Survey: Principle Approach/ Curriculum

Hi Everyone!

I've had a long break from blogging! I find that my schedule may begin to allow for me to blog a little here and there vs. hardly ever.

As I consider where to take the blog and how to design the curriculum I'm writing, will you help me by answering some questions? If you'd rather e-mail me your thoughts, that's fine. Otherwise, please leave a comment in the comments section. :-)

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Survey: Principle Approach Method / Curriculum

1. What is your number one complaint about trying to learn and apply this method (to any curriculum you are using)?

2. What is the number one problem with this method that you would love to have solved for you?

3. What would you like to see as a part of a Principle Approach curriculum that would make things easier on you?

4. What is the biggest thing that I could (try to) do to help serve you?

5. Can you think of anything else to share with me that is important to you which I may not have listed in this survey? 


I will consider the feedback which you give me. Thank you for allowing me to help you in your journey and for all of your encouragement along the way.

Blessings!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

There is much to be thankful for, isn't there? 

As I look around the home we have been blessed with by our Heavenly Abba... I'm thankful. 

Is it a blessing to have a roof over our heads, walls to keep the wind and rain from us, and beds to sleep in? Yes.

More than that, it's a blessing to have the love, joy, and relationships that fill our home. 

Even beyond that, is the blessing of having our own copies of Bibles in our home. Myself, my husband... our children.

I love seeing my children reading the word of Yahweh. I love that they are learning about Him and His ways and His love for them and for the whole world.

Our Heavenly Father is amazing! His ways are so much higher than man's!

I'm thankful for Messiah Yahshua/Jesus. I'm thankful that the Apostle Paul and other believers traveled westward to teach about Messiah and the Good News. I'm thankful for all the people throughout history who helped to preserve the Scriptures. I'm thankful for the Separatists/Pilgrims who sought Yahweh's will for their lives-- that they endeavored to set aside the doctrines of men and to diligently seek Him. I'm thankful that they helped to spread the Good News even further westward. And there is much thanks for the Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims survive and learn how to live in a new-to-them-world...

I'm thankful to be able to write curriculum for my children-- to teach them how to go to the  Scriptures, like the Bereans, to see if it is so.

I'm thankful for you, my brothers and sisters in Messiah, who love Him and seek Him. How amazing to be a part of His Story in the roles that He has given us. Together, we are the hands and feet of Messiah-- even when we may not live remotely close to each other. 

I hope your Thanksgiving Day is blessed and that your hearts may continually give thanks to our loving Heavenly Abba for all His goodness... ten thousand reasons that your hearts can find!

Blessings!

P.S.

Have you seen the recent post by The Foundation For American Christian Education? Here's a link to their article on "The True Story of the First Thanksgiving." Enjoy!

Our Principle Approach®-based Homeschool Co-op

Well this school year is shaping up to be one of the most exciting ones for us yet. In previous years, I was able to share how to use the 4-R Method in Art when I wrote and taught Art lessons. This year, I find that I'm serving others in English, History, and Botany.

“Creative Commons Classroom” by William Creswell is Licensed under "Attribution 2.0 Generic."
Text and overlay are added by Principled Academy.

This is allowing me to put the curriculum I'm writing to the test with grades Kindergarten through 12th grade. We are, for the most part, in a one-room class. We meet with K-12th in one room for English, History, and Spanish. For Science we divide into two groups: Chemistry is taught by a very dear and sweet friend to grades K-7th and I'm teaching Botany to 8th-12th grades.

In English class, we're covering The Foundations of Language and spelling rules along with phonograms in support of the Spell to Write and Read program. We'll be using games for spelling and for English grammar to help reinforce what is being taught at home.

In History, we're covering some of Ancient History to the Protestant Reformation- as directed by The Noah Plan's sixth grade overviews. So far, it's working out well, I think, when teaching the Bible Principles and explaining things in a story-type manner. 


Then we take a 15 minute break-- stretch, get the wiggles out, go potty.


Once break is over, the kids divide into the two groups for Science. In Botany, we're studying the systems and functions of plants. Labs are included, 4-R Method studies are applied, and we are also learning about one of America's first botanists, William Bartram. The students will be writing a paper based on what they learn. In addition to High School credit for science, they are able to get High School credit for a literary study based on Bartram's writings.

Afterward, we all meet in a one-room class again for Beginning Spanish. Vocabulary is sent home so that we may practice conversations in class.

I'm sending the kids home with some notebook pages to do during the week (for subjects other than Spanish)... increasing the challenge of research, thought, and study as the grade levels increase.


It's so lovely how the Bible Principles of each subject are not "grade-based," allowing for children in all grades... all ages... all learning abilities to understand what Scripture teaches regarding the various subjects.

