the middle of Exodus. It took a little bit to figure out the pace that works best for me. At first I was doing about a chapter a day, and then I got so burnt out from doing that I stopped for a few months. When I started it back up again I only did about seven verses at a time, and have now increased it to ten verses of copying a day.
I like this amount because it's just enough that I feel like I'm steadily moving forward, but at the same time it's not so much to where I'm just copying but not focused on what I'm reading. Doing too much at once can easily become more of a burden than a blessing, and it's important to take notice of that so your heart is in the right place while copying. It took some trial and error for me to find the amount that worked best for me, and each person is different. For the mother who told me about it her younger children, once they could write their letters neatly, would only do one verse at a time perfectly, or break down some of the longer verses to be done over two or three days. For the older children, she would work with them to help them figure out the amount that worked best. The mother herself would vary from day to day depending on her energy level and how much needed to be tended to throughout the day.
What has really been incredible in this whole journey is all of the benefits I've received from it. The biggest being how much it slows down the speed of reading passages. This causes me to really absorb everything I'm writing/reading. Because I'm checking to make sure I'm writing everything perfectly, I'll read a verse two or three times just to double check things. This causes God's Word to be deeply impressed on my memory.
Some of the other things I noticed was how involved I'd get into the stories. I felt the tragedy of the fall of man from the garden, Lot's daughters was even more upsetting and uncomfortable to read, God's desire for Israel to trust Him completely every day while they traveled through the wilderness was so beautiful and inspiring, etc. Stories that you're familiar with and know what happens next become fresh and new and you can't wait to start the next day's copying just to see what happens. You'll begin to take notice of how many details you've missed from when you read the stories before copying them.
I'll find myself thinking about what I wrote that day, and how I can apply it to my own walk with Christ. The first time I ever read through the Old Testament I found it so hard to relate it to my spiritual journey. While the stories were wonderful, I felt distanced from them just because they were about people that lived such a long time ago during a time so different from today. After starting Bible copy, I began to feel a much more personal relationship with each story and character of the Bible. Things didn't seem quite as different as they are today. Noah lived during an extremely evil time, Joseph went through incredibly difficult trials for things he didn't do, the level of Israel's doubting in the wilderness is something we still see in Christians today, and the list could go on.
Each section is so distinctive and the big, overarching lesson becomes extremely clear while copying. It was a pleasant surprise when it would become very obvious when there was a shift in the book. For example, in Exodus I've started copying down the Ten Commandments and the laws that follow. It is a huge shift from when Israel is in the wilderness after crossing the Red Sea. Things like that become more obvious because of the intimate and slow level that the passages are being read by.
The Tools
One of the important parts of Bible copy is something called 'exactness.' As Christians we are to take God's Word seriously. Logically, if this is so, when we take the time to copy the Bible it should be done with that same reverence and respect. Meaning we do it perfectly. With that being said, I copy in pencil so that if I mess up I can erase. I didn't want to have a bunch of crossing out and scribbling littering my Bible copy as I can be prone to making a lot of mistakes no matter how careful I am. With pen I know you can use white out and similar products for mistakes, but I just ended up preferring the simplicity of pencil and eraser. For a much more detailed essay on the principle of exactness read an excellent one here.
I use composition notebooks because they're neat, lined, and they're all the same size. I like finding ones with colorful covers. I'm now in my second notebook. I write in print because in his book Art Dappen discusses each letter being very clear to read. Cursive can sometimes get confusing. This is one of the big reasons why your penmanship really improves from doing this. I use the KJV because the English is more challenging, and drastically improves your language comprehension skills. This comes from my love of Charlotte Mason, and the homeschool family that does this uses the KJV for the same reasons. In case there are any language confusions, I keep a NKJV Bible close by, a dictionary, and John MacArthur's full Bible commentary. I will sometimes use Matthew Henry's if I want a deeper explanation. I decided to start with Genesis and go in order, but I know some people who start with Psalms or the New Testament first.
The other added exercise I use is I keep a small, handmade notebook close by where I write down one or two verses that really spoke to me, and then write a small explanation as to why they did. I just started doing this because I read about how the Klein's do the same thing, and I had been naturally starting to mark specific verses. Sometimes it's a verse that answers a question or clarifies what the Lord is doing. For example, why God sent all of those plagues instead of just releasing Israel from Egypt. Sometimes it's a verse that really applies to what I'm going through personally, and sometimes it's a verse that I just find really beautiful or practical (the dimensions of the ark), or a verse that I find very challenging to understand.
I really like doing this because it further impresses what you're reading to your memory, and deepens your understanding of what's being read.
Resources
This website is where you can get Art Dappen's book. It's at the bottom of the page linked. This family has all of Art Dappen's works, which you may be interested in reading. All of his writing is free of charge and in PDF format. If you want a bound book, contact the family who runs the website to see if they will send you one. I am not 100% sure on this, but you may have to pay a small postage fee to get a bound version of his essays.
Disclaimer
Just FYI, Art Dappen can be extreme in his take on things. I don't want to sound disrespectful because he makes many excellent points that my husband and I agree with completely, but there were times where I was reading his essays and was blown away by the severe and extremely direct stance he'd take on certain topics. I haven't read through all of his essays, and so I don't want people thinking I have and am collectively recommending everything he's written. I have only read through a handful of what he's written, and this post is solely a recommendation of his book The Education of Kings. Proper discernment is always advised, and if anything recommended here does not match with your convictions in your walk with Christ, then please prayerfully consider the situation and follow those convictions. I am an imperfect, unprofitable servant whose own depravity can cause me to be incorrect, and will welcome any respectful criticism if you believe me to be so.
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