I'm a little confused about teaching biblical worldview.

[4kids4me]

At a couple of homeschooling conferences I've been to over the past couple of years I've heard speakers say that children are falling away from Christ because they haven't been taught biblical worldview. They'd be better off it it were taught.

 

I have to say, I'm just a little confused about this. Don't we live it at home? If we are teaching our children from the bible, and subject are tackled from my belief system, why do I need to specifically teach biblical worldview? Why didn't I hear of this while I was in my teen or 20s? Why only now? Is it a fad, in your opinion?

 

I've looked at curriculum such as Summit Ministries, but it's quite cost prohibitive. If I should be tackling BWV as a separate subject, what resources are out there that are a reasonable price?

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 7, 2009 by 4kids4me

[Penelope]

I remember this from growing up. My parents gave me some Francis Schaeffer stuff to read, "How Should We Then Live" was one. I was attending public school but we talked about this sort of thing. I don't know about that specific curriculum, but I think it's a good idea in high school to talk about worldviews specifically, and how different people they encounter will be seeing things through different lenses. For me it did not keep me from falling away from the church as a young adult, in fact though I knew all the right answers and I did all the right things, my heart was not in it even before I left for college. So though I think the discussions are important, I am always, always skeptical of speakers who preach "you need to do xyz and then your kids will turn out in such-and-such a way", or blaming the lack of one particular "thing" for kids leaving the church.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Penelope

[Caroline4kids]

Well, I agree with you in that kids should get what they need from home, but I know my own faults and I don't know if I am always equipped to doing it in as thorough a manner as I would like.

 

For high school I am leaning towards Starting Points by David Quine and the books that follow. I like that it is open ended and not "textbooky". IEW also has writing lessons that go along with it. He takes modern movies and books and filters them through scripture.

 

So many times I completely miss the propaganda being spewed at us constantly and I think it would be good for me as well.

[nchser]

It sounds like you are already teaching from a Biblical worldview. If you are teaching from the Bible, and everything you teach points them to Christ, that is a Biblical worldview. As opposed to a secular worldview, which teaches the post-modern thinking, relative truth garbage

Sure there are fabulous resources out there - I heard John Stonestreet speak at our state convention. He is a powerful speaker and I'm sure the curriculum they offer is great. But I don't think he would say you have to go out and buy the materials in order to effectively teach it to your kids.

I think it is more of a lifestyle of teaching, not a curriculum. What you model to your kids, the discussions you have etc... is where they learn the most.

If you feel there is a need for more help in formal teaching of Biblical worldview there are lots of good books and materials available, without purchasing expensive curriculum.

[siloam]

I have to say, I'm just a little confused about this. Don't we live it at home? If we are teaching our children from the bible, and subject are tackled from my belief system, why do I need to specifically teach biblical worldview?

 

Not everyone does this, would be my guess. I am thinking about the mom who uses a canned Christian program (mostly workbook based) who doesn't really get around to discussing things.

 

In your case it sounds like you are already teaching worldview, just not in a formal program. These people are passionate about their thing, but we need to pray and make sure it really is what the Lord is calling us to as well.

 

Heather

 

[gardening momma]

Check out this article on biblical worldview by Barna Group: http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/21-transformation/252-barna-survey-examines-changes-in-worldview-among-christians-over-the-past-13-years

[G5052]

We've never used a formal Bible curriculum, but read through and discuss the Bible together each year and we enjoy a lot of discussion as a family. Of course that means that DH and I study on our own, but that's good for us. My children actually go to the adult Sunday School (long story) where there is a lot of discussion of the Biblical world view, and our church is very missions-oriented and culturally diverse.

 

And every time I've reviewed a Bible curriculum or something on world view, I've decided to pass. I just haven't seen the need to add anything more to what we already do.

 

I think that if you don't have a family study time and aren't prepared to explain things yourself, then yes, such a curriculum would be a good choice.

