Logos for Children

Genghis
Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

Hi Folks

As a way of introducing my children (aged 7-14) to Logos, I signed them all up for Logos Basic, which they can all access from their respective user accounts in Windows 10.

My 12 year old daughter has already set up her own prayer list and a reading plan.

I have set them up with some prioritized resources: Lexham English Bible, Lexham Bible Dictionary. 

They are OK for the 12 and 14 year old but not so much for the 7 and 10 year old.  

Each have their own favorite bible translations so I'm gifting them (oldest to youngest) ESV, CEV and for the two youngest, GNB.  

But beyond that I'm a little frustrated trying to find resources that are suitable for this age group.

I tried looking for the Students' Life Application Bible as a commentary for the 12 and 14 year old but not available.  There is the whole Life Application Commentary series but that's a bit of overkill for children. 

Do forum members have any resource (like a study bible, commentary or bible dictionary) recommendations for 7, 10, 12 and 14 year olds?  Thanks in advance.

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Comments

  • Andrew Biddinger
    Andrew Biddinger Member Posts: 439 ✭✭✭

    Devotionals and Kids Dictionary on Ebooks: https://ebooks.faithlife.com/search?query=kids+bible 

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    Genghis said:

    Do forum members have any resource (like a study bible, commentary or bible dictionary) recommendations for 7, 10, 12 and 14 year olds?  Thanks in advance.

    There's a bunch of books at ebooks.faithlife.com for children, but none which are study bibles or commentaries, etc.

    The Bible for Blockheads is the closest I can think of. Here's its comments on Nehemiah. You can see that children will probably understand it and enjoy it, but the application is still aimed at adults.

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

  • Genghis
    Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭

    Devotionals and Kids Dictionary on Ebooks: https://ebooks.faithlife.com/search?query=kids+bible 

    OK, thanks.  I was looking amongst "products."

  • Genghis
    Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭

    Nice.  I like the cartoons; they lighten things up a bit.  Looks good for the 12-14 year old.  Thanks!

  • Genghis
    Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭

    Jan Krohn said:

    Thanks Folks.  There is quite a collection of material for young readers in the eBook category.  Lots of them are very affordable too:  99 cents.  There are so many that I'm surprised that Logos hasn't given them more prominence on their home page.  Looks like I've sorted my childrens' gift list for the next 10-15 years!  

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,792 ✭✭✭

    Most if not all of the mentioned ebooks are regularly on sale for $0.99. Just grab and gift them at the right time :-)

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning MVP Posts: 11,143

    Genghis said:

    My 12 year old daughter has already set up her own prayer list and a reading plan.

    That is so cool!

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Mark
    Mark Member Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭

    Genghis said:

    Do forum members have any resource (like a study bible, commentary or bible dictionary) recommendations for 7, 10, 12 and 14 year olds?  Thanks in advance.

    I have a 15 year old using Logos Basic. I had to purchase William MacDonald's Believer's Bible Commentary for him.  I think it is very helpful for children.  He wanted particular Bibles (NET and NKJV).  He is involved with the National Bible Bee and memorizes a lot of Scripture as well as studies the Bible.  I have a 17 year old who also does this.  Both have basic, but it would be good to see a children's packet or a list of resources perhaps here on this thread that can be put together for children.

    I know both my children have been won over to Logos through their studies.  And I believe more children would be won over if there was some thought put into creating a small, simple package or an article which highlights what would be helpful for children.

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,746 ✭✭✭

    Great suggestion—-> https://www.logos.com/product/5449/the-bible-for-blockheads

    Thanks Mark B.! On my wish list until survey coupon arrives 👍😁👌

    DAL

  • John Goodman
    John Goodman Member Posts: 1,716 ✭✭✭

    NiRV is a good translation for young ones. My kids have been reading it happily since about 6 years old.

    גַּם־חֹשֶׁךְ֮ לֹֽא־יַחְשִׁ֪יךְ מִ֫מֶּ֥ךָ וְ֭לַיְלָה כַּיּ֣וֹם יָאִ֑יר כַּ֝חֲשֵׁיכָ֗ה כָּאוֹרָֽה

  • Lee
    Lee Member Posts: 2,714

    I think a BP(s) for kids is an excellent idea.

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,746 ✭✭✭

    Lee said:

    I think a BP(s) for kids is an excellent idea.

