Category Archives: Helpful Resources

Continuing my “Free Lunch” post …

In choosing my very specific books, planning our latest studies, I came across an old book I really wanted to use that is no longer available. It is part of a series that I love, and have all the others up to that point, but has now gone back out of print. I decided to check my ebook sites that are bookmarked. I found it! I also decided, since my time was already stretched to the max – so why not spend more time :-/, to look for other books we are using this year, just to see if they are available for free online. I found many of them (disclaimer – for this study, in these areas. I’m not vouching for my complete curriculum.)

I still hold that many of the foundational books we use, books that are key to our studies and therefore I’d not give up, can not be found “free on the internet”. Perhaps many (probably not all) of these could be ordered through Interlibrary loan, if necessary.

Probably my great question about a “free” education this way is, “Is it really?” I won’t even factor in the cost of the Internet, but will say I can teach my children wholly without it, the “old fashioned” way, with books. But we’ll allow it as a given since it will probably be an expense incurred even outside of education. If your “reason” for having the Internet IS education, then begin the cost of education at approx. $400-500 per year for Internet. I won’t include the computer itself into the cost either, but did you buy a computer “for school”? Need a second one for the kids, for school? These are costs that aren’t part of our “education” – so I’ll allow them as “no added cost”, although if you have several children and they are all reading all their lessons off a compter, you probably have had to buy an extra one or more – or are printing all the books, (see below). Books – I’ll also count them as “Free”. (I’ll allow the possibility that you can find ALL the books you want to use on the Internet for “free”. Although in reality I don’t believe this to be true. Although it MAY be somehow possible, I doubt that it is wholly realistic for a complete, coherent, bibical principles basced education to find EVERY resource for “free”. If someone can prove me wrong, it is an area in which I would be happy to eat my words.)

So here’s the cost. Are you going to print out all of those books you find or read them on the screen? Reading on the screen is “free” (fi you didn’t buy extra computers). But at what cost to your eyesight? Reading onscreen for many hours a day is not really a good choice for children (or adults). The cost may be your vision. That’s a high price to pay.

The other alternative is to print out your books. Have you totaled the costs of ink and paper? I’m told that the way to go is a laser printer, far cheaper per page for large amounts of printing – but a big initial investment. And not usually what you have at home already connected to your computer. Did you add that laser printer into your cost of “free” education?

What about the end result? Say you’ve printed off all these books. How did you bind them? Put them in a 3 prong folder? Use brads and duct tape? A 3 ring binder? Comb/spiral binding? All of these have various costs, granted some negligible. But what quality of “book” do you have? Not an heirloom to pass on or even a cheap paperback to resell.

But the greatest “cost” factor I see, is that your children don’t see the value of books. They are just something we print out, and possibly throw away when we’re done. They don’t see books as worthy property, worth sacrificing for. So is education really worth much?

As my children learned early on in Economics, TANSTAAFL – There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. [unrelated article on TANSTAAFL]

Conclusion? Stay tuned… You may really be surprised!
Read it here.

I wonder how that title will come up in search engines. But I don’t write for search engines, I write my thoughts – to provoke you to think. This post is on how someone else provoked me to think. And how I am in the process of eating my words – at least to some degree.

In corresponding on a home school elist, I stated that I didn’t know that how I plan our studies could be done “free”, that we use specific books and that I am very careful about the books we use, and that in general we look for books written from a biblical (or at least not ANTI-biblical) viewpoint.

I admit, before going on, that I have something others may not have – a love for great books. If you don’t have one, you should begin to cultivate one. It’s truly necessary, espeically for an educator and parent. I have been collecting good books all my life, since I was a child. I truly agree with Erasmus that, “When I get a little money, I buy books. If there is any left over I buy food and clothes.” Obviously this is hyperbole, but building a great library is a love of mine, inherited from my dad. I own thousands of books and am constantly weeding out things that don’t fit the highest of standards to make room for more truly great books. (I don’t buy or keep twaddle. If there is a “just ok” or “twaddley” book we want to read, we’ll borrow it from the public library.) I will also say I am a major bargain shopper and my library has cost FAR less than it is worth. Never pay full price for anything if you can in anyway get it legitimately for less!

On the other side, and the reason that prompted my reply to the elist, I see many home educators “now-a-days” that are just looking for how to home school for FREE. The quality doesn’t matter, the content doesn’t matter, all that matters is that it is FREE – and for some, another qualification is a “heap o’ fun”! Although I thoroughly believe learning should be one of the greatest joys of life, “fun” and “free” aren’t my qualifying prerogatives in providing my children an excellent education. I have nothing against either, they just aren’t my goals. A good education is worth sacrificing for, not a free add-on; and education requires labor, not just fun and games.