[4kids4me]

Well, I guess for now I'll continue what I'm doing until the Lord shows me differently! Thanks for the replies. :)

[dhudson]

I think teaching Logic is a great way to teach worldview. It allows you to discuss with your children the world's arguments and how to see that they are fallacies or different from the belief systems that you have at home. As a matter of fact my son today caught one and commented that there was a "Argumentum ad Naseum" and how that was a false belief. (Sadly, it was at church with church friends but at least he recognized it:glare:)

 

I think we need to be working hard at showing and teaching our kids what are false statements and how to refute them.

[titianmom]

Hi,

 

Recent Barna reports (I think that's the group's name) are saying something like 70% of people sitting in pews today do not have a Christian worldview. A lot of them don't even believe that the Bible is God's word.

 

So with those statistics, I would think teaching our children that we are more than Christian in name only is important. That God truly is Lord of this world, etc.

 

But it's more than teaching, as you say; you have to live it out in front of your kids. You have to love the unlovable, forgive, believe in the power of God to change lives and have your life radically changed by God, etc. Too many kids are hearing the Gospel but not seeing it demonstrated by those professing Christianity. They want reality, and they're NOT finding it in the Church. That's the problem.

 

Take care,

Kim

 

At a couple of homeschooling conferences I've been to over the past couple of years I've heard speakers say that children are falling away from Christ because they haven't been taught biblical worldview. They'd be better off it it were taught.

 

I have to say, I'm just a little confused about this. Don't we live it at home? If we are teaching our children from the bible, and subject are tackled from my belief system, why do I need to specifically teach biblical worldview? Why didn't I hear of this while I was in my teen or 20s? Why only now? Is it a fad, in your opinion?

 

I've looked at curriculum such as Summit Ministries, but it's quite cost prohibitive. If I should be tackling BWV as a separate subject, what resources are out there that are a reasonable price?

 

Thoughts?

[gardening momma]

But it's more than teaching, as you say; you have to live it out in front of your kids. You have to love the unlovable, forgive, believe in the power of God to change lives and have your life radically changed by God, etc.

It's that, but it's also talking to your kids about why you do what you do (God). And who made the earth (God). And why we should do this, or that. If it's generic--speaking, behaving, forgiving, loving the way we should, but not incorporating God [and Jesus, the Bible, Holy Spirit, etc...] into our conversation--then our children could come away from that with a humanitarian worldview rather than a biblical worldview.

 

A biblical worldview shapes how you think about things, talk about things, how you make your decisions.

[Tabrett]

Not everyone does this, would be my guess. I am thinking about the mom who uses a canned Christian program (mostly workbook based) who doesn't really get around to discussing things.

 

In your case it sounds like you are already teaching worldview, just not in a formal program. These people are passionate about their thing, but we need to pray and make sure it really is what the Lord is calling us to as well.

 

Heather

 

 

I'm not quite sure either. But the author of the book, How Should We Then Live,(the book Penelope spoke of) Francis Schaeffer's daughter wrote For the Children's Sake. A book about using Charlotte Mason's metheds. So I don't think Christian world view is using "canned" hs programs.

[Carol in Cal.]

I have seen David Quine's work, and it maybe goes a little further than I want to in the way that it interprets history.

 

I think that it's important to let kids know that we ourselves are aware of the questions and challenges to their faith that they will receive along the way in life, and that we have considered these carefully ourselves and reached our conclusions. I think that it's not uncommon for kids in college and young people in their 20s and 30s to have the impression that their parents are just incredibly naive, or narrowminded, or simply unexposed to these challenges, or just plain simple. And some of us are, and we should not be.

 

The conservative Christian world view is under direct, specific challenge from the culture in a way that is pretty unprecedented. We are in a post-Christian culture. Just look at the difference between how clergy are portrayed in modern movies vs. 40 years ago, or in how routine moral decisions are portray likewise. The sort of generically Judeo-Christian point of view that pervaded our culture up through about 1960 is pretty much gone.