At this point, things are going really well. I'm very impressed with how self-governed and respectful all of the kids are. Teaching them is an honor and I feel very blessed to be able to share with them and their parents the richness of the 4-R Method. My prayer is that they will draw closer to our Lord and Savior as they dig into the Scriptures to learn truth.

So, there are two gifts coming up for you. Yes you! Please be sure to check back soon! :-)

Planning My Principle Approach® School Year- Part 3

Not too long ago, the Foundation for American Christian Education held a "Renewing the Mind" summer training course. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to attend on-line. 

(Did you catch Part 1 and Part 2?)

How I'm Encouraged and Inspired:

A Few Things I Learned:

As you probably know, I have several children and several books from F.A.C.E. and not so much in the way of several hours to pour over every detail of each book. So, some areas of understanding have not been as strong for me as others.

• I now have a better understanding about teaching reading and how to use different reading strategies.

• I better understand how to apply the reading strategies with the Bible as a Reader. 

• Why we use Word Study vs. RIGGS

Beneficial Tips for Me:

• Use tabs on the Curriculum Guides for quick reference of where to find content.

• How to better incorporate oral reading and inflection in our lessons.

• How to effectively group kids together for reading (which helps with co-ops, maybe literature clubs, and I think for families with multiple kids). 

Midst daily life responsibilities, the joy of family and friends, and celebrating Yahweh's/God's Fall Feasts, I'm plugging away at the curriculum for this school year. I'm nearly ready to debut the first quartet lessons. I find that I can offer bits and pieces at a time vs. the whole curriculum at once as I was hoping. That's okay. I'm doing what I can as I'm able to. :-)

I do have an upcoming surprise for those who plan on using these lessons! I'm looking forward to introducing you to a special person and how he is sharing his gifts and talents to bless you!

Blessings upon you and yours as you pursue our Heavenly Father's will for your family and grow in Him and ever closer to our Messiah Yahshua.

  

Planning My Principle Approach® School Year- Part 2

In Planing My Principle Approach® School Year- Part 1, I shared an evaluation of our last school year. This post reflects how things are coming along for our 2015-2016 school year, Yahweh willing.

Sorry about the typo! It should say 5th-8th!!!

I've decided to base the school year studies off of The Noah Plan® Curriculum's sixth grade overviews. Why? The following reasons are what I based my decision from:

1. Sixth grade is when the curriculum changes up a bit,
2. I see it as a "middle ground,"
3. Several readers have e-mailed asking for help with lessons and they have kids ranging from Kindergarten to 8th Grade. 

I'd like to have polished lessons from each of the overviews to share with you all, however, that isn't within my abilities at this time. What I can do though is offer what we are using this year as a streamlined approach. 

How does this work? If we remember that the Hebraic mindset is to teach the whole person, that it's a mentoring and discipleship approach to life and learning, and that learning to ask questions and reason Biblically is how believers are to approach life, it works just fine in layers. Kind of like cake layers, I guess one might say. Since there are layers of learning, it works to teach younger children basic concepts and then increasingly build upon that according to each child's age/ability of understanding.

Some need milk. Some are ready for solids. Yes? If you have multiple children you are teaching, serve up the milk (the basic concepts) to everyone at the table. The milk nourishes everyone! While they work on their notebook page, add solids to the portion of milk which your other children are able to digest.

Pictured below, there is a schedule beginning each week. Notice that the days are categorized as Days 1-5 vs. Monday, Tuesday, etc. This way you can easily adjust it to your preferred days. Since we personally use the Spell to Write and Read curriculum, the Orthography days reference to its use. However, you have liberty to use whichever spelling curriculum you find suits your family best. :-) The math curriculum and physical education is the same- left open to your personal preference.

Sorry about the typo! It should say 5th-8th in the legend!!!

How 'bout a sneak peek at the curriculum I'm writing for my family? It helps me to organize by color, which you'll see in the images below:

Sorry about the typo! It should say 5th-8th in the legend!!!

For parents who prefer to teach their children all at once, the color coded sentences of notes for them to copy from the board will be helpful. In the legend, you see "building blocks" of various colors. K-1st grade kids copy the green sentences. The 2nd-4th grade kids copy the green and the blue. The 5th-7th grade kids copy the green, blue, and purple sentences. Lastly, high school copies green, blue, purple, and orange sentences. All of the sentence colors can be found in dry erase markers!

Of course, parents who prefer to teach their children individually are able to do so. In this instance, there isn't a need to copy notes in multiple colors above K-1st grade. They  just need to write the notes on the board in one color for the child they are teaching.