    It may not be realistic. They used to sell a woman’s BP but it disappeared quickly. It’s not like the demand for a children’s BP will be any higher than for a woman’s BP. Personally I think teaching the children to use the graphics already in place and supplementing that up with children’s books is enough.  Maybe add children‘s color backgrounds with cartoon-like designs and it should be fine. It’s a Bible Study Software and not too many people invest in those. So working off of what we’ve already have would be a much better idea and everybody wins. 👍😁👌

    DAL

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,519

    DAL said:

    It may not be realistic. They used to sell a woman’s BP but it disappeared quickly. It’s not like the demand for a children’s BP will be any higher than for a woman’s BP.

    I don't know if it would sell or not, but I don't think your contention is necessarily true. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS |Logs| Install
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  • Phil Gons (Logos)
    Phil Gons (Logos) Administrator, Logos Employee Posts: 3,799

    As a father of four young children, two of whom use Logos on mobile devices occasionally, I've been thinking about products for children and families. We're exploring a few ideas and may start testing some in Q3.

    We're considering group licensing of certain products to a Faithlife family group, so everyone in your family would be able to access the licenses on their own individual accounts. Not all content would qualify for a multi-user license, but some would—and more would over time.

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    If you were going to invest in a version of Logos for your family, what price point would make sense for you?

  • Richard Villanueva
    Richard Villanueva Member Posts: 510 ✭✭

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    👍🏽👍🏽

    To add, I would love to see a bit more content for Youth and Children's Ministers as well! (Even if the Sermons resource type was to include "curriculum" from some Publishers).  I'll try and take some time later a give a more thought out response.  But I give a big "yes" to all of this thread!  

    MBPro'12 / i5 / 8GB // 3.0 Scholars (Purple) / L6 & L7 Platinum, M&E Platinum, Anglican Bronze, P&C Silver / L8 Platinum, Academic Pro

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,746 ✭✭✭

    DAL said:

    It may not be realistic. They used to sell a woman’s BP but it disappeared quickly. It’s not like the demand for a children’s BP will be any higher than for a woman’s BP.

    I don't know if it would sell or not, but I don't think your contention is necessarily true. 

    Another BP that disappeared was the Chaplain one.  But then again, I’ve been wrong before. Unfortunately and sadly, most kids now days don’t really “get into the Bible,“ so from a business perspective adding to what we already have is better than creating a new product.  Plus, in my opinion it would have to be something interactive so they can learn  or else they will find it boring to type a verse or topic in the passage guide  and wait for results to populate for them to have to read one hit at a time. Remember,  just because we as ministers and adults love Logos and would love for everybody to use it doesn’t mean kids will react in the same way.  Imagine a kid telling another kid, “ wow I typed a passage in the  “exegetical  guy” and he gave me a cool Greek meaning!!!”

    Exactly my point! What are the odds of that happening 😁

    I’m sure FL could think of something but there is no guarantee it will work. Didn’t they try to kickstart something for kids. I don’t think it ever kickstarted.

    DAL

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,746 ✭✭✭

    Anyway, just for clarification (JFC), I’m not opposed to ideas to help kids learn, but some (like a Logos BP for kids), don’t seem to be and are not realistic IMHO.

  • (‾◡◝)
    (‾◡◝) Member Posts: 926 ✭✭✭

    As a father of four young children, two of whom use Logos on mobile devices occasionally, I've been thinking about products for children and families.

    FWIW:   I know they're not eformat - just plain ol' paper, but I can tell you that my grandkids *eagerly* await every new issue of 'High Five' and 'Hello' magazines (see here) that come once a month in the mail - and then devour them.  Perhaps Logos/Lexham can emulate?

    BTW, here are ten facts about Highlights Magazine you might not know.

    Instead of Artificial Intelligence, I prefer to continue to rely on Divine Intelligence instructing my Natural Dullness (Ps 32:8, John 16:13a)

  • Andrew Biddinger
    Andrew Biddinger Member Posts: 439 ✭✭✭

    We're considering group licensing of certain products to a Faithlife family group, so everyone in your family would be able to access the licenses on their own individual accounts. Not all content would qualify for a multi-user license, but some would—and more would over time.

    YES!!! [<:o)] Having the ability to share my account with my family would be amazing.

