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I wish I could change the the title to this thread to: Are Worldview courses even needed? I am getting more and more confused about Worldview curriculum for my 15 yo dd.

 

Okay, there is one that I own, Thinking Like a Christian (mostly about how to do just what it says with not much on other views), Lightbearers (has much more info on how other worldviews other than Christianity see the 10 disciplines), and Understanding the Times which is the most detailed of all 3. These are from Summit Ministries.

 

There is also Starting Points and the follow up courses for that. And there's Teaching the Classics Worldview supplement for literature AND Windows to the World with a Worldview 'emphasis'.

 

Then to top it all off, I get Memoria Press's summer newsletter in the mail with an article on how Worldview shouldn't even be a class at all. I can't find the flyer right now or I would elaborate more. Anyone else see this?

 

Ugh, I can't think straight on this anymore! Help! :001_huh:

Edited by LatinTea
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Margo,

Thanks for posting this article. I really struggled with which curriculum I was going to go with. Ds will be in 8th grade (but is doing mostly high school level work). I really wanted to put together a program that would allow us to start with ancients again in 9th grade, but would prepare him to look at these works with a more discerning eye. I think perhaps Martin Cothran's point is that there IS worldview in all literature, so you really can't separate it from your other courses.

This summer I am having ds read White Fang and Call of the Wild, and we are going through Logos school's Naturalism litertaure guide for these two books (it is wonderful in pulling out Jack London's worlview). I also purchased a small book by Logos school called Reading with Purpose. It covers the major philosophical movements in the US from the founding until post modernism, and how it affected the authors of that time (in general of course :)).

This fall we will be going through Starting Points and Windows to the World (WTTW does not have a great deal of worldview in it). I think you must be able to identify an author's worldview in order to get a greater understanding of the work. We have already picked out some subtleties I am sure we would have missed had it not been for the Logos guide. I am sure it gets easier, but at the beginning I need some hand holding.

So to some it up, worldview affects all that an author writes, so to try to separate it out of a work is impossible. You must understand an author's worldview in order to understand their work. Just my thoughts :)

I too would be interested in what others have to say!!

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Can you tell me how the Logos Worldview guide compares to Progeny Press guides? I am trying to prepare my son for Starting Points next year and am working on more critical/analytical thinking and writing skills. I was thinking that doing some literature guides would help in the preparation. Suggestions?

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We did not enjoy it. The immediate problem is that there are NO teacher helps... nothing. I read and worked through the course right along side him hoping I was "getting it." It took a tremendous amount of time to answer all the questions.

 

The next problem was that it is so repetitive. The assignment was to read some Bible verses, then answer the questions about the view of God, view of Man, view of sin, etc... Then they would read something else and answer those same questions again. This went on and on. My kid was getting really tired of writing out his worldview.

 

But I later decided that the real problem was the completely dated arguments that were used. The "Know What You Believe" and "Know Why You Believe" books used arguments from the 1970's. While I am in agreement with most of the doctrinal ideas, I think it was actually a disservice to my child to prepare him with completely outdated arguments; he will look like a fool the first time he uses those ideas on a worldy college professor!

 

I have dropped the idea of a worldview curriculum, but you cannot teach literature in a worldview vacuum. I am using some of the Starting Points books with my younger children, we're just not working through the whole program. I really like Jeff Baldwin's Deadliest Monster along with Frankenstein and Jekyll & Hyde. I'm sure you could read through the Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe (the fist book used in SP) to lay the foundation with your child. Looking for the author's worldview is covered in How to Read Slowly and other literature guides. I think if you just discuss the fact that every author has a purpose in writing and try to discover that purpose as you read through literature, you are covering worldview.

 

Honestly, what curriculum writer is the final authority on the "correct" worldview? If you believe that the Bible is the proper authority, then you just discuss how literature agrees or conflicts with that standard. Once you start looking at everything (books, movies, news articles, etc...) from that perspective, you won't be able to avoid seeing the worldview. It isn't some mystical, dark secret that only the initiated can see. You can do this!

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