From the Land of Unfinished Projects (circa 1999 with a few additional notes I'm just adding)
I just found a page of notes while cleaning out the basement on a potential life-issues educational scope and sequence for children. Never hammered out age-appropriateness or anything like that - just some ideas and idea of order (I was thinking of something spread out over many years)...
Unit One - What makes man different from other animals... including good stewardship and proper respect for all life.
The dignity of man, including how we treat others.
It is interesting to consider that only man concerns himself about the environment and the welfare of other creatures.
Unit Two - Development of an Unborn Baby - pictures from A Child is Born, unborn baby statue
depending on age, the topic of abortion might come up here
Unit Three - Overpopulation - kids enjoy learning about the concept of how crowded various parts of the world would be if the entire population of the world were evenly distributed into that space.
UPDATE:
Links...
Over-Population Myths - National Center for Policy Analysis
Over-Population Myths - Tennessee Right-to-Life
Population Research Institute
Unit Four - History including other types of life issues (useful for analogies, etc.) especially Slavery and the Holocaust
Unit Five - Other life issues - euthanasia, disabled, death penalty, suicide
Unit Six - Chastity
Resources:
Challenging Children to Chastity
The Catechism of the Catholic Church starting around 2331
Here's a great sample quote:
Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. 'Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end.'
(CCC 2339)
Unit Seven - Understanding/Apologetics Study on the Church's teachings on life issues, including the natural and supernatural (i.e. practical and spiritual) problems with birth control, problems with embryonic stem cell research (and worthwhile/morally licit alternatives). I think the birth control issue is especially important for young women to study, since they tend to have to answer questions on this topic from other women.
3 comments:
"the concept of how crowded various parts of the world would be if the entire population of the world were evenly distributed into that space."
Do you have any links for this concept?
"What makes man different from other animals..."
There was an article in Aquinas Review explaining the differences in use of language between animals (chimps?) and humans. I thought it was such an interesting topic, I want to read it to my daughter.
This is an important issue, seeing that kids are constantly bombarded by media images of talking animals, robots, and even toasters ;) .
There might be some links out somewhere. We've just, on occasion, taken the World Almanac for stats on World Population and land-size and made some interesting comparisons - the whole population in the state of Texas, in the country of Australia, etc. Then you can compare it with the density of some large cities.
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