God Creates the Seasons in Nature and in Life It’s a Friday morning as I write this and the smell of baked cinnamon apples wafts through the cool morning air as I roll out of bed. It’s our second oldest son’s breakfast morning and we enjoy different cobblers on Fridays. Having some change is good—a different cobbler each Friday morn keeps things interesting. Of course, we have our favorites during Autumn. Our cobbler tastes change Read more about God Creates the Seasons[…]

How Art is Taught with the Principle Approach® In many instances, art curriculum teaches the elements of art, techniques, and artist studies. Within the artist studies is some background information of the artist, common explanations and observations about the artist’s style, discussing an analysis of the art, and a project to copy a choice work of the artist. But, the Principle Approach® to art is so much richer and deeper than just that.     Read more about The Principle Approach to Art[…]

Back to Homeschool the Principle Approach® Way At the start of each school year, we have some special things that we do to kick it off. Of course, homeschooling is a natural extension of parenting and life—so, learning is taking place all the time. But, a ‘new school year’ is when we will start with new studies, a fresh perspective, and new materials. However, there are a few things that do set a Principle Approach® Read more about Back to Homeschool[…]

The Principle Approach® to Writing is Above Average As you may guess, I absolutely love writing. And, it may just be a fact that most of our children enjoy it at least as much as I do. So far, our two college students get A’s on their essays and compliments on their Biblical reasoning abilities. Plus, so far we have four children who are aspiring authors. Without a doubt, my husband and I attribute this Read more about The Principle Approach to Writing[…]

Remember Your State: It Has a Providential History One of the beautiful aspects of a Principle Approach® way of learning is that we learn to see God’s Sovereignty in all things. Without a doubt, Heavenly Father has been and still is involved in the lives of individuals and nations. In fact, as the parent-teacher researches and reads primary documents, he or she discovers God’s Providence in the Gospel spreading to his or her state. I Read more about Remember Your State[…]

Neutrality in Education (with Keltis Hall) 🎙Principles in Practice Homeschool Podcast. Join us for Episode 35: Neutrality in Education. This takes about 15 minutes of your time. Join us as special guest Keltis Hall discusses the idea of neutrality in education. Keltis is a Principle Approach® homeschool graduate, a certified Principle Approach® Master Teacher and curriculum creator through the Foundation for American Christian Education, and she is entering her Junior year of college at Bradford Read more about Neutrality in Education[…]

The Importance of Reading (with Arline Helms) 🎙Principles in Practice Homeschool Podcast. Join us for Episode 36: The Importance of Reading. This takes about 17 minutes of your time. . Join us as special guest Arline Helms talks about the importance of reading, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, and Teaching Phonics. These all weave into one valuable topic for homeschooling parents to know. . Arline is a former Principle Approach® home educator. And she owns the Facebook Read more about The Importance of Reading[…]

Frederic Bastiat But first, I’d like to preface this with a quote by Frederic Bastiat: “It is to be regretted that the word plunder is offensive. I have tried in vain to find an inoffensive word, for I would not at any time–especially now–wish to add an irritating word to our dissentions. Thus, whether I am believed or not, I declare that I do not mean to attack the intentions or the morality of anyone. Read more about Socialism Among Homeschoolers[…]

The Noah Plan® Support Materials to Help You Succeed Homeschooling is a completely different way of teaching and learning. Just about any veteran homeschooling mother or father will confirm this. By veteran I mean those who have been in the thick of it for several years with independent homeschooling. As homeschoolers it’s important to keep in mind that The Noah Plan® lessons for K-3rd have been written for a traditional school.  Therefore, when I first Read more about The Noah Plan Support Materials[…]

Homeschooling Little Ones with the Noah Plan® It feels a bit surreal when I think about how it has been fourteen years since we began using the Noah Plan curriculum. But, here I am with three homeschool graduates. And we have used the Noah Plan® curriculum all the way through. That said, we homeschooling parents know that we start “home schooling” from our children’s infancy. By God’s design, children learn from their parents. The first Read more about Homeschooling Little Ones[…]

The Importance of Precinct Committee Officers I don’t remember much about the day when my friend Susan told me about being a Precinct Committee Officer. As she started telling me about it, I was intrigued. In fact, I remember sitting there in complete wonder that I didn’t know about this hugely important position. How is it that I have grown up in America as an American citizen and I was never taught about it? Calling Read more about Precinct Committees[…]

Plagiarism is an Important Topic for You to Teach About There is a lot of hubbub going on amongst the Southern Baptist Convention about plagiarism. It’s unfathomable to me how anyone who has been through higher education could possibly be ignorant of citing sources. From essays to dissertations, citing sources is a must. To be sure your students aren’t ignorant, you as a homeschooling parent need to teach your students about plagiarism.   Plagiarism is Read more about Teach Your Students About Plagiarism[…]

