Lessons are made possible through LifeWise Academy.
Joel Penton, the group’s founder and CEO, said this time of year is special.
"As they attend LifeWise Academy classes, we open up the Bible, we teach them about Jesus, we teach them about his birth, and how He came to be the Savior of the world," Penton told AFN.
LifeWise is now currently offering live programs with students enrolled in 30 states. There are another six states confirmed to launch next year.
"LifeWise uses a little-known strategy called ‘release time religious instruction’ to provide Bible education to public school students during school hours," Penton said.
This was made possible by a Supreme Court decision many years ago.
"Few people realize that, in 1952, the Supreme Court ruled that public school students can be released from public schools during school hours to attend religious classes if the program is off school property, privately funded, and they have parental permission. So, LifeWise Academy is a program that empowers local communities to start these Bible education classes to serve their local public school students,” Penton said.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's decision in McCollum v. Board of Education, New York City began a program in which students in public schools could be dismissed from classroom activities for certain periods to participate in religious instruction elsewhere.
In McCollum, the Court disallowed an Illinois program in which representatives of religious groups came to public schools and taught classes during the school day. New York's "released time" program was upheld by the New York Court of Appeals.
To find out if there is a program up and running in your school district, visit LifeWise.org
Visitors can also find out whether a program is in the works or still needs to begin.
"It starts with collecting signatures from people in the community that say they want it. From then, there's a 10-step process to launch a local LifeWise program," Penton said.