    Phil Gons (Faithlife) said:

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    So, our church uses a service that gives us a church website (among other stuff) and Children's Sunday school material (High quality Bible videos, curriculum...etc). This might be a good idea, that is kid related, that would be nice to add to your growing church platform.

  • Genghis
    Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭

    Mark said:

    I have a 15 year old using Logos Basic. I had to purchase William MacDonald's Believer's Bible Commentary for him.  I think it is very helpful for children.  He wanted particular Bibles (NET and NKJV).  He is involved with the National Bible Bee and memorizes a lot of Scripture as well as studies the Bible.  I have a 17 year old who also does this.  Both have basic, but it would be good to see a children's packet or a list of resources perhaps here on this thread that can be put together for children.

    I know both my children have been won over to Logos through their studies.  And I believe more children would be won over if there was some thought put into creating a small, simple package or an article which highlights what would be helpful for children.

    Sounds like your 15 year old is on steroids!  [;)]

  • Genghis
    Genghis Member Posts: 232 ✭✭

    As a father of four young children, two of whom use Logos on mobile devices occasionally, I've been thinking about products for children and families. We're exploring a few ideas and may start testing some in Q3.

    We're considering group licensing of certain products to a Faithlife family group, so everyone in your family would be able to access the licenses on their own individual accounts. Not all content would qualify for a multi-user license, but some would—and more would over time.

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    If you were going to invest in a version of Logos for your family, what price point would make sense for you?

    Here are some other thoughts/suggestions for us parents who would a pathway for our children to start with Logos and to take it with them when they become adults:

    1. Group Licensing:  Thumbs up!

    2. Package for families:  IME, parents and families are incredibly diverse.  Some more advanced than others.  I could see a lot of challenges in creating a "family-oriented" base package.  For example, my kids have been working through the Hebrew Primer resource.  They are translating Hebrew sentences with the aid of a dictionary for a few months now.  But this isn't everyone's cup of tea.

    3. Give more prominence on the Logos site of the FL eBook site.  I went looking amongst Products and didn't find anything.  Never thought to look in Vyrso until it was suggested.  
    4. Have a section of the FL eBook site designated for children and all the resources should be sortable by reading age and type.
    5. Make sure that it is visibly prominent otherwise other parents not in the know won't know to look for it, a kids resource gallery or store, if you will. 
    6. Until now, Logos is firmly parked in most of our brains as a product aimed at adults not children.  FL is going to need to do some work to break that perception down.  Advertising on home pages, articles in Logos Blog and everywhere else is going to be needed.
    7. The Logos Base package with LEB, LBD and LSB is a terrific starting point for 14 year olds and up.  BDB is a lot harder to access.
    8. Make the Home screen include resources that are suitable for children, because of their diversity, be able to dial up a different home screen for different age categories: junior school, middle school, pre-teens and teenagers.  Have a logos Blog that is aimed at different age groups.  I imagine the Home Screen will customize itself as it shows more samples of material from the eBook store.  
    9. Buy and play bible games through and on the Logos platform.  Yeah lots of games.  Imagine a RTS set in bible lands (re-enact the battle between....) seriously, games for memorizing bible verses, games for re-telling bible stories, games for learning Greek, games for learning Hebrew.... the mind boggles.  I'd probably play some too.  Heh.  
    Oops getting carried away now.  


    To make Logos more usable, attractive for them and to reduce the chance they would be overwhelmed:
    1. Changed all the fonts to san serif
    2. Zoomed the program so that everything was 20% bigger.
    3. Prioritized the Lexham Bible, Dictionary and Study Bibles
    4. Modified one of the standard layouts to have two panels with the bible on the left and the Lexham Resources together with a Notes tab on the RHS.  Saved the layout.
    5. Bought them suitable/preferred bibles
    6. Set these as their preferred bibles
    7. Cleaned up their home screens to reduce the stuff they wouldn't be interested in

    Hope that helps.

  • Mark
    Mark Member Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭

    Phil

    Here is a list of some resources that could be in a package or several packages:

    Homeschool Material
    Greek Course
    Hebrew Course
    English Dictionary
    MacArthur, J., Ennis, P., Greer, C. P., Jr., Horner, G., Hughes, J. J., Jones, T. B., … Tatlock, M. A. (2003). Think biblically! recovering a christian worldview. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
    Encyclopediea Britannica
    Great books of teh western world
    Harvard Classics
    History
    LOEB Classical Library
    Sherlock Holmes
    HG WElls


    Relationships and Teenage Years
    5 love languages for children (Gary Chapman).
    The measure of a young man (Gene Getz)
    10 Things for Teen Girls (Kate Conner)
    Appleseeds (Mentoring program for preteen girls)
    Resources on dating and relationships
    Cook, D. C. (2013). Daily grace for teens. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.