 

In addition, many educational disciplines directly question or flat out contradict Christian/Biblical teachings--archeology, anthropology,history, biology, geology, physics, even secularized or liberal Christian texts do this. I recently read a textbook called "The Hebrew Bible" which was intended for use in an upper division Near Eastern Studies university course as well as for entry level students in a theological seminary. Even I was shocked, and I thought I had kept up pretty well. Basically this book, intended to be taught to prospective pastors, taught that the whole Old Testament is factually erroneous (but that that is not the point of these writings, doncha know). The book presented this view as fact, not open to contradiction, not a 'point of view' or an opinion. Just established fact. I pictured people coming into a seminary, planning to serve God their whole lives, and finding their classes incompatible with their beliefs. This has, of course, been happening for 150 years or so, but this particular example seemed particularly egregious to me as it is from the university I attended, and where I was taught very differently.

 

It is really hard to know where to draw the lines, then. I expose DD to some of this, so that she knows that I have considered it and why I don't consider it to be accurate. I made a very difficult decision last year to use secular science materials and teach my Christian POV on some questionable areas separately. In the short AND the long run, I think that these stances will arm her to be less shocked when she encounters these views in high school and college, and less vulnerable to them.

 

I teach and talk about Biblical principles of morality, and how they play out for people. We talk about moral decisions and I teach some absolutes, and we talk about hypothetical situations and history and literature in terms of those teachings.

 

I also am planning to use a Biblical curriculum next year that includes serious consideration of contemporary social issues from a conservative Christian POV. It's written for 8th graders. At the same time we will be studying epics explicitly and in more detail than in past years. I want to develop the vision of what a real hero is.

 

I think that I have not done the best job with this. So far, results are mixed. DD takes the initiative to be very charitable and compassionate. She has strong moral views. OTOH, she doesn't admire heros who do things on principle as much as I think she should. Last year she watched Antigone, and she thought that the whole thing was kind of dumb. She thought that Antigone was really annoying, and that she didn't need to sacrifice herself to bury her brother, as he was dead already, so what's the sense. She understood that this was the command of the gods, and I thought she would think that that would take priority over the king's command, but she had a more 'counting the cost' expedient POV than I was comfortable with. So I don't really know how she would come down on that issue.

 

I do respect her decision making process, and I give her opportunities to figure things out for herself as much as possible. I arm her with hymns, Bible knowledge (head and heart), and critical thinking skills. I want her to exercise all of this while she is more or less safe at home so that she will be prepared to deal with it elsewhere.

 

She is almost 13. I have no idea how this will all turn out, but that is what I'm doing. Feedback? Thoughts? Predictions from further ahead would be greatly appreciated!

[4kids4me]

Great idea about using logic to teach worldview...I can easily see how those go hand in hand!

[4kids4me]

Hi,

 

Recent Barna reports (I think that's the group's name) are saying something like 70% of people sitting in pews today do not have a Christian worldview. A lot of them don't even believe that the Bible is God's word.

 

So with those statistics, I would think teaching our children that we are more than Christian in name only is important. That God truly is Lord of this world, etc.

 

But it's more than teaching, as you say; you have to live it out in front of your kids. You have to love the unlovable, forgive, believe in the power of God to change lives and have your life radically changed by God, etc. Too many kids are hearing the Gospel but not seeing it demonstrated by those professing Christianity. They want reality, and they're NOT finding it in the Church. That's the problem.

 

Take care,

Kim

 

It makes one wonder why we "do" church in a way. What's going on? Is it the dumbing down of the gospel? Is it not living it at home? Do children "fall away" when they get older because they're figuring out the gospel for themselves -- making it their own instead of their parents'?

 

Just thinking out loud really! :)

[4kids4me]

Carol,

 

Great thought-provoking post. I'm wondering which science program you chose to use as well as which bible program you'll be using next year.

