Church Approved Material

What is the difference between using Church Approved Material and all the other wonderful stuff out there? Here’s the 411…

Church Approved Material (Anything you can find on LDS.ORG or at the Distribution Center)
Advantages:
1. It has been approved by Church Leaders (You can feel good about using it)
2. It is simplified and basic and easy to understand and teach
3. It is comprehensive, there is a lot of material already out there
4. It is practically free. The church magazines are extremely inexpensive for the amount of material you get in each issue.
5. It is kind of like giving your students or family meat and potatoes instead of candy. It is wholesome and good for them.
6. You can get all of it online
7. You won’t get into trouble with copyright issues if you want to use it interchangeably between organizations.
Disadvantages:
1. Printing GRAPHICS from the Internet is not as good as making copies from the originals.
2. Because of #1 you will have to store material for later use and that can be time consuming and messy.
3. It is not always easy to find what you are looking for online, even if you use the exact title of the article. (Tips for Searching the Online Website coming soon)

Unapproved Material – Anything that IS NOT on LDS.ORG or sold at the Church Distribution Center.
Advantages:
1. There is a lot of fun stuff that coordinates with the lessons
2. The material in some cases is easier to use and make multiple copies of. Perhaps they are bigger or in black and white etc.
3. The material is usually categorized by lessons and or organization and can be easier to find and correlate with other material
4. They are interactive. The activities are fun for the children to use, manipulate and color.
5. The illustrations are cute and easy on the eyes.
Disadvantages:
1. Using unapproved material is discouraged
2. It can become costly
3. It is difficult to customize
4. There are copyright issues and limitations (read front cover of material to find out the copyright restrictions)
5. It might not represent the church or the gospel in a way that the church would approve of.