Last summer, when getting ready for the school year, I searched through Latin curriculum and found Visual Latin. I was so impressed that I showed it to my (then) freshman and she liked it as well. We used it throughout this past year.
So when I found out that Compass Classroom, the company that produces Visual Latin, offers a variety of learning and study tools, I was pretty excited. And I was even more excited when they offered me an opportunity to use and review Modern Parables.
(The legal stuff: I received a free downloadable copy of Hidden Treasure, one of the Modern Parables set, for the purposes of reviewing. No other compensation was given, and all opinions expressed in this review are my own. For my Full Disclosure Policy, please visit this page.)
Modern Parables is a new kind of Bible study. From one perspective, it’s a study that uses short films of the parables to teach the Bible. But from another perspective, it’s something unique. Modern Parables employs a new method of understanding the Bible through films that explain the biblical text. It uses modern stories that recreate in the viewer the same responses that the original audiences of Jesus’ parables might have experienced.
With each Modern Parable, you get the video story, a teaching outline, study materials, questions, discussion guides, and even suggestions for how to use it as a family study. Each parable is broken down into two lessons. The first includes the story video and a study that focuses on “Understanding the Parable.” The second lesson utilizes an application video and focuses on “Living the Parable.” Everything you need to study the parable for yourself and teach it to your kids is included in the materials.
Hidden Treasure is based on Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13:44. The film that depicted this parable was very well done, and we all enjoyed watching it and talking about it. My oldest was impressed with the quality of the film, which is saying a lot!
I appreciated the study materials and the outline for discussion, even though I didn’t use all of it during our discussion time. Overall, I was very impressed with the quality of this study, and I can honestly say that I would buy more of them to use in our school and for our family.
You can get Modern Parables individually (as a download for $10 or a DVD for $15) or you can get them all together for family study or group study. There are 6 parables in the first volume.
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