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My Abba's Child
September 30th, 2007, 05:14 PM
New World Order asked me to post this for you guys to take a look at...

Just a suggestion for any parents who are CONSIDERING home schooling but have little or no experience with teaching: take a look at Heart of Wisdom (www.heartofwisdom.com) curriculum. It's written by a mom who homeschooled her children for many years. It includes Science, History, Wisdom (life training) and links to many other helplful resources. I suggest you purchase The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach before you do anything else. It goes over the history of public schools, the theories, thoughts and beliefs of public schooling, and the difference between Greek teaching philosophy and Hebrew teaching philosophy. This approach teaches from a Hebrew philosophy rather than Greek, and it explains why. It also goes into great detail as to HOW to teach your kids using the Heart of Wisdom approach, that's why I suggest you get it... not only to make sure it's something FOR you, but also so you can see the details of how to use it. Many of the resources from Heart of Wisdom publishing come in both book (softcover) form and e-book.

Science is studied in Creation order: (first they go through a sort of worldview section of Creationism vs. Evolutionism called Creation) The first day God created Light, so we study Light, the next study is Energy, so on...

History is studied from Adam to Abraham, Ancient Civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greek, etc...) and Abraham to Messiah, and goes up to modern day.

These are UNIT studies, so language arts, fine arts, critical thinking, etc... will be used throughout instead of in seperate classes. The only thing that's NOT included in the Unit studies is Math... you'll have to get a seperate math curriculum. We're using the Switched on Schoolhouse program for Math because we already had it. I hope to get Saxon Math next year. These units teach several different grades simultaneously, so you can use them for different aged kids, and it has a GREAT section for reference and tools for different grade levels.

The day is started with Bible study and prayer and also includes time to exercise and enjoy the world God has made for us. Charlotte Mason's approaches are used to make this a "delight driven" curriculum--as you teach, you look for sparks of interest in your child(ren) and, when you see they're really interested in something, you delve deeper into it (for instance, you're studying Medieval times and one child is very interested in Knights--so he researches armor, shields and crests, etc... maybe can get together with the family and design and draw YOUR family crest; while another child is very interested in Medieval feasts and plans and prepares an 8 course dinner for the family, while another is interested in the life and times of the Medieval period and writes a play or a journal as if he/she lived there, etc...).

NO, I'm NOT the person who wrote this curriculum. =P Nor will I get paid for an endorsement. hehe I just discovered it myself and am VERY excited to be using it this year with my 11 and 13 year old sons! =)

In His love,

NewWorldOrder
September 30th, 2007, 07:37 PM
Thank you for posting! :)

Baby Christian
October 1st, 2007, 11:16 AM
I just wanted to second the wonderful recommendation by My Abba's Child, for the (HOWTA) Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach book by Robin Sampson. You can download free samples of all the unit studies as well as the HOWTA at the site linked to in opening post. This is our fifth year of homeschooling, third using the HOWTA methods.


I use A Beka materials as the "tools" for my dd along with HOWTA. By "tools" I mean arithmetic, language art skills, readers. But our focus is on learning about God's Word and God's world using a method of teaching that is Hebraic in nature and Biblical at it's core.

This method uses four steps...
Step one excites the child. It motivates them to learn, creating an interest in what is about to be taught. Jesus met the people where they were at in much the same way using parables thus creating an interest.

Step two is where you examine. Researching happens in this step as well as reasoning and thinking things out. Jesus often used Scripture to present His facts.

Step three is where you do something with what you are learning, to expand. Experiments, notebooking, writing stories, coloring pages, drawing pictures or maps, cooking--the list is endless. Jesus asked people to do something with what they had learned from Him.

Step four is where you excel. This is the point you can share what you have learned with others thus teaching yourself! Jesus asked people to "go and tell others."

That is just the jist of the HOWTA.

I think both the e-book and real book are even on sale right now -- but worth every penny full price! (nor will I be paid for this endorsement...well, this side of heaven anyway...*big grin*)

YSIC,
Baby C.

Baby Christian
October 1st, 2007, 11:25 AM
Yes, HOWTA e-book and e-book, paperback combo are still on sale. Here is the direct link where you can also download 70 pages for free before you buy.

http://homeschool-books.com/xcart/book/the-heart-of-wisdom-teaching-approach.html