Truth Rises to the Top On Sunday, they meet and simply must believe what comes directly from the pulpit—whether from the priest himself or indirectly from the king. What if any of them have worries about loved ones who move on to a state of rest? They have a “chance at salvation” if you they pray for them and pay indulgences. But in the meantime, God has individuals working on translating the Bible into common Read more about Truth Rises to the Top[…]

The Elements of a Principle Approach® Way of Learning One of the most important things to understand about the Principle Approach is that it is both a philosophy and a method. That said, they cannot be separated from each other. Unquestionably, application of all of the Principle Approach elements must take place. Since many parents look for what is easiest, they may fall into the temptation of wanting to use only a few of the Read more about Principle Approach® Elements[…]

Principle Approach® Notebooking   Notebooking is pretty popular among several homeschooling circles. If one researches it, they’ll learn of all sorts of ways that notebooking is implemented. In general, notebooking is often used to file worksheets or decorated notebook pages for note-taking.  However, that’s not the case with this philosophy or method of education. Discover how Principle Approach® notebooking is different.   The Many Joys of Principle Approach® Notebooks In our family, these are collections Read more about Principle Approach Notebooking[…]

Why Map Work is Important Did you grow up doing map work in school or your homeschool? I don’t recall doing any of it. Certainly, we learned geography and had some memory work for that subject. But, I don’t think we ever did map work. The more I’ve been teaching with the Principle Approach®, the more I’ve come to appreciate map work. In fact, I can say that I love it and count it as Read more about Why Map Work Is Important[…]

The Tutorial Spirit 🎙Principles in Practice Homeschool Podcast * Episode 31: The Tutorial Spirit  * Takes just less than 25 minutes of your time. *   Join Heather as she wraps up our Teaching Ten Series. In this podcast, she shares about:  * ▪️The tutorial spirit of the Principle Approach® ▪️Leading every child into learning ▪️Why test, why assess? ▪️The Principle Approach® standard ▪️Teachers enter hearts by invitation only ▪️Purposeful assessment ▪️Focusing on the goal Read more about The Tutorial Spirit[…]

How to Teach Effectively Recently, I was asked if studying history with the Principle Approach® is too dry for children. Since I teach with it, my opinion is a resounding no, not at all. And, I believe that’s true when it comes to teaching one-on-one as well as in a homeschool co-op. But, I do think that there are ways on how to teach effectively. This is something that I’ve been growing in throughout my Read more about How to Teach Effectively[…]

How to Study History All across America, students in all grades crack open their history books and sit down to read. Most of the time, textbooks are used for the learning of history. And, depending upon who writes the textbook it may or may not have a Biblical worldview. Even so, it may or may not have a Providential view. While it’s important to read history with a Biblical worldview, it’s even more so with Read more about How to Study History[…]

Fault Lines by Voddie Bauchum (A Review) To begin with, I did receive an advanced digital copy of Fault Lines in exchange for an honest review. That said, I’ve recently been reading Fault Lines by Pastor Voddie Bauchum as a part of his review team. Well, the Critical Social Justice (aka: CSJ) narrative isn’t going away any time soon. In case you aren’t aware, there are branches that grow on this CSJ tree. And Critical Read more about Fault Lines by Voddie Bauchum[…]

God: The Master Artist When I first started learning and teaching with the Principle Approach®, the time eventually came when I needed to spread my wings and write my own lesson plans. It was actually quite nerve racking. As many do at this stage, I wrestled with whether or not to continue teaching my children with this philosophy and method. Why oh why couldn’t the Noah Plan® lessons continue onward through the rest of the Read more about God: The Master Artist[…]

Why should churches partner with Principle Approach® homeschoolers? Are you a pastor who is considering hosting a homeschool group in your church (or maybe a Christian school)? Are you hoping to help meet the need for Christian children to receive a Christian education in this way? You’re in the right place to learn about why churches should partner with Principle Approach® homeschoolers. Many pastors are keenly aware, as are many Christian parents, that many youth Read more about Why Churches Need to Partner with Principle Approach® Homeschoolers[…]

Christians Turn the World Upside Down “And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;” Acts 17:6 (KJV) Who were these men? They were a group of Christians who spread the “good news” with Paul and Silas—a small group. In fact, it was a small enough group that the Jews went looking for Read more about Christians Turn the World Upside Down[…]

Words Matter Our oldest daughter is writing a novel. Since she wants the story to make sense and come to life for her readers, she’s taking great care with the use of words. Rough draft after rough draft, she alters wording until she gets descriptions to picture match what she wants to convey. In some cases, she needs to define words to be certain she’s using them properly. And before too long, she’ll be ready Read more about Words Matter[…]

