I was paid a wee bit to write this review, but just like with all things from The WOLFe Pack, what you will find here is an honest opinion from a seasoned homeschool mom with a Master’s Degree in Education and a decade of experience in the classroom…who also happens to be a mom with way too little sleep, too many dishes to do and only 9 months left on her homeschool clock.
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It is a common choice for homeschooling parents to send their kids to a brick-and-mortar option when they reach the High School years. Sometimes the choice is made because the student wants to participate in sports, music or some other type of group program. Sometimes it’s due to a real concern for lack of socialization and preparing for the “real world.” But, oftentimes, it’s because parents feel inadequate to teach High School level courses.
As a result, there seems to be a lot of watered-down curriculum options with the sole intent of making it easier on parents and giving the student an easy way to “just get it done” to earn the credit and move on. If you are not one of those parents, this thorough Comparative Religions course from Master Books might be a good fit for you.
Read on for a full review.
HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM REVIEW – Comparative Religions: Practical Apologetics for the Real World by Master Books
WHO/WHAT IS MASTER BOOKS?
Since 1975, the mission statement of Master Books has been “Ink on Paper to Touch Eternity.” Master Books publishes Christian homeschool curriculum that cover all subjects and grade levels. Their intention is that “when we place a Master Books title into someone’s hands, their faith in God and His Word is going to grow.”
Master Books refers to what they have to offer as based on an eclectic style of homeschooling but I have never thought of “eclectic” that way before. Buying all subjects from one company always seemed the opposite of eclectic but Master Books is calling their curriculum eclectic because it was created using different homeschool approaches.
“You may see parts of our style that follow a traditional approach, the living stories and shorter lessons similar to a Charlotte Mason approach, or a child-centered, hands-on approach like the Montessori method. Our focus is on developing solutions that are neurodevelopmentally appropriate and use recognized cognitive learning practices to get the best results in a real-world environment.”
WHAT IS MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION COURSE?
From their website, “This high school Bible curriculum for homeschool students is the perfect resource to prepare your them to stand strong in their faith when they face philosophies of other religions. This one-year elective course guides your student in the study of over 50 world religious views, always with a focus on the Word of God as the standard and with a heart of compassion to share the Gospel to all. Many adults have chosen to take this course as well. This powerful Christian resource will equip your family to understand the errors within these religious views and point the followers to the only hope of salvation — Jesus Christ. Jesus said, ‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself’ (John 12:32).”
From The WOLFe Pack, Master Books’ Comparative Religions is not only a thorough tool to educate your kids about different faiths, it is an exhaustive approach to teaching them how to defend their faith while also equipping them to lead others to Christ.
IS MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION WORTH HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT?
YES! On their site, they list it as being “equivalent to one credit” and I would absolutely agree. The amount of reading is heavy, but more importantly, the rigor of the material is thorough.
WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION CURRICULUM?
The Comparative Religions Curriculum Pack consists of three hefty (both in size and content) books, a Teacher Guide and a timeline chart.
- World Religions and Cults Vol. 1 – a clear and thorough analysis of “counterfeit” religions such as Mormonism, Islam, Deism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Zoroastrianism, and many more (424 pages)
- World Religions and Cults Vol. 2 – an explanation of many Eastern religions including Hinduism, Taoism, New Age, Sikhism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Buddhism, as well as other pagan-based systems like Witchcraft, Voodoo, Greek mythology and more (492 pages)
- World Religions and Cults Vol. 3 – a focus on the atheistic or humanistic type of religions (334 pages)
- Comparative Religions Teacher Guide – includes the suggested weekly schedule and has easy-to-manage lessons that guide the reading, student worksheets and all assessments. The answer key is also included.
- World Religions and Cults Generalized Timeline – a 24”x 40” chart providing a church and denominational breakdown.
You can take a quick peek at each item and see my absolute favorite piece here in this short video.
HOW IS MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION COURSE FORMATTED?
