Saturday, November 12, 2011

I LOVE our Bible Curriculum!!

We are going through Book 1 of the "What We Believe" series by Apologia Press, called "Who is God and Can I Really Know Him?" This is a four book biblical worldview series, geared for ages 6 to 14. Since our youngest is 6, and our oldest is 14, I thought perhaps it would be a perfect time to start this series together, and it has been wonderful. Love, love, love it.


I am loving the opportunity to systematically take our children through a course that teaches what worldviews are, what it means to have a biblical worldview, and how building our lives on the Rock of God's truth as opposed to the shifting sands of whatever seems good at the moment, is the best foundation for life.

There is an accompanying coloring book (which our two youngest use) and an accompanying spiral bound notebook (which our three oldest use) which give us the opportunity to interact with the material and write down (or color a picture of) what we are learning.

This is a little flapbook one of the boys made, with one page each, illustrating the seven ways to build our lives on the Rock of God's truth.


Then we talked about six ways to build our lives on sand. The older three copied these into their notebooks.


During each lesson there is a fun, hands on demonstration of one of the concepts presented. We had fun doing this optical illusion activity ~ to demonstrate that what we see with our eyes is not always the "truth". There was a fish bowl taped to one side of the pencil, and a fish taped to the other side. When we twisted the pencil between our hands really fast, it looked as if the fish was IN the fishbowl, when in fact it wasn't.



This is designed to be used a minimum of three days a week, which is how often we use it.

For my homeschooling friends who may have heard of the controversy surrounding this series in particular, I would encourage you to do your own research, pray, and then determine whether or not this would be a good fit for your family. And if you've never heard of the controversy, it basically centered on the fact that Dr. Jay Wile, author of the popular science series used by many homeschoolers, left Apologia (the company) because he couldn't agree with some of the doctrine taught in this worldview series, and the fact that his name had become virtually synonymous with Apologia led many people to assume that he endorsed every product published by Apologia Press, when in fact he did not.

Last summer my husband and I did copious amounts of reading on this issue, and read many reviews of the series (it is brand new, this is its first school year). We read Jay Wile's blog from back when he resigned from Apologia and every single comment. This information, coupled with prayer, allowed us to feel very comfortable teaching our children from this series, using it as the framework within which to disciple them as the Lord leads us. I am so thankful for the Lord's leading in this decision, as I am loving the book and the discussions that we are having as a result of it. Just another example of how we can trust God with every decision!

4 comments:

Teacher/Mom said...

I've heard of several people enjoying this book. If I had room in our schedule I'd definitely consider it. But that would be very hard for me to find right now. I'm glad that your family is getting a lot out of it as they topics are so relevant and timely. Blessings.

Melissa said...

We are enjoying it as well. We bought the audios and it has been an additional blessing!

Davis Carman said...

Pam,
I was humbled to read your review of Who Is God? I was especially intrigued by the amount of research your family did before making the decision to use this biblical worldview curriculum. I smiled when I tried to imagine all the healthy discussions your family is having on important optics like the nature of God and truth. I pray that many more families will be blessed by the way this series can be used to systematically teach the foundational Christian doctrines to our children.

I assume as part of your investigation, that you read my official response found at this link:
http://blog.apologia.com/blog/2010/08/19/what-is-the-new-direction-of-apologia/

May God bless you and your family as you learn and live the Christian faith, and as you enjoy the homeschooling adventure of a lifetime.

In Christ,
Davis Carman
President
Apologia Educational Ministries

Pam said...

Mr. Carman,

Yes, we did read your official response as well. Thank you for providing the link!

Blessings,
Pam