Students Benefit from Reading the KJV Bible

A KJV Bible at Mrs. White's Home.

The Bible is available in many different English translations.  I have often heard it suggested that students should use an easy version. They say it should be written in modern, plain English.  I don't agree.

When we are studying our lessons in school, we take time to use the dictionary and concentrate on what we are learning. If the school work was easy, it would be difficult to retain knowledge.  

If students are only reading what is easy and modern, they will have a nearly impossible time reading old literature.  They will not understand historic documents or take the time to really read and understand anything that seems too hard. They will quickly give up.

 The KJV Bible is full of rich and powerful words.  We need to stop and think while we are reading. We need to concentrate. It takes time to absorb the words.  This builds wisdom. This will also bring a blessing as we meditate on Scripture.

There are going to be questions that come up when reading the Bible. We will wonder what words mean and how they relate to the surrounding verses in context.  This is why it is essential to have resources which include the Webster's 1828 dictionary and a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.  We study, not only by reading but by looking up the definition of the words.  We also learn by asking questions.

It is essential to gain Christian wisdom by the hearing of solid sermons from good preachers.  This is an important part of the process of understanding the Bible.  Many ministers of today tend to use a different version of the Bible in their sermons, such as the NIV or the NKJV.  These ministers have a solid understanding of languages but try to present the lesson in the easiest possible way.  As for my household, we always bring our own Bibles along and read from our KJV.

It is wonderful to have little Bible story books such as are presented in Sunday School class. But to actually read the Bible, the KJV is going to bring the most benefit to our children.  In my own household, we had all the children reading from the Bible as soon as they were around the ages of 4 or 5 years old.  Once they learned to read, they were reading the KJV Bible right along with the family.  Of course we were right there to help them pronounce words while they were still young.  Later on, they were able to do it entirely alone. They also memorized verses by the constant daily readings.  This builds wisdom and is an essential foundation for knowledge.

To see more about how we did this, please read my post, "A Humble Parlour as a School of Theology."

 

 

- Mrs. White

 

For more information, and a tea break, please see our About page.

 

 

 

 

Field Trip by the Sea

Photograph by Mrs. White: "The Gingerbread House" in Plymouth, Mass.

In the early 1990's, we decided to take a little journey to Plymouth Harbor in Massachusetts. We lived a short distance away, less than an hour, and it would be exciting.  My Mother and sister came along with us. I had 2 little girls, and 1 little boy at the time.  They were ages 2 to 6.  This was going to be a wonderful day for all of us.

We packed picnic lunches. The girls each had their own lunch box and backpack. We visited Plymouth harbor where we saw ships, boats, and the beautiful ocean. We also brought a little bit of pocket money for treats and the gift shop.

First we went to Ocean Spray's Cranberry museum.  It was full of interesting equipment, historic descriptions, and many pictures.  We had already seen real cranberry bogs many times in our travels near home. It was interesting to learn how they harvested cranberries and turned them into juice.  At the end of the guided tour, we were delighted to be given sample cups of assorted flavored cranberry juice. We were also given delicious pieces of cranberry bread.

A little further down the road, there were many tourist shops, including "The Gingerbread House."  We stopped here for candy and delightful refreshments.  The porch and staircase were so pretty. It was a nice place to rest.

After looking at the ships, we found a picnic table where we stopped for a leisurely lunch.  The fresh air and the scenery were wonderful.  It had been a great day for our vacation.

This was a simple day trip. We were home in plenty of time to get ready for dinner and have our evening routine.

I never really thought about field trips when we were homeschooling. We might make a joke to say it was a "field trip," but it was really just a vacation day. The children always learned something and enjoyed being tourists. We never did a lesson plan. The children didn't have to write about what they learned.  We just took in the sights and absorbed everything around us. We were always learning. It was incredible to have the freedom to just be together, whether we were at home, or off on an adventure. ~

 

- Mrs. White

 

For more information, and a tea break, please see our About page.