Pre-history theories -- what to include in the early years?

[4KookieKids]

So I know there are lots of different theories relating to the beginning of the world and pre-history (big bang, evolution, intelligent design, young earth, etc.) *Without* getting into an argument about which ones are correct, please, how do you address a book with a young child (K through 2nd or 3rd maybe) that assumes a position you don't take, while still taking away the majority of the book content?

 

Ex: Say a child wants to read about dinosaurs and you're a young earth person -- how do you read books about it? Or say you do believe in the old earth, but don't believe that everything (including humans) developed from a puddle of primordial ooze, how do you approach books that assume this sort of evolutionary stance? Or, if you do believe in evolution, and your child picks out a book that assumes creationism, what do you do?

 

I feel like a kid at this age doesn't want to hear a bunch of different theories and technicalities and corrections; they just want to learn and absorb everything. And my kids, in particular, like to just pick library books about  topics that interest them, so carefully choosing books isn't really the answer either. I'm inclined to to let them read anything they want, and just wait until they're older to discuss/compare/contrast theories, but I'm interested in hearing from others.

[Wheres Toto]

Depends on how young.  The people I know that are young earth still get dinosaur books out of the library and just skip over the lines that talk about millions of years.  They are still at the point where the majority of times they are reading the books to the kids.

 

Personally, I would carefully chose books.  Although I don't find it hard to avoid young earth ideas picking out books in my northern NJ public libraries.  I'm sure the alternative view is much harder to miss.

 

The options seem to be - let it go and explain your point of view often to counteract or choose books carefully for content you agree with.  Not sure what else you could do.

[marbel]

We'd just say "we don't know exactly when that was" or "we don't know exactly how that happened."  We take an old-earth, created by God position and are comfortable with "we don't know really know how or when he did it."    I would look at the books my kids would pick out at the library, and would say "this isn't a good book for us" if I found something I thought they were not ready for.  (Not necessarily about evolution/pre-history but any topic, really.)   If I recall correctly, those were pretty few and far between.

 

My kids now seem to be comfortable with the notion that there are different ideas about pre-history, beginning of life on earth, etc.  

 

 

[Hunter]

Back in the 90s I was strongly affected by the Amish/Mennonite approach. They really don't care. LOL. They focus on the science that we do know about and use in our daily life, and leave all the debate and theorizing to the "English". They know their god is real,  and bigger than science or man. Their faith is not based on MAN proving God.

 

In "English" society, "I don't know" is a sign of vulnerability and embarrassment. Not so for the Amish/Mennonite, and some other Christian groups. Their god takes care of things that he doesn't make clear to them.

 

When I have hung up timelines, I have placed Abraham on a corner, and on the wall before the corner I put the Biblical genealogy, and then just splash all the other stuff above and below the timline with no links to it. I tell my students I don't have time for theory with all the lessons I have have planned about what we do know. They are free to study the topics on their own, but I refuse to get engaged. In our lessons, "before Abraham" is good enough.

 

I'm not a Christian anymore and don't have faith the Bible is true, but the Bible is still my main cultural book, and the greatest of the Great Books, and our main literature book. I am allowed to follow the Biblical timeline, the timeline MY cultural book gives me, even if it is "wrong". I don't need to know or justify how it all works.

[Saddlemomma]

It Couldn't Just Happen by Lawrence O. Richards is a fantastic resource for this topic.  We used it during our Earth Sciences class and I can foresee using it for Biology (next time around) and when we study ID next year.  It isn't written from a YE or OE perspective.  In fact, it tells us we CAN'T absolutely know the timing because there are different ways to understand the seven "days" spoken of in Genesis. 

 

In addition, it addresses the many different theories of how the earth began: Steady State, Big Bang; orderliness of the universe; Pangea; dinosaurs and what happened to them; how scientists date fossils; origins of life; and so on.  It even includes a "Just For Fun" section after each chapter that asks in-depth, critical thinking questions and provides some simple experiments.

 

The book is written by a Christian for Christians.  However it uses affirmations of the Bible that are supported by scientific evidence.  Hence the reason it doesn't espouse a specific belief of the age of the earth. The "End Notes" provide a list of source materials for the book.

