Monthly Archives: March 2002

Developing a Biblical Worldview

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The teaching of “thinking skills” has become big in education in the past few years. Although we believe God wants our children (and US!) to learn to think correctly, in fact Romans 12:1-2 tells us that our way of thinking HAS to be CHANGED, as usual I think “school” (the mentality, whether in a government or Christian institution, or at home) has gone about this all wrong. There is a place for Formal Logic and Reasoning to be learned by some – mature teens and adults, but generally, I don’t believe children need to be taught “thinking skills” as a separate class subject.

It’s not that we don’t think it’s important, but rather we believe learning to reason properly is a part of LEARNING in ALL subjects, actually all aspects of Life. It is through the application of gaining Wisdom, in ALL of Life. It isn’t a separate, fragmented class to take, just as “Christian Education” isn’t tacking a Bible class onto your academic curriculum list. It is impermeating, and basing ALL that you learn, with and ON God’s Word. “Wisdom is the principal thing,” for wisdom is thinking God’s thoughts, and there is no higher Logic.

We really don’t focus on “thinking skills” as such, but rather developing a Biblical Worldview, which is just another way of saying “thinking God’s thoughts”. It’s having the same view of an aspect of Life that God Himself has of it. We think this is the most important thing we teach, and our goal in training and teaching our children – beyond loving and knowing Jesus personally, of which this is a part.

I think we’re doing a great job in “giving” our children a Biblical World, through reading that imparts the Scriptural view of things, and our own modeling of “Biblical thinking”. It truly is something WE must develop in our own lives first. Most of us have been thoroughly indoctrinated by our own education and just living in society with a humanist, even Marxist, and definitely unbiblical way of thinking. Many, perhaps MOST, of today’s Christians – even Evangelical Christians – have not renewed their minds and been transformed out of this mindset. We allow this mindset to not only remain in us, but it’s ever increasingly anti-scriptural view to set our children’s way of thinking, too.

That’s why, in several of the last few posts, in talking about “where do we begin?”, I’ve stressed that the parent’s reeducation must be the foundation. Although these articles have focused on transforming our view of EDUCATION, our renewing can’t stop there. Our way of thinking must be transformed in ALL areas – not just education. God has a view and His Word has the answer for EVERY area of life. As Marshall Foster, of the Mayflower Institute says, our goal is not to just raise kids who aren’t pregnant and on drugs by age 18. It’s to raise World Changers, for the glory of God. To do this we must have a transformed, Biblical Worldview AND impart that into our children.

4 simple steps taken from Marshall Foster give us the guidelines to this:

1. Teach the mighty deeds of God – that is History as His Story, the workings of God throughout the ages. Read Psalm 78. Verses 4-7 say: “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. … which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; …”

2. Read original biographies. These are the true original stories of people’s lives and how God worked in them, including the futility of those without faith in God; not a dumbed-down, politically correct, revisionists view of someone’s life. Read Hebrews 11. 1 Cor. 10:11 says: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

3. “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Cor. 15:33 According to the Word, your children will turn out like who they spend much time with, and other’s bad morals will rub off much faster than your child’s good morals will rub off on them. This includes real people of course, but also TV, computer or video games, and even reading books that have a non-biblical view. Pro. 13:20 “He who walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” I could go on and on here, but would undoubtedly get off on a rabbit trail that I will cover more thoroughly in another post. Hint: It has to do with Wisdom and Fearing God, the whole basis of a Biblical Worldview.

4. Make life and home a joyful revolution. Home is the center for God’s dynasty and the basic tool for God’s kingdom to be built. You are the center focus of this. Make your home the center of YOUR and YOUR FAMILY’S LIFE. Make it a joyful place to be. Model Biblical “gender” roles. Develop an atmosphere – provide a good library, historically 60% theology, 40% history. Build culture yourself – paraphrasing Dr. Spurgeon, “Set yourself on fire and your kids will come to watch you burn.” As I said, MODEL IT! God has a purpose and plan, not just for YOUR life, but for your DYNASTY – those you disciple. Deut. 6:3-7 says: “YOU fear the Lord your God, keep all His statutes and His commandments… be careful to observe it,…these words shall be in YOUR HEART. You shall teach them diligently to your children ….” Pro. 22:6 says: “train up a child” – this is a word picture of passing on YOUR tastes and culture to your children. Make sure they are GOD’S! – the way they SHOULD go. There is far more said to our husbands than us moms on this, but Pro. 14:1 says: “The wise woman builds her house…” And Pro. 31:26: “She opens her mouth with wisdom, …”

