On Researching Sunday School Curriculum

 I have been doing a lot of research into Sunday School curriculums lately, mostly to ensure that we are using the best I can find for my students. I have plan for their time in Sunday School and want to cover things in an orderly manner. 

There were some curriculums that I didn't bother with, not because they were bad, but just because they weren't what we needed. I have a curriculum for the first 4 years that covers the narrative parts of the Old and New Testaments, giving them a broad overview of the Bible and how God has worked. For the older students, I wanted something that would allow them to dig deeper into Scripture and that would focus in on specific areas. For that reason, I skipped over anything that was basically just Bible stories.

At the same time, I came up with a short list of things that will make me completely reject a Sunday School curriculum:

1. Bad theology (that should be a given)
2. "The Netflix of Sunday School"
3. Bad names, including “Harvest Kids Now” and “Kids Kount” (problematic for different reasons)
4. No easy option to see a sample of the curriculum (either no option at all or the need to give them too much information so they can put me on a mailing list). Also, no outline, scope/sequence chart, or anything that lets me check out the curriculum. If I can't see what I would be teaching, I won't even consider it.
5. Focusing too much on "fun" rather than learning (News Flash: Children can learn from simple, straight forward lessons taught by teachers who love what they are teaching and who love the children; while extras are fun, they should be an add-on once in a while, not a key part of the teaching.)
1. Too much superfluous “extra” that has to be waded through (5 pages of fun activities with puppets, drama, object lessons, and video clips and only 2 pages of exploring Scripture)
2. The idea that we have to gain their interest in the lesson through slightly related activities before we can start to teach them
3. “Creative gizmos help your volunteers teach like Jesus"
4. The option to have them watch the Bible story on DVD
6. No worksheets/activity pages/anything children can do to reinforce the lesson and take home so their parents can see what they are learning.

Obviously not all of these are equally bad; some are just opinions (especially point 4 and 6). Part of my problem with the other points (aside from bad theology; that's just plain wrong) is that it makes Sunday School less serious and less important than the studies that adults do. Our focus in Sunday School, just as in all the ministries of the church, is Scripture. And yes, we have fun while we do it, but if my focus is on making the lessons fun and easy with creative gizmos and puppets, then the children will find the rest of church boring. If our focus is on Scripture and worshiping God together, then they will find that the rest of church is not that different and they'll grow more naturally into the adult studies.