 

Will your dd be going to public high school in grade nine? I was unclear from your post. Also, is your dd in church youth group, and how does she find that?

 

My dd is finishing grade six this year so now that she's coming into middle school, combined with her not wanting to do Awana next year, I'm thinking of options for a) her own bible study (alone and with me) and b) something social, like junior high youth. I'm not convinced of my b option, though!

 

Caralyn :)

[Caroline4kids]

The conservative Christian world view is under direct, specific challenge from the culture in a way that is pretty unprecedented. We are in a post-Christian culture. Just look at the difference between how clergy are portrayed in modern movies vs. 40 years ago, or in how routine moral decisions are portray likewise. The sort of generically Judeo-Christian point of view that pervaded our culture up through about 1960 is pretty much gone.

 

In addition, many educational disciplines directly question or flat out contradict Christian/Biblical teachings--archeology, anthropology,history, biology, geology, physics, even secularized or liberal Christian texts do this. I recently read a textbook called "The Hebrew Bible" which was intended for use in an upper division Near Eastern Studies university course as well as for entry level students in a theological seminary. Even I was shocked, and I thought I had kept up pretty well. Basically this book, intended to be taught to prospective pastors, taught that the whole Old Testament is factually erroneous (but that that is not the point of these writings, doncha know). The book presented this view as fact, not open to contradiction, not a 'point of view' or an opinion. Just established fact. I pictured people coming into a seminary, planning to serve God their whole lives, and finding their classes incompatible with their beliefs. This has, of course, been happening for 150 years or so, but this particular example seemed particularly egregious to me as it is from the university I attended, and where I was taught very differently.

 

 

I also am planning to use a Biblical curriculum next year that includes serious consideration of contemporary social issues from a conservative Christian POV. It's written for 8th graders. At the same time we will be studying epics explicitly and in more detail than in past years. I want to develop the vision of what a real hero is.

 

 

 

What Biblical curriculum are you going to use? I agree with all you are saying here and yet I am not sure what direction to take. Quine's work is the only comprehensive high school curriculum I have seen that takes the approach I want, but I am not clear on his history perspective. I know he likes Schaeffer (spelling?).

[Retired]

The following chart will give you a idea of the different worldviews.

 

Their are many Christians that have attended secular colleges and public school. They don't even realize that their belief follow more of secular teaching than that of a biblical teaching.

 

http://www.summit.org/resources/worldview_chart/

 

I thought I had a biblical worldview until I took this "peer test"

 

http://www.nehemiahinstitute.com/peers.php

[petepie2]

FYI about the worldview curriculum from Summit Ministries. Apologia has taken their elementary (K-6) worldview curriculum and revamped it, supposedly making it more homeschool friendly. There's an article about it in the 2009 Apologia catalog. It's supposed to be released this fall.

[4kids4me]

FYI about the worldview curriculum from Summit Ministries. Apologia has taken their elementary (K-6) worldview curriculum and revamped it, supposedly making it more homeschool friendly. There's an article about it in the 2009 Apologia catalog. It's supposed to be released this fall.

 

Great...I'll have to take a look at that perhaps! :)

[Sarah CB]

I definitely think the most important aspect of worldview training is living out your faith as a family - talking about it, teaching about it, praying together, etc. However, I also think it's really important to understand what the competing worldviews are and how they can influence us. I also think it's really important to learn about how the competing worldviews have shaped history, influenced laws, and impacted music and media. We're surrounded by competing worldviews and it's important for us to recognize them for what they are.

 

Dh and I watched The Cider House Rules the other night and afterwards we talked about the strong worldview in the movie. Movies can provoke emotion and that one was designed so that we would view the abortion doctor as a hero. A friend of mine was telling me about how her daughter watched one of the Canada A People's History DVDs. This one was about the 60's and 70's and was about how abortion and birth control were both illegal and women had to fight for their rights to access. Her dd's comment afterwards was something like, "As a young woman I'd be very upset not to have the right to an abortion." But, her comment made perfect sense because that was the slant the DVD took - there was a strong worldview there and it influenced her thinking.

