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| Homeschool Psych: Preparing Christian Homeschool Students for Psychology 101 By Tim Rice D. Min. Frequently Asked Questions |
What grades would you recommend this course for? We are a k-12 coop and
cycle though classes. While Psych is generally an upper level course, if I don't
include 9th grade this year, they won't have the opportunity to take it before they
graduate. However, I don't want to set them up for failure either by not having
the social or academic maturity needed to digest the information. Your
thoughts?
Dr. Tim replies: I urge great caution with 9th graders. Make your decision after you
look through the material. The vocabulary (and my writing style) is definitely 11th
grade +. Most of psychology is very abstract. World views, philosophies, the nature
of mankind, and most of the 1st half of the text all require the ability to think in the
abstract, an ability that's just developing around 9th grade. Also, the text addresses
illicit drugs, mental illness, and other sensitive topics.
***************************************************************************
I am interested in your psychology course for my son. Is the curriculum
supposed to be for an entire year, or for 1 semester?
Tina Rice replies: Good question about 1 semester or a year long course for
Homeschool Psych.
I have taught this course twice - once at home and once at my co-op. Both times I
did it in one semester. Students studied one chapter a week at home and at our
co-op I had to combine chapters 7 and 8 to make it fit our schedule.
I gave my daughter 1/2 credit for this course - which is standard for a 1 semester
course. If your student did all of the extra credit work then you could award 3/4 of a
credit, but I think it would be hard to get the required hours to make it a 1 credit
course.
If you were looking at making this a 1 credit course I would suggest adding in all of
the extra credit, watch all of the videos mentioned (I am not sure which chapter they
are in) and then doing a Psychology AP book to prepare for he AP exam. At this
point I would call the course AP Psychology rather than just Psychology and award it
1 credit.
***********************************************************************
Dr. Tim,
I would appreciate your opinion:
I will be teaching Psychology in a homeschool coop setting to high school
students. While the primary goal is to introduce the subject matter, our two
secondary goals are:
1. Excite students about the study of Psychology
2. Prepare them for passing the CLEP exam
I vacillate between two options:
1. Use your book as the primary text with an additional 3 weeks of study specific
to the CLEP exam, or,
2. Use a text such as Understanding Psychology by Glencoe for the students
with the teachers having studied your book to present the material in class in
conjunction with the Glencoe text.
Dr. Tim replies: My text can help with your primary goal and the first secondary goal,
but it is not intended as a CLEP prep text.
FYI, I noticed that Sonlight has recently published material that is intended to
present psychology from a Christian worldview AND prepare them to pass the
CLEP test.
I am not familiar with Glencoe's work. David Myers (a self-proclaimed Christian and
a contributor to the conversation about the integration of psychology with a Christian
worldview) is arguably the leading introductory psychology textbook writer today.
I'd prefer your students personally wrestle with the material in my text and that you
add material specific to the CLEP exam. Primarily using Glencoe or Myers,
presented by psychology/Christian worldview-informed teachers, is likely to lead to
good CLEP scores, but I believe that passing the CLEP test is secondary to
equipping students for modern psychology's pervasive influence.
cycle though classes. While Psych is generally an upper level course, if I don't
include 9th grade this year, they won't have the opportunity to take it before they
graduate. However, I don't want to set them up for failure either by not having
the social or academic maturity needed to digest the information. Your
thoughts?
Dr. Tim replies: I urge great caution with 9th graders. Make your decision after you
look through the material. The vocabulary (and my writing style) is definitely 11th
grade +. Most of psychology is very abstract. World views, philosophies, the nature
of mankind, and most of the 1st half of the text all require the ability to think in the
abstract, an ability that's just developing around 9th grade. Also, the text addresses
illicit drugs, mental illness, and other sensitive topics.
***************************************************************************
I am interested in your psychology course for my son. Is the curriculum
supposed to be for an entire year, or for 1 semester?
Tina Rice replies: Good question about 1 semester or a year long course for
Homeschool Psych.
I have taught this course twice - once at home and once at my co-op. Both times I
did it in one semester. Students studied one chapter a week at home and at our
co-op I had to combine chapters 7 and 8 to make it fit our schedule.
I gave my daughter 1/2 credit for this course - which is standard for a 1 semester
course. If your student did all of the extra credit work then you could award 3/4 of a
credit, but I think it would be hard to get the required hours to make it a 1 credit
course.
If you were looking at making this a 1 credit course I would suggest adding in all of
the extra credit, watch all of the videos mentioned (I am not sure which chapter they
are in) and then doing a Psychology AP book to prepare for he AP exam. At this
point I would call the course AP Psychology rather than just Psychology and award it
1 credit.
***********************************************************************
Dr. Tim,
I would appreciate your opinion:
I will be teaching Psychology in a homeschool coop setting to high school
students. While the primary goal is to introduce the subject matter, our two
secondary goals are:
1. Excite students about the study of Psychology
2. Prepare them for passing the CLEP exam
I vacillate between two options:
1. Use your book as the primary text with an additional 3 weeks of study specific
to the CLEP exam, or,
2. Use a text such as Understanding Psychology by Glencoe for the students
with the teachers having studied your book to present the material in class in
conjunction with the Glencoe text.
Dr. Tim replies: My text can help with your primary goal and the first secondary goal,
but it is not intended as a CLEP prep text.
FYI, I noticed that Sonlight has recently published material that is intended to
present psychology from a Christian worldview AND prepare them to pass the
CLEP test.
I am not familiar with Glencoe's work. David Myers (a self-proclaimed Christian and
a contributor to the conversation about the integration of psychology with a Christian
worldview) is arguably the leading introductory psychology textbook writer today.
I'd prefer your students personally wrestle with the material in my text and that you
add material specific to the CLEP exam. Primarily using Glencoe or Myers,
presented by psychology/Christian worldview-informed teachers, is likely to lead to
good CLEP scores, but I believe that passing the CLEP test is secondary to
equipping students for modern psychology's pervasive influence.
| If you have questions that are not answered on our FAQ page, please send them to Dr.Tim Rice. Send Dr. Tim an email |