What is the Mission Driven Teen?
The Mission Driven Teen is a God-based, multi-denominational curriculum for youth ages 11-17 which walks them through the 7 Laws of Life Mission. There are currently 2 levels of the program. Level 1 covers Laws 1 & 2: Love of God and Self. Level 2 is a deep dive into Law 3: Love of Truth. Both levels are a full one-year educational program utilizing readings, video trainings, group discussion and activities, as well as personal applications of true principles.
WHAT THEY LEARN
- Dozens of life principles they can apply right now (13 principles lists included)
- Study skills that empower them to find and live the principles
- How scripture reinforces true principles
- How to develop their faith through principle-centered mission-driven living
- What it means to truly love God and establish their divine center
- What it means to truly love yourself and strive for greater self-mastery
- Why and how to develop their character
- What a mission driven life looks like and how to begin living one
- Why and how to meet their real needs—spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional
- Why and how to tell themselves the truth
- The drama triangle—why it happens, how it hurts them, how to get out permanently
- Why and how to ask themselves empowering questions
- Why and how to better control their thoughts
- The role of conscience, forgiveness, blame, and shame in their lives and relationships
- Loads of incredible self-discovery tools: their temperament, strengths, “story”, intelligences, values, and more
- How to use what they’ve learned about themselves to make better life and career choices
- Why and how to write a personal mission statement
HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS
Upon purchase, you will be given instant access to The Mission Driven Teen website which contains all 35+ videos, youth discussions, articles, and other necessary tools for the youth complete the program. The first few pages of the workbook are also available there to print off and begin immediately if desired.
Also included is the “Mentor’s Guide” which is a pdf available to every parent or mentor to guide students through the program over a 28 week period. (The number of weeks can be expanded by adding additional biographies, writing seminars, presentations, activities, field trips, or enrichments suggested in the Mentor’s Guide.)
In the meantime, your full-color hard-copy workbook will be mailed to you. As soon as it arrives you simply follow it step-by-step, completing each item before moving onto the next—watching videos, reading, journaling, and applying what you learn.
The youth can complete the program a few different ways:
- WITH THEIR MOM: Go through the workbook with a parent, watching videos, reading selections, journaling, completing “Live It” activities in the order laid out in the workbook. Parent and youth can do this at their own pace.
- WITH A BOOK CLUB: Parent and youth can go through the material with a group of friends by meeting regularly to share and discuss the principles lists, readings, video trainings, journaling, and “Live It” activities.
- WITH A HOMESCHOOL COMMUNITY: This can be done two ways. 1) Meeting monthly or bi-monthly to share and discuss the content. 2) Like a school class described below, homeschoolers can use the 28-week Mentor’s Guide to meet weekly or bi-weekly and complete discussions, activities, and crafts together.
- IN A SCHOOL CLASS: The extensive Mentor’s Guide we have built is included in every Mission Driven Teen program purchase. It can be utilized by parents, teachers, and mentors to guide a group of youth through the program. The workbook has been designed so that the content matches the exact order of the Mentor’s Guide. The student simply completes the material each week through to the next “Journaling Question” and “Live it” sections. That way, they take time each week to mentally and emotionally process what they’ve learned and practice applying it in some practical way. Of course, anyone guiding a youth through the program is welcome to add additional books, presentations, writing, or other assignments to increase the intensity or length of the program.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is included:
- Full-color, hard cover workbook which walks the teens step by step through the program
- Full website with 35+ video lectures and more
- Recordings of teens discussing the principles and readings
- “Mentor’s Guide” full of activities, questions, and crafts for a full school year
When you purchase The Mission Driven Teen, you’ll have access to all the videos, readings, activities, etc. in the course that are necessary to complete the program for your immediate family for life. When another one of your youth are ready to engage in the program, you’ll simply purchase them their own workbook.
- We already have private schools coming on board
- We have several homeschool communities using it with their students
- There are some youth book clubs that read and discuss the principles and readings together
- Lots of moms and their teens are loving learning the enriching content in their homes
As mentioned above, we will not be offering mentoring or discussions for the teens–we want you to do that! They need you to understand these principles and walk by their side, helping them internalize and live them. We highly recommend you gather a community around you to help inspire and motivate your youth (and maybe you too). Then they get the best of both worlds!
There are definitely several tools to help you guide your teens through these principle-rich materials. First of all, we highly recommend that moms and mentors take advantage of the tools and mentoring available to them in the MDM Academy. In addition to their own learning and practice of the principles, we have included some tools in The Mission Driven Teen program itself. There is a “Mentor’s Guide” with a full 28 week schedule of class materials. These include activities, crafts, questions, and other helps for running an inspiring discussion or class. In addition, having your youth watch the youth discussions and interviews will increase their understanding and motivation–making your mentoring job a bit easier 🙂
Learning how to be lifelong learners is a huge priority in The Mission Driven Teen program. Some of the skills they’ll practice include:
- Identify principles they’ve been given in what they read
- Write compelling study, discussion and application questions
- Find the principles in scripture
- Mark a book
- Effectively listen and discuss their ideas
- Ask compelling questions
- Better apply what they learn
You bet!
- Group of 5-10: 10% off
- Group of 11+: Contact us
For schools and homeschool communities we offer deep discounts, monthly payment plans and more!
We’ve included selections from 14 non-fiction or self-help books which expound on the principles taught and give ideas for application. (These are about middle school reading level. Our youth from ages 11-18 have read, enjoyed, and learned from these books so we know they work.)
There are also 5 novels or biographies which contain stories exemplifying the principles in action in the lives of the characters. We’ve also tried to give parents and mentors leeway in the “Mentor’s Guide” to add other biographies, writing assignments, activities, presentations, or other requirements to make the program more academically demanding, if they desire.
The program has been designed to work in multiple environments—mom and youth, book club, or classroom. It has also been created to be a “go at your own pace” program while still working seamlessly with the “Mentor’s Guide” for homeschooling communities and schools that use it. This means that the workbook follows the “Mentor’s Guide” in exact order, with “Journaling Questions” and “Live It” activities appearing regularly to match the amount of content that would be used in a classroom setting.
It’s designed as one continuous flow of content for mom and teens doing it in the home. But it has also been broken up into 28 lessons for groups, co-ops and schools that teach it.
This can vary widely depending on the student—how fast they read, and how much time they take to mark their books and take notes on the videos. It can also depend on how much effort they put into the journaling questions and Live It activities. In most cases, we think that 3-4 hours per week should be sufficient for most students.
As explained above in the “How It Works” section, it depends on the environment the youth are learning the content in. If with a mom, discussion could happen daily, spontaneously, or weekly depending on how they work through the material. If in a book club, monthly or bi-monthly can work well—following the schedules provided in the MDM Academy. If in a classroom, the “Mentor’s Guide” would most likely be used for weekly or bi-weekly classes.
We provide 13 lists of 3-5 principles – one list per section of the workbook. These are delineated in sentence form such as:
- The Laws of Human Nature are God’s tool for governing mankind.
- Love is the work we do to heal ourselves and others.
- Character is built through small, daily principled choices.
- They are encouraged to look for these principles in the videos and readings. Then they discuss their insights with their parents or mentor.
- We also encourage them to look for and take note of these same principles in scripture.
- They also engage in dozens of “Live It” sections where they are encouraged to take action on the principles.