Curriculum Review: Group's Living Inside Out

Over the next several months I will be doing curriculum reviews on this site. There are tons of curriculum out there for elementary kids and I will try to get around to as many as I can. I am going to start with new ones that came out this fall and work my way back. Here are the 7 areas in which I rate curriculum:

Bible Content:

Age appropriate:

Ease of use for volunteers:

Ease of Prep for staff:

Bells and Whistles (graphics and music):

Parent Information:

Technology needed or provided:

I am rating all of these on a 1 to 5 scale with 1 being needs much improvement and 5 being WOW!

I am biased when it comes to curriculum because I helped create and produce G-Force, the joint curriculum between Fellowship Church and Lifeway. I hope this gives you at least an angle in which I am coming from.

The first curriculum is going be rated is Group's "Living Inside Out". So here goes nothing:

Bible Content: (5) Group is always good at Bible Content. I would say that they are either number 1 or 2 in the nation when it comes to this aspect of curriculum. So you can't go wrong here.

Age appropriate: (3) Seems to shoot on the lower age side even for the older pieces. Activities are experiences but not quite there yet.

Ease of use for volunteers: (3) Compared to other curriculum out right now it is pretty standard. Your great teachers will pick it up easy but your not so great teachers will struggle with the prep.

Ease of Prep for staff: (2) To many things to prepare. Each small group is suppose to be 5 kids and that adds up quick. That also means a lot more volunteers which means a lot more prep for staff.

Bells and Whistles (graphics and music): (3) Graphics are not bad but they are not great. Nothing really cool that catches kids eyes. Music is bland. Typical Group music that is overly kid singing and under-produced. This is one area in which I dislike almost every curriculum on the shelf.

Parent Information: (4) Very good daily activities for the kids and parents in the take home sheets. They look good for parents and give involved parents something to sink their teeth into.

Technology needed or provided: (3) DVD and CD provided. DVD has clips that are also under-produced. Standard Group video that is done on location in Loveland, CO. A little Cheese goes a long way. Some are funny and others are funny and are not suppose to be.

Overall Score out of a possible 35 points is 23.

Summery: This is an above average curriculum for large group/small group presentations but would not use in a Sunday School Format. Your kids will not be WOWed but parents will be satisfied.

I hope this helps. Until next time and on to the next curriculum…