I haven’t talked much about religion on my blog. I believe that faith is, to each of us, a very personal thing – no one, other then ourselves and our creator, really know what goes on down in the deepest parts of our being.
We see it all the time: the news is full of those who have been in a position of trust based on the impressions they have given – through word, through deed – but somewhere, deep down in their heart of hearts, it really wasn’t the truth.
That place, the core of who we really are, that’s where we want to reach our kids. Instill firmly into their character the core values and beliefs that we desire them to have. As infants, toddlers, preschoolers – they take in knowledge from their daily interactions with those around them. They see our choices, as parents, and always, what they see and imitate is more important then what we say.
Most of the early formation of character is intuitive, internal, possibly even unintentional. But as our children grow, we, as parents, may choose to deliberately teach certain aspects of our beliefs that may not be so automatic. As homeschoolers, we’ve already chosen a life outside the mainstream – it’s very likely that we have values we desire to pass onto our children.
Many parents these days take the easy way out – allowing society as a whole to impart its values – or lack thereof – on their children. Behavior, morals, attitudes – so long as it’s within the acceptable social norm, those parents figure it’s good enough.
As homeschoolers, many of us think we’ve missed that wrong turn, so we have nothing else to worry about.
WRONG.
There’s another simple little trap to fall into, and it’s oddly much the same thing. We take our children to church, allow others to teach them what to believe, and maybe add in some agreement here and there. But we don’t always take time to discuss it with them, give a reason to see that we actually believe it ourselves.
And there are always the excuses. “They learn all that stuff at church.” “They don’t need to hear it all from me, it’s good enough that I’ve told them that it’s important.” “I don’t know how to teach religion.” “I wouldn’t know what to say.”
My kids and I discuss our beliefs – and those of others – but we generally do so in a very casual, not very organized way. Sometimes, a topic will come up, and it surprises me, because I’ll realize that I’ve never really discussed that particular idea with my kids.
That’s where something like Apologia’s What We Believe series comes in.
What We Believe is a “worldview curriculum” – think of it as a personal tour guide, ready to lead your family through a discussion of your beliefs, and the manner in which those beliefs determine your actions and filter the world.
We’ve been exploring Volume 1, Who Is God?, and I’ll admit, pesky eclectic homeschoolers that we are, we are NOT using the book in the recommended manner. Who Is God is a beautiful 250+ page hardbound book, and I’ll admit, I was very pleasantly surprised when it arrived. It’s the sturdiest, most solidly bound book I’ve seen in quite a while. With normal wear and tear, it’ll be still be around, usable, for several generations.
There are ten “lessons” in the book, though I think that “lesson” in this case is more analogous to what would be called a “unit” in most other curricula. Each lesson is designed to be spread over multiple days: an included schedule spreads it over 2 weeks, 3 days per week. It also counsels that this is just a suggestion – the material is intended to be used by each student at his or her own pace.
Notebooking is the recommended tool for students to keep track of their progress and note their ideas; a link is included with notebook pages that may be printed for use if desired, along with other resources that the parent may find useful – such as answers. Most of the questions are open-ended: the authors note that this tends to facilitate a better understanding then the fill-in-the-blank style.
This is where we diverged from the recommendations. Adding in more writing, and less communication between family members, just didn’t seem like a good idea for us. We tend to gravitate toward open discussion when it comes to something like this – the kids have been in an interfaith “values” class for several years now, and it’s just more natural for us to discuss, rather then separate and write.
Granted, we don’t have the written record of what we discuss. That’s the one negative. I considered recording our conversations, but then I thought about it: would we really refer back to them, or would they just sit there, unused?
Who Is God is a perfect backbone for discussion amongst family members, whether you take turns reading aloud, as we have done, or each work individually.
If you’re considering using it for discussion, as we did, there’s little or no prep needed. My personal preference is to read through a section before actual use with the kids – I just like to know what to expect, and have time to consider additional points that I would want to include. For a parent that’s ok with doing it totally on the fly, it can certainly be done. For a parent that requires more specific guidelines and wants to keep the conversation on track, download the notebooking pages and use them – they’re easily printable in black and white, and don’t require much of a time commitment to print. I’d recommend, thoguh, before you print out enough for all the lessons – try out just the first one. You may find, like I did, that the notebook pages aren’t really your style.
There are sample lessons and tables of contents available for the first two books in the series – take a look. These are titles that are well worth having on the bookshelf, even if you’re not going to use them for lessons right away. Two of my kids have actually surprised me and read quite farther ahead in the book then we were, and are processing some of the ideas on their own, and asking questions as they go along.
What We Believe, vol 1: Who Is God? may be purchased from Apologia for $39.00. Volume 2, Who Am I? is currently available at the same price. Volume 3, Who Is My Brother? will be out later in 2011. Volume 4, What On Earth Can I Do? is planned for a 2012 release.
To see what other crew members had to say about this product, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog post, Apologia – Who Is God.
**I received this product for free as a member of the 2010-11 The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew so that I could provide you with an honest review of it by our family.**
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