ATTNETION: MIDDLE SCHOOL PARENTS

Hello Parents,

Beginning December 6, 2008 we begin a very special (and critical) event in the life of your Middle School Child.

We start a gender-based small group Bible Study called Becoming a Young Woman of God and Becoming a Young Man of God.

Sabbath mornings, 9:30 - 10:20 AM
Girls meet in Room 111
Boy meet in Room 218

Our team has been praying and preparing for this Bible Study for quite some time. We have been praying and fasting for you (parents) and for your Middle School children.

We are praying and are expecting Holy Spirit change in the lives of your children.
The Team that will be leading this study will be more than teachers. They will be coaches and mentors. The team is:

Krista Mainess Ron Mainess
Angie Bernard Sherman Bernard
Eunice De Jesus Manny Cruz
Ann Roda Jose St. Phard

Parents, your role is going to be mission critical to the success of this study. How you can help will be explained in detail below.

Parent's Role and Responsibility

1. We need you to get your kids here on time every Saturday morning. The program begins 9:30 AM sharp!! Please don't have your Middle Schooler miss out on very important lessons and discussions.

2. We need you to give us permission to talk with your kids on important matters such as virginity, sex, homosexuality, bisexuality, suicide, self-mutilation, drugs and alcohol. We may address some ethical and moral issues such as infidelity, co-habitation, having children outside of marriage, rape, abortion, gay marriage, mercy killing, and racial matters.

Here's the bottom line, these are issues that are prevalent in the news, radio, popular songs, movies, and tv. They are already talking to their friends about these issues. If we do not create a place for kids to talk they will establish their ethical and moral values from the prevailing culture.

3. We need you actively involved. We will be happy to provide you a copy of the curriculum so you can follow along.
We will even share with you (via email) some of the issues that were brought up and discussed by the kids so you can further prompt discussion at home.
We are going to assure the kids that we will keep their comments in confidence unless we have their permission. However, if we are aware of a
situation that is life-threatening or dangerous to the youth or to others, we will be sharing it with the parent/s of that youth.
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If you have any questions, please, please contact me, Pastor Ann, at 301-854-1866 (office) or 301-741-1926 (cell).

We (our team) want to be open and transparent with you and will never usurp your authority as parents. Our goal is to support you in helping your middle schooler become a thriving young woman or young man of God.

If you have a daughter, please read the details of this lesson study below.
If you have a son please scroll down to the section that will explain what your son will be studying.

MIDDLE SCHOOL DAUGHTER
An 8-week curriculum for Middle School gals (grades 6-8)

Goal: Helping middle school girls learn to become the women God has created them to be.
Our middle school girls are told a lot about who they’re supposed to be. Media and culture have a great influence over how they behave, dress, and think, and more often than not, it’s not a very becoming image. Becoming a woman is about more than clothes, makeup, and boyfriends – it is something more. It is about becoming the young women God has created them to be.

Becoming is a study that will help young girls discover who they truly are, and help them see who they can become. Using games, activities, quizzes, projects and crafts, movie clips, music, and stories, girls will be involved in a study that will help them
find their true value. In this study, middle school girls will:

• know their true value and develop self-respect
• gain a godly perspective on body image and modesty
• learn to set goals and boundaries
• begin to understand their feelings
• accept who they are

MIDDLE SCHOOL SON
An 8-week curriculum for Middle School guys (grades 6-8)
Goal: Helping middle school guys become the young men God created them to be.
From the time they’re born, boys are given a “code” to live by: don’t cry, don’t play with dolls, don’t be a wimp…you get the picture. For a middle school guy, it’s tough enough to figure out what it means to just be yourself—let alone how to become a man.
Becoming is an eight-week study that will help young guys discover what it really means to be a man. With fun, interactive activities and age-appropriate discussion questions, this study will help middle school guys learn how they can become the men God created them to be.

In this study, the guys will:
• critically examine what they’ve been taught about what it means to be a man
• explore the rich heritage of men in the Bible
• discover their identity in God
• find new ways to feel confident