 

The book is divided into the following sections and is 248 pages long:

 

• Part One: Earth in Our Universe
• Part Two: How Life Began
• Part Three: Evidence from Living Things
• Part Four: Humanity in God's Nature
• Part Five: The Book That Didn't Just Happen

[4KookieKids]

Hmmm. Thanks for the ideas. We are Christian, but I tend to fall in the camp of "we don't really know exactly what happened" / Amish way of dealing with it that Hunter mentioned.

 

In a way, I think that's one of the things that makes me most nervous about this topic, because I feel like I "should" have answers for my kids when they ask. I don't think I realized I felt that before thinking about the responses to this thread, but I think now that I realize it, I'm also more at peace with sharing with my children that I just don't know.

[Ravin]

I don't read young Earth stuff to my kids, so it never comes up.

[marbel]

Hmmm. Thanks for the ideas. We are Christian, but I tend to fall in the camp of "we don't really know exactly what happened" / Amish way of dealing with it that Hunter mentioned.

 

In a way, I think that's one of the things that makes me most nervous about this topic, because I feel like I "should" have answers for my kids when they ask. I don't think I realized I felt that before thinking about the responses to this thread, but I think now that I realize it, I'm also more at peace with sharing with my children that I just don't know.

 

It took me a long time to get to the point of feeling comfortable with "I/we don't know."   Now I wonder why it took so long.  The Bible is not a science text and there are multiple ways to interpret "days" in Genesis.   I think scientific curiosity is a very good thing, but I do believe there are some things we are just not going to know.   I don't have any specifics to cite, but there are passages in the Bible that make it clear we are not going to know everything.  

[KristenR]

Although my family is secular we recently joined a local Christian co-op.  My children are 7,5, and 3.  We use the experience in our co-op to open up discussions in our own home.  We learn about creation and the fall in class but then we come home and discuss some of the varying beliefs and ideas other people have.  My children know my thoughts on the bible are a bit different from the tutors and their friends in CC but they see me being kind, courteous, and respectful to others and vice versa.  Having this opportunity, I hope, will instill my children with respect and open-mindness as adults when it comes to differences among people.    

Whether it's books or co-ops, I just use everything as a spring-board to promote deeper discussion.

[TracyP]

Hmmm. Thanks for the ideas. We are Christian, but I tend to fall in the camp of "we don't really know exactly what happened" / Amish way of dealing with it that Hunter mentioned.

 

In a way, I think that's one of the things that makes me most nervous about this topic, because I feel like I "should" have answers for my kids when they ask. I don't think I realized I felt that before thinking about the responses to this thread, but I think now that I realize it, I'm also more at peace with sharing with my children that I just don't know.

 

I am a Christian who accepts evolution, et al. One day when this came up again I gave my dd a latin book and asked her to find directions to [local town]. I gave my son a math book and told him to turn to the spot where it talks about nouns. I gave a Bible to my dd and told her to find where it talked about algebra. I gave my ds a novel and told him to find where it told me about who God is and His plan for us. This led to a great conversation. We accept what the science books tell us about the Big Bang and we accept what the Bible tells us about God. We haven't had an issue since. Of course, this won't work for everyone, but it is how we dealt with it. HTH.

[Syllieann]

I don't have materials on hand or read them things that are out of line with my religious beliefs or my science knowledge. I am not ye though, so this is easy. The book mentioned by pp takes a literalist view of Genesis and is rather condescending towards people that don't take this view. Any old earth creationists will be sorely disappointed if they go into it expecting neutrality.

[Rosie_0801]

If you don't have a defined stance, why not skip it?

If they ask, you can say "some people believe X, some people believe Y" as you probably do when teaching mythology. At the moment I'm teaching RE and telling dd "this is a Jewish story" and mostly skipping over the word "belief."

[My3girls]

We prefaced our readings with the scientific method... Then when we studied prehistory, we discussed what we could prove and not prove then what seemed to make more sense out of we couldn't prove. We don't want our kids to believe what we do just because we tell them to. We read it all, let them process, discuss where appropriate or necessary, answer questions, etc... I try to avoid books that are grossly biased.