As I said, by modeling this and giving our children great reading based on a Biblical Worldview, they will *HAVE* a Biblical Worldview. But will they be able to REASON from this worldview? I believe THAT training takes a little more than just reading and having modeled to him. Hebrews 5:14 says: “Solid food belongs to those who are mature, that is those who by reason of use (practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” To do this, we must (and must teach our children to) not just read, but also study and “exercise their senses”. Their reasoning skills aren’t developed just by hearing, but also by practicing. This is accomplished through the 6 Processes of Learning:

1. Receive – taking in information.

2. Record/ Recite – record that information through quoting and through their own words, “parroting back” through Copywork, Recitation, Oral or Written Narration.

3. Ruminate – “to chew on”, think about the new info, relate it to what we already know.

4. Reason/ Relate – to actually process the information and make judgement on it. We MUST have the foundation of Wisdom through God’s Word in order to do this. The 4R method used in the Principle Approach, through Researching what the Word has to say on a topic, “exercises our senses to discern,” causing Wisdom to be gained. God “has given to us ALL things that pertaining to Life and godliness…” 2 Peter 1:3

5. Respond – this is the step of deciding what to do with the information. Toss it totally if it doesn’t line up with Biblical Truth. Keep the “baby” but throw out the “bathwater”, if there is some Truth buried in man’s faulty understanding. Embrace it and make it our own – if it totally lines up with Biblical Truth.

6. Release – communicate the results of the above process, sharing what we’re learned – through discussion, essays, teaching others, etc.

We must TRAIN our children how to walk through this Process of Learning, but it is done through whatever learning they are doing, not through separate “classes” on it.

So, while there is a place for learning Formal Logic and Reasoning “techniques”, I am far more concerned with my children developing a strong Biblical Worldview through ALL that they learn, to not only live their own lives by, but to also be able to present, through God-given Wisdom, from His Word and His Grace (supernatural empowering), His Truth to all who may “ask for a reason for the hope that is in them.”

Proverbs 4:7: “Wisdom is the PRINCIPAL thing, therefore get Wisdom and with all your getting get understanding.” Proverbs 9:10: “The FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of Wisdom..” And Wisdom is having a Biblical Worldview. Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” That is probably the key to what we all want for our children (and our own lives), that they/we would be prosperous and successful in God’s eyes, and that comes from developing a Biblical Worldview, by knowing God’s thoughts and thinking like Him.

 

The Balance of Routine

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Did I promise an article on Routine? Well, let’s see if I can get it done today.

Some people are very structure oriented, some very variety oriented. The problem is that it is very doubtful that EVERYONE in your family is the same one. We must work at finding the right balance of Routine for our FAMILIES not just for OURSELVES. Yes, God gives us our specific family members to balance us. We all have seen the extremes of “schedule obsession” and “too flighty to finish anything”, and none of us want to be like those people. Even if WE are those people, we don’t want to be. And our families certainly don’t want us to be.

How do we find this balance? Let me suggest a middle of the road approach to “Routine” that can be adjusted slightly one way or the other to best suit your family. Although I’m giving this in a step-by-step format, I realize, and I hope YOU do too, that Real Life and Relationships do not operate by formulas.

Step 1) Start by making your list of priorities. This is NOT a lengthy, impossible “to do” list, NOR is it your “life goals” list. This is a list of basic priorities that are important to your family. Perhaps customizing the “7 Disciplines of L.E.D.” will give you an idea to start with. You can see the 7 Disciplines online – http://www.angelfire.com/ne/meandmyhouse/led-7disciplines.html – and more details are given on the “8 Principles of Lifestyle Education” tape. These are specific to our *educational* priorities, obviously other things are priority too; clean clothes, picked up house, healthy meals, husband/wife time, etc. but, in this article we are talking about our education routine, AND, as you’ll see in our example below, we have included most of those other priorities – husband/wife time is not included during the “school-day routine, household chores are.

Step 2) Set a few “checkpoints” during the day. I find that mealtimes make the most effective checkpoints. One reason is that they can be slightly flexible if necessary (unless you have someone that comes home for a certain lunch hour). Other checkpoints can be based on set appointments; i.e. someone has to leave the home at a set time. Perhaps you want to have Family Worship before Dad goes to work.

Step 3) Set up your basic daily Routine upon these priorities. Do them in order of priority, filling in other details as needed. This is the ORDER they are done in, not TIME that they are done. This is Routine, not Schedule. That way if interruptions come, or you have to drop everything for an emergency, you still know that the most important things got accomplished. There is a saying called the Tyrrany of the Urgent; that the important often gets crowded out by the urgent. If we begin and order our day by the most important things, this is less likely to happen.

