Principle Approach is a Curriculum

This is the third of a three part series to answer why, how, and what in regards to Principle Approach education.

We often start our search for education looking for curriculum. What will we teach? What do our children need to know? The mounds of resources quickly become overwhelming. That is why I started this series discussing philosophy. Examining the reason I homeschool gives me a filter to sift the piles of books.

This universe is an amazing place. There is no way we can teach our children everything they need to know or even want to know. So how do we decide what is most important?

I invite you to visit The Curriculum Choice to read my answer...

Principle Approach is a Philosophy

This is the first of a three part series to answer why, how, and what in regards to Principle Approach education.

What do you think of when you hear the word philosophy? I used to picture Plato and professors, Rodin’s sculpture of The Thinker and monks living tucked away in the mountains. Then I heard philosophy means the love of wisdom and realized I am an aspiring philosopher. I want answers to questions raised by the syncretism of my faith and my education.

During high school, my history class focused on the atrocities of mankind. The dates of wars, the horrors of slavery, and, strangely to me, the rock musicians of the 1960s. I wondered why these subjects were chosen. Were these just random events erupting here and there? Why did they happen? Why were we studying them?

Why is a philosophical question. According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, philosophy delves into the reason for things looking for cause and effect. And it has two purposes:

1. Philosophy endeavors to use knowledge in a practical way to bring life and hope.
2. Philosophy is supposed to enlarge our views of God and his works.

Is life found in a dry list of events on a time line? Is hope found in simply recounting the evils of mankind without seeing how those evils have been and are being overcome? If God is never even mentioned, how does that effect a student’s view of Him?

Please read the rest of my article at The Curriculum Choice…

Homeschool Utopia

It must be the end of the school year. Homeschool conventions lure. Advertisements for curriculum pile up on my desk. I flip colorful magazine pages reading descriptions. The sentences are full of promise. Amazing results: master difficult subjects easily, learn new languages fluently, teach multiple ages simply. Red pen scrawls circles around temptations and fingers press page corners toward the marks.

Tied to these note-filled pages are questions of fear and insecurity. Will we cover everything my children need to know? Will we finish math and English? What about Bible and science and art and history and penmanship and typing and Spanish and literature?

I gaze at the bookshelves surrounding my desk and see slow starts, abandoned plans, and half-finished textbooks. The little bits we’ve done create spindly knots that reach out to trip me.

Recently, I came across Sue Patrick’s Workbox System. Plastic boxes in a row pull even more than the curriculum reviews. Organizational bliss! I’ve read the rave reviews. I thought of ways to modify it, and I’m still thinking. Would this really work for us? It’s a good idea, but it’s just one idea. The real test is in continued implementation. It’s easy to start stuff. It takes tenacity to complete it. (That is why Bug’s math book still has fifty-four lessons left.)

It comes back to character. Always. And I’m not as persistent or patient as I like to imagine. The newness of homeschooling has worn off. Some of the fear has dissipated, but we must press on. I’m not ready to reject choices I already made because something might be better.

There is no perfect curriculum. There is no perfect implementation. Seeking homeschool utopia ends in defeat. A race run in circles beginning and ending with the heart.

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

Train Up a Child

This post is by Kris from Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

This proverb isn’t new to any of us who are Christian and it certainly isn’t new to Christian homeschooling moms. After all, it encapsulates, for many of us, both our homeschooling and child-rearing philosophies. Have you, however, ever given thought to it’s broader meaning?

If you’re like me, you’ve always thought of this proverb in light of Christian parenting — if you raise your child with Christian morals and values, he will carry those values into adulthood. However, I have had a broader view pointed out to me not once, but twice this week. The first time was by my pastor in church Sunday morning; the other was by Rebecca Ingram Powell in her book, Season of Change, which I was reading last night.

Both my pastor and Mrs. Powell, who is a homeschooling mom of three, pointed out that this verse can and should also refer to a child’s God-given talents, his natural giftings and bents. In that light, this verse should direct us not only to raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, but also to encourage and support the natural giftings of our children. If a child is artistic, sign her up for art classes or make supplies readily available. If a child is athletic, provide opportunities to play sports and learn from talented coaches. If a child is musical, provide training and an instrument.

This can also refer to a child’s spiritual giftings. Is your child hospitable? Provide opportunities to open your home to friends and family. Does your child like to serve? Let her explore volunteer opportunities within your church and community. Is your child a teacher? Let him teach younger siblings or assist in a leadership role in church or scouting.

Part of our homeschool mission statement says,“Promoting family values, building the Christian faith, providing a quality education…changing the world, one homeschooled kid at a time.”

If we are really going change the world with and through our children, we have to “train them up in the way that they should go.”We have to recognize their God-given talents and equip them to fulfill the purpose for which He has called them. We have to emphasize their strengths and encourage their weaknesses. In so doing, we gift them with a lifetime of personal and professional fulfillment, whether their profession be that of a world-class Christian athlete or a loving mom whose mission field is her offspring. And, in so doing, we also fulfill a portion of God’s purpose for us, as Christian parents by raising our children to be all that He intended them to be.

Kris’s wit and personality show even in the title of her blog, Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Go see what else she has to say. Consider clicking subscribe while you’re there.

Failing Fourth Grade

Our little homeschool is on break this month so the students and teacher can enjoy the refreshing spring. I plan for next month wondering if fourth grade was really finished. The shelves crammed with curriculum stare at me. Bookmarks peek out in various places, and I question our accomplishments. Maybe my son would learn more in school.

House of Cards

This springtime angst is not something only I feel. Many are looking back over the year evaluating lessons. Did the facts get memorized? Are the children at grade level? What if they are behind? Yet are these even the right questions? Or have they been placed upon us by The Educational Industrial Complex discussed at Principled Discovery?

My tendency is to equate education with finishing curriculum and knowing trivia. But where does that idea originate? Maybe it goes back to my education and coloring in all those bubbles with a #2 yellow painted pencil. Or maybe it’s my own pride. I want the best for my children, but can I provide it? Wherever it comes from, it is not helpful. It feeds my fear. If fourth grade means doing every lesson dictated by pressure of my own choosing or of the public school’s making, I failed; we failed.

The only curriculum Bug finished completely was math, but what an accomplishment! He has gone from hating math to liking it. By persevering, he understands. The cracked foundation is repaired. Such improvement will show on a test, but the internal motivation is not measured on paper. It will reveal itself the next time Bug faces something difficult to understand. He has a reference that cannot be taken from him.

Knowledge needs wisdom to build a solid dwelling and that cannot be assigned to age or grade. If the foundation is strong and the bricks are laid one at a time, holes will be plastered as they appear.