 

I don't think that teaching worldview is the cure-all. But I think it will help equip our young people to intellectually process competing worldviews and be able to make sense of the world from a Christian perspective. I think that learning about other worldviews and how pervasive they are and how easily they can influence us will provide our kids with more tools to navigate this culture Biblically and be able to make an impact on it, rather than having it make an impact on them.

[SonshineLearner]

We had our daughter attend the Summit Ministries in Colorado last summer. We can't do it every year, but we plan on doing it with each child at least once. It was wonderful. She fit in, played cards, listened to lectures, came back knowing the material, and got some recreation in, too. She was also able, in one spot, to hear many adult speakers that most of us would love to hear. If she was our only child, we'd probably send her every year. I consider it more than worth the monetary cost! It was better than "summer camps" by far, and works out...per day...to less expensive than the camp most Christians attend, around here.

That said, my dad speaks at Summit for a session or two each year. BUT, we paid for ours to go...:-)

Carrie:-)

[SonshineLearner]

What Biblical curriculum are you going to use? I agree with all you are saying here and yet I am not sure what direction to take. Quine's work is the only comprehensive high school curriculum I have seen that takes the approach I want, but I am not clear on his history perspective. I know he likes Schaeffer (spelling?).

 

When my brother was younger, he was able to have David Quine as a Math teacher in a homeschool group. :-) SO, I've been attracted to his math program, and I'm also interested in his highschool material. I started a thread on here about it, but I never got a great feel for it.

 

We're doing Classical Conversations, but if we don't have Challenge, I need to choose between something like Quine's or Omnibus.....These are what I'd really like to see at homeschool conferences!!! I'd like to really experience what all of the highschool curriculums like these are really like...and how the are to be taught! (And even the Hewitt stuff!)

 

Carrie:-)

[4kids4me]

We had our daughter attend the Summit Ministries in Colorado last summer. We can't do it every year, but we plan on doing it with each child at least once. It was wonderful. She fit in, played cards, listened to lectures, came back knowing the material, and got some recreation in, too. She was also able, in one spot, to hear many adult speakers that most of us would love to hear. If she was our only child, we'd probably send her every year. I consider it more than worth the monetary cost! It was better than "summer camps" by far, and works out...per day...to less expensive than the camp most Christians attend, around here.

That said, my dad speaks at Summit for a session or two each year. BUT, we paid for ours to go...:-)

Carrie:-)

 

How amazing that she experience that! How old was she?

[4kids4me]

I definitely think the most important aspect of worldview training is living out your faith as a family - talking about it, teaching about it, praying together, etc. However, I also think it's really important to understand what the competing worldviews are and how they can influence us. I also think it's really important to learn about how the competing worldviews have shaped history, influenced laws, and impacted music and media. We're surrounded by competing worldviews and it's important for us to recognize them for what they are.

 

Dh and I watched The Cider House Rules the other night and afterwards we talked about the strong worldview in the movie. Movies can provoke emotion and that one was designed so that we would view the abortion doctor as a hero. A friend of mine was telling me about how her daughter watched one of the Canada A People's History DVDs. This one was about the 60's and 70's and was about how abortion and birth control were both illegal and women had to fight for their rights to access. Her dd's comment afterwards was something like, "As a young woman I'd be very upset not to have the right to an abortion." But, her comment made perfect sense because that was the slant the DVD took - there was a strong worldview there and it influenced her thinking.

 

I don't think that teaching worldview is the cure-all. But I think it will help equip our young people to intellectually process competing worldviews and be able to make sense of the world from a Christian perspective. I think that learning about other worldviews and how pervasive they are and how easily they can influence us will provide our kids with more tools to navigate this culture Biblically and be able to make an impact on it, rather than having it make an impact on them.

