Review the coming year's readings on the Saturday before Advent. Use fifteen minutes to check each child's readiness, update the dates and story list, and prepare the supplies. Keep the same seasonal chapter sequence.
Set a fifteen-minute timer. Have the current plan and the Tending Log ready. Work through the five steps below.
Review which readings you completed, which your children requested again, and which activities needed changes. Note where the plan did not fit your family.
Has your child grown into a new band since last year? Review the observations below for each child. Does next year's plan actually reflect that? Decide whether to add readings, keep the current level, or adjust an activity. Siblings can use different bands.
Keep the chapter sequence. Update the dates using the calendar below. Add stories if your child is ready, or keep the current list. Replace activities they have outgrown and retain useful ones.
yearone-data.py and build_yearone.py for Year Two. Change the copied builder's data-file input and output filename. Update its fixed year labels, dates, metadata, and links as well as the weekly entries. Run the copied builder and inspect every season's dates before publishing.Inspect the supplies for damage and check what the next band requires. Band 02 uses story figures. Band 03 adds a simplified Bible translation. Band 04 adds a reading log and catechism. Make a list of what you need before Advent.
Record your child's favorite story, a line they used without prompting and where you heard it, and one change for next year. Use these notes at the next annual review.
The Tending Log. Record the year, age, band, favorite story, first unprompted line, and planned changes. Keep the sheet at the front of the book.
Print the log →Use the age ranges as planning guides. Notice how your child responds across several weeks, then try an activity from the next band. The observations below are examples, not a test or a required count. Children can respond through speech, movement, signs, or other communication. Keep useful activities from the current band while adding new ones.
Use The Jesus Storybook Bible as the main read-aloud. Try three to five stories per chapter and offer felt or wooden figures for retelling. Ask what your child wonders about the story. Keep the candle, prayer, and refrains.
Read short passages from a simplified translation such as NIrV or ICB alongside the storybook. Follow the same chapters and use Machowski's Long Story Short as the family devotional. Invite your child to read the refrain while you read the passage.
Use a one-year chronological plan in your child's Bible. Add one question from The New City Catechism for Kids each week. Read difficult passages in context and discuss them, using Tennison's teaching as a reference. Let your child keep a reading log.
Help your teenager plan a year of reading the full Bible, including the letters and wisdom books. Discuss genre, historical context, questions about faith, and work and calling. Let them manage the plan, with regular opportunities to talk together.
This calendar uses Western Gregorian dates. Easter follows the church's calculated full-moon calendar, with March 21 as its fixed spring reference. Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, Ascension, and Pentecost are calculated from Easter. Advent 1 is the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Tending Day is the preceding Saturday.
Scroll across for the full year →
| Year | The year begins (Advent 1, prior year) | Epiphany | Ash Wed | Palm Sun | Easter | Ascension | Pentecost | Advent 1 | Tending Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Nov 30, 2025 | Jan 6 | Feb 18 | Mar 29 | Apr 5 | May 14 | May 24 | Nov 29 | Nov 28 |
| 2027 | Nov 29, 2026 | Jan 6 | Feb 10 | Mar 21 | Mar 28 | May 6 | May 16 | Nov 28 | Nov 27 |
| 2028 | Nov 28, 2027 | Jan 6 | Mar 1 | Apr 9 | Apr 16 | May 25 | Jun 4 | Dec 3 | Dec 2 |
