Written for Our Learning is an Old Testament curriculum that takes a fresh approach at teaching primary level students. Each of the 26 lessons in this book is complete, providing teachers everything they need to prepare and present the lessons along with activities for the students. The wide variety of age-appropriate activities allows teachers for grades 1-8 to select the ones they want to customize their lessons. Teachers can change the type of activities and the routine each week--promoting an atmosphere where students are eager to learn.
Written for Our Learning emphasizes that the Old Testament was written down for our instruction, as Paul tells the Corinthians. Written for Our Learning paints a vivid historical picture of fascinating Old Testament characters and events.
The students will learn:

God's plan of salvation in the New Testament has its roots embedded in His covenant with Abraham
Through Scripture-rich activities, the close connection of the Old Testament and the New Testament
The chronological order and historical significance of Old Testament events
Practical, age-appropriate application, illustrating that lessons learned thousands of years ago are still relevant today



Written for Our Learning is a valuable tool for your Bible classes, your family Bible time, or your school! Study the Old Testament, for it truly was "written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4)!

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Karen is a graduate of David Lipscomb High School and Tennessee Tech University where she majored in journalism.

After a few stints as a news director and announcer for a few radio stations, Karen switched her focus and began working in the print media, primarily newspapers and magazines in Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina. An award-winning journalist, she worked in several capacities: crime reporter, features writer, weekly columnist, magazine editor and editorial cartoonist.

When her children, Courtney and Kyle, were born in the early 1990s, she continued working as a freelance writer in order to stay at home with them. It did not take long before she could change a diaper and interview a source for a story simultaneously. In 1994, her first published book, "And Baby Makes Four", humorously highlighted the realities of raising one child while pregnant with the overriding goal of getting the first out of diapers before the second gets out of the womb. No longer in diapers, Courtney lives with her husband, Andrew, in West Columbia, SC and second-born Kyle lives in Dickson, Tenn.

Karen has been a Bible class teacher for congregations in Virginia Beach, Va., Salem, Va., Boiling Springs, SC, and Duncan, SC, using many different curricula for elementary school-age children. While these were Biblically sound teaching materials, many were limited in scope, being subject-based or focusing on the life of one person. She decided that a curriculum was needed to connect the dots, so to speak. So while teaching first through fourth graders at Duncan Church of Christ, where she's still a member, Karen developed this guide that puts the people and the events in historical order to teach the importance of the Old Testament and how it lays the groundwork for the New Testament.

An avid tennis player, Karen lives in Moore, SC, with her black dog, Nike, whom occasionally accompanies her on hikes in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. She's more of a city dog whom enjoys a brisk five-mile walk through the much flatter terrain of Karen's subdivision. Indoors, Karen enjoys sketching and acrylic painting, watching old Norma Shearer movies and classic TV shows, such as "I Love Lucy" and "Petticoat Junction", and researching and writing a book on her ancestry, which is filled with all types of interesting characters. And 10 months out of the year, Karen works as a teacher's assistant at Berry Shoals Intermediate School in Duncan.