Middle School Rel Ed

[KCT]

Does anyone use LifeTeen Edge, Mark Hart’s Middle School Bible Study or any other non text book middle school religious ed?

If so, please share what you like, don’t like etc.

Thanks!

 

[HouseArrest]

I used T3 with my kids when they were middle school age. Our religious ed used it for 9th graders for a few years as well. I am not sure if they still do. My kids go to Catholic school so we are not involved with RE.

My kids liked it. The only issue I would see with it is time. There are 8 videos and some are a half hour, some are 45 minutes, so there is not really time to watch the video and do the discussion in the same evening. If you would wait a week and do the discussion a separate night, the kids won’t remember the finer points of the video. We just did longer sessions but I know there is a time constraint at RE.

I would also say that if you do it, the student books are essential. There is a lot of extra material in them as well.

 

[1ke]

Does anyone use LifeTeen Edge, Mark Hart’s Middle School Bible Study or any other non text book middle school religious ed?

If so, please share what you like, don’t like etc.

Thanks!

Do you mean Encounter bible study? That’s Mark Hart’s junior high version of T3. We use it with our junior high, but not in place of religious ed. curriculum. We used it as part of the curriculum. It’s not a lengthy enough program to use as an entire year’s curriculum.

Edge is a youth ministry program, not a religious education program.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Does anyone use LifeTeen Edge, Mark Hart’s Middle School Bible Study or any other non text book middle school religious ed?

If so, please share what you like, don’t like etc.

Thanks!

I am hesitant to answer this, because I was just brought in to evaluate and consult a nearby parish on their youth program and I left the parish in shambles. The DRE sided with me and quit and now there is a real political problem at the parish. I feel awful, not because I think I was wrong, but because I was part of the turmoil that this parish is now in.

That being said. Lifeteen is an abysmal failure. At all levels. It is unoriginal, dated, and weak. ( I know that is harsh, that is part of the problem I had with this particular parish.) mark hart is not much better because a youth program or religious ed curriculum needs much more than sitting kids down in front of a DVD. There are many other models and curriculum out there or you can just (gasp) make your own youth RE or Youth group. The parish I was at was split between youcat and the study guide and lifeteen. Both horrible and waste of time options. Even DTS would be a step up. But just putting together an intimate group and study catering to the very individual kids you have in the group is probably what “youth ministry” and “religious ed” needs to get back to. There is something to be said for cultivating a few, powerful relationships to impact the best way possible.

 

[1ke]

I am hesitant to answer this, because I was just brought in to evaluate and consult a nearby parish on their youth program and I left the parish in shambles. The DRE sided with me and quit and now there is a real political problem at the parish. I feel awful, not because I think I was wrong, but because I was part of the turmoil that this parish is now in.

That being said. Lifeteen is an abysmal failure. At all levels. It is unoriginal, dated, and weak. ( I know that is harsh, that is part of the problem I had with this particular parish.) mark hart is not much better because a youth program or religious ed curriculum needs much more than sitting kids down in front of a DVD. There are many other models and curriculum out there or you can just (gasp) make your own youth RE or Youth group. The parish I was at was split between youcat and the study guide and lifeteen. Both horrible and waste of time options. Even DTS would be a step up. But just putting together an intimate group and study catering to the very individual kids you have in the group is probably what “youth ministry” and “religious ed” needs to get back to. There is something to be said for cultivating a few, powerful relationships to impact the best way possible.

Youth ministry and religious education are not the same thing. They are complementary, but each is distinct and has different objectives and methods.

In our diocese you DO NOT “just make up your own” religious education program. Our diocese has standards, curriculum guides, and assessments for the grade levels. We must use **approved **materials.