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.
.
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.
