PrincipledMom™

Continuing along our theme this week of dictatorships, we discussed the difference between leaders and rulers. According to Webster's 1828 dictionary, they are defined as follows:

• Ruler--any one that exercises supreme power over others.
• Leader--One who goes first; a guide. (I rearranged these a bit.)

There is a marked difference between the two. One seems benevolent and one does not. We discussed the differences and the type of government these two would look like. We also talked about the responsibility of the people under these types of civil government. Here is what she reasoned:

• The people have no need for self-government under a ruler. They are told everything.
• The people have some need for self-government with a leader because it is up to them to follow.

We created a page with flaps that fold up to see what's underneath. We defined them both (above), listed the responsibility of the people and gave an example of both from real 7 year-old life.

The Holy Spirit gave me an idea as we were talking about what these two types look like to a kid. Here's what we discovered:

• Simon Says: ruler. You are told what to do. You can govern from anywhere. There is no mercy (one miss and you're out)
• Follow the Leader: leader. You are shown what to do. The leader must be in front to set the example. There is mercy because even if you miss something you can still start again.

This was really fun. We played both games so she could follow and see which one she would rather follow. Of course she chose the leader. But for a moment she thought she might like to be the ruler. I see we still have some work to do!

For our Bible lessons we use the Judah Bible Curriculum, which I can't rave about enough. It looks at the Bible governmentally, that is, who or what is directing, regulating, controlling or restraining men and nations. (JBC doeas a lot for Christian scholarship and learning to study the Bible for yourself too.) It has been such a wonderful time together.

This week were are discussing Egypt and their government--Pharoah (dictator), man over man type of government. Now my Princess G is only 7 but she was able to reason some profound reasons why she does not want to be under a dicatorship. Keep in mind that she really did get this on her own. I did not tell her what to think.

We discussed what a dictator was and what that type of government looks like in chart form.

Then we discussed the passage in Exodus 1 about Egypt and what that society was like. Not a great length, just the basics. We discussed why Egypt was unhappy that the Hebrew numbers were growing and what that meant to Egypt.

Then I asked her, looking at the chart, why she would not like a man over man type of government. These are the reasons she listed:

• I would worship him instead of God.
• I wouldn't get my prayers answered becasue he is only a man.
• He would be controlling and tell me what to do all the time.
• He would be unknown and I wouldn't know what he was thinking (she was saying he was highly undpredictable).

This was really exciting to me. She really understood what we were saying and was able to reason why it wasn't a good thing to have a dictator. God bless her! We made it into a paragraph for her notebook:

When she came up with the reasons I was quick to praise her and give her ownership of her own thoughts. "I am so proud of you! You came up with those reasons yourself; I didn't tell them to you. What a smart girl you are! God has blessed you with such a bright and wonderful mind." This really encourages her to keep going. The more I encourage her to think the more she does. I can't wait to see how this reasoning looks in 5 years. This BPA philosophy of education is awesome!

At lunch yesterday we were talking to a friend who is the general manager of a large restaurant. At this time he is working 60-70 hours a week. He was talking to his parents about his decision to change his life. He is getting out of debt and saving up money to take a year off to seek the Lord and to do the work of the ministry. Then he plans to get a job working 40 hours a week. "My plan is to live simply. It's just not worth it for me to have all this stuff and make myself sick in the process."

This scenario is like all of us. We get so busy living life that we are making ourselves sick, if not physically, then spiritually.

Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower
went forth to sow;
Mat 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Mat 13:5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Mat 13:6 And when the sun was up, they were
scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
Mat 13:7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
Mat 13:8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

I think this is the type of seed America is planting in bumper crops.

Mat 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the
word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the
word, and he becometh unfruitful.

I don't want the cares of this world to choke out the seed God is planting in the lives of my family. I don't want my children to grow up chasing the wrong dream, living and toiling for a crop of thorns. I want them to bear much fruit.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If I stay close to the vine then I'm sure to bear much fruit. If I keep my children close to the vine, if I teach them the ways of God and how to hear His voice for themselves then the seed God plants in their lives will not be choked out, but rather the fruit of the Spirit will flourish.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If they are cultivating these then there will be no room for the cares of this world.

This is why I teach my children the way I do. This is why I spend hours studying and renewing my mind. This is why I am allowing the Holy Spirit to change my thinking about what it really means to train up my children.

It's more than just learning the 3 R's. It's about teaching them to think and reason from God's Word, teaching them about the rich American Christian heritage they claim. It's about training them to give a reason for the hope that lies within them. It's about teaching them about the liberty that can only come from Christ. It's about teaching them about God's providence throught His Story and their place on the Chain of Christianity.

