Hi Dr. Rice,
I just wanted to say “thanks!” because I passed the Psychology CLEP and now have 27 college credits I’m glad my mom found your book, as I feel it gave me a good foundation in a subject I had never thought about before, and was a little intimidated by. But not anymore – Psychology is fascinating! I especially appreciated your balanced approach and one sentence in particular from the preface (I think) about if Christ is the Lord of all, then he is Lord of Psych, and if we are to have the mind of Christ, then we should reclaim Psychology for Christ. I found that sentence particularly encouraging as it took the “freaky” out of Psych for me, and gave me a great perspective during my whole course of study. So Bravo!
Joyfully, Becky B.
Hello Tim, my daughter Rebecca took a class online with you over a year ago. We have another daughter that may be interested in the class.
Mary B.
I love the class, It’s so interesting!
McKenna from Wisconsin
Well I am duel-enrolled at Chat Tech and am taking PSYC1101. If I hadn’t take your course last year I would be so lost in this class right now. We covered everything that is basically the first two chapters of my text book. Thanks to your course I went in with a good idea on the major contributors to psychology (which is what the entire first chapter of my text book is about) and the different types or views of psychology (second chapter in my book).
… please know that if I hadn’t been introduced to this stuff then, I would be in alot of trouble now. Thank you
Elizabeth from Georgia
Hello again,
I wanted to take the time to tell you how thankful I am that Sarah is taking your class! It really was an answer to prayer.
I have a bookstore that carries homeschooling materials. One day a customer came in and was looking for info on a Christian Psychology course. I googled it and found yours. Just from reading the description, I knew it was something I would want Sarah to take and I signed up within just a few days. It has exceeded my expectations.
Because Sarah is interested in the nursing field, and because of the worldview issues that permeate every aspect of our society, I wanted her to get solid understanding of the Christian worldview while understanding the concepts out there. I find that, of course, with secular materials, you don’t get the Christian perspective, and with the Christian materials, you often don’t get the secular. They try to hide it from the kids, or try to, what is it? …. it is a fallacy that we read about in her logic materials ….they exaggerate the other’s viewpoint so to try to make it sounds ridiculous. I think that most of the time, kids (especially kids like Sarah) see through this and it weakens any attempt to show them truth.
I haven’t had time to read all of the text, but I really hope to. I read the first chapter and watched bits and pieces of some of the sessions and I am most impressed with how logically and clearly you take the students through the concepts. You are somehow objective while presenting a Christian worldview at the same time. So, it comes off much more credible in the eyes of a teen who is finding her way.
I like the format of the online class. I like the chat option and the way you can show materials to the students during the lecture. I know highschoolers can be a rough crowd. Getting participation out of them can be like pulling teeth. But you handle it very well. Probably helps that you have teens yourself. Sure, there have been a few bugs with the system, but nothing major. We had a harder time navigating the Red Cross classes that Sarah took online.
I also appreciate the feedback that you have given Sarah on her homework. Essay writing has been one of the things I wanted her to work on this semester and this has given me the perfect opportunity. Your feedback has been very encouraging and helpful. I’m impressed that though this is not a writing course, you give such clear instruction and expectations, complete with rubric. I’ve seen far less from English Comp I instructors at our communitiy college where my older girls attended! Writing an essay a week has stretched Sarah, but it is such a great idea and great way to get the students to dig in and understand the material.
Thank you for your work and for sharing your professional experience with the homeschool community in this way. I will definitely recommend this class to others in my area!
Jenny L.
Dr. Tim Rice’s homeschool psychology course, titled Psychology: A Christian Perspective, is sure to become a homeschool high school favorite for parents and teens.
Dr Rice writes his homeschool psychology course from his experience as a mental health professional and homeschooling dad. His goal is to equip and prepare young Christians – especially homeschool high school and pre-college students for atheistic college professors and classrooms.
Many young people abandon their faith once they leave home or go off to college. William Wilberforce in his book, Real Christianity (1797), writes that one of the reasons young people leave their faith is because they don’t know how to think. Dr Rice’s course definitely gets students thinking!
Since most students will have to take a psychology course in college, our children need to know how to discern anti-Christian and anti-scientific philosophies, and recognize false teachings and assumptions in psychological theories.
