Reasons I Love the Church of Jesus Christ #3: Free Character Curriculum

My oldest son is four years old so we are in the process of finding him a school to attend in the fall.

I feel very lucky to live in a city with so many excellent elementary school options.

We’ve considered everything from the Hebrew Learning Academy, which has the best outcomes in the city plus an hour of Hebrew every day. To the school of science and technology where every student competes in Lego robot making contests.

This weekend, we visited the last school on our list.

I spoke to the principal and asked him about his school’s pièce de résistance. He immediately went to “character education.”

I remember growing up, that the topic of character education in school was debated, and most of the people that I love and respect felt like character education should be in the school.

But as this principal explained it to me, it all felt so unnecessary.

You see, one of the things I love about the Church is that my kids are getting dedicated character education once a week. With a curriculum I can teach at home all week long.

Some of the topics covered this year include:

• Responsibility
• Confidence
• Decision Making
• Forgiveness
• Peacemaking
• Leadership
• Kindness to others
• Personal happiness
• The Golden Rule
• Planning
• Courage

And that’s only ten weeks into the curriculum. And some of the most important topics like peacemaking and kindness to others have been covered multiple times.

I’m not ultimately trying to make an argument about character education in school. What I am saying is that the curriculum we have for free is of such high quality, I felt my family’s needs were already met that way.

And not only do I have the curriculum, I have a lifetime of practice making time available multiple times throughout the week to make it happen.

Plus other trusted adults who help teach the exact same content.

I’ve known some people who have worked in the Church’s curriculum department. These are hard working people with qualifications that could land them working for most state boards of education. And new content is produced and improved every year.

The curriculum includes readings, worksheets, activities, sing-alongs, schedules.

When I was considering homeschool, I was looking at purchasing curriculum. This level of content is not cheap. But until I was speaking to this principal I had taken it entirely for granted.

I’m not suggesting that this is the only character education out there, or that it matches with everyone’s needs for their kids. That’s obviously not true.

But if we’re counting the ways the church blesses the lives of its members, the wealth of curriculum is an important consideration.