I read through the Vos Bible Story book with my dd so she could get a good foundation and understand the overall story. But then from there we are KJV all the way. If we need to slow down we do.
I appreciate all the responses and I understand the reasoning for staying with KJV and I never thought I would consider using anything else. The reason I am wanting to use something else is because of the same reasons Christie expressed… I want it to reach his heart and I just don’t feel like that is happening now. We don’t have any kind of children’s church and I haven’t read the bible to him all through the years( I know, shame on me) so he is just beginning to learn. He was excited about learning about the bible and I am afraid he is disappointed because he is retaining very little. I want it to be interested and enjoy it.
We don’t read a lot directly from the Bible to our kids yet (ages 4 and 1) but our family mainly uses the ESV so I think that is what we will use with them. Many families also use the NASB. I grew up with the 1984 NIV (different than what is sold on the shelves now) and I really like the Psalms in that. Not sure if it is just what I have them memorized in, or if it really is translated in a more poetic way.
If you are using the KJV as your main Bible, the NKJV is the most similar. If you are looking for the best support for the KJV, then I’d suggest the one that is the most similar.
I always say the very best translation is the one you’re going to read! Find the one that engages you the most. We’ve got them all in our house, as we like to compare, but we each have a personal favourite that’s our standard.