Do your kids ever complain about going to school? Even kids who generally love school have those moments when it just seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. There’s a fun activity you can do with your kids which may not only help them understand the wisdom of doing their best, but also help them learn a little more what life was like for Jesus as a boy.

While you don’t have to have a lot of supplies, it can be more fun if you have chalk and a small chalkboard or a feather that can be used as an ink quill. I highly suggest using thinned black tempera paint rather than ink to minimize the possible disasters ink can create!
Start by asking your kids whether or not God cares if they go to school and if they do their best while there. Don’t correct their answers, but do have them explain their rationale for their answers. Then ask them if they know whether or not Jesus had to go to school and what they know about it.
Just like today, when Jesus was very young, he would have been taught at home. Although we don’t have anything in the Bible about those years, we know Jewish children were taught letters and numbers like children today, except in the languages they used.
Once Jesus was school aged, he would have attended school at the local synagogue with other boys. Sometimes girls attended these schools for a time, while others were “homeschooled”. The synagogue schools taught a variety of subjects, but their main textbook was what we call the Old Testament today. Before they were teens, most boys had memorized the Torah or the first five books of our Old Testament. The really interesting thing is that studies often began in the book of Leviticus – the book of the five most people find difficult because it is full of the laws the Jews had to obey.
In addition to reading, writing, scripture and law, they learned history (mainly from the Old Testament), science and math. The area where Jesus grew up was very concerned with knowing and obeying scripture, so the school Jesus attended probably really taught a lot about it.
Another interesting thing is that Jesus spoke at least two languages – Hebrew and Aramaic. Hebrew was important to the Jews, but in their dealings with those who weren’t Jewish they needed to know Aramaic – the common language at the time. That area would also have been exposed to Greek and Latin, but we don’t know how much of those languages Jesus knew.
If you want, you can also tell your kids about how the students sat around the synagogue in basically a circle. That the Torah and other books of the Bible they had at the time were still on giant scrolls. If you have the writing supplies, let them trying writing some letters and words in Hebrew, Aramaic and even Greek (you can find samples to copy online). Older kids may want to think about the types of scriptures teachers could have used to teach history, science and math to their students.
After your discussion, ask your kids whether or not they thought school was difficult when Jesus was a boy. If they forget, remind them of how much those kids had to memorize to do well in school. Do they think Jesus did his best in school? Why or why not? Although we don’t know a lot about his school years, we know what happened when he went to the Temple the first time at age twelve. Review the story found in Luke 2:41-52. What clues are there in the story about what Jesus had learned?
Read Colossians 3:23-24. How might these verses apply to what they do at school? How would they act differently if they Jesus would ask them how they lived out this verse every day at school? Why is it hard for them to do those things now? What can they do to remind themselves to live out these verses and make better choices at school. End with each child stating a goal for how they can work at school that will reflect the verses in Colossians.