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Last Login: 10/3/2007 2:19:29 PM
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| | Hello, I've gone over the samples, etc and watched the videos. I commend Group for their efforts, however, I'm wondering about a few things: 1. It seems the curriculum crams quite a bit into an hour. I highly doubt that a teacher can manage to get all of those "areas" in. Plus, many Sunday Schools are only about 45 mins tops. So theres a lot of waste in this package. 2. Kids love videos and games, it's during the lessons that you loose them. EOS. And its the lessons they need to hear most. Right now I use the Preteen Workers Encyclopedia (I believe its a Group product) and they remember and laugh about the skits we've done, the "fishing" we've done, etc...but they rarely remember the Bible lesson assoc with the fun stuff. My concern is that we're basically entertaining these kids to keep them in church. I don't know what the ans is, I just pray daily that God will reach them. 3. Which leads me to the another item: There's no substitute for the Holy Spirit. All the glitz in the world will not make these kids followers of Jesus without Him. So I talk to them about the Lord and the big Holy Spirit events in my life to encourage them that God is real and he cares. I've noticed that it isn't the Puppets or the lessons that matter most, it's developing a relationship with these kids to show them that Christianity is real, that's what they need most. 4. Lastly, I work with some very troubled kids. For ex, I have a mom who tells her son she wishes she never had him, I've got a 12 yo who is determined to move in with her very worldly natural mother when she turns 13 because she hates her stepmom, (her step mom, a reg church goer, doesn't like the step daughter and makes that pretty clear), I've got a girl who shows up at church on foot or by bike, crosses a main road to get to church, and she's only 10. Where are the parent(s)? I have no idea. Two weeks ago, one of our kids lost her father...he was found in the woods dead from an OD. I could go on and on and on. Where's the curriculum that can help these kids? It doesn't exist. My thoughts, Peace,
Kim
Homeschool mom
Sunday School Teacher
Puppet Ministry leader |
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Last Login: 5/12/2008 11:49:23 AM
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| titianmom -
I agree with you on ALL points you've made!
1. It seems the curriculum crams quite a bit into an hour. I highly doubt that a teacher can manage to get all of those "areas" in.
We started Grapple last Wednesday. Your are quite right - the activities could take twice as long each, depending on your kids, and will quickly lose their attention if you're not careful. My co-teachers and I decided next time to spend a little more time on the game (they really loved it), and then really hone in on one main point of the topic. Strip out everything else.
2. Kids love videos and games, it's during the lessons that you loose them. EOS. And its the lessons they need to hear most.
Don't give up! Even if you only get 1 point, even if it is only 3 minutes - if the Holy Spirit is in those 3 minutes, it's worth it. Among all the laughter and goofing off, the message is there.
I've noticed that it isn't the Puppets or the lessons that matter most, it's developing a relationship with these kids to show them that Christianity is real, that's what they need most.
Yes, yes, and yes! They know you care, they know it's real to you.
4. Lastly, I work with some very troubled kids.
Where's the curriculum that canhelp these kids? It doesn't exist.
No, it doesn't exist. I work with a very similar group of kids. We have a bus ministry that brings some of them in. Their stories cut to my heart again and again. Because of their home life (or lack of) their behavior is a major challenge, beyond your regular pre-teen group. Sometimes "teaching" is an impossibility. Just managing to "keep order" is the best we can do. So ... Grapple is a great idea, and I'm excited about it, but we need to tweak it a bit to make it work. Giving them choices and responsibility is what they want, but they are new to it, and don't know how yet. I look at it as an opportunity to help them learn how.
Having the kids look up and read 17 verses from Exodus? Not going to happen in my group. They won't listen to more than about 15 seconds. The thoughts about "what is God protecting us from" in the 10 commandments? Way too abstract for them. I heard a lot of "I don't get it" from the ones who were really trying. The others didn't even bother. Too much at once. It overwhelmed them. If I did the lesson again, I would pick maybe one item from the 10 commandments, and lead them in a discussion rather than try to write it down.
Once they got started, they did pretty well at writing down "no nos". We stripped this down a lot too because it took them a long time. (Might have been better to have them just call them out and a teacher write them down on one list, for time's sake). So I just collected the papers from the other group, and read them out loud and asked for opinions about what the parents were protecting them from. That went pretty well actually. If we had skipped most of the "study" part of looking at the 10 commandments earlier, we could have had time to tie that in with God protecting us. As it was, we ran out of time.
Another thing that seemed to work was the group points idea. I didn't award the prize for the grapple button until the end of class. I gave them other ways to collect points - bringing Bible or friends, good behavior, saying "sorry" to a neigbor they offended, good participation. Some of the items I asked the students how many points they should get - this was good. They responded well to being given a choice, and we were able to agree on a reasonable number. They also lost team points for poor behavior. The idea was that the button could switch between groups based on class time. So whoever has the button at the end of class gets the prize. It was a little too chaotic the first night for this to work well, but I think this will catch on better in later cl. They liked the idea of it. My students don't know how to work as a team yet. They have neighborhood or school fueds, which they bring into class, so it's a bit challenging to them.
So yes, the Holy Spirit. We pray and we pray. And when we walk away from class and wonder if we did any good at all ... we pray some more and keep going.
God Bless,
Christina
iBeleave ... in Jesus!
www.webmissionllc.com |
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| | | Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 10/3/2007 2:19:29 PM
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| | Thanks for the reply. So there are real people out there... LOL. Best wishes and God Bless with your kids, Kim
Kim
Homeschool mom
Sunday School Teacher
Puppet Ministry leader |
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