Yesterday, I put a check in the mail for our first confirmed class of the coming school year. My three youngest daughters and I are planning to attend Community Bible Study (CBS) in the fall. All of us will be studying the book of Genesis. It seems so fitting that the first definite plans for the year involve studying the Word of God.

I am not new to CBS. When my oldest daughter was two and my son was a baby, I saw an announcement in the church bulletin about the program and attended an information session to find out more. Signing up was a no-brainer!

One day a week, I dropped off my kids in the children’s program then gathered with all of the ladies for a short devotional time. A few minutes later we split up into our assigned “core groups” of about twelve ladies each. During this time, we discussed the Bible study questions we completed at home during the week.

Afterwards, we gathered in a large group again, sang a few worship songs, then listened as our Bible study leader taught us even more from the passages we had studied. Being completely immersed in the Word one morning each week and for shorter periods during the remainder of the week helped me draw closer to God.

While I attended the ladies’ program, my kids were learning and growing in the children’s program. From ages two through five, they participated in CBS’s preschool classes, learning key Bible stories chronologically each year and memorizing verses. Each week they brought home a coloring page and craft they had completed in the class.

A couple times a year my eyes glistened as all the kids marched to the front of the women’s class and sang the songs they had been learning throughout the year. Many of them were Bible verses sung to a familiar tune.

Starting in about first grade, the kids graduated to the homeschool class, where they studied the same book of the Bible as I did, using daily lessons designed for their age. We sat together at the kitchen table each day, and the kids completed their daily Bible study homework as I worked on my own. Once a week they gathered with other homeschooled students to discuss the questions, worship together, and complete other fun activities while I attended the ladies’ study.

We stopped attending CBS before my youngest three made it to the homeschool program, and I am excited for us to return. We will all develop a deeper understanding of the Bible as we study Genesis together. The added accountability of participating in a Bible study group will help us to be consistent in our personal spiritual growth.

Weekly fellowship will be good for us as well. I look forward to connecting with other ladies in the group. My fourteen-year-old daughter, who is extremely social, will thrive while studying the Bible with other high school students. Even my twelve-year-old twins will have opportunities to grow socially. These classes will serve as an appropriate replacement for the weekly arts enrichment classes they have participated in this year but are on the verge of outgrowing.

I am excited to dig deeper in the Word, draw closer to God, reconnect with old friends, and develop new relationships in the coming year of CBS.

Would you like to join me? To learn more about Community Bible Study or find a class near you, visit CBS’s website.

How do you include Bible study in your life and homeschool? Please share in the comments below.