Let me give you an example, based upon the 7 Disciplines.

Checkpoint #1 – Breakfast at 9:00 – personal devotions and grooming done before. I don’t care what time you get up, just have these things done before 9.

After breakfast – Family Worship (includes Disciplines 1 – 3) then
Daily Chores

Perhaps you want to add another checkpoint – at 10:30 – everyone back to the table for Table Time:
Character Study
Copywork/Handwriting
Free Writing
Life and Learning Skills (any help and training you need to give them, from math concepts to cleaning the toilet)

Checkpoint – Lunch at 12:30 – after lunch:
Family Read Aloud
Weekly Chores
Active work – Learning Experience and Discovery
Individual Reading and Assignments/ Notebook work

After all the above is completed is Free Time, whenever that time comes. Since the afternoon, after lunch and Family Reading, is basically “individual” time, Free Time will come at a different time for each person.

Our next checkpoint would be – Supper – 6:00 – with “Blitz” completed before then (however long before then that you need). Blitz is a quick pick up of house and putting away of all projects.

Perhaps they/ you finished early, before a checkpoint time, go on to the next thing (or if the next thing is a family thing, and not everyone is done and ready, they go on to the next *individual* thing.) If they/ you don’t finish by a checkpoint time, or you get called away from home for a while, pick up where you left off when you get back. If an individual doesn’t finish in time, they finish up before they can have Free Time. If it’s an issue of nobody got done because of an emergency or appointment, perhaps rather than picking up where you left off, you will choose to go straight to Free Time, knowing that what you did do was the most important.

Utilizing a basic Routine like this gives you more Freedom than a clock-based schedule, yet allows you to accomplish more – AND the things that are most important to your family, better – than “flying by the seat of your pants”. And that’s what Lifestyle Education is all about “Freedom and Simplicity™”.

 

Freedom & Simplicity™ in High School RecordKeeping

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A List-Mom asked about simplifying High School record keeping for transcript-building, and our products for such. Below is my reply.

Let me explain our Freedom and Simplicity™ recordkeeping – some of it available as “forms” now, other parts to be included in the Lifestyle Curriculum – Or Excellence without Textbooks book (that I will finish in “publishable form” sometime, when LIFE – i.e. being a wife, mom, homemaker, Bible study teacher/writer, home school teacher, …… :- ) – allows me a bit more time. In the meantime I just try to answer questions as they come, individually – locally and email, through our website, and email list.

Anyhow, what we do (and notes as to what is available NOW) – with a focus on high-school recordkeeping, moving from daily records, to long-term planning – is:

Daily Log – This is a journal form, and my preference is for my children to keep it on a daily basis. They write a paragraph of what they did that day. I want this to be in a journal (diary-type) form, not just a list. (They don’t always get it done.) : -(  Of course, you could use it any way YOU please. There is a block on the page for each day of the week. (Forms are in either of the Redeeming the Time planners – or we have some discontinued books – a year’s worth of forms, comb-bound – that we are including FREE with any order over $50, or for $5 with smaller order, while supplies last).

Tracking Sheet – This is my most helpful, at a glance form. It lets me see very quickly, just exactly what they’ve been doing. More explanation and a sample form (Word attachment) are in a recent l.e.d. email list post.

As the youth study and learn, they are creating Notebooks – their own personal “living study” of the topic. It will remain their personal reference on the topic, and can be used in the future as their own review or to teach others. These Notebooks though are not particularly for MY use in record-keeping – except in assessing how thoroughly they have covered the topic and put their information together – I use these more to assess such “classes” as Compostition, since these Notebooks contain their compositions and we don’t give further “Compostion” assignments.

Topical Journal – As they “complete” a topic (“class” if you must), they fill out a Topical Journal of it. A simplified overview. It includes a Bibliography of the resources they used (and a check list of whether they took notes/wrote a summary/discussed with parents), a Projects page (giving description, self-evaluation, and parent evaluation). They write a page of Highlights – interesting things they learned, and a Summary page – what they learned, their thoughts about it, etc. – somewhat of a short “term paper” – though not as formal. This is what I use for most of my “assessment”, in assigning a “grade” and “credits” to a Course/Topic. (Forms available – with permission to copy for the purchaser’s own children – for $3.00.)

