Answers to a Beginning Parent

I’ll hit your questions one at a time:

1. 
   Yes, it is best started with very young children. You are instilling a method of thought. This is best done at an early age rather than raising them up in something that appears more simple, but has pagan thinking at its roots. I know that sounds harsh. I don’t mean to be. But according to Scripture (Pv 1:7) The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If knowledge begins in the fear and admonition of the Lord, then it should follow that we can teach every subject reasoning biblically. Just because a ‘good’ curriculum has a verse at the beginning of the page does not mean that it reasons with biblical principle throughout the body of the lesson. The problem that most run into as they begin studying in this manner is in seeing the value of it, they desire to swallow the whole thing at once, and that isn’t God’s plan either. God holds you responsible to the bits of knowledge he gives you and only that. Apply the Principle Approach where you know to apply it and keep learning and adding more as you go. You can use any curriculum that doesn’t deny Christ because the reasoning I was referring to is applied during the lesson. You can do that as the parent/teacher. At the kindergarten age I believe the best place to start is with the preschool studies in the Red Books. I love those and they will take a good portion of time. You may not get through them all in a year. However, if you want a curriculum, the Noah Plan Lessons have a kindergarten level and you could start with that. The benefit here is you can witness how a master teacher put together lessons for this age group for a whole year in various subjects.
2. 
   In my experience most of the preparation for my lessons happened in the beginning of my experience with the Principle Approach. I had to learn and understand the method myself. I’ve had less pressure in that area since it’s under my belt a bit more. With that said, the Principle Approach recognizes the parent/teacher as a living textbook. I study with my children. But I do have to know where I’m going ahead of time. I honestly have no qualms teaching any subject—even the high school ones. Because I’ve already seen God guide me. Here’s the cool thing: I’ve worked as a classroom teacher. In that roll I depended highly on whatever curriculum the state gave me to teach. That curriculum held my hand and took me everywhere the state wanted me to go. It kept me on track. And I believe that anyone could teach like that. That’s one of the reasons people look at the Principle Approach and tend to think they couldn’t do it (teach without a set curriculum?! You’ve got to be out of your mind! How would I know what to do and where to go?!) With the Principle Approach God is my guide. He’s a better guide than any curriculum ever was for me. But to make certain that I travel in a good direction there are some curriculum materials that I use and FACE has syllabi for every subject and grade level. I consult all of those, but not before asking and responding to what God has for my boys. I do most of the work in the summer before starting school, and I begin thinking about things about now. I’m already processing things in my mind about next year, but it’s not taking much time because it’s just at the thought level right now. This holds true for any subject—even the ones that may seem rather complicated. But I do know where to go for help.
3. 
   All subjects can be taught using the Noah Plan, but the Noah Plan is not imperative any more than any other curriculum is. The syllabi I use are part of the Noah Plan, but I’ve never used an entire lesson plan book—I refer to them when my thinking is stuck, but I don’t teach straight out of them. There’s nothing wrong with following the Noah Plan Lessons verbatim to get your bearings and then being ready to fly when you’ve gone all the way through them either, but when I started there were no Noah Plan Lesson books and everything worked just fine. I leaned heavily on the curriculum guides when I started and they are a reference to me now. I know some who only referred to the Red Books. It all depends on what you feel you need to get started. Understand that the Principle Approach is a method; the Noah Plan is a curriculum that fits the method.
   
   Take care, and let me know if you have any more questions, or even questions about my questions. Have a blessed day.
   Blessings,
   Michelle
   
   
   “May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.”