I love knowing that Dr Rice was prompted to write this homeschool psychology course because of his daughter, Katie. She was preparing to head to college and he wanted her to be ready for the inevitable attacks on her faith. With that in mind, I see Psychology: A Christian Perspective as a must-have manual that all Christian teens should complete before embarking on college-level learning.
Dr Rice’s homeschool psychology course contains 15 chapters that are set-up and cover the same topics as a college-level psych 101 class. He has a conversational writing-style that engages students; bold typing highlights important words and phrases for easy reading, reference and learning.
Chapters are between 10-15 pages long; each chapter contains a brief snapshot of chapter topics, as well as key quotes, applicable verses, a chapter summary and questions for review.
When I was a teen…
When I was a teen, my dad wrote a verse in my bible that I will never forget: Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Here is the same verse in the New International Reader’s Version: “Make sure no one captures you. They will try to capture you by using false reasoning that has no meaning. Their ideas depend on human teachings. They also depend on the basic things the people of this world believe. They don’t depend on Christ.” As parents, we need to make sure our children are ready to go out into the world; they need to be aware of the teachings of today and discern truth from error.
Dr Rice takes the study of psychology and aligns it with scripture. I really like how he teaches – he tells students what secular psychologists believe and compares these thoughts and beliefs to a biblical worldview. He also cautions them as to what they will find in their introductory college psychology textbooks. When your teen is sitting in their future Psych 101 class, they may even hear Dr Rice speaking in their ear, reminding them about what they learned. 🙂
Besides learning about typical areas of psychology like: the brain and nervous system, sensation and perception, learning and memory, human development, personality, etc., your student will wrestle and think through questions like:
What is worldview and epistemology?
What do you believe about God, the nature of Mankind and moral absolutes?
In what way is secular humanism inconsistent with a Christian worldview?
These questions are discussed at the beginning of the course, so your student will have a firm foundation to work from as they go through the rest of the book. At the end of Chapter 2, Dr Rice even warns students to “Stop Reading” and do not continue the course until they are clear about their worldview.
If you or your student are unsure of your own worldview, Dr Rice recommends reading, What’s a Christian Worldview? by Del Tackett.
Because the area of psychology has been maligned by secularists, many Christians don’t know what to think. As Christian parents, we can’t avoid this subject. If your child is going to college, they will most likely have to take a psychology course. Strengthen their foundation now before they walk into the college classroom. Dr Rice helps students and adults weed through the myriad of subject material that make-up this discipline, so you and your student can interact with those who oppose your faith, or pick out the subtle challenges to your worldview that are so prevalent today.
I don’t usually go through my teen’s curriculum for myself, but this is one course I will be reading from cover to cover!
Heather Gneco – Originally published at http://www.homeschool-curriculum-savings.com/homeschool-psychology-course.html
Dear Dr. Rice,
Sorry that it as taken so long to get back to you. I have been reading! This is fantastic and I cannot wait to be to recommend it to other local homeschool coop programs, as well as our own! You did a great job retaining who you are as an author and incorporating all of the “must haves” in an introductory psychology course. I even loved that you put the research methods in the back, for that is my least favorite subject to teach; even though important it is best understood after the concepts of the “who, what and where” of psychology are accomplished. I am not even halfway through, I keep thinking I will just skim it, but I find myself reading.
Thank you so much for sharing. I wish you the best with this edition and in my small corner of the world with mention it whenever I can.
I would even be tempted to take the word high school off to allow its use in college programs.
Pam P.
Dr. Rice,
I wanted to send you a brief note to thank you for writing Psychology: A Christian Perspective. I taught this class as an elective this past school-year and all of the students thoroughly enjoyed the myriad of discussions to which it lead us.
I was not able to teach the entire book, but that’s OK because I teach students and not books. The material in the book was clearly presented from a Christian worldview. I found myself looking forward to the lesson preparation time as I digested the information. Thank you for ministering to our students in Vermont through the valuable resource of Psychology: A Christian Perspective.
In Christ, Dr. Randy K.
Hi Tim
Just wanted to let you know that we’ve completed our Psychology study using your book! It was a great resource – we had 6 high school age students in our group and they would read one chapter a week, do the review questions, and then meet to discuss the chapter. We used some of the ideas and resources from the teacher guide when we met.
Some of the kids are planning to take the Psychology CLEP test now that we have finished the book. I’ll let you know how they do but so far, on their practice tests, they are doing great and should have no problem passing the real test.
