Are you ready for a life changing experience? This package will encourage you and your family to examine your goals, hopes, dreams, and relationships. The goal is to prepare your pre-adolescent for the changes he/she will be facing in the near future. Based on the philosophy and values taught in their best selling book, Parenting Today's Adolescent, Dennis and Barbara Rainey have meticulously developed a kit that will help you and your pre-teen start down an unfamiliar road with God's guidance and lots of enjoyment as well!

The basic idea is to plan and implement a two-day get away for parent and child. There are five sessions scripted, each with projects to help exemplify specific moral choices your kids will face as they get older. I love this plan! There are so many times when I would have loved to talk with my children, but life intruded in some form or another. We eventually managed to squeeze it all in, but it would have been so much more enjoyable and less stressful if I had taken the time to prepare my heart and mind and then taken the special time for each child as they required it. This kit helps you to do exactly that. There are SO many topics pre-teens need to talk about as they head into puberty. They often feel unsure about what is or is about to happen to their bodies, minds, and emotions. Being there with and for your children is such an important thing at this sensitive time. This package not only helps you plot out the format of discussion, it helps you figure out how to say what you want to say. There is no need to be tongue tied or uncomfortable, because the Rainey's have, with much prayer, provided jumping-in points for anything you can imagine. Passport to Purity is a great guide for just this reason. Plus, it is heaps of fun as well! Here's a breakdown of what's included and how to implement it all.

There are five audiotapes and four sessions (tape three has two sides of the same talk, but one is for boys and one is for girls.) The kids get an adventure journal, and time to enter their thoughts as they proceed throughthe get-away. At the end of the two days, they will receive a "passport" and certificate, and a lot of satisfaction - guaranteed.

The plan is for a time away from home, the suggested range is anywhere from one to three hours. You need the drive to listen to the first session together, so if you don't have a tape player in the car, borrow one with some batteries. You will be planning an overnight stay somewhere. A motel is suggested, but if finances don't allow, try for a friend's house. The need for two days is very evident as you read the contents of the kit - time to relax, concentrate, and open up to discuss the materials. Some of these topics get very specific, so mom and dad are encouraged to preview and then adapt or delete them in any way you feel to make them appropriate for your situation and your child.

As I mentioned, session one is started on the drive to your destination. Everything is guided for you and supplies are prelisted so you can be sure to have everything you will need to do the object lessons and keep things flowing smoothly. Scripture is prevalent throughout all discussions and there are memory songs included as well. The first session is finished up as you arrive at your destination and settle in. I don't want to describe every session in detail because it will be SO fun to experience for yourself. Suffice it to say everything you may anticipate has already been thought through and included in the kit. Discussion flows so much more easily when you have a plan to follow and these tapes are excellently done.

Prayer and discussion will help parents decide when the best time would be for each particular child to participate. The program is designed for children aged 10 to 15, but use your knowledge of your own experiences and your understanding of your kids' environments to guide your decision. Perhaps for some, it should be earlier than age 10.

Time is allotted on the second day of your adventure to get out and do something fun with your child. Pick and plan ahead for this activity, keeping in mind that it's supposed to be something the child would consider great fun. Ideas are provided, but your own area will have its own possibilities. You will enjoy each other and be refreshed and ready to go back and finish the last session.

This time away from home is sure to draw you and your child much closer together and you will be providing much needed time for your pre-teen toidentify and verbalize his/her feelings. This is such an amazing time in the growth of your child and the Rainey's have eased the wonder and wait factor considerably!

Dennis and Barbara and all the team at Family Life Ministries have blessed me with this project. I highly recommend it and as the mother of five, aged four through 20, I wish I had it a long time ago. You can be sure I will use it as my two youngest come up to their teen years. I know you will be blessed as much as I have been by the contents of this package.

My kit came from Homeschooling Mommies. These wonderful ladies operate in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. They have a great list of resources and, best of all, they have personally tried everything they sell and they don't carry anything they don't love themselves, so you have great input and expert advice at the same place. Check out the distributors for Family Life Ministries' website at www.generationsofvirtue.org and get their toll free number. They are available to lend an ear or a shoulder anytime!



-- Product Review by: Heidi Shaw, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine