Suggested Teen Bible Curriculum Sequence

What should you do for Bible curriculum for high school years? In the elementary grades, ACE has Bible Reading PACES that are pretty good. But the high school grades are not as well laid out.

In our Christian school, we use the Positive Action for Christ curriculum, but that is geared for a classroom with teacher-instruction.

Suggested Bible Curriculum Sequence

If I had a teen going through grades 7-12 via homeschooling with ACE as the main curriculum provider, here’s what I would do.

Grade 7

Read Pilgrim’s Progress and use a curriculum guide designed for homeschool use. Here’s one from Answers in Genesis:

Grade 8

New Testament Survey – this set of 12 PACES is fairly easy, and though the numbers are for a higher grade, an 8th grader could handle it. I would recommend requiring your teen to read through the New Testament concurrent with the study, or do that as part of family devotions. This course was recently rewritten in the new 4th edition format and is very well done!

Grade 9

Old Testament Survey – this set of 12 PACES is more challenging but has good content. Reading the entire Old Testament at the same time is a good goal, but could be tedious for a teen who is not used to reading the Old Testament. Again, maybe doing it as part of family devotions, or selecting key passages to be read, would wise for a parent to plan ahead and assign. This course was recently updated to newer 4th Edition.

Grade 10

Life of Christ – This PACE course is on the same level as the NT and OT survey courses. This course was recently updated to newer 4th Edition and is *much* improved over the previous edition.

Grade 11

Successful Living – This is an excellent course based on the book of Proverbs and written for teens. It is not produced by ACE, but is designed as 12 booklets just like PACES. The course is organized by topics, applicable to teens, like money management, temptation, sexual purity, relationships, work ethic, attitude, pride, and many others. This course is not available through ACE, but can be ordered through ILS or can be ordered at Curriculum Express.

Grade 12

A World Views curriculum that explains rationalism, post-modernism, evolution, and undergirds the Christian World View. Too many teens do not really understand and take personal ownership of why they believe what they believe. We have offered a course like this every other year to our 11th & 12th graders, taught by our Pastor, and years later many of the young people report that it was one of the most helpful courses in their high school curriculum. We do not have a curriculum, per se, that we use, but rather piece it together. There are good resources out there, though.

The new ACE Creationism course is another excellent alternative for 12th grade Bible (it could also be a science course – your choice, but not both!). See my full review of the course.

ABC’s of Christian Growth is a workbook that covers 26 Bible topics, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. C is for Christ, I is for Immersion (baptism), T is for Tithing, . . . you get the idea! It was written by a Baptist preacher and has been translated into many languages and used by many missionaries around the world. The format is an outline, with blanks that need to be filled in by looking up Bible verses and supplying the missing word or phrase right from Scripture.  There are NO tests and it is one  book, not a set of PACES. This could be a Bible curriculum for any grade, 7th through 12th. You can order it through the PACESuccess Store.

Another idea is to have your teen read four books of your choosing that prepare him for godly living in his teen years. Maybe have him write chapter summaries, or a book review when done.  Some suggestions are:

• A Young Woman After God’s Own Heart: A Teen’s Guide to Friends, Faith, Family, and the Future,
• A Young Man After God’s Own Heart: A Teen’s Guide to a Life of Extreme Adventure
• Lies Young Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free
• Christian Manhood
• Know What You Believe

ACE has a single PACE about Soulwinning (pictured above). It covers the simple plan of salvation and how to share it with others. It would be a good component to include if you are putting together your own course using a variety of books. You can order it directly from ACE.

Ask your pastor or youth pastor for other titles he might recommend!

Few notes I want to make about the suggested schedule above:

1.    Any of the PACE courses could be done in any grade – the PACE numbers are just a suggestion of grade level, and they do not build from year to year.

2.    You could have a couple of your teens in different grades do the same Bible course the same year and use it as a basis for family devotions or Bible discussion with them.

3.    The one exception – if you choose to do a World Views course, the content is usually better suited to older, more mature teens, in 11th or 12th grades.

I highly recommend having your teen complete a Bible curriculum in addition to the instruction in their core PACES and what they might receive at church and youth group. I trust these suggestions will be a good starting point for you in planning what is right for your teen! If you have other suggestions, please let me know in the comments below!