    Science and the Bible
    Creation vs Evolution



    JR Tolken
    CS Lewis
    Classic Christian Stories
    Scripture memory
    Bible Dictionary
    Apologetics

    Anderson, R., & Veerman, D. (1999). Bible humor top 7 lists (electronic ed.). Nashville: Word Pub.

    Marty, W. H. (2011). The whole Bible story: everything that happens in the Bible in plain English. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House.

    The Books of the Bible made easy. Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishing.

    Moody, D. L. (1877). D. L. Moody’s Child Stories Related by Him in His Revival Work. (J. B. McClure, Ed.). Chicago: Rhodes & McClure.

    Holman Bible Handbook
    Holman quicksource guide to understanding the Bible

    Ryrie, C. C. (1991). Biblical answers to tough questions. Chicago, IL: Moody Press.

    Group, B. P. (2011). God’s answers for life’s questions. Grand Rapids, MI: Bethany House.

    Crucial Questions (RC Sproul)

    The New Treasury of Scripture knowledge

    Anderson, K. (1996). Where to Find It in the Bible. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.

    Devotionals

  • Mark
    Mark Member Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭

    Children also like multi media resources...access to timeline, maps etc

    How much would I be willing to pay?  I think there could be different packages...I would be willing to pay a good amount of money.

    These packages dont have to be formal packages. They can be could be categories that would appeal to children or parents of children so they can be easily found for consideration.

    I also think there should be a wishlist for ebooks

    My hope would be that this type of product would produce a desire to purchase more as they get older.

  • Elliot Swaim
    Elliot Swaim Member Posts: 18 ✭✭

    DAL said:

    Unfortunately and sadly, most kids now days don’t really “get into the Bible,“ so from a business perspective adding to what we already have is better than creating a new product.  ...  Imagine a kid telling another kid, “ wow I typed a passage in the  “exegetical  guy” and he gave me a cool Greek meaning!!!”

    DAL

    Sadly, the vast majority of even Christian kids are like that; however, there are perhaps more than you realize who would be interested in looking up "cool Greek meanings!!!"  I'm involved in a competition called the National Bible Bee in which thousands of kids from ages seven to eighteen participate to memorize verses and study the Bible as well as Greek and Hebrew key words from their study.  Of those thousands, I'm sure the over three hundred who qualify from the Local to the National contest as well as many others who devoted themselves to the study but didn't make it to Nationals would be thrilled to have such Bible resources.

    Here are a list of resources that I think would be helpful and used specifically by the Bible Bee but also things that any young child would be able to enjoy and understand:

    Guides (I don't know how many of these are included or excluded from certain packages for a specific reason, but these are just my suggestions based on either what I have or I looked up to find that they would be helpful for kids)

    The Bible Word Study (BWS) for studying Greek and Hebrew words.  I personally love the layout, and I do think that younger children would be able to understand it

    The BWS will probably be enough, but the Exegetical Guide might also be helpful to some.  I don't think the layout is good for younger children, but maybe some of the older ones would like see how the Greek/Hebrew words fit together in the verses.

    I have never really used it much, but looking over it, Passage Guide looks like it could be useful too -- particularly the Cross References, Parallel Passages, Biblical People, Biblical Places, Biblical Things, Biblical Events, Topics, Interesting Words, and maybe Cultural Concepts.

    Maybe Topic Guide

    Documents (I don't know how many of these are included or excluded from certain packages for a specific reason, but these are just my suggestions based on either what I have or I looked up to find that they would be helpful for kids)

    Probably Clippings to help study certain topics and cross-references

    Notes

    Passage list to keep track of and study memory verses and cross references

    Again, I've never used Reading Plan, but others might to keep track of how much study they have to do each day

    Maybe but probably not the Sentence Diagram as seven-year-olds probably don't know how to diagram sentences (a few more years of misery are yet ahead of them in school)

    Visual Filters

    Maybe Word Find Puzzle

    Word List

    Tools (I don't know how many of these are included or excluded from certain packages for a specific reason, but these are just my suggestions based on either what I have or I looked up to find that they would be helpful for kids)

