Great Homeschool Resource for Teaching Young Children the Value of Human Life

A couple years ago, I had the delightful experience of going through a fun, four-week unit study on the sanctity of human life with my children. I look back on those weeks with fondness: it was a sweet period of learning something extremely important together. I was pregnant, and the timing was perfect; my children were able to learn about babies while their sister was still growing in the womb!

It did not touch on the subject of sexual intimacy necessary to conceive children (I have other homeschool resources when it comes to addressing that topic); it did talk about how babies develop in the womb, and about how unique each person is.

Life is Precious is part of the Culture of Life Studies Program (CLSP), and is published by American Life League (ALL), a Catholic pro-life organization. The curriculum “provides students with an early understanding of the value of every human being’s life from creation until death. These specially formulated supplements guide teachers and students through popular picture books with life-affirming themes, as well as provide appropriate creative activities to assist student understanding.”

Pictured above is the exact same book I have. It says, “School Edition,” though there is also a “Parent-Guided,” homeschool edition available. I don’t know what the difference is, but the school edition was perfect for our homeschooling needs.

Let me tell you more about my personal experience with this engaging curriculum, in case it looks like something you might be interested in for your family, too!

What age range is it intended for?

The Life is Precious curriculum is intended for Kindergarten through Second grade. However, we used it for an age-range of toddler through teenager.

I like for our whole family to study the same subjects together, whenever possible. The younger ones will get out of it what they are able to understand, and the older ones will get out of it some of the deeper themes of the overall message. The younger children feel like part of something big when they have their older siblings doing the same thing together with them. Of course, I also have separate conversations with my older children regarding things that I don’t think young ears are ready to hear.

How long does it take?

About four weeks/one month. Actually, we dawdled our way through the course over a two-month time period. It was worth it to not rush, though I think the main reason we took so long was because I was pregnant and tired very easily.

The course is divided up into four lessons, one per week. Each lesson includes four days of instruction, with one day per week off.

It took us about an hour a day, sometimes more, to complete each day’s assignments. Though this course is promoted as a supplement, and it is, I actually think it works best if you take off a month from your regular studies to devote 100% to the course. I believe you will get the most out of it that way.

What materials are necessary?

First of all, there are four required books:

1. The Baby Sister, by Tomie dePaola

2. On the Night You Were Born, by Nancy Tillman

3. Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. Suess

and

4. One, by Kathryn Otoshi

You can’t do the course without the books, which do not come as part of the package; however, they are easily obtained from your local library, or perhaps Amazon (links provided are from Amazon).

Other items you will need

There are other things you will need, as well, or may at least like to consider obtaining, though not all of them are truly essential (use your imagination to come up with creative solutions if you don’t have some of this stuff):

-Baby Steps DVD (included in package)

-Fetal model (included in package)

-Various coloring pages which can be printed out using the included CD-ROM

-Crayons, colored pencils, markers, paints

-Glue or glue sticks, scissors

-Stapler, or hole puncher and string (for binding the book)

-Construction paper or colored card stock, and old magazines for clipping out pictures or other items for collage such as feathers, pasta, buttons, pressed flowers, etc.

-Various fruits, for demonstrating baby’s size at different stages of development: 1 avocado, 1 banana, 1 eggplant, 1 grain of rice, 1 strawberry, 1 small pumpkin or watermelon

-Red ribbon (not really necessary, but it’s cute), tissue paper, plastic wrap, colored string, yarn, pipe cleaners

-Baby picture of each child

-Nuts or Cheerios, dried fruit, chocolate chips or candy, shredded coconut, sandwich bags (or bowls)

-Musical instruments or noise makers (pots, pans, wooden spoons, drums, etc.)

-Laminating paper (if you want)

-Popsicle sticks

-Optional: Baby-themed wrapping paper or a basket to hold baby items to donate to moms and babies in need

-Any other materials you may want to use which aren’t mentioned. You can be as creative as you like!

What projects do you work on?

There is one main project per week/lesson, which is worked on a little every day of that week and is finished by the fourth day of that week. (In addition, there are some smaller activities that you can do along with the major project.)

