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October-December, 2016

New Book — The Adventures of the Course Kids: Through Faith and Grace

by Rev. Barbara Adams, O.M.C.

Sharing the Teachings of the Course with Children at an Age-Appropriate Level

Sharing and modeling the teachings of A Course in Miracles with children is no different than any other life-lessons we wish to impart to our impressionable youngsters. As a retired educator, I accrued over 32 years of experience in both the classroom and as an administrator. Now as an Ordained Ministerial Counselor through Pathways of Light Spiritual College, my goal in this article is to compare teaching age-appropriate lessons at school with teaching age-appropriate lessons to our children from the Course.

As a former health teacher, I taught numerous lessons to middle school students that were developed and delivered at the children’s maturity level. Having assisted in the writing of the approved curriculum, topics for kindergarten through senior year could be identical. However, the focus, scope and sequence of the material was geared to the cognitive and emotional level of the students.

The questions, “Who’s my audience?” and “What’s my purpose?” informed my lesson planning and delivery. If the topic were Human Sexuality, my audience of elementary students would be learning about such areas as: respect for myself; respect for others; caring for my body; being kind; speaking up for myself (assertiveness); the right to say ‘no;’ setting boundaries (appropriate touch/inappropriate touch); that ‘uh-oh’ feeling and sharing those instances with parents/a safe adult; etc.

Yet the same topic of Human Sexuality offered to a high school class would delve deeply into such areas as: anatomy and physiology of the reproductive system; relationship building; respect for myself and others; rights and responsibilities of those in a relationship; abstinence reinforced, as well as teaching about safer sex practices, including contraception, use of condoms; assertiveness and rights; sexual abuse and sexual assault, etc.

As you can see the spectrum of content and delivery is quite large on the very sensitive topic of Human Sexuality. But the gifted and informed teacher can deliver that range of content at age-appropriate levels, necessarily taking cognitive and emotional maturity into consideration.

Such may be the approach with modeling and reinforcing teachings of the Course. It would be absurd, and many rightfully argue, detrimental to ask children to negate their ego. First of all, they’d look at the parent/caregiver as though they were speaking an unknown language while wrestling with the term. “What’s an ego?”

For a child, healthy ego development is necessary for self-identity. It’s what we adults do or don’t do with our egos that causes us conflict.

The first area that needs to be clarified are the terms: to teach and teacher. To teach is not simply to lecture. We all know that, no matter the age, lecturing is the quickest way to turn off the listener. However, to teach is to model; to explain; to demonstrate; to provide examples; to encourage inquiry, thoughtful, reflective thinking; to provide a stimuli and present opportunities for exploration; to talk less and listen more.

With a broader understanding of what it means to teach, the teacher then becomes…anyone who provides the above opportunities. As parents/caregivers the way we live our lives and how we encourage emotional, physical, mental and spiritual growth of our children is key. By honoring their innate wisdom that may lie dormant we offer our children one of the greatest gifts. Our task is to help them excavate that wisdom and recognize their power.

The book I wrote, The Adventures of the Course Kids: Through Faith and Grace ©2014, is geared to the 6-14-year old age group. This colorful, professionally illustrated book is my attempt to provide a springboard for teaching Course lessons at age-appropriate levels, and to encourage children to unearth their God-given wisdom.

Here’s the synopsis found on the back cover: “Grace wants nothing to do with helping out at the city’s soup kitchen.  “They’re not like us, Mom,” she protests to Faith’s request for volunteering her time. But the lovingly patient mother simply asks her daughter to see with her heart.  ‘Tell me what you see now and then again before we leave,’ Faith ask as Grace balks at entering the Hospitality House. Not surprisingly, Grace’s transformation takes place through lessons learned from the most unsuspecting teachers at the shelter.

Grace’s mother, Faith teaches by modeling, by gently questioning, by honoring, by extending love and by joining with her daughter and the guests at the House. As her daughter’s teacher, she provides the age-appropriate opportunity for other teachers to unexpectedly emerge and help her reinforce Grace’s lessons of love, trust, peace and joy, and ultimately offering forgiveness.

Following the narrative, I have provided suggested teaching techniques that parents/caregivers may use as a guide to assist them in teaching and reinforcing the lessons from the story.

The Adventures of the Course Kids: Through Faith and Grace will be made available at Pathways of Light bookstore.

“See with Your Heart” is the song written and sung by Rev. Barbara (Franco) Adams. This professionally recorded song is meant to be Faith’s song to her daughter, Grace. For ninety-nine cents the mp3 can be downloaded at iTunes.com

© 2016, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this copyright notice and website address are included.

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