What to Know About Voting for the President I’m pretty sure most of us have felt like we’re at a crossroads when it comes to voting for a President. We hear several different things such as: “Vote by party.” Or we’ll hear: “Vote principle over party” (while wondering what that may exactly mean). And then there’s the most famous one: “Vote for the lesser of two evils.” It’s enough to make a person throw their Read more about What to Know About Voting for the President[…]

Are Christians the Losers in History? As I sit back and observe current events in America, I’m wrestling with some questions. Why are some Christians so hands-off with civics? How is it that Christians think voting is duty enough? Or that it’s nothing to bother with at all? Why is America in decline when God’s people are involved with outreach and community activities? Did Christians ever impact the culture? If so, what has derailed us Read more about Are Christians the Losers in History?[…]

With all that is going on around us, there are some unexpected times ahead. For now, there are a lot of families making some major adjustments to their schedules—spending more time together at home. While other families are accustomed to homeschooling, there’s still a lot of unexpected things to adjust to—no homeschool activities and groups to attend. And the reports flying around about worries and rumors of worries are unsettling. And as always, our numero Read more about Turn Their Eyes Upon Jesus[…]

The Biblical Principle of Individuality: A College Paper As I’ve shared previously, our oldest daughter—a Principle Approach® homeschool graduate—is now attending Bradford Christian College (a Principle Approach® college). That said, she has graciously offered to share one of her papers from her Biblical Life Principles class. In this way, parents and high school students are able to get a glimpse of how these studies look through Bradford Christian College. Now, without further ado, her graded Read more about The Biblical Principle of Individuality: A College Paper[…]

10 Things About American Form of Government That You Need to Know American Form of Government—this is our fifth superhero. For the sake of brevity, we’ll sometimes refer to him as AFG. Look at how easy it is to remember this—the letters are in alphabetical order! I know some of you out there will love that about AFG! Now, you might suspect that his shirt has a symbol with AFG on it. And you might Read more about 10 Things About American Form of Government That You Need to Know[…]

Ten Things About Private Property That You Need to Know In our last Superheroes in American History series episode, we learned about Quality Character. And today, we meet our fourth superhero, the sidekick to Quality Character: Private Property. Admittedly, these two seem like odd companions. But as you learn more about Private Property, you’ll quickly catch on as to why they go everywhere together. John Locke was clued in to this relationship: “For men being Read more about Ten Things About Private Property That You Need to Know[…]

How to Teach Gratitude to Your Children According to Noah Webster: “To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.” As parents, we have an immense responsibility to educate our children. No pressure, right? Among the many unique aspects of homeschooling, families are blessed to spend much of their time together. A time Read more about How to Teach Gratitude to Your Children[…]

What You May Not Know About Teaching a Biblical Worldview There’s nothing in the world like that moment when you hold your child for the first time and look into his or her eyes. A whole new person who never existed before is now in your care. The words you say, your actions… every decision you make will always be a part of shaping this individual. As Christian parents, it’s wise for us to consider Read more about What You May Not Know About Teaching a Biblical Worldview[…]

Using the The Noah Plan® First Grade curriculum in your homeschool? Excellent! You’ll appreciate having this handy list of essentials that you’ll need for it. In this way, you’re not surprised that you’ll need a few more books than the curriculum itself. While the curriculum lists what’s needed, it’s super helpful to know while you’re already making your purchase. While everything is listed, I’m sharing the books in bold that I found were enough for me in Read more about The Noah Plan® First Grade Essentials[…]

10 Things You Need to Know About Quality Character “The whole life of the Christian, from the beginning to the end, is a conflict with the world and the powers of darkness, a conflict within and without…” -Neander “Memorials of a Christian Life, ” 1852. For sure, our third superhero must be prepared to face the powers of darkness and the daily conflict resulting from it. Enter, Quality Character! Quality Character knows the importance of Read more about 10 Things You Need to Know About Quality Character[…]

Among all of the seven superheroes in American history, Self-Government packs a real punch. If there’s anything about this hero which you need to be aware, it’s this: a free people depends heavily upon him. Now that we have that out of the way, there’s something else of which you need to be aware. Self-Gov’t likes riddles of sorts. Yeah, he sounds like a real character. But there really isn’t any joking around with him. Read more about 10 Things About Self-Government That You Need to Know[…]

10 Things About Individuality You Need To Know Ah individuality… it seems to be getting drowned out in our society, doesn’t it? But you know something—it’s one of America’s real super heroes. In fact, it’s one of seven that we’ll be discussing in this series. If we want to remain a free people, we need to be counter-cultural by embracing and teaching God’s Principle of Individuality. For: “Everything in God’s universe is revelational of God’s Read more about 10 Things About Individuality You Need To Know[…]