Back to my “lunch” story. We use some great newer books, some/many are not ones you find at home school curriculum fairs or on swap lists. We also use some great old books, again not always the popular reprints. It obviously takes (has taken) time to come up with the curriculum I write for our children and the book lists I put together. I have to admit I was thinking in terms of my already stretched to the limit time constraints. Is that really “free”?

But she did get me to thinking, could what we do be done by those who truly had no ability to build a library?

To be continued … here.

I have several articles I need to get posted specifically for those who are learning the Principle Approach. One of the key ones is on How L.E.D. relates to PA. (Could be helpful, huh?)

But today’s post is on your initial study of PA (the Principle Approach) for those who are wanting to get started with PA resources.
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Currently two of the main resources for getting started and understanding the PA are SDS and GACE:
SDS is Self-Directed Seminar written and available through FACE http://face.net – a short booklet that walks you through a (?9 lesson) PA study to learn about Biblical education and PA, using the foundational resources.

GACE is A Guide to American Christian Education for the Home and School: The Principle Approach by James Rose and is available at his website: http://www.achipa.com/ (click on publications) It is a big red book (like the foundational books) that has 4 major parts. The first 3 are learning about the PA: Part 1 – Rudiments of American Christian Education, Part 2 – Education for the American Christian home, Part 3 – The American Christian School at Home. Part 4 is applying PA to the curriculum – many chapters on specific subjects curriculum foundations.

GACE or SDS? I think it probably depends more on your personality/preference (what clicks with YOU) which you are going to get the most out of INITIALLY. The first 3 sections before the curriculum in ACE are learning the philosophy of PA, so that is what we are talking about in studying GACE (then section 4 gets into the curriculum stuff – for later, putting together your studies).

I haven’t sat down and put GACE and SDS side by side in what they actually teach – detailed content, to figure out if one is actually “better” than the other. I think GACE probably gives a better understanding of PA initially to a lot of people. But I like how SDS has you actually DO PA, so you not only learn about it, but you learn it. It seems to me that it is more on renewing the mind in educational thought to Biblical patterns than GACE is explicit about.

But for actually learning how to PA, I also love and highly recommend Rudiments (the Student Handbook from FACE). It walks you through the foundational study of PA, America’s Christian History and Government, by doing a PA study. IMO, it is a MUST for beginning teens and all moms. So you could do it that way, learn the philosophy through reading GACE, then applying/DOING PA through Rudiments. This was my way (before there was an SDS) – GACE and Rudiments.

But like I said there are many different options, especially now. And different people will probably assess what is “best” differently. Personally, I say, immerse yourself in as much of it as you can. The more you do the greater will be your understanding and internalizing.

Perhaps one “best” way, for those that have had trouble understanding SDS, is to read GACE first, then go back and do SDS. I’ll bet SDS will make more sense after reading GACE. Then of course you can proceed to Rudiments (or T&L’s study of CHOC). (T&L (Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History) and CHOC (The Christian History of Our Constitution) are the foundational big Red Books by FACE – that is the PA people at the Foundation for American Christian Education.

Enough alphabet soup for today.
For those wanting to get started with the SDS right away, there is a new SDS support yahoogroup starting next week to go through it.
For general discussion of teaching by Biblical Principles/PA in home education join the bibleprinciples yahoogroup.

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ is a Biblical worldview approach to home education through discipleship, with a goal of teaching our children “right reasoning” or how to think Biblically. One of the major philosophies “out there” that we glean from is the Principle Approach, a philosophy with that same goal. Philosophy-wise we probably line up closer with PA than other major philosophies. But when it comes to application, we look very different than many think of PA.

I know many of you are are looking at L.E.D. through your interest in PA. Many others of you have come to L.E.D. through much more “relaxed” approaches. What we all have in common is we want to be led by God to home educate for His glory, with that goal of our children thinking and living “Biblically”. I believe that even those not interested in “doing PA” can glean some great things from it. Below is a very simplified introduction to the Principle Approach, and some suggestions for those interested in learning more about implementing aspects of it in a “family-friendly”, more informal way.

Verna Hall began researching the foundations of America’s Christian History in the 1930’s. Her research led her to compile a book called the Christian History of the Constitution, CHOC, of original “primary sources” of our Providential history.

In the ’60’s Rosalie Slater joined her, and wrote a book called Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History,T&L, as a study guide to CHOC – containing 3 different ways CHOC could be studied (one of them for teaching children through the educational levels). She developed “7 Principles of our Christian History and Government” and the teaching method called the Principle Approach (PA), which is a philosophy and methodology of education based on Biblical reasoning. Students (of any age) learn to “4-R” (research, reason, relate, and record) and “Notebook” (keep orderly records of their studies) to develop a Biblical worldview of all of life/ through all subjects. Together Hall & Slater formed the Foundation for American Christian Education, FACE.

