Review of Psychology: A Christian Perspective

Sharon Grooms' review of Psychology: A Christian Perspective

Well, I may be dooming myself to forever owning the “geek” label that uninformed people place on homeschool families, but I was SO excited when I found out there was a new Christian psychology curriculum available.  For those of us who understand how imperative it is to prepare our students well, prior to their flying the nest – into a not-so-kind-to-Christians environment called college – especially in the arena of psychology, this was big news.  Having graduated one student, who happened to enter college on a full four-year scholarship as an honors psychology major, I knew well the struggles faced by many families.

I remember the delight I felt when I tripped across Dr. Tim Rice’s Homeschool Psych: Preparing Christian Homeschool Students for Psych 101, several years ago.  To know there was actually something prepared to help guide me in this task was tremendous.  As my son and I manned our way through the details of the book, I thought quite a few times how wonderful it would have been to be able to do this with other students – the deep conversations that could have been had, of which we could only dream.  I had, in fact, invited several other families to journey with us, but was met with snarls from the naysayers, or gasps from the faint-hearted.  Perhaps now you will begin to understand my enthusiasm with Dr. Rice’s newest book and curriculum, Psychology: A Christian Perspective – High School Edition.  The purchase price for the textbook is very fair, but Dr. Rice makes an offer almost too good to be true by making it possible to download from his website a  Teachers' Guide that includes Chapter Summary, Chapter Outline, Discussion & Activities, For Further Study, Questions for Review (with answers), and Chapter Quizzes (with answers), all FREE of charge!!   To add to the lure of this new curriculum is the fact that it has been developed with a co-op setting in mind!  Aw, now inquisitive minds that want to know will be able to voice their thoughts to others and analyze those of their peers – sounds like we should all pull up a couch!  

I spent a great deal of time enhancing Dr. Rice’s original book to make it an honors level course by requiring my student to not only do all of the standard assignments, but required him to complete the For Further Study material as well and read some additional books that I selected.  In reviewing Dr. Rice’s newest book, Psychology: A Christian Perspective – High School Edition, I was pleased to find he had included more information specific to the subject of psychology (in contrast to Biblical psychology worldview vs. secular psychology worldview covered so well in the first half of his first book), and he did so in direct correlation to the AP Psychology standards.

Although my son is very settled and articulate in his Christian foundational beliefs, and Dr. Rice’s initial material helped to prepare him to face the opinions and agendas of college professors (and often-times church people as well), he did find he had a slight gap in basic psychology content during his first week of college.  His General Psych class was given an overall assessment of psychology content knowledge, so the professor could get a feel for where the class average was, and my son felt he was slightly behind some of the other students. (This has not been confirmed, it was just my son’s opinion, but he is also known for being a perfectionist.)  This concern of my son helps explain my excitement to find Dr. Rice has adjusted the psychology content in his newest book.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with Dr. Rice’s first book – in fact, I think the books could easily serve two very distinct purposes.  The first book is excellent exposure for those students who do not care to pursue psychology any further than the general education requirements of most colleges; the plus is they will be well exposed to the destructive and anti-Christian beliefs of so many in secular psychology and the college environment in general.  The newest book, Psychology: A Christian Perspective – High School Edition, will definitely prepare students needing further details specifically in psychology for a solid foundation to build upon.  Although you would have some duplication, the two books used together, (this is a very reasonable consideration when you take into play the extremely consumer-friendly price of Dr. Rice’s material) would prepare all students well, no matter where their vocational pursuits take them.  Thank you, Dr. Rice, for recognizing and doing something about, the desperate need to prepare our Christian students to go forward in a strong and equipped manner.  

Sharon Grooms – has been a homeschool mom for 11 years, served in multiple board member capacities with various homeschool support groups during those years, served as a mentor to many homeschool mothers, and runs a support e-loop for homeschool families in the state of South Carolina.