Most of the other “high-school” documentation we do is through our High School Planning and Record Notebook – what “Lifestyle Curriculum ,,,” will cover. In a nutshell, what it contains is:

High School Graduation Requirements – how many credits in what courses and topics

Documentation Guidelines – how and where they are to document each area, any requirements for forms to use or things to include in specific notebooks.

Course Record – The forms I use to actually compile a transcript. One per course (with a note of how many credits required), divided into the Topics within that course and the basic requirements and credits for each class, the grade received. We also note “date finished” for each Topic/requirement, if appropriate. Things like “Learn the Bible in 24 Hours” (1 requirement for Bible Survey) have a definite ending date. Things like “Descriptive, Narrative, and Biographical Composition” don’t.

Topic Assessment Criteria sheet – (for appropriate Courses – such as History, Science, Health, Practical Arts) – tells what their grade will be based upon. I have a general one, for the above courses that require Topical Journals, but a few more specific ones for other courses – such as Math, PE – listing what is required to get an A, B, or C.

Learning Maps and/or Topic Record sheets – one for each Topic (division of a Course) – ex. our Bible Course (requires 4+ credits) is divided into the following topics – Bible Survery (1 credit), Bible Doctrine (1 credit), Biblical Principles, Christian Living, and Ministry (1 3/4+ credit), Personal Bible Studies (1/4+ credit.) Each of these Topics (for each course, not just Bible) has it’s own Topic Record sheet headed with the Name of the Topic, and the date the Topical Journal is done. Below that is a list of “assignments” completed, their beginning and ending dates and a place for me to initial. The first few lines (or one or *none*) list any of MY required “assignments” – if there are any books or other resources (this could be ‘other resources’ like, “talk to Grandpa about practical investing”) on the topic that I REQUIRE (noted with an ‘R’) or that I consider excellent, though not required (noted with an ‘O’ – optional). The rest of the page is filled with blank lines for them to fill in resources and projects that THEY come up with and do. These sheets were designed and in use long before I began using the Tracking Sheets, and may now be somewhat redundant. But since these sheets aren’t necessarily turned in every week, I designed the Tracking Sheets to keep me more “up to date” on their progress, and Learning Maps more as planning sheets, to give direction.

My Redeeming the Time planner has several other Education Planning and Documenting forms in addition to all the homemaking forms.

Resources written by Me and My House available here.

High School Bible Course

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I’m asked often, but rarely share publicly OUR curriculum, as we believe that is such a personal family thing. We really believe each family needs to seek God for specific direction for what to do – not what “pre-published curriculum” to use, but for God to write through them THEIR OWN PERSONAL FAMILY CURRICULUM. I have debated within myself for years as to how much to share. The questions keep coming, more and more frequent. (Please order our “Introduction to Lifestyle Education through Discipleship” and “8 Principles of Lifestyle Education” tapes to know what we REALLY want to share with you, the foundation, philosophy and principles to build your own family’s education and curriculum upon.)

I don’t want any family’s home-education (other than ours) to be dependent on whether I get a complete curriculum “published”, but I am seeing the benefit other families could gain from me sharing outlines of what we do. So many moms have said, “I really don’t want to *copy* your curriculum verbatum in our home, but I’d just like to see what yours looks like to give me an idea of where to start.”

So….. with that in mind, I share with you a basic outline for our Bible Course (taken from our Bible Course Learning Map).

1. Bible Survey
pre-requisite: Read through the entire Bible and
Keep a journal of your devotions (a notebook form we have – “SpiritualJourney”, or something of their own covering similar info).
Our primary resource list: Learn the Bible in 24 Hours, What the Bible is All About, opt. Hayford’s Bible Handbook

2. Bible Doctrine
primary resource: Bible Studies for a Firm Foundation, book list for each topic studied

3. Biblical Principles (Christian Living, Male/Female roles, Ministry)
way too many resources to list, but included are: Basic Life Principles, Advanced Life Principles, Life Notebook and an extensive book list of possibilities.

4. Personal Bible Studies
various types of studies and using Bible reference books – expositional, inductive, word, topical, contextual – also includes Scripture memory
primary resources: How to Study the Bible, How to Study Your Bible, Bible reference books

These Topics (especially Doctrine and Principles) include journals and essays. The Survey includes book summaries and timelines. The Personal Studies are followed in various ways. I give this basic “requirements” and book lists (which aren’t always written, but “on the shelves”) and they take it from there, each completing it in different ways. We have used God’s Priceless Woman before, but I’ve come across many other resources since then, so don’t know if I’ll keep it as “required” or let them pick and choose. I also like to encourage deeper devotional reading (thought provoking) books.