[Crimson Wife]

My DH is pretty adamant about not using YEC materials in our HS (we are Christian but not YEC's) but there have been a few times where I didn't realize the book was written from a YEC POV until part way in. My kids know that some Christians believe Genesis is true in a literal sense while others believe it is true in an allegorical sense. So when we come across YEC statements, I will point out that the book assumes a literal interpretation of the Bible.

[Korrale]

We will teach Big Bang, old earth and evolution. We believe in the truth of science. We are secular. However I have many friends who are raising their children with an alternative view point. So my son is to learn sensitivity and respect for others beliefs.

We do read bible stories and I say that they aren't true stories as far as we know. They are literature not history. Adam is not true like George Washington. But many people believe in God and many of the biblical stories. And many people believe in Adam. He is okay with that.

[librarymama]

I often say, "Some people believe..." but for the most part I avoid creationist or YE materials because we are not Christian and accept what science currently tells us. We are currently studying myths and Gods of the ancient world, which has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to compare modern religious beliefs with those of the past. We do it all with respect for the beliefs of others. 

[alef]

We talk quite often about things that we just don't know. We talk about how some of what science tells us and some of what our religious sources tell us don't always seem to agree with each other, but we don't have to understand all the answers right now. We can learn what we need to learn about religion from religious sources, and what we need to learn about science from scientific sources, and someday all the details will fall into place but that may not happen in this life.

[rose]

This has been a question for me for years. We're young early Christians and have found soooo many books to come from an evolutionary perspective. For the most part when they were younger I just told them that other people believe x but we believe y because we believe the Bible is true. Some books I've just said aren't for us. With some ancient history like dinosaurs I've just told them that I don't know how they fit in with the Bible and have suggested a few possibilities (they went extinct pre-flood, they never existed, etc). I've dealt with so many issues that way. I read them a secular ancient history book and just said several times through the first few chapters that I didn't know how it all fit together but that I have faith that it does. I also point out that the secular historians are piecing together evidence into a plausible story that fits their assumptions as much as we are. Both sides take faith and some pretty big assumptions. This gives me some peace in just saying that I don't know. Nobody empiracally knows even if they state things as if they do. No one alive today was there to tell us how it all actually came about. There's really no shame in saying that you believe something simply because you believe the Bible to be true. The scientific evidence doesn't need to intimidate you. You believe that the Bible is true without having to understand how it all fits together; your children can too.

[Kathryn]

I often say, "Some people believe..." but for the most part I avoid creationist or YE materials because we are not Christian and accept what science currently tells us. We are currently studying myths and Gods of the ancient world, which has provided a wonderful opportunity for us to compare modern religious beliefs with those of the past. We do it all with respect for the beliefs of others.

This, except we are Christian. I don't really see where it would be a problem in the young/old, evolution/creation bit to just say "some people believe x." I'm not sure how someone who didn't believe in dinosaurs would go about explaining their position vs. reading about dinosaurs because that's kind of unfathomable to me.

[4KookieKids]

So many good thoughts! Thank you all. It's really interesting and helpful to hear how different people handle this sort of thing. And I really appreciate that the thread has stayed so positive and respectful. (I confess I was a little concerned when I first started the thread that it was going to degenerate into a not so pretty conversation... Maybe I've had one too many of those when asking people questions in other places! :D)

 

I think I was maybe trying to simplify things too much for my 4 yo, when he could probably easily understand that people believe different things about this stuff. My husband always says I overthink things, and this is probably one of those times. It's just that one of my mantras through my career as a math teacher is to never teach something that's incorrect; teach it incompletely, if necessary, but never incorrectly. And I think reading something out loud to my kids that I might not agree with felt dangerously close to teaching them something incorrectly. But I'm feeling much better about how to deal with this now when it comes up. 

[kiwik]

Ds6 was singing in the car - "some people believe god made people out of clay, some people believe we cam from apes, some people believe something in between and some people don't know what to believe". He thinks both evolution and creation are pretty strange at this point and at 6 that seems perfectly reasonable (or 46 for that matter).

[Camelfeet]

I just explain to them what we believe/know.  I haven't come across young earth stuff that I've needed to dispute, but I have had to explain away certain bits of history as "That's just a story and didn't actually happen" or "There is no evidence that this even happened" or "This is what we think happened but no one is actually sure".