Creating Unit Studies using Biblical Principle Approach Methodology and Content
Posted on 2006 under Old Posts from Previous Blog | 4 Comments15 Jun
As I post in a previous entry I’m endeavoring to write some simple unit studies for each link on the Chain of Christianity. Several people on our yahoo list expressed an interest in how I was doing it so I decided to post it to my blog.
One thing I had to overcome was the feeling that every link/unit had to be structured the same or incorporate many of the same subjects…they don’t. I just saw this revelation this evening….that each link is INDIVIDUAL. Just like people we each have our ‘personality’ and individual bent/gifting/contribution/emphasis in this world…so does each link. Each link/unit will have it’s own ‘personality’ so to speak..it’s own ‘flavor’. This has freed me up tremendously from wondering “Am I doing it right?”. As long as I go with what I feel the Lord is instructing me to emphasize in each link for my children then it is right.
Since the ‘flavor’ of the Creation link speaks of God Himself…everything coming from Him…He is the beginning of all things then it is quite easy to incorporate many if not all subjects. Once you look at my outline you may wonder where is Science? For some strange reason I could not come up with anything for Science…it’s as if I’m at a brick wall or something so I just left it alone..maybe God will show me later. Until then I have Dr. Hooker’s book that I plan on using.
The Moses link has it’s own ‘flavor’/uniqueness and so it seemed to lend itself more towards delving into a ‘broad’ study of Egypt, even the art forms(Art of Antiquity) or from the Mesopotamian era.
One thing I like to do when I write my lessons is to use AT LEAST 2 scriptures to support my leading idea or principle…no less than 2. I see examples everywhere of just one scripture but the word of God tells us to let every word be established in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses(II Cor 13:1). So that is the principle I live by in my study of God’s word, even before I came to know BPA. I also want this to be an example to my children of not taking scripture out of context…b/c the Word supports and confirms itself there will always be another scripture or principle in scripture to support one you already have.
I am excited about writing unit studies. Unit studies was the way I was leaning even before I found BPA. So now that I’ve found BPA I am attempting to unite my unit study inclination and BPA. I pray the following helps you in your own journey to give you a jumping off point for writing your own.
by Kim, on June 15 2006 @ 9:52 pm
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!!
And now learning about BPA…well, I (we) really want to use this method in our home school (and I can see the differences in this approach and other Bible based approaches), but I still “think” in terms of unit studies, and was having a hard time with the way the NP lessons were structured. So thank you again for sharing, because I’m so excited to see how you are doing this and to better be able to “see” how to write a unit study using the BPA foundation. And to be able to tailor everything to our home and stage in life and learning…..exciting! 
I too lean toward unit studies and a couple of years ago, I thought that I’d start writing some that corresponded to the chronology of the Bible….and then I was led to the Weaver curriculum; and thought, why reinvent the wheel.
by lovinghim4ever, on June 15 2006 @ 9:59 pm
Kim,
yea, the NP Lessons and even Guides are structured in a ‘different’ sort of way
. I had a hard time myself but I just had to ‘break’ away from that and trust that what God gives me to write, no matter how elementary it may seem, is what me and my children need and so I’m learning to go with that….now the guides are a wonderful resource especially for the history of each subject. I LOVE them all and use them all the time…I’m glad I was able to help. I’ll keep sharing as I make progress.
by PrincipledMom » Blog Archive » Realizing a dream, on September 28 2006 @ 11:11 am
[...] In this postI said that as a home educator I hope you are always evaluating what works. To me this is one of the best things about what we do. We are free to try new things and evaluate what works–and what doesn’t. For us a struggle has been the whole idea of separate subjects. I understand that the BPA philosophy keeps the subjects separate so they retain their distinctiveness. They have a reason for the traditional “school” model and I have no problem with that, in general. However it has not ever worked so great in my home. (see Dee’s poston BPA unit studies) [...]
by Principled Mom » Blog Archive » Realizing a dream, on March 17 2009 @ 12:03 pm
[...] I have no problem with that, in general. However it has not ever worked so great in my home. (see Dee’s post on BPA unit [...]