These 2 books, CHOC and T&L, called the “Red Books”, are large, “red” books and, along with Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, are considered the “foundational” books for PA study. There is also a Vol. 2 of CHOC, and The Christian History of the American Revolution: Consider & Ponder (C&P) (a BLUE book). There are also other volumes. But these are the main big resource books.

Many students have studied the works of, and been taught by, Hall and Slater. Many of them have written their own books on the Principle Approach, or based on the Principle Approach. One of the most popular being James Roses’ Guide to American Christian Education for Home and School (GACE). It is also a big red book, but not put out by FACE. Many find it to be one of the most helpful books for making PA more understandable and putting it into application.

20-some years ago, FACE started a demonstration school called Stonebridge with teachers trained in PA. Over the years these teachers have written, and FACE published, Curriculum Guides (subject based, with outlines for all grades) and Lesson Plans (grade leveled) that are called the Noah Plan. (There are also 2 large notebooks called the Noah Plan. One for elementary and 1 for high school. They contain the SDS and grade level guidelines.) The Self-Directed Seminar (SDS) is an introduction to PA, teaching you the philosophy and methodology in a “hands on” way. It utilizes the foundational books, and walks you through a PA study as you learn what it is, and develop a solid Biblical view of education. Rudiments of America’s Christian History and Government, from FACE, is another PA book I want to mention. It is a foundational study for high school, and a great study for parents new to PA also. It also uses the foundational books.

Generally, PA has been considered a “study it out and teach it yourself” approach – i.e. a philosophy and methodology, NOT a curriculum. However, now there is the Noah Plan (NP) that IS a curriculum based on PA. It was written in a school setting, and therefore must be adapted for home educational use.

OK, now you know what PA and it’s main resources are, how can they be of benefit to you if you aren’t specifically teaching PA? First I’ll tell you why I think these books can be beneficial to you, even if you aren’t “doing the Principle Approach”. The Principle Approach is the most solid and complete Biblical Worldview/ reasoning educational approach I’ve seen. The PA resources can save you much time in studying and planning your studies.

Now a little more explanation on the usage of PA resources, for beginners. The main books for beginning to “do PA” are:
The foundational books: CHOC, T&L, 1828 (1828 CAN be accessed online for free, but you will use it all the time, so will probably want a “hard copy”.) (others as you need them)
SDS, perhaps optional but highly recommended
GACE, perhaps you could get by without SDS if you did a thorough study Parts 1, 2, and 3 in this.

What I recommend is, if SDS isn’t coming together for you, (remember it is going to require some thinking and reasoning and studying you may not have done in a long time, or perhaps EVER. This isn’t the way we were taught!) read the section in GACE covering the same topic before answering the SDS questions. Also, if you don’t get it with the first reading, read it again, – and again, if you need to. As you exercise your mind this way, it will begin to make sense.
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All of these, except the SDS, can be obtained through interlibrary loan to really see what they are, and to begin studying PA. In addition, many times used copies can be found to save you money. For someone new to PA, and not sure if they want to implement much of this type of study, so not wanting to invest yet, I would recommend getting ACE through interlibrary and thoroughly studying those first 3 Parts. Then when you know this is what you want, make the above purchases.

The SDS will renew your mind, and begin to get you thinking Biblically, and reasoning. You will 4R the topic of education. After this you could do one of the studies of CHOC through T&L, but I really recommend Rudiments for all parents and high school students. It is a great foundational study, even if you aren’t really doing anything else PA style.

If you really like the methodology of PA, and would like to incorporate it completely, you may want to utilize the NP materials to help you get started with your childrens’ studies while you are still learning. However remember, they were written for classrooms; ADAPT however you need for your usage at home. Even without following PA curriculum or in a way that looks anything like a PA school, I find the Curriculum Guides very helpful to me in planning the foundational content of our studies. However I don’t use their scope and sequence, nor the Lesson Plans.

Perhaps you are one who doesn’t want to go “that deep” into PA. You’re thinking of perhaps a bit lighter reading to “get your feet wet”. Some helpful resources for that are books written, based on PA. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles’ America’s Providential History, Marshall Foster’s The American Covenant, K. Alan Snyder’s If the Foundations are Destroyed, are 3 of my favorites.

I will close with this thought. Remember, there is a difference between teaching your children a Biblical Worldview, and teaching your children how to reason Biblically for a Biblical Worldview of their own. There are many “worldview resosurces” available. YEA! This wasn’t true when we began. But PA is the most developed approach for teaching your children how to study and reason for themselves to determine that view, not just be fed it from other sources. It worth your time to check it out and integrate at least some of its aspects into your home education, especially for your teen-aged children, although it is certainly benefical for your younger ones too. We just implement what we do from it very more informally up to the teen years.

To learn more about FACE, check their website.