SuperHolies VBS Program FAQs
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Do you send us printed material? The program we created is completely digital - so you will be free to immediately download it upon purchase and print as many copies as you need with one license.
Can I share the VBS material with other churches in my diocese? One purchase grants you the license for one parish. You cannot share the rights with another parish, but any servants within one parish may print, use, distribute, etc. as needed for their VBS program.
Is there a Teacher’s or Director’s Handbook? No – however, there is a general outline of the program and lesson plans for each day. The printing is minimal - teachers will have to complete some preparation of supplies for crafts, and some activity sheets that are provided throughout the week... but again - minimal printing is needed. In fact, it is completely appropriate for teachers, for example, to use an iPad and opt not to print their Lesson Plans at all.
So, what do we get with this package? The $199 gives you access to approximately 2-3 hours worth of materials per day, to include:
- Large Group Lessons (for all K-5th grade) – the children start and end the day all together. (1 hour in total per day – 30 minutes in the beginning of the day; 30 minutes at the end of the day).
- The pdf Illustrations – created by Philo & the SuperHolies' Illustrator).
- Daily Videos of Philo’s Super Challenge (about 3 minutes each).
- Small Group Lessons – there are two 30-minute sessions per day. Each Small Group Lesson plan is uniquely created for each age group and designed to help the kids solve Philo’s Super Challenge through a Bible Story and an Orthodox Saint story strategically picked to highlight one or two of the SuperHolies focused on for the day.
- Activities and crafts (and any activity sheets needed for those).
- Gym games and other "extras” – Each day will have an “extras” document with game ideas, video links, music links, and other resources you can use to expand the day depending on the needs of your program.
- Parent "Recap" card you can print for each family to take home so that each family knows what their child learned that day. The card has specific questions parents can ask their kids to find out what they learned that day.
Do we get marketing materials to advertise the program? Yes, you will have access to a bank of illustrations you can print for posters or marketing. They are put into pdfs in the correct order for you to use for the Large Group Sessions every day.
How is the material organized in the digital download? Is it difficult to understand? When you download the materials - they will be organized into folders: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, etc. Each folder contains everything you need to run the program for that day.
Have the lesson plans been approved by any Church Father? The lesson plans in Large Group and Small Group are written by Shereen Marcus from Bridges to Orthodoxy. You can read about her credentials in the "About Us" portion of the website. She has been writing materials for many, many years and has a Masters degree in Orthodox Theology with a Youth Ministry Emphasis from the University of Balamand.
How long is the VBS? We provided in total, approximately 2-3 hours of completed materials per day for 5 days of a VBS. Depending on what you "add on" to that - field trips, gym games, hymns, lunch time, snacks, etc. will depend on how long your daily VBS program will actually be. We envisioned at least a ½ day program (at least a 4-hour program) for 5 days in writing the materials, but it is adaptable to fit a wide-variety of needs.
Can we stretch the VBS to more than 5 days? How adaptable is the program? It is completely adaptable! For example - Because there are 2 Small Group Sessions and 2 Large Group sessions per day - you can even spread 1-day’s worth over the course of 2 days instead if you wanted to. It is up to you how you configure the day. Again, it will depend on what else you add to the materials we provide – field trips, gym games, water time, hymns, lunch/snacks, and so forth.
Take a look at the “outline for a day” and let us know if there are any additional questions we can answer about this amazing program!