The Comparative Religions course is formatted very simply, which we found both refreshing and helpful. (I’m not knocking other curriculum options, but sometimes things seem unnecessarily complicated.)
The Teacher Guide lays out the schedule, provides all worksheets/assessments and includes answers as well.
The guide divides the course into four nine-week quarters with one lesson scheduled each day.
Each lesson should take 45-60 minutes to complete and the expectation is that five lessons are completed each week.
Of course, there is flexibility in the schedule. As is true with most homeschool courses, it’s up to the parent and student how to format the course but the Teacher Guide certainly gives you a very clear and simple plan.
WHAT IS IN A LESSON FOR MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION COURSE?
Each lesson includes one task which might be reading several pages of one of the three textbooks, completing a worksheet based on previous reading, studying for a test or taking an assessment.
WHAT DOES MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION COURSE COVER?
Though the way a course is organized and presented matters a lot to both my high schooler and me, it’s really the content that is the most important. I mean, it’s much easier to restructure a class to your liking than it is to adjust the content. And, while I have spent several hours adjusting content by taking things out, adding things in, reordering lessons, etc, doing that with a high-level course like Comparative Religions would be very time-consuming and labor-intensive. So, knowing the content, I think, should help you make the best decision regarding this curriculum choice.
Below you will find the titles of each chapter for each of the three books:
Volume One: World Religion and Cults – Counterfeits of Christianity
- God vs. Man
- Defending the Faith: Approaching World Religions
- What is Biblical Christianity and Why Is It Different?
- A Brief Intro to Christianity
- How Is Roman Catholicism Different?
- How Is Eastern Doxology Different?
- Counterfeits of Christianity: The Overview
- Islam
- Jehovah’s Witness
- Judaism
- Mormonism
- The Bahai faith
- Deism
- Satanism
- Freemasonry
- Zoroastrianism
- Worldwide Church of the Creator
- Moonies/The Unification Church
- The Triune God
- Is Jesus the Creator God? A Look at John 1:1-3
Volume Two: World Religion and Cults – Moralistic, Mythical and Mysticism Religions
- Eastern Mysticism Religions: The Overview
- The New Age Movement
- Taoism
- Hinduism (with Hare Krishna)
- Jainism
- Sikhism
- Moralistic and Mythological Religions: The Overview
- Paganism
- Voodooism
- Wicca and Witchcraft
- Druidism
- Animism
- Egypt’s Ancient Religion
- Norse and Germanic Mythology
- Syncretism in Latin American Religions
- Greek Mythology
- Stoicism
- Shinto
- Buddhism
- Confucianism
- Unitarianism
- The Gospel and World Religions
- Tools for Engaging People from Other Religions
- The Irrationality of Atheism, Polytheism, Deism and Unitarianism
Volume Three: World Religion and Cults – Atheistic and Humanistic Religions
- Secular and Atheistic Religions: Overview
- Atheism
- Agnosticism
- Secular Humanism
- Nazisim
- Scientology
- Communism
- Postmodernism
- Epicureanism and Evolutionary Religions
- Dualism
- Christian Syncretism
- Naturalism
- Materialism
- Empiricism
- Afterlife: What Must I Do to Be Saved?
- The Bible vs. Other Alleged Holy Books
- What Makes a Christian Martyr Different Than Other Religious Martyrs?
- Do Secularists Have a Foundation for Morality?
- Intelligent Design Movement
- Is Evolutionary Humanism the Most Blood-Stained Religion Ever?
- Responding to Atheist Propaganda
- Responding to Skeptics
- Evolution Is a “God of the Gaps”
WHERE CAN YOU PURCHASE MASTER BOOKS’ COMPARATIVE RELIGION CURRICULUM?
You can get The Comparative Religions Curriculum Pack directly on the Master Books site here where it is currently listed for less than $60, which I think is an excellent price for a year-long High School course of this caliber!
