PrincipledMom™

Last week was short due to an out of town ministry trip. Some of the things we worked on:

• place value (see the last post)
• being internally governed. In our Judah Bible Curriculum we are in Genesis, dealing with man's rejection of self-government. We did several pages for our notebook on this idea, contrasting what it looks like to be internally and externally governed. She mentioned this idea many times this week, especially when she saw things that were an obvious lack of internal (Christ) government, such as smoking, disobedience and selfishness. I'm so proud of her!
• More stories in McGuffey's reader.
• We completed their "me" books and they had a great time with those.
• We made a mini book with the four types of literature unique to the Bible. She always enjoys those types of projects.
• In Spanish we are reviewing colors. I am also looking over an article from FACE on the Latin American perspective of BPA. It's about Latin America's Christian history and it will help me teach Spanish to know the Latin contributions to the Chain of Christianity. This article is written by a Latino and it is very interesting.

I may not get to scan the work in from last week. I will get back on track with this current week.

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I am planning my lessons for next week. This takes quite a bit of time, even for my young ones. But it is a total labor of love. So my arithmetic lesson this week is a wonderful example of why I love the Principle Approach so much. Princess G needs to work on her numeric place value to 1,000,000. She's doing okay but we need to continue to reinforce it. I was studying the principles that apply to this concept and I just had to giggle when I think about how good God is. As arithmetic is orderly and predictable, so is God. That's good to know. But there's more!

When studying place value you see that each number has a unique value in relation to all the other numbers. WOW! It's a picture of the body of Christ:

Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the
measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself
in love.

God speaks to us all the time in His creation. If I wasn't searching out Biblical Principles I would never have considered this. We all have value according to God. He considered us of great worth, sending His Son to die for our sins. This value is constant and consistent.
When we talk about place value this week we will discuss this scripture and place value will take on a whole new meaning for her. This is what PA is about: finding the principles that the subjects come out of. Who knew you could find place value in the Bible? God did!
I hope you will consider your Place Value and discover what treasures God has given you for the body of Christ.

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Here's what we have been up to. We are working on applying what we read to our lives and thinking about everything. This means a lot of work for her because nothing is just fill in the blank. We talk everything through and then, much to her chagrin, we write it all down. Even for math, we discuss the Biblical principles behind counting and multiplication. She's doing so well. These are some samples of her notebook work this week.

We read a story from McGuffey and she wrote a paragraph applying the pirnciples found there. We don't do summaries because it's not important that she recite the story. What is important is what she can use from that story to develop Christian character.

We got a page idea from Judah Bible Curriculum's notebook idea booklet. It has such a great picture of the principles "The Christian Principle of Self-Government" and "Conscience is the Most Sacred of all Property." She can use this concept the next time she has a difficult decision to make. It has a stoplight in a head, to remind us to listen to God and our conscience.

In geography we are discussing our place in the universe and I came across a "glitter galaxy" at Enchanted Learning. We put some red glitter and labeled our solar system's place in the galaxy. We study from whole to parts, so we begin in geography with the universe and move down toward Earth and all its parts. The principle we highlighted was "God's Principle of Individuality."

Our math lesson came from something I read in A Guide to American Christian Education. The elementary mathematics section was illustrating the three classes that can be counted (fractions, measurements and individuals or groups). I created a page and she filled it in. She drew in the examples herself also. We are also working on multiplication and translating numbers from written English to Arabic. The place values can still be a little confusing, so we are continuing work on that. The principle: Mathematics came out of God's nature.

In history we have been working on a "book of me," also from Enchanted Learning. We have been using "History for Little Pilgrims" and this week's lessons were on the origin of His Story and our place in it. The book is so comprehensive and cute I just couldn't resist using it. And they are embellishing them and indiviualizing each page, which makes it so precious. Today we make thumbprints, weighed and measured and traced hands. Years from now I will treasure these snapshots in time. The principle: God's Principle of Individuality.

With VBS at church this week and only one car, we have been VERY busy but I think we have introduced and reinforced a number of important concepts and principles. We are really enjoying school so far in this new year. I'm more relaxed and somehow we are getting more accomplished. God is good!

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We educate year-round and took the month of June to regroup. Now we are back in the groove and having a great time starting second grade (and pre-K).

We have been spending the week writing definitions and laying the foundation for our studies. This year we are creating definition books for each subject. They are simple 8-tab books with cardstock covers. This is the one for geography.

The cover with her art work

Inside with the tabs closed and the words showing

Tab open so you can read the definition

We are using Astrobrites papers this year to add some color to our notebooks. I can get a lot more work from her if it's fun like this. We will create pockets on the inside of the tabbed dividers to hold them.

In history we made a page describing the four keys for studying history (or any subject, really).
The keys have glitter and the word on the outside
The four keys are:
Key institutions
Key events
Key individuals
Key documents

The definitions are on the back. We glued the key so they can be turned over.
institutions: group of people with something in common
individual: single person
event: something that happened
document: something written down
We then glued the door on the right and used a brad for the knob. This project was fun and she really remembers them now, along with what they mean. Hope this gives you some inspiration for your own notebooks.

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We begin our new year next week. Since we school year-round, we take June off and then get back into things when the summer is really heating up. (And here it has been almost 100 degrees evey day this week!) I've been praying and looking over my plans for the year.

First, I think about what I want to cover. Sometimes I follow a suggested plan and sometimes I don't. In science, history, math, Bible and French I will mostly follow their plans. But in everything else--English, literature, geography, music, art--I blaze my own trail.

I map out what I will basically cover each month throughout the year. Then I break it down into weeks. Then I make my daily plans from there, four weeks at a time. I plan the daily lessons as I go, so I don't ever feel overwhelmed. The week we have off (every fifth week) I plan the next four.

Some PA moms plan a month at a time and then create daily plans from that. I like to see each week planned out. It helps me know that I have covered all I wanted to in more detail than a monthly plan. It may seem like a lot of work to do this but I like it. It helps me feel organized and peaceful because I know I haven't forgotten anything. It also makes weekly planning easier because a lot of the work has been done for me at that point.

I'm really looking forward to this new year. We have some great things planned. I'm trying to do more activities and take more pictures. How do you plan your year?

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