The Principle Approach® is not ‘classical’ in the sense that most methods are referred to as classical. It has been referred to as Biblical-classical. This differentiates it from what most of us understand as classical. The Principle Approach method is taken from the Hebrew method which incorporates God’s Word at the heart of all learning. Also, you’ll find that the ‘trivium’ is very rigid in the idea that deep reasoning cannot occur in young children. According to the Trivium small children learn almost exclusively from memorization. I have personally witnessed this not to be true. I have been an administrator in Principle Approach schools and witnessed our very young children reasoning and very deep levels. As children get older if they have not been raised into reasoning Biblically, they may find it a difficult transition once you try to introduce it. It’s never been worth it to me to throw this away for exclusive memorization. Memorization is very beneficial, but not at the expense of reasoning.
You may find it helpful to read the article you’ll find at the following link: http://www.face.net/files/Articles/tampa_address.pdf . It is written by Carole Adams, the president of the Foundation for American Christian Education. In it you will find a comparison of the classical and Hebraic methods.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Help When Time is Cramped
I would LOVE to tell you my home is in perfect order, but, realistically, it’s not. The first thing I have to always remind myself of is the fact that God knows the events he’s planned for each of my days [and yours], and even when I have things ‘perfectly’ planned out, God sometimes swoops in and changes those plans. I’m thinking that maybe he does this for the purpose of testing me. Will I rest in him and quietly go about each of my tasks, and trust him as I go? Sometimes I do just that, and sometimes I don’t do so well.
God knows how time intensive caring for and raising our children is. He also knows how time intensive maintaining a household is. Homeschooling is not separate from either of these activities; it’s part of the whole picture. We are responsible to live up to God’s expectations—not our own. I’ve heard people say that means the dusting doesn’t always get done. That makes me laugh. I do sometimes dust and clean the piano. I keep the table where we eat spiffy, but beyond that—who dusts??? For me it may mean the vacuuming doesn’t get done when I want to get to it, or a bathroom may not be cleaned when I want to do it, or Randy has to help me in the kitchen at night or the following morning. I made the choice to stay home rather than work for the awesome salary I could earn, so I have to sacrifice the idea of having hired help with the house. But this can be a blessing.
I’m certain you already do this, but enlist your children. They should do their parts in maintaining their rooms [but since this has to be supervised as well, this isn’t always done perfectly here either], but they should work with you in maintaining the household. This can be tied in with your schooling. They have to learn these things—it’s called ‘home economics’. You can teach them Biblically as you go as well. We finally got our garden planted just last week since I had been so long in Texas. It was such a joy to me to hear my husband talking to the boys about why we have weeds and what happens when God plants seeds in our lives and recounting the parable of the seeds on different kinds of soil that Jesus taught,… In housework you can discuss how God cleans us out from the inside out [a good reason not to hide things rather than putting them away when cleaning].
As far as your studies are concerned, God knows what he has given you time for; and he holds you accountable to that. He does not hold you accountable for the thing YOU feel you should do on top of that. We are horrible task masters! God wants you to be at peace and trust him. On the other hand, we cannot use this fact as an excuse not to do everything that he would have us do. If you find yourself overwhelmed (as we all do from time to time), it’s time to real yourself back in and ask God what is on his list for you during the day. Then focus on those things.
There are also other helps to training yourself. If your children are small you can use the K – 3rd grade Noah Plan lessons. These are written by master PA teachers and will disciple you as you use them. Even if your children are older, I would suggest using the 3rd grade lesson book. You can use many of the older lessons with older children, and at the very least they are great examples of how to set up a PA lesson.
Don’t be afraid to be a student with your student. This models character in your life and it shows your children that we are to continue learning even beyond the formal education years. If you don’t know something yourself and it’s come up in a lesson, explore that thing with your child. It’s even profitable to actually plan to have those sorts of lessons because it is so beneficial for the children to see you studying as well.
God knows how time intensive caring for and raising our children is. He also knows how time intensive maintaining a household is. Homeschooling is not separate from either of these activities; it’s part of the whole picture. We are responsible to live up to God’s expectations—not our own. I’ve heard people say that means the dusting doesn’t always get done. That makes me laugh. I do sometimes dust and clean the piano. I keep the table where we eat spiffy, but beyond that—who dusts??? For me it may mean the vacuuming doesn’t get done when I want to get to it, or a bathroom may not be cleaned when I want to do it, or Randy has to help me in the kitchen at night or the following morning. I made the choice to stay home rather than work for the awesome salary I could earn, so I have to sacrifice the idea of having hired help with the house. But this can be a blessing.
I’m certain you already do this, but enlist your children. They should do their parts in maintaining their rooms [but since this has to be supervised as well, this isn’t always done perfectly here either], but they should work with you in maintaining the household. This can be tied in with your schooling. They have to learn these things—it’s called ‘home economics’. You can teach them Biblically as you go as well. We finally got our garden planted just last week since I had been so long in Texas. It was such a joy to me to hear my husband talking to the boys about why we have weeds and what happens when God plants seeds in our lives and recounting the parable of the seeds on different kinds of soil that Jesus taught,… In housework you can discuss how God cleans us out from the inside out [a good reason not to hide things rather than putting them away when cleaning].
As far as your studies are concerned, God knows what he has given you time for; and he holds you accountable to that. He does not hold you accountable for the thing YOU feel you should do on top of that. We are horrible task masters! God wants you to be at peace and trust him. On the other hand, we cannot use this fact as an excuse not to do everything that he would have us do. If you find yourself overwhelmed (as we all do from time to time), it’s time to real yourself back in and ask God what is on his list for you during the day. Then focus on those things.
There are also other helps to training yourself. If your children are small you can use the K – 3rd grade Noah Plan lessons. These are written by master PA teachers and will disciple you as you use them. Even if your children are older, I would suggest using the 3rd grade lesson book. You can use many of the older lessons with older children, and at the very least they are great examples of how to set up a PA lesson.
Don’t be afraid to be a student with your student. This models character in your life and it shows your children that we are to continue learning even beyond the formal education years. If you don’t know something yourself and it’s come up in a lesson, explore that thing with your child. It’s even profitable to actually plan to have those sorts of lessons because it is so beneficial for the children to see you studying as well.
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