Some Info on My Sunday School Curriculum Reviews - What it will NOT and WILL Do!

All this month I'll be talking about Sunday School curriculum, this week and next week I'll be looking at Large Group/Small Group curriculum and will feature one review each day. On Friday April 13th I'll release my Large Group/Small Group Side-by-Side curriculum comparison chart.  I'm not rating the curriculum as my "top pick" or even rating them as to which one I think is "better" as I do not believe there is one curriculum which is the "best" curriculum for every church. There are no "Cookie-Cutter Children's Ministries" so the curriculum which is the "best fit" for my church may not necessarily be the "best fit" for your church. My reviews will provide some basic information on each curriculum as well as the things I liked the most and the things I would have liked to see in each one. In addition, I will include a few words from each publisher about their curriculum and of course the side-by-side comparison charts will help you be able to see at a glance which features each curriculum has. From there, each church needs to know their vision and purpose as well as the goals for their children's ministry to be able to find their "best fit"! I hope my reviews and comparison chart will be helpful tools to help you find your "best fit" when it comes to curriculum!

As my Sunday School curriculum reviews begin, I want to share about a few things my curriculum review will NOT do as well as a few things it WILL do!

My 2012 Curriculum Review Will NOT -

• Rate curriculum as to which curriculum is the "best" . . . as I mentioned above, there are no "Cookie-Cutter Children's Ministries" so the curriculum which is the best "fit" for my ministry may not be the curriculum which is the best "fit" for your ministry. You may select a curriculum which fits your vision very well while that same curriculum may not fit my vision well at all, so I will not "rate" curriculum in this review. I did rate curriculum in my VBS reviews because most churches share the same goals/visions for VBS making it possible to rate VBS curriculum.
• Include every curriculum available.
• Focus only on the features of a curriculum.

My 2012 Curriculum Review WILL -

• Include reviews of well-known curriculum resources as well as some lesser-known resources
• Provide information as to the content, scope and sequence and type of curriculum as these are all important components to consider when looking for the best "fit" for your unique ministry.
• Focus the first two weeks on Large Group/Small Group resources with at least one review being released each day.
• Focus on Traditional, Non-Traditional, Bridge and Special Ministry resources the third week.
• Focus on affordable curriculum resources the fourth week!
• Include a Side-by-Side Comparison with all the curriculum reviewed that week(s)!

For the month I'll be talking about curriculum, sharing my reviews and providing information to help you find your best curriculum "fit" for your unique ministry, so be sure to plan to spend some time on About the Children's Department over the month of April as we take a look at some of the many curriculum resources available for you to use!