1. Miracle of Life booklet and Miracle of Life Timeline (Week One)
2. On the Night I Was Born booklet (Week Two)
3. Human Development Timeline, plus “Beezle-Nut Stew” snack (Week Three)
4. Color wheel project, plus other “color art” (to demonstrate unique personalities) (Week Four)

Pictured below are a few examples from the projects:

Most of these projects can be printed out using the included CD-ROM. The CD also comes with take-home pages for parents, which we did not need, since I’m the parent and already know what my kids are doing. Maybe that’s the difference betweent the school course and the parent-guided course?

Was there anything I did NOT like about the course?

Actually, there were a few things. I loved 99% of the course, but there was that 1% that I didn’t love. Here it is:

On page 19, the book says, “Honoring the rules that your parents make in your family is one way that you can follow God’s plan for you to have a long, happy life and learn how to get to heaven.” That makes it sound like you have to do things to get to heaven, whereas the Bible teaches that repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven (Acts 2:37-38, 16:30-31; John 3:16). Of course, godly parents would teach their children that, helping them to “learn how” to be saved. Maybe that’s what they meant, but it would be helpful to clarify that with one’s children.

There is a prayer suggested on page 22 which says, “Dear Jesus, You gave us Your earthly mother Mary for us to turn to in times of trouble. Mother Mary, keep us close under your protective mantle and help us grow closer to your son Jesus. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.” Obviously, as a non-Catholic Christian, I do not believe it is necessary nor biblical to pray to Mary. In fact, the Bible does not say to pray to Mary, but presents Jesus Christ as the only mediator we need:

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”

1 Timothy 2:5

Lastly, on page 23, there is a quote from the apophrycal book Sirach, which Protestants reject as part of the Canon of Scripture. The rest of the scriptural quotes in the course are from the Canon, though.

And that is all. Like I said, 99% was great.

What are the things I absoluetly loved about the course?

I loved how easy it was to present the miracle and value of life to my children. It was simple to understand, it was fun, and the children were able to create some precious family keepsakes. This course taught my children not just that babies are special, but that they are special, too. It made them feel loved and appreciated. It also emphasized the importance of standing up for what is right, even when everyone else is going the wrong direction; and, it demonstrated that we can do this in a compassionate and loving way. Those are all things that reflect what I believe in and try to live by. I would say that overall, this course was a “win” for our family!

In fact, I was so pleased with Life is Precious, that I plan on ordering additional resources from the Culture of Life Studies Program. The one titled, Who was the real Margaret Sanger? certainly looks interesting for highschool students!

Memorable quotes from the Life is Precious curriculum:

This unit study focuses on the beauty inherent in each individual human being’s life, taking a positive approach to the pro-life movement rather than focusing on the details of abortion and the culture of death. In fact, we are firm believers in protecting the innocence of children, so we will never directly touch upon topics or use language which may take away from that innocence.

Did God know who you were before you were born? You bet He did! God chose you and your mission here on earth before you even existed. You were once so small while growing inside your mother that she didn’t even know you were there. But God knew. He created you out of love and for a specific purpose. There is no one like you, nor will there ever be anyone like you. Each person is unique and unrepeatable.

Because we are each so unique and special, the night you were born was life-changing for you and for the world around you. Life would not be as wonderful without you in it.

You are a child of God, a person to be treasured. But what makes you a person? . . . being a person is not based on how big or small you are, how old you are, where you live, or how much you need someone to protect you. Every person, even the smallest, needs to be cherished and protected.

Our voices can help us to show love and honor God. And every one of us is important. Sometimes it takes just one voice to change the world!

***

If you are interested in the program for your own family, you can order it from the Culture of Life website:

Life is Precious

Once you try out the course, I would love to hear back from you and know how you liked it! This is such an important subject–how have you chosen to approach it with your children? Also, if there are any other resources you would like to recommend, please share those with us in the comments below!

~Jessica

P.S. I thought you might enjoy this photo from a recent field trip we took. The national park we went to only required masks for certain areas, but it looks like a couple of us forgot to take them off for the picture! My family is indeed very precious to me, and I am filled with thankfulness and joy that God sent each of these unique and unrepeatable human beings into our life. How blessed we are!