 

Sarah,

 

Do you use a particular curriculum, then?

[Sarah CB]

Sarah,

 

Do you use a particular curriculum, then?

 

We did Lightbearer's from Summit this year with my dd (12 when she started it) and her friend. It was, by far, the most valuable thing we did all year. It was well worth the cost and well worth the time and effort it required.

 

I can't believe how much I learned.

[4kids4me]

We did Lightbearer's from Summit this year with my dd (12 when she started it) and her friend. It was, by far, the most valuable thing we did all year. It was well worth the cost and well worth the time and effort it required.

 

I can't believe how much I learned.

 

Well I think you should just move to Ontario so you could re-do the course with my dd!!!! ;)

 

Thanks for the info.

[SoCal Sandra]

Nancy (who is my relative by marriage) left her Christian upbringing for the drug culture then rediscovered her faith when she studied under Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri. Although her book addresses other issues, it discusses Christian worldview and provides a "grid" or approach by which to analyze all philosophies to see if, and to what extent, they square with the Bible.

 

Basically, instead of accepting appealing ideas without question, a Christian should analyze their underlying precepts. How do those precepts match up to what the Bible says? For example, when evaluating a philosophy based on the precept that mankind is basically good, you would compare that precept to what the Bible says about sin and the fallen nature of man.

 

Of course, since most philosophies aren't encountered with an introduction, but through everyday interactions, through literature, songs, movies, etc your job as a parent would be to help your child get in the habit of critically examining all that come his/her way.

 

In her book, Nancy uses an analogy that I seem to recall was employed by Francis Schaeffer--the image of a two story house. Many Christians live their lives with their faith on the second floor and all other aspects of their lives on the first floor. They compartmentalize their lives, and in doing so prevent their faith from affecting their actions in every arena of life. Some even do very un-Christian things while calling themselves Christians, without even recognizing the contradiction. Their actions don't seem hypocritical to them because their personal faith and their public life are two independent realms, different stories of the house.

 

The book covers other things and is long, so I would recommend checking it out from the library. I believe that both the grid and the analogy of the two story house are discussed near the beginning of the book. HTH.

[petepie2]

I definitely think the most important aspect of worldview training is living out your faith as a family - talking about it, teaching about it, praying together, etc. However, I also think it's really important to understand what the competing worldviews are and how they can influence us. I also think it's really important to learn about how the competing worldviews have shaped history, influenced laws, and impacted music and media. We're surrounded by competing worldviews and it's important for us to recognize them for what they are.

 

 

 

I agree with this. Last year I read the book Understanding the Times that Summit Ministries puts out. It was very eye-opening to all of the above! I hope when my kids are high-school age we will be able to send them to a Summit camp.

[siloam]

I'm not quite sure either. But the author of the book, How Should We Then Live,(the book Penelope spoke of) Francis Schaeffer's daughter wrote For the Children's Sake. A book about using Charlotte Mason's metheds. So I don't think Christian world view is using "canned" hs programs.

 

I don't think it is about what program you use, but the attitude of the parent. The attitude that says I bought the Christian program, so now I can check of the box of teaching Christian worldview. In reality they aren't taking about any issues with the kids, not praying with them, not being real with them and just expecting the child to read the text and get it. It really can happen with someone who buys the big expensive worldview program and then sits it in front of the child expecting them to do it on their own and learn all there is to learn. These kids really need to talk through things, see us struggle with the difficult questions, and watch how we apply them to our lives.

 

Does that make sense?

 

Heather

 

[4kids4me]

We can't get it at the library, so I'll put it on my wishlist for the future. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Carol in Cal.]

Carol,

 

Great thought-provoking post. I'm wondering which science program you chose to use as well as which bible program you'll be using next year.