    Collections

    Courses -- It would be amazing if the Bible Bee could turn their Study Book into a course on Logos, 

    Some more obvious ones that I'm 99.99% sure are included with Logos no mater what package you get

    Definitely Atlas

    Timeline

    Maybe Factbook

    Probably Timeline

    Everything under the utilities section

    I guess Explorer

    Maybe Pronunciation

    Books

    Sometimes the BWS isn't enough of a definition for a Greek/Hebrew (G/H) words.  The ones that I just happen to have are A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament and Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon.  Maybe there are some better ones.  The other one that the study material for the BB (Bible Bee) recommends is Strong's Concordance. That should also be included

    The Bible obviously.  The versions allowed for the Bible Bee are KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, and NIV.  I think these versions should be included in the package as well as any other child-friendly versions.

    Several good commentaries.  What's great about the Faithlife Study Bible (which should be part of it) is that it's filled with pictures (which should also be part of it).  I don't know if there are any other commentaries like it that have diagrams and pictures or cartoons, but those would be nice too.  The problem with the Faithlife Study Bible is it isn't always as in-depth as I'd like it.  Sometimes there are things I want to learn about or verify with a commentary, but the FSB doesn't talk about it.  So in addition to child-friendly commentaries, there should also be at least one comprehensive but exhaustive commentary (i.e. if it uses either of those words, then it doesn't qualify)

    Exhaustive cross reference book(s) (They would be used for the BB to find cross-references)

  • Mattillo
    Mattillo Member Posts: 6,128 ✭✭✭✭

    As a father of four young children, two of whom use Logos on mobile devices occasionally, I've been thinking about products for children and families. We're exploring a few ideas and may start testing some in Q3.

    We're considering group licensing of certain products to a Faithlife family group, so everyone in your family would be able to access the licenses on their own individual accounts. Not all content would qualify for a multi-user license, but some would—and more would over time.

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    If you were going to invest in a version of Logos for your family, what price point would make sense for you?

    That would be great!  My wife and I share all of our Kindle books so this would be fantastic

  • Mark
    Mark Member Posts: 2,652 ✭✭✭

    Here are a list of resources that I think would be helpful and used specifically by the Bible Bee but also things that any young child would be able to enjoy and understand:

    Welcome to the forums, Elliot!

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    If Logos was to appeal to younger children, it would have to contain multimedia — animated videos of biblical stories, flythroughs of important biblical sites, etc. Something like illumina tried to do years ago, but obviously brought up to date. These videos are very dated now, but they'll give you the idea: 

    https://www.youtube.com/user/iLuminaBible/videos 

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

  • Liam Maguire
    Liam Maguire Member Posts: 617

    As a father of four young children, two of whom use Logos on mobile devices occasionally, I've been thinking about products for children and families. We're exploring a few ideas and may start testing some in Q3.

    We're considering group licensing of certain products to a Faithlife family group, so everyone in your family would be able to access the licenses on their own individual accounts. Not all content would qualify for a multi-user license, but some would—and more would over time.

    If you have other recommendations on what kinds of content you'd like to see in a package for kids or a package for families, please keep the suggestions coming.

    If you were going to invest in a version of Logos for your family, what price point would make sense for you?

    As a dad myself, and a local church family worker I'd be very interested in helping to test this should the opportunity arise.

    Carpe verbum.

  • Friedrich
    Friedrich MVP Posts: 4,772

    Really glad this thread has popped up and blossomed.  Much thanks to the OP, the many great suggestions from forum community, and to Phil G for stoking the flames!  I'd like to respond to some of the terrific suggestions, but, alas, will not get to it for a while, due to work (btw, I got the defunct Chaplain BP...)

    Let me suggest a new option/perspective.  My children are in a homeschool program called "Classical Conversations." Following a "classical" model of education, the children learn Latin, logic, writing, etc.  I have often thought Logos would be well suited to partner with this program and tailor resources such as Latin primers, classical works, Latin interlinears, etc. that children would be using weekly in their studies.  There is a sizable "CC" community.  CC produces a lot of their own learning material and apps, but nothing like a powerful Bible/language program.  Since we're brainstorming, tho, I wanted to throw that thought out.

    I like Apples.  Especially Honeycrisp.