All that to say thank you for the awesome resource! We really appreciated the Christian worldview and found it interesting and helpful to our walk as Christians 🙂
Blessings, Cheri
It might seem that secular science has proved that the only reality is physical, and the spiritual realm is not only unnecessary but also wholly unreal. What is biology but the evolution of matter to adapt to an ever-changing ecology? What is the cosmos but the accidental explosion of molecules? What is thought but the operation of a giant muscle, and emotion but the same?
This is what seems to be true to the majority in our culture. But here’s the thing about modern secular science: its practitioners are bound by the presupposition that the spiritual realm doesn’t exist, and this becomes the circular logic by which they believe science to have proven that the spiritual realm doesn’t exist. Nothing is proven, but the results are accepted without doubt.
So what seems to be and what actually is may not be the same thing. In fact, from the Christian worldview perspective the “truth” of secular science and the reality of the Christian worldview are at odds. Not only is there a spiritual component to reality, it actually accounts for many of the physical phenomena we witness in the material world.
Dr. Tim Rice applies his understanding of the Christian worldview to the study of psychology in Psychology: A Christian Perspective High School Edition, in which he questions the materialist presuppositions of modern psychological theory and replaces them with the presupposition that God exists and has made people in his image.
How Does This Work?
The student textbook contains 15 chapters that can be completed at the student or teacher’s own pace. Each one begins with a list of topics covered, followed by text with black and white illustrations (diagrams, photos, etc.) and inset boxes containing terms, definitions, ideas, and important facts.
At the end of every chapter is a fairly long chapter summary and questions for review to students to answer on paper. There’s also a teacher’s guide which contains chapter summaries and outlines, key concepts and people, activities, discussion questions, learning objectives, ideas for further study, review questions, chapter quizzes, and answer keys.
This course lends itself to both a student-directed and a teacher-led approach. If you don’t have time to teach or interact much with your student, they can work through the material on their own and submit review question answers and quizzes to you for grading. However, much of the material is challenging, and discussion is encouraged.
Rice begins by defining psychology and analyzing its origins. Chapter 2 might seem like an abrupt about face for some, but it’s vitally important: here Rice unpacks the idea of a Christian worldview, defines and describes epistemology (how we know what we know), and begins to look at how a Christian should approach the study and practice of psychology.
The following chapters investigate the history of psychology, the people who’ve shaped the discipline, the influence of Darwinism on psychology, and its major ideas and principles. Rice covers both the theoretical aspects and the physical and physiological aspects of studying the mind, reminding us that the Greek word “psyche” actually means soul.
Many questions appear throughout the text concerning what the relationship of a Christian ought to be to psychology. Should a Christian be a counselor? a therapist? a social worker? Are there any aspects of the discipline off limits to a believer, or is it all based on objective study and practice? Rice answers these questions by constant reference to a biblical worldview.
Treatment of psychology as a discipline is evenhanded. Much of the content is simply informative, so that students will have a good idea what they’ll encounter in college or elsewhere. When Rice comments in his capacity as a Christian, he’s clear that what he’s doing is thinking about psychology and its claims from a Christian perspective.
Our Honest Opinion
Psychology is an important subject, and one that Christians can’t afford to ignore. Unfortunately, it is often ignored by teachers and curriculum writers, so that students have no practice thinking about it biblically before they encounter the many ideas within psychology from a secular perspective that undermines everything they believe.
This book is an excellent corrective. Dr. Rice doesn’t just scrape the surface, instead treating psychology with respect in the sense that he takes it seriously, but the deeper he goes the more thoroughly he invokes God’s inspired Word as the only true guide for making sense of the many concepts taught by psychologists.
Psychology: A Christian Perspective is pretty demanding. Students won’t be able to just skim the rather dense text, and many of the ideas they encounter will be hard to wrestle with, but it’s a rewarding study and one that will help them understand exactly what’s at stake in the war between secularism and Christianity.
Rice avoids the extremes of those who accept secular psychology without reservation as well as those who demonize psychology altogether and reject all of its claims. He’s very skeptical, but he also clearly knows what he’s talking about, and we know of no other course on this topic (especially for high school students) half as thorough. Highly recommended.
Review by C. Hollis Crossman. Exodus Books