Homeschool Helps

Teaching Tips & Links by Thematic Unit

Today is Tuesday, February 09th, 2010

What is the Four-Year Plan? (4×3=12)

The Heart of Wisdom teaching approach is a four-year program consisting of several multi-level unit studies where each member of the family studies the same subject at the same time on their own individual level.

This four-year rotation course gives each child three distinct exposures to each topic on their own level over a 12 year period. Each unit study includes Bible, history, science, research, writing, and literature.

History is studied chronologically.
Science is studied in the order of Creation.
Life-skills studies are added in middle and high school years.

Overview
Year	God’s Plan	God’s World
1	Ancient History	Physical Science
2	World History	Earth Science and Botany
3	Exploration to American West	The Animal World
4	Industrial Era to Today	Anatomy

Click for larger view

Four-Year Detailed View
God’s Plan	God’s World
Chronological Order	Creation Order
YEAR ONE
Ancient History	Physical Science
Adam to Abraham	Creation
Mesopotamia	Light
Ancient Egypt	Energy
Ancient Israel	Matter
Ancient Greece	Motion
Ancient Rome	Electricity
The Messiah
Ancient History (all 7 in one unit)
YEAR TWO
World History	Earth Science and Botany
Early Church	Weather
Vikings	Oceanography
Middle Ages	Botany
Renaissance	Geology
Reformation	Astronomy
YEAR THREE
Exploration to American West	The Animal World
Age of Exploration	Marine Zoology
Thirteen Colonies	Ornithology (Birds)
Colonies to Country	Entomology (Insects)
New Nation	Earth Zoology
Civil War
Reconstruction
American West
YEAR FOUR
Industrial Era to Today	Anatomy
Industrial Era	Cell Design
World War I	Brain/Nervous
Depression	Skeletal/Muscular
World War II	Respiratory/Digestive
Holocaust	Heart/Circulatory
1950 to Today	Reproductive

Science units are arranged in the order of the Creation days:

Day 1: Light and Energy (Physics)

Day 2: Air, Water, Weather (Chemistry/Meteorology)

Day 3: Rocks, Minerals, Plants (Chemistry/Botany)

Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars (Astronomy)

Day 5: Birds and Sea Life (Ornithology/Marine Biology)

Day 6: Land Animals and Human Body (Zoology/Anatomy)

For more on studying science in Creation order see Biblical Classification of Life: A Framework and Reference for Authentic Biblical Biology.

Students of all ages complete five to seven history units and four to six science units per year. This suggested course of study can be easily adapted to fit different families’ needs.

The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach: Bible-Based Homeschooling

The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach is for all homeschoolers who want to make the Bible the center of their school day. This giant 500+ page book provides you with the methods, program, and resources for a course of study where students spend half the school day studying God’s Word and the other half studying God’s world (academics). Students study history chronologically and science in the order of the days of Creation. This book will encourage, motivate you and instruct you, step by step, how to give your child a Bible-focused, comprehensive education from preschool through high school; one that will train him or her to read, to study, to understand, to love to learn and, most importantly, to desire and seek true wisdom. This approach can be used for all grade levels.

When homeschoolers are asked about this book, one word continues to come up over and over–Wow! Read the excerpt today to see what all the wow is about.