My lay opinion- IIRC, term is fixed with no return of premiums, and whole-life is where there is some future return of premiums invested, right? My recommendations:
Term, and for the period of time when you no longer have to support the kids or pay for their school... say, until they're 22 or so (and presumably past college). The amount should be for whatever it woud cost to pay the house off and pay for educational expenses, so the survivors don't have to radically change their lifestyles mid-stream. After that point, there is little left to protect, presuming you're also saving for retirement and the survivors will be able to support themselves.
Whole life is just a different way of investing, where you don't have as much control over where the money is invested and where the upper limit to the amount of profit you could make is capped. Check expenses/costs for the two, and you'll see that term is cheaper overal, IIRC. Now, if you've got no other retirement, there are more effective ways to achieve that goal, too.
Geez, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about, huh! Get professional advice from a non-interested party- NOT the guy selling the insurance! [:D]