It's not about education for education's sake. It's not about getting into the best colleges (though they will if they want to). It's about living a life that is a sacrifice to God, about keeping your priorities in check and making sure your seed is falling on the most fertile soil.

The Biblical Principle Approach philosophy of education has done more to increase my time with God, to prepare my heart to hear His voice and draw me closer to Him than any Bible study or Sunday school class has ever done. It keeps me in His word and in His presence in a way that no other philosophy of education can do. And for that I am truly grateful that God saw fit in His providence to lead me on this path. For my children's sake.

Well last week was a challenge. But how is that different from any other week? It takes such a commitment to make sure you have school consistently because there are so many things trying to get your attention. They all seem urgent and they all need to be done NOW!!! So we still got our lesons in so I thought I'd share.

History
Principle: God uses individuals to further His Story.
Leading idea: Moses was in the right place at the right time.
We are talking about Moses and his link on the Chain of Christianity. We talked about Moses being in the right place at the right time and made a page with a "basket" in the Nile that is really a flap you can lift to see little Moses inside. Then we talked about Moses in Pharoah's house and how he was prepared and preserved for God's plan. We created a T-chart to compare and contrast Pharoah's House and Slavery.
Pharoah: education, leader, favored
Slavery: toil, servant, torture
We compared and contrasted these two environments and she reasoned how these things brought us to the leading idea (right place, right time) which she then reasoned to the principle (stated above). This took a little while but she got it herself, with a little mild encouragement. We are still working on the reasoning part but I think she's doing a great job!

Bible
We discussed Abraham from JBC lesson 6 and the fact that his faith made him righteous. That was an interesting conversation. She drew a picture of Abraham with lots of stars and a scripture reference and title. We also discussed why we are called the Seed of Abraham.

Geography
Principle: It is the Stage for His Story
We discussed continents, peninsulas and islands and she reasoned that this is where the people live so this is the stage for His Story. We drew examples and she used the Map Standard to color them.

Mathematics
Principle: Measurement shows me that God is orderly and unchanging. (Mal. 3:6)
Leading idea: Measurement is always the same.
We looked up examples of measurement in the Bible (Noah's ark, the angel in Revelation) and we discussed how that is like God. We talked about how it can build our faith because since math is unchanging and math came out of God, He is also unchanging. (You can also use Rom. 1:20 here.) We can use what we can see to help us understand a God that we cannot see. Then we discussed inches, feet and yards and did some math problems with them. We are also working on our times tables in Ray's Mathematics lesson 44.

Literature
Principle: God's Principle of Individuality
leading idea: writing demonstrates the author's individuality
We are reading some of Emerson's work. We checked "Father, We Thank You" from the library. It has beautiful illustrations and a wonderful poem of Emerson's about God's creation. We discussed how we can see what the author is thinking and feeling through his writing. We can also tell about his background and worldview (my word, not hers!) by the conent of his work.

I don't have time to go into every subject here but these are the main subjects we try to always get to. We try to get to art, science and music, but at his time they are mainly informal lessons. (I am taching an online book arts class and we use that, along with another yahoo group art class.) She has had three years of piano and loves to sit and learn songs on her own. I am working on getting some science materials from Ms. Dang and have won the book (The Child's Book of Nature) on eBay. When I get the book I will make more formal lessons for botany, per her suggestion.

When I read Mr. Rose's Guide I was a happy mama. It validated some thoughts I had about the seven principles of America's Christian history. I keep coming back to the principle of individuality over and over. I wasn't quite sure if I was just using it as an easy out" for times when I couldn't take more time to study. (Do you ever feel like you should be getting really "deep" insights when you study and that you should impart wisdom by the boatload? I have to constantly remind myself that I am planting seeds, not trees!) Mr. Rose offers something so helpful to me.

Starting on p. 31 he expounds on God's Principle of Individuality. He talks about how this principle is foundational and the other six come out from it. It gives rise to the Christian idea of man and government. As God is the unique, individual source of everything, of course all other principles would spring from that.

That said, I am resting a little easier and not feeling like such a cop-out, relying on that principle so often. It is so elementary to the BPA philosophy that I am glad we are talking about it so often. We have also been spending a lot of time talking about individuality in all subjects and how important that principle is to the working of all things together for good (Rom. 8:28). It has been like an adventure looking for the individuality in each lesson we study. Some things we talk about are:

• how geography shapes individuals and how all of geography is unique and wonderful
  history is His story and geograhpy is its stage. It is full of men and nations, all of whom are individual and unique in their contributions.
• art is repleat with exciting people who use their talents in unique ways.

I could go on but you get the idea. Not all the seven principles are so easy to apply to every subject, but this is a wonderful one to start with beacuse it is woven through all of God's creation.