Should Christians Use Montessori Schools?

The new Netflix "Little House on the Prairie" series has arrived, and Christian parents are asking whether it's a good fit for their families. In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz rereads the original Laura Ingalls Wilder book and watches all eight episodes to walk you through where the series follows the story and where it veers off. She highlights the positive elements, the content cautions worth knowing ahead of time (including darker themes the book never explores), and the way the series views 19th century pioneers through a modern lens. Most importantly, she offers four biblically grounded worldview questions you can use after any episode to help your children think critically and biblically about the stories they take in.

Disney's live-action Moana is in theaters, and it offers Christian families more than a decision about ticket prices. In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz reviews the 2026 film and walks parents through four biblically grounded questions to discuss with their children: how God as Creator differs from Te Fiti, what Scripture says about a human's relationship to the ocean, what our true identity as image bearers is, and where the film's themes of self-sacrificial love point to the true story of Christ. Along the way she notes the content parents should be aware of and offers a framework for using film to train kids to evaluate every idea they encounter through a biblical worldview. Whether or not your family sees the movie, this conversation will help you turn a popular film into an opportunity for discipleship.

Is Montessori a good fit for a Christian family? If you're weighing a Montessori school against a Christian one, this episode gives you a careful, fair place to start.Elizabeth Urbanowicz evaluates pure Montessori philosophy point by point, using the American Montessori Society's own description, and holds each part up to Scripture. You'll hear where Montessori genuinely reflects how God designed children, their curiosity, the value of mixed-age classrooms, and learning at an individual pace, and where its underlying view of human nature falls short of a biblical understanding. Along the way, Elizabeth shares the specific questions every parent should ask before enrolling a child in any Montessori school.

How do you teach kids to honor authority while also recognizing when an adult is asking them to do something wrong? In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz takes the question to Scripture. She walks through what the Bible says about submitting to parents, government, husbands, and the church, then turns to two examples of righteous disobedience, the Hebrew midwives who defied Pharaoh (Exodus 1) and Peter and John before the Sanhedrin (Acts 4). The dividing line in every case is God's Word, which is why teaching kids to read and understand Scripture for themselves is the real goal.

Should you take your kids to Toy Story 5, and what should you talk about afterward?In this biblical worldview movie review, Elizabeth Urbanowicz walks through Pixar's "toy meets tech" story, where 8-year-old Bonnie gets a tablet and slowly drifts from imaginative play, real friendship, and even the people right in front of her. It's a fun film with surprising depth, and it opens the door to real conversations with your children.In this episode:Why do humans long for friendship, and what does Genesis reveal about it?What makes in-person friendship different from online friendship?Why is imaginative play so good for children?How can technology isolate us, even from the people in the same room?Where do we see true love modeled in the film, and how does it echo the gospel?Plus two bonus questions about what the movie's wedding scene gets backward, and the beautiful symbolism behind a Christian wedding ceremony.Whether or not you choose to see the film, you'll walk away with seven biblically grounded questions to help your kids think critically and biblically about screens, friendship, and what they were made for.

At what age is a child ready to participate in the Lord's Supper? And what questions should parents even be asking to find out?In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz works through four biblical questions that can help you think through this as a family. Should a child be baptized first? Does the age matter? If so, why? And how can parents include younger children in the rhythm of communion even before they take the elements themselves?If you have been wondering how to handle this question in your own home, this episode gives you a framework to start.

You and your daughter hear a pro-choice argument that catches you off guard: if a building were on fire and you could only save the newborns in the nursery or the frozen embryos in the freezer, everyone would save the newborns, so embryos must not be as valuable. How do you respond?In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz uses that exact argument to teach a simple, repeatable way to evaluate any objection that gives you pause. You'll learn how to:Pin down what an argument is really claiming, premise by premise.Pressure-test each premise to see whether it actually holds up.Respond wisely, with disarming questions that open a real conversation instead of a debate.You'll also hear why the gut instinct that an embryo is "less human" than a born baby falls apart under examination, and how a single well-placed question can expose the hidden flaw in the burning-building scenario. It is a conversation that will sharpen your own thinking and give you the tools to train your children to do the same.Resources mentioned: What Is Truth? (a picture book for ages 4 to 7) and the Careful Thinking curriculum (ages 10 and up), both available at foundationworldview.com.Have a question you would like answered on a future episode? Submit it at foundationworldview.com/podcast.

When a nine-year-old asks whether his agnostic dad is going to hell, how do you answer honestly without making him afraid of God? In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz walks parents through a Scripture-anchored way to respond: starting with what the Bible says rather than your own opinion, and giving children the fuller picture of who needs rescue, what God has done in Christ, and how deeply God desires the salvation of the very person they're worried about. Along the way, she offers practical encouragement for loving and praying for an unbelieving spouse, and for helping a child reflect Christ at home without carrying a weight that was never theirs to bear.

Your nine-year-old says another girl on her soccer team is pretty, and now she's worried she might be gay. How do you respond?In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz works through a real parent's question and gives Christian families three biblical truths to teach their kids:We are all drawn to beauty by design, because God Himself is the source of all beauty.It is natural to be drawn to people of the same sex we want to be like, not be with.Even a child who grows up experiencing same-sex attraction can still honor God in that struggle.Along the way, Elizabeth shares stories from her own middle school years and a single profound question from a friend in apologetics that reframes the conversation entirely.

Are popular Christian worship songs actually biblical? On this episode of the Foundation Worldview Podcast, Elizabeth Urbanowicz tackles a question we receive often from parents: how do we teach our kids to think critically about Christian music without raising a generation of cynics?Elizabeth begins with an important caveat about pursuing discernment with humility rather than pride, then walks through a simple framework parents can use at home. She introduces three categories every Christian worship song tends to fall into and models the evaluation process by going line by line through Hillsong's "What a Beautiful Name," comparing each verse and chorus against passages from John 1, Romans 1, Hebrews 1, Philippians 2, Acts 17, and Romans 8.Along the way, Elizabeth touches on songs by MercyMe, Jesus Culture, and Michael W. Smith, and closes with two diagnostic questions every Christian parent can ask the next time a worship song comes on in the car. Whether you're trying to choose songs for family worship, evaluate what your kids are hearing at youth group, or simply build a stronger habit of biblical discernment in your home, this episode gives you a practical place to start.If you'd like to equip your children to read, interpret, and apply Scripture on their own (the foundation that makes biblical evaluation of anything possible), check out the Foundation Worldview Studying the Bible curriculum at foundationworldview.com.