Reason and Relate questions are offered for further discussion. If the parent's preference is for the older kids to journal from the Reason and Relate questions aside from or in addition to the notes, that's totally doable.

Suggested assignments aside from note taking are offered for the various grades. 

More than likely, you've noticed that I use the names Yahweh and Yahshua. I prefer to use the Sacred names. In Isaiah 42:8 He says, "I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols." And in 43:11 He says, "I, I am Yahweh, and there is no other Savior but Me." (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is personal. I have a personal relationship with Him through His Son Yahshua HaMashiach (in English He is known as Jesus Christ the Messiah) and He tells me His name in the above passages of Scripture. :-)

The curriculum is still a work in progress. I'm plugging away at it this summer with every chance I get. In the style of Charlotte Mason, the lessons are short and concise. There's no need for parents to prep any lesson content. However, some suggested resources are mentioned for further study if the parent desires more and would like to be told where to specifically go for more information.

I'll be sharing about our journey with the Open My Eyes curriculum this school year. I hope that you'll follow it and find it a blessing.

What do you think of it so far? Are you interested in it? Drop me a comment or e-mail me via the Contact Us tab and let me know. :-)

Blessings!

Planning My Principle Approach® School Year- Part 1

As I begin planning for my family's upcoming school year, I'm evaluating how last year went for us. This year, I'm using the evaluation format posed by Homeschool Tracker.

1. Evaluate Last Year

 

My plan last year:

 

Teach Dreamer from The Noah Plan® first grade curriculum. Teach Explorer from The Noah Plan® third grade curriculum. Write curriculum for Song Bird from the 5th grade overviews, write curriculum for Artsy Girl from the 8th grade overviews, and write curriculum for Scientist from the 9th grade overviews. (Quite ambitious, eh?)

 

How my plan changed as the year progressed: 

It didn't go exactly as I had planned. I started out writing lesson plans based off of the overviews for our older three kids, but at a certain point it became too much for me on top of teaching from The Noah Plan® Curriculum for the third and first grades. Add to all that managing a co-op ministry, managing a drama ministry, and the birth of a little baby, the loss of a loved one which resulted in traveling miles over several states, and I fizzled out! 

So, I ended up using the third grade curriculum as a spine for several of our older three kids' lessons- assigning them grade appropriate assignments and readings. Which is fine, because I'm a single individual. Uno. I'm not a whole Principle Approach® school with multiple teachers ya'll. And you know what? I have test results to prove that they are doing well with their education despite that we aren't following The Noah Plan® as purists (as much as I really would like to). :-)

How I feel I can improve the organizing and scheduling for this school year:

 

I've contemplated this deeply. I started out with making a grade specific planner to accompany The Noah Plan® second grade curriculum for Dreamer. That was actually a fun project for me so I decided to make one for her upcoming third grade year. Then, thinking about Sweetie Pie starting Kindergarten, I decided that I may as well make a The Noah Plan® Kindergarten specific planner. Can I say that I find this somewhat therapeutic? (If you're interested, I'll post on these planners soon.)

As I considered the school year more, I almost decided to toss the whole curriculum. I know, right? What was I thinking?! I sought counsel from friends and acquaintances (about other options), I talked with Cool Daddy, and we prayed. The outcome? We still feel led by the Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit) to use The Noah Plan® as a spine for our curriculum.

So, this means one thing. I need to write lesson plans and I need to streamline them for my family (and for myself). So, I'm writing curriculum based off of The Noah Plan® overviews for sixth grade for all grade ranges. I'll explain about how I settled to base it off of the 6th grade overviews later. 

Did my kids accomplish all that I had planned?

 

No and yes. No in the sense that I had hoped to stick with each grade because I didn't want to feel like they'd be missing out on something. Yes in that they continue to love learning, to grow in their understanding of Scripture, in their personal relationships with our Savior Yahshua, and as a family. Really, it comes down to being flexible and relaxing (I really need to relax a bit... okay... a lot more than I have been lately)

Did I over-schedule or under-schedule?

I think things went well overall in this sense. I was really hoping for some areas in the pilot year of our homeschool co-op's new format to have worked out better: music lessons were dropped, debate was dropped, and a few other things that were especially important to our family. We'll just have to "shop" elsewhere to meet these needs... and maybe, just maybe consider not participating in a homeschool co-op...

Did I build in enough breaks, vacations, and fun family activities?

Yes! We love to celebrate Yahweh's Feasts! They are not only meaningful, they're 7-8 days long! Plus, we took time off to welcome our darling newborn daughter into our family. :-)

What can be done better this year?

 

Streamlining our curriculum and keeping it blended with the Charlotte Mason approach. And, I need to relax and enjoy it more this year! 

