Caroline and I are starting a new Grapevine Studies Bible study. I decided to do Esther with her since I thought the adventurous storyline would appeal to her. Esther is a strong woman and her story provides lots of opportunity for meaningful discussions about culture, faith, obedience and what it means to be a woman used by God.

The Appeal of GrapeVine Studies

GrapeVine Studies appeal to Caroline and me for a few reasons. (See also my previous review of Grapevine’s New Testament overview.) For me, they are easy to prepare and even I can do stick figures! LOL!

Caroline enjoys them because they are creative, don’t require a lot of writing, and are content rich without being overly academic. They feel more like natural learning than an overly academic, school-ish approach to the Bible. This fits much better with her learning style.

How We Use GrapeVine Studies

We find it works best if I draw on the whiteboard and Caroline works in her own three ring binder.

Seriously. I am not an artist at all (as you can see below). But it works well for us.

One thing I’ve struggled with is how much to let Caroline embellish beyond the stick figures. They usually aren’t quite enough for her creative mind. I’ve tried to reach the compromise of letting her add things that are true to the story and will help her remember more. (Isn’t that one of the points of studying the Bible, after all?). But I suggested we probably shouldn’t add fairies and such since they don’t fit the story. Angels when they appear? Yes. Unicorns? No. LOL!

Free Sample Lessons

If you’ve never used GrapeVine Studies before, you can go to their Sample Lessons page where you will find a number of different studies to try, including one from the Esther studies.