 

Will your dd be going to public high school in grade nine? I was unclear from your post. Also, is your dd in church youth group, and how does she find that?

 

My dd is finishing grade six this year so now that she's coming into middle school, combined with her not wanting to do Awana next year, I'm thinking of options for a) her own bible study (alone and with me) and b) something social, like junior high youth. I'm not convinced of my b option, though!

 

Caralyn :)

 

We are using Science Explorer for our main science spine, as well as a nature awareness class one full day per week and intending to use Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Level II just because it's so good we HAVE TO do it. The way I'm handling evolution and old earth stuff is mostly by talking about it. Our pastor also recommended a book on it that is college level, and DD tried to work through it and we discussed it a lot.

 

Next year we will be using Concordia Voyages for Bible--one semester of New Testament studies, and one semester of Social Issues from a Biblical POV. She will also attend Confirmation classes (we are Lutheran) with the pastor weekly, and confirmation Sunday school weekly with congregational elders teaching this. So quite a bit of meat there.

 

We don't have a junior high youth group. I have taken DD on two junior high retreats that draw in kids from other churches, and will probably do that next year as well. Those have been great for her, but she is much less sheltered because of them at this point. I'm glad to have her get 'unsheltered' with me right there, and also to see people in very difficult situations taking God seriously in figuring out what to do.

 

She will attend a brick and mortar school for high school. It will probably be a charter public school (Edison school, maybe) or a Catholic girls' school that I like locally. I am very unhappy with our standard public school options. I don't have a closed plan for Bible during high school, but expect to need to supplement/after school that subject to a large extent.

 

We do have a high school youth group at our church. I am kind of leery of it, and don't know whether I will allow DD to participate. The leader is just fantastic, but the program and the relationships among the kids have not impressed me that much. Still, I need to look at it more closely before deciding.

[4kids4me]

We did Lightbearer's from Summit this year with my dd (12 when she started it) and her friend. It was, by far, the most valuable thing we did all year. It was well worth the cost and well worth the time and effort it required.

 

I can't believe how much I learned.

 

I was just looking at the curriculum again and it seems really intensive. How many days/week did you do this, and how long did it take each day? What was your planning like for it? Can you give me an idea of how much prep time there was? Thanks!

[Sarah CB]

I was just looking at the curriculum again and it seems really intensive. How many days/week did you do this, and how long did it take each day? What was your planning like for it? Can you give me an idea of how much prep time there was? Thanks!

 

It is pretty time intensive. I really waffled about starting it this year, but then my friend really wanted to do it as well so I ended up agreeing to it - and I'm really glad I did. We initially planned to take two weeks for each unit (there are 10 units) and to meet twice a week for an hour each time. We were easily able to break up the videos and discussions into these times and by about halfway through we were getting so good at it that we were able to do each unit with three "classes" instead of four. So, in addition to the one or two hours per week of classes the girls probably spent a couple of hours per week doing homework.

 

I know it seems daunting, but it truly was the most valuable thing we did all year. I would drop anything else just to make room for this. We had some amazing discussions and I felt like Lightbearer's really helped me equip dd for the culture we live in and that her eyes are open now.

 

What's really neat is that the influence of Lightbearer's and the book Do Hard Things (which was not part of LB) caused dd to initially start a book club for discussing Christian worldview in literature and then that morphed into a huge missions project. Dd and her three friends have now started a missions project and have partnered with a missionary organization in Sudan. Their goal is to raise $15,000 this year to provide help for Sudanese orphans. So far they've raised nearly $1000. They meet once a week for an hour and it's just awesome to see these teens working hard to glorify God and bless others. Let's just say this is radically different than how I spent my time when I was 13.

[4kids4me]

Thanks for the response. DD will be in grade seven in Sept -- 12 years old. Should it wait until grade eight, or can a 12 yo handle it? Also, what would the discussions be like if there were no friends doing the class as well? There are no Christian friends that live nearby. Would she be missing something?