Frequently Asked Questions
Principle Approach®/Methodology Questions
Click on each question below to view the answer.
1. What is the Principle Approach?
2. Where do I Start?
3. What is the notebook method?
4. How do I fit the Principle Approach to children with special needs?
5. Is it too late to begin the Principle Approach in high school?
6. What kind of results have you seen in students who receive a Principle Approach education?
7. What if I'm an educator or parent of a student at a public school? What are my options in using Principle Approach curriculum?
8. What is the tutorial method?
9. What is the chain of Christianity®?
10. Where did the seven principles originate? Are there Biblical references for each one?
11. What is 4-R'ing?
Q: What is the Principle Approach®?
A: "The Principle Approach is America's historic Christian method of Biblical reasoning which makes the Truths of God's Word the basis of every subject in the school curriculum. America's Biblical education produced America's Christian history and Constitution. The method was The Principle Approach." (Rosalie June Slater, author of Teaching and Learning: The Principle Approach, p. 88) The Foundation for American Christian Education publishes The Noah Plan for the purpose of reviving this method to restore the Christian character of the Republic and the foundations of American liberty.
For more on the Principle Approach, please read "The Principle Approach to Learning America's Christian History, Education, and Government".
Q: Where do I start?
A: The Principle Approach Resources and Noah Plan Product Guide will answer all your questions about getting started.
Q: What is the notebook method?
A: The notebook method is an essential component to the Principle Approach that governs the teacher and student in their participation in each subject. It establishes a consistent tool and standard of Christian scholarship. The learners are producers as they build their own daily record of a subject, taking ownership of the learning process. The notebook method embraces the four steps of learning: research, reason, relate, and record (called 4-R'ing). It aids in the Biblical purposes of education by “enlightening the understanding, correcting the temper, and forming the habits of youth that fit him for usefulness in his future station.” (excerpted from the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary definition of education). The notebook method is the product of the student’s creativity and a permanent record of his productivity. It assists parents and teachers in overseeing progress and visually demonstrates the character development, diligence, and responsibility of the student.
Q: How do I fit the Principle Approach to children with special needs?
A: When every child is taught tutorially with the Principle Approach, he is able to think and reason and articulate his ideas and answers. The teacher inspires through the rich curriculum content and re-mediates in the skill areas. Homework, quizzes, tests, and projects are mediated for each child to build confidence and success in every subject.
Q: Is it too late to begin the Principle Approach in high school?
A: While beginning the Principle Approach at the outset of school is obviously advantageous, it is never too late. Begin wherever you are and, with patience, you will see results.
The Rudiments of America's Christian History and Government course should be taken by the high school student beginning the Principle Approach, no matter what the entrance level. Realize that an adjustment time is in order to give the student help in developing new methods of learning along with a new and vastly demanding curriculum. It is advisable to select from the middle school Bible, literature, and history curriculum for students for whom the high school program is too great a stretch. A year of adapting and preparation should be all that is necessary to move the student into the full Noah Plan program at the next grade level.
Q: What kind of results have you seen in students who receive a Principle Approach education?
A: See the results for yourself!
Q: What if I'm an educator or parent of a student at a public school? What are my options in using Principle Approach curriculum?
A: If your child is currently in the public school system you can always use Principle Approach resources, as well as the philosophy and methodology to enhance your child's education. Employing the notebook method in conjunction with the 1828 Dictionary as much as possible in their learning process, and reserving Saturday nights as family time to read from A Family Program for Reading Aloud are just two examples of how you can integrate Principle Approach education in your home.
Unfortunately, at this time Principle Approach resources and The Noah Plan curriculum are not accessible in the public school system. However, we do have a great suggestion for educators and parents who want to see the Bible taught in their school.
Elizabeth Ridenour, founder and president of the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools, has written outstanding curriculum for high school students interested in taking Bible as an elective. Her curriculum has been implemented in over 900 high schools' electives course programs across the country. The curriculum does not proselytize, but it does teach the Bible as history and literature, and its impact on history, art, and literature. Ms. Ridenour has a heart to see the Bible taught in every school in our nation. The curriculum's bibliography includes Principle Approach foundational books as sources for teaching the Bible's impact on America's founding. If you want your child or community to learn about the Bible in their school, log on to www.bibleinschools.com
Q: What is the tutorial method?
A: “As teacher, the Principle Approach methods, curriculum, and philosophy of education allow us the liberty and creative expression to satisfy the real needs of our students in a whole way. We see each child as an individual of infinite value, made in the image of God and worthy of our respect. We see the tutorial needs of students, that each one as an individual is entitled to his own learning style and instruction, that every child can be elevated to a worthy standard. We see that our students need to produce, not consume only—expressing themselves in the arts, music, drama, and athletics, developing every talent, exercising their whole potential.”
The above quote from page 12 of Dr. Carole Adams’s article, “The Christian Idea of the Child” mentions the basis for the “tutorial method” that is a distinctive concept of the Principle Approach methodology and philosophy. The tutorial method takes into account the individuality of each child, acknowledging that each student, as unique, has a correspondingly unique set of strengths and weaknesses, skills and challenges—a learning style. It is the responsibility of the teacher to “study” each student in order to determine his innate gifts and abilities, perceptual strengths and weaknesses, to wisely teach each individual. The goal is to bring each student to the fullest expression of his individual value in Christ.
Q: What is the chain of Christianity?
A: The chain of Christianity is the path of the Gospel through history and across continents as God used men and nations to bring about His purposes. The idea of the chain of Christianity moving westward to bring internal Christian liberty and (ultimately) external civil liberty was understood in the founding generation and was described by Christian reformers, historians, and thinkers. Verna Hall in The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America, Vol. I: Christian Self-Government, describes how the Gospel traveled through history from the Middle East in Biblical times westward through Europe and to the Americas and beyond. History from a providential perspective includes the hand of God and recognizes the influence of the Bible in forming men and nations. The chain of Christianity is a simple reference to God’s hand in history for the use of teachers and parents in teaching and learning providential history.
Q: Where did the seven principles originate? Are there Biblical references for each one?
The first FACE publication, The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States, Vol. I: Christian Self-Government (CHOC I), is a compilation of the original sources that influenced the construction of the Constitution—the Reformers, Christian thinkers and philosophers, the histories and major treatises that our founding fathers read and discussed. Among those were John Locke, Montesquieu, William Bradford, Samuel Adams, William Blackstone, William Penn, Edmund Burke, and many others. The Bible and its principles were prevalent in these writings. The book of excerpts by Verna Hall shows that Christ and American liberty are indissolubly linked.
The second FACE publication, Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: the Principle Approach (T & L), written by Rosalie Slater as a companion to CHOC I, is a study guide for teachers to make the understanding of Christian liberty transferable to each new generation. T & L identifies the recurring principles that formed the reasoning and debate recorded in CHOC I. Each principle is presented with its Biblical support (or “index”) in the teacher section of T & L.
Q: What is 4-R'ing?
4-R’ing—in every subject at every grade level, the student is required to actively participate in his learning by:
- Researching the subject, word, or study
- Reasoning through identifying the leading idea and basic principles
- Relating it to other areas of study and the world around them
- Recording what he has learned in his notebook using his writing skills and his own ideas, conclusions, and creativity