Worldviews I Parents' Page

Welcome parents!

This page contains some important information for you about Worldviews class. First for some preliminaries:

What is Worldviews class?

· Looking at six worldviews: Biblical Christianity, Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism (Communism), and Cosmic Humanism (New Age), Postmodernism and Islam.

· Looking at 10 discipline areas to see how each worldview approaches that discipline: Theology, Philosophy, Biology, Ethics, Psychology, Sociology, Law, Politics, Economics, and History.

· Learning basic vocabulary, scriptural principles and bible verses to deal with the world of ideas.

· Attaining tools to stand as Christians in this fallen world.

What are the goals of Worldviews class?

· To honor Christ by studying hard to understand the world He has made and to prepare to bring Christ to bear in all arenas.

· To be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

· To study rigorously and to prepare to participate in the market place of ideas in high school, college and beyond.

What materials will I need for Worldviews?

• A large (3 or 4 inch) 3-ring binder and sectional dividers; one notebook for each year. Directions for setting up the notebooks may be found here. Additional documents to include in the notebook are found here: Worldviews I 2014-2015.
• A reliable Internet connection and e-mail address. Much of our communication and many Internet Adventures will require a reliable internet connection and frequently checked e-mail, and all your class outlines and assignments will be posted on this website, and require printing at home prior to class.
• We will be using the Understanding the Times textbook and student manual. Please make sure you order the edition/version linked to here.

What skills does my student need to be successful in Worldviews?

· Willingness to do the work assigned, which includes:

· Weekly Scripture memory

· Weekly reading assignments in texts, on-line, in handout form, and assignments

· Student manual assignments

· Finding and filing current events and advertising items that show a worldview

· Writing assignments most weeks

· Studying for weekly quizzes, unit tests and semester finals

· Completing book reports and/or papers as scheduled each semester

· Sufficient intellectual and emotional maturity to handle and digest the reading material, to reformulate it into written work, and to participate in class discussion and activities.

· Good oversight in the beginning by parents: our goal is to have independent learners at the end of our two years together, and good oversight in the beginning, and work at building good study habits, will pay off!

· Of necessity, we will be discussing topics that are for mature students. While we will not go into graphic detail, we will need the freedom to discuss current issues and our responses to them (such as homosexuality, pornography, and other current issues). Your student must be sufficiently mature to handle not only the work load, but the subject matter.

· Worldviews class takes a serious commitment of time and effort. In the past, I have found that this class prepares the diligent student for the rigors of college study and life in the greater world. The academic and character skills we approach in this class will serve the students well in all of their adult lives. But no discipline is fun while you are under it. If you and your students commit to this class, by God's grace, you will have two challenging years, but much fruit will be born of it.

What will the cost of Worldviews be?

· Cost for tuition will be $75 per student enrolled per semester. Additionally, the items and books mentioned above must be purchased. There is no separate charge for photocopied material I will be supplying to the students. However, because I don't ever want financial considerations to be a stumbling block, I am always willing to adjust these fees as needed in particular family situations. If you want a student in this class, but cannot afford to pay the tuition fees, please speak to me! I want to include every student who wishes to be involved.

What kind of time will Worldviews take?

We need to meet for two hours of class time each week. We will meet at Bryce Ave Presbyterian Church, 333 Bryce Ave, in White Rock.

• A successful student will work on Scripture memory every day, and review scripture, notes and readings weekly, along with completing their current reading and assignments.
• It takes more time in the beginning while we are learning all new vocabulary and concepts, so while assignment loads increase as time goes by, time spent doesn’t necessarily increase.
• While time spent depends on the work habits, abilities, and inclination of the student, plan on at least 1-2 hours a day, 5-6 days per week outside of class to complete the expected work load.
• A sample weekly routine can be found in the right side bar here: Worldviews I 2014-2015

How will the Worldviews class be structured?

• For each class, the students will download and print an outline of the class that includes their assignments for the coming week. Assignments will also be listed here. Outlines and assignments will be posted in most cases on Mondays, but before Tuesday afternoon at the latest, Lord willing.
• Our class time together will include lectures (which students must take notes on), readings, activities, videos, audio tapes, and guest speakers.
• Students will be required to keep a notebook where all of their work is to be organized. The notebooks will be collected and graded at the end of each semester. I ask for help from parents to grade these notebooks during our last day of class while students take their semester finals.
• Students will be required to do book reports from a list of books. We will increase the number of book reports due each semester as we continue the class (e.g., one in the first semester, two in the second, three the third, four plus anpother paper in the fourth.) The first book list (for Semester I) can be found hereWorldviewsBookList1. The assignment for the book reports may be found here: BookReportAssignment.doc
• Students will be memorizing vocabulary and Scripture passages. The vocabulary list for all four semesters is available to download and print here: VocabularyList. I will post the scripture passages in the New King James Version. Students should print out a copy for their notebooks, or write it out by hand, and memorize it in this version.
• Students will have take-at-home, timed quizzes and tests. These take-home tests will be done on an honor system, but I ask parents to keep tabs on their students as well: make sure they are not referring to materials they shouldn’t be, and make sure they are timing themselves. Accountability can help students to flee temptation. Semester finals will be given on the final day of class each semester.
  • I ask each student and his or her parents to read and sign an "Integrity Agreement" which can be found here: IntegrityAgreement.doc. This signed document should be kept in the front of the student's notebook.
• The subjects covered for the four semesters will be as follows, Lord willing:

· Semester 1: Theology and Philosophy (part 1)* Please note: there is some small chance that we will have the biology unit between theology and philosophy. This will be determined in September.

· Semester 2: Philosophy (part 2), and Biology, with Mr. Carroll Thomson as our guest instructor for the Biology unit. Lectures, grading and daily assignments will come from Mr. Thomson.

· Semester 3: Ethics, Psychology, and Sociology

· Semester 4: Law, Politics, Economics, and History

• The Scope and Sequence for Year I can be found here. This is a preliminary plan for our year. I reserve the right to change or alter this as we move through the year (as stated above). This will give you some idea of what we will cover and when.
• Generally speaking, in the beginning of the class (Semester 1) we will be picking up a lot of new vocabulary and learning a lot of good study skills. As we get these under our belts, our amount of reading and challenge in assignments will increase gradually. I will be explaining very clearly to students all expectations, with the goal of moving students to a place that they are independent learners and know how to read a difficult book, distill what it says, and communicate it to others.
• I will be grading all turned-in work with a goal of helping our students achieve excellence in their studies. I will give mid-semester updates on grades to parents, and grades for each semester via e-mail. I am always available to discuss this with parents or students. You can see more specifics about grading here, under "Grading": Worldviews I 2014-2015

What will we get from Worldviews class in return for our time, money and effort?

Lord willing, the following will be the result:

• Well-grounded students, who have committed much of scripture to memory, have a firm grounding in its truth and are ready to enter the marketplace of ideas with tools to navigate.
• Well-trained students ready for serious intellectual study without compromising their faith.