| 2029 | Dec 3, 2028 | Jan 6 | Feb 14 | Mar 25 | Apr 1 | May 10 | May 20 | Dec 2 | Dec 1 |
| 2030 | Dec 2, 2029 | Jan 6 | Mar 6 | Apr 14 | Apr 21 | May 30 | Jun 9 | Dec 1 | Nov 30 |
| 2031 | Dec 1, 2030 | Jan 6 | Feb 26 | Apr 6 | Apr 13 | May 22 | Jun 1 | Nov 30 | Nov 29 |
| 2032 | Nov 30, 2031 | Jan 6 | Feb 11 | Mar 21 | Mar 28 | May 6 | May 16 | Nov 28 | Nov 27 |
| 2033 | Nov 28, 2032 | Jan 6 | Mar 2 | Apr 10 | Apr 17 | May 26 | Jun 5 | Nov 27 | Nov 26 |
| 2034 | Nov 27, 2033 | Jan 6 | Feb 22 | Apr 2 | Apr 9 | May 18 | May 28 | Dec 3 | Dec 2 |
| 2035 | Dec 3, 2034 | Jan 6 | Feb 7 | Mar 18 | Mar 25 | May 3 | May 13 | Dec 2 | Dec 1 |
| 2036 | Dec 2, 2035 | Jan 6 | Feb 27 | Apr 6 | Apr 13 | May 22 | Jun 1 | Nov 30 | Nov 29 |
| 2037 | Nov 30, 2036 | Jan 6 | Feb 18 | Mar 29 | Apr 5 | May 14 | May 24 | Nov 29 | Nov 28 |
| 2038 | Nov 29, 2037 | Jan 6 | Mar 10 | Apr 18 | Apr 25 | Jun 3 | Jun 13 | Nov 28 | Nov 27 |
| 2039 | Nov 28, 2038 | Jan 6 | Feb 23 | Apr 3 | Apr 10 | May 19 | May 29 | Nov 27 | Nov 26 |
| 2040 | Nov 27, 2039 | Jan 6 | Feb 15 | Mar 25 | Apr 1 | May 10 | May 20 | Dec 2 | Dec 1 |
The highlighted row is the year of this edition's Tending Day. In this table, Easter falls as early as Mar 25 in 2035 and as late as Apr 25 in 2038. Its date changes the number of weeks available before Lent and after Pentecost.
The fourteen-year outline below shows one possible sequence for a child starting around age two. Use the band that fits your child. Only Year One has a complete weekly plan. Write each following year's plan during the annual review.
Write the weekly Year Two plan on Nov 27, 2027, using your child's current needs. The outline below supplies dates for 2027 to 28 and possible additions for Band 02. This curriculum year has fifty-three weeks, including eight weeks before Lent. If your child needs the current readings, repeat them with the new dates.
Creation, the promise, Abraham's stars, the angel's visit, and the journey. Light one candle each Sunday and add one figure each week.
Keep the four Sundays, candle ritual, and refrain: "We are waiting for Jesus." Add two or three stories each week from The Jesus Storybook Bible, choosing from Creation, the Fall, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and the prophets.
Read the nativity pages each night for twelve nights.
Invite your child to move the figures and retell the nativity. Read the shepherds' and wise men's accounts on separate nights.
Moses in the basket, the crossing of the sea, and David.
Read about Moses in the basket, the burning bush, the plagues, the sea, manna, and the commandments. Then read Joshua and Jericho, David and the giant, and Elijah. Use felt figures for retelling.
Five stories of Jesus helping people and the stone-path activity.
Read Jesus' baptism, the wilderness, the calling of the disciples, five miracles, and the parables of the sower, prodigal son, and good Samaritan. Repeat the stone path and let your child place the stickers.
Use the Holy Week strip and keep the Easter sun covered.
Invite your child to retell each panel on the strip. Wash feet at Thursday dinner. Read briefly about Jesus' death and allow time for questions.
The empty tomb, Mary in the garden, the beach breakfast, and the ascension.
Add the road to Emmaus and Thomas. Invite your child to lead the breakfast call-and-response. Plant a small garden.
Read about the wind and fire. Use the red cloth and pinwheel.
Keep the reading and objects. Ask, "I wonder what it felt like to be there," and allow time for a response.
Read Jonah, Daniel, Joseph, the lost sheep, the storm, Paul, Psalms, and All Things New in three-week blocks.
Use two-week blocks to include more stories. Add Ruth, Samuel, Esther, Elijah, Nehemiah, more parables, Peter and Cornelius, Philip, and Timothy. End with selected readings from Revelation.
Plan one year at a time. Write the coming year's weekly readings during the annual review. Keep later years as outlines until you know what your child needs.