2. The S-M-A-R-T Approach...

 

I'm keeping the lessons Specific (read as simple and concise); measurable with note taking, journaling/narrating, discussions; attainable with how it best suits my family; relevant to what matters to us; and time-bound with the wise approach of Charlotte Mason's educational observations. 

3. Plan my yearly calendar

 

This is pretty easy because I'm breaking it down weekly and already have the dates for Yahweh's Feasts down. :-)

4. Lesson Planning

 

Yep. Moving right along with this. We have a lot of books sitting in the basket waiting for people in this house to open them up, read, and dialog about them. 



So, tell me how your lesson plans are coming along. Or are they? What are you finding helpful? What are you struggling with? I may be able to help ya out in a blog post. :-)

Blessings,

The Noah Plan®- Third Grade Essentials

Have you a third grade student this coming school year? What about using The Noah Plan® Curriculum for third grade as a spine for your mixed ages/grades? In any case, you may find this list of The Noah Plan® Curriculum's third grade Essentials list helpful as you get your curriculum ordered in time for the school year. :-)

The Noah Plan®- Third Grade Essentials List per FACE (The Foundation for American Christian Education):

This is the Essentials list by F.A.C.E. and the purpose of sharing this is to help you prepare and budget as you need to before your school year gets started (page 427 from The Noah Plan®
Curriculum for Third Grade). The books in bold lettering are the ones that we own:

• Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (You can get by without this and use the free on-line version of Webster's 1828 Dictionary. However, the on-line version does not have all of Webster's entries. For instance, you will not find the entry for fulfill.).

• Benjamin Franklin, Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire

• Christian History of the American Revolution: Consider and Ponder, Verna M. Hall
  (You can get by without this... eventually I recommend them to read a bit at a time to educate yourself and decided what and how much to share with your children).

• Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America, Vol. 1: Christian Self-Government, Verna M. Hall (You can get by without this... eventually I recommend them to read a bit at a time to educate yourself and decided what and how much to share with your children).

• The Family and the Nation: Biblical Childhood, Rosalie June Slater

• Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Mary Mapes Dodge

• How to Teach Spelling (we use Spell to Write and Read instead...)

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis

• NIrV Kids' Study Bible, Zondervan

• The Noah Plan Curriculum Guides for:
  English, History and Geography, Literature, and Reading (You can get by without these... eventually I recommend them to read a bit at a time to educate yourself and decided what and how much to share with your children).

• The Noah Plan®: A Complete Educational Program in the Principle Approach for grades K-8 or 9-12, FACE (I don't own these...)

• The Noah Plan® Self-Directed Study in the Principle Approach, FACE

• RightStart Mathematics (while I love this curriculum, we now use CTC Math and love it!)

• Spalding Education International-
  Writing Road to Reading (we use Spell to Write and Read instead as it's simplified!)
   
• The Comprehension Connection User's Gudie for McCall-Crabbs, for Book B-E

• McCall-Crabbs, Standard Test Lessons in Reading (Book B- 3rd Grade)
  We do own the McCall-Crabbs books for reading comprehension and I do like to use them. The kids and I appreciate knowing what reading level they are at.

• StoneBridge Art Guide, Wendy Giancoli, FACE

• Tales from Shakespeare, Charles and Mary Lamb

• Teacher Guide: Christopher Columbus: Christbearer to the New World, FACE

• Teacher Guide: Holland or the Netherlands and the History of Liberty, for Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Rosalie June Slater

• Teaching and Learning America's Christian History: The Principle Approach®, Rosalie June Slater (You can get by without this... eventually I recommend them to read a bit at a time to educate yourself and decided what and how much to share with your children).

Other books on their list that we own and have blessed our homeschool experience:

• Children's Illustrated Bible, Selina Hastings, Dorling Kindersley

•  Leif the Lucky, Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire 

• The Light and the Glory for Children, Peter Marshall and David Manuel

• The Magna Charta, James Dougherty

• Physical Geography, Arnold Guyot (Heads up, there are some ideas in his book that I don't subscribe to. I don't teach some things he believed because I disagree with them.)

• Poetry of Emily Dickinson, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Henry Wadsworht Longfellow

• Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thurngia, Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher

• Squanto: A Friend of the Pilgrims, Clyde Robert Bulla

Other Resources We Have Added and Enjoyed:

• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe audio drama series by Focus on the Family

• Squanto audio drama by Focus on the Family

I'm excited for you! The Noah Plan® curriculum is such a blessing to our family and I can't imagine it any different for your family. I pray you enjoy your journey of growing closer to our Heavenly Father as you learn Bible Principles in every subject.

Blessings!