{"id":1164,"date":"2016-06-29T20:31:19","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T00:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/?p=1164"},"modified":"2019-07-18T15:08:14","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T19:08:14","slug":"an-individuals-journey-with-the-principle-approach-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/an-individuals-journey-with-the-principle-approach-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"An Individual’s Journey with the Principle Approach – Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

An\u00a0Individual\u2019s Journey with the Principle Approach
\n\u00a0Third in a Series<\/em>
\nRuth J. Smith<\/a>
\nPilgrimInstitute.org<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the third part in a series. Check here for Part I<\/a> and Part II<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the end of the last part, the idea of \u201cthinking governmentally\u201d was introduced. It took some time, but eventually I learned that thinking governmentally was to think first internally, then externally; thinking cause to effect, etc. This idea was primary to the entire method of the Principle Approach<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t which book, which event, or which problem. We had to begin to think first internally. What were the principles which controlled the subject which was being taught? Yes, we would consider which books, which events, and which problems, but the decision would be made by what was internally controlling and directing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of my teaching included the privilege to teach literature classes at various grade levels. Since I had first learned to read, I had loved books and reading. I remember walking to school, while reading a book. But I was reading books only for the excitement of the plot. Therefore, I never wanted to read a book more than once.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Miss Slater\u2019s patient tutoring, I quickly learned that literature was much more than just reading books. I soon learned of the rich lessons to be found in books. We learned that literature is the \u201chandmaid of history\u201d. There were only a few teachers who were teaching literature in this manner. There weren\u2019t guides available. So, again, a call to Miss Slater, and she would discuss the various periods of literature, or the great children\u2019s classics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Often, after a telephone call, a package would arrive and Miss Slater would have sent some\u00a0 notes or background material which could be used to teach the book we had discussed. What a blessing! Could I now inspire my students to love literature? [See previous article on reading.<\/em><\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

But what was more important than history class? After looking at every so-called Christian book available, we soon realized there weren\u2019t books in print which taught America\u2019s history from a Providential view. The challenge was how could we begin to teach the children in our school the ideas we were learning of America\u2019s Christian history? How could we begin to teach these students to \u201cthink governmentally\u201d? A plan began to form in my heart and mind, which would take the ideas of those big red books<\/a>, but make it teachable for elementary children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each week, I would develop material, teach it to the other teachers at our weekly teacher\u2019s meeting and they would, in turn, teach their students during the coming week. There was no realization that this would be the seed of a series of children\u2019s history books<\/a>. But God\u2019s ways are a great deep.<\/span><\/p>\n

After a few years, the fruit of teaching students to \u201cthink governmentally\u201d began to reveal itself in the character of the students. And the teaching by principles was producing a higher level of scholarship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0As the fruit of American Christian education was revealed, the question we began to ask \u2013 How can we share this with others?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An\u00a0Individual\u2019s Journey with the Principle Approach \u00a0Third in a Series Ruth J. Smith PilgrimInstitute.org This is the third part in a series. Check here for Part I and Part II. At the end of the last part, the idea of \u201cthinking governmentally\u201d was introduced. It took some time, but eventually I learned that thinking governmentally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,104,15],"tags":[67,21,16,9,26,19],"class_list":["post-1164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas-christian-history","category-american-christian-education","category-blog","category-ministry-musings","tag-american-christian-education","tag-history","tag-pilgrim-institute","tag-principle-approach","tag-providential-history","tag-the-mighty-works-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1164\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pilgriminstitute.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}