The Noah Plan™: A Complete Educational Program in The Principle Approach

Foundation for American Christian Education (F.A.C.E.)

The Noah Plan is presented in two volumes—one for K-8 and one for high school. Each program notebook is a large, three-ring binder with audio cassette tapes. Each presents a complete curriculum using the Principle Approach. The first part of this review pertains only to the K-8 volume.

Based upon years of application in both traditional Christian school and home school settings, this curriculum is the most complete resource for those wanting to use the Principle Approach. It includes a self-directed “seminar” for teachers at the beginning of the binder; in the past, it has been necessary for those interested in this methodology to attend seminars to learn how to teach this way. This seminar teaches the foundational principles and how they are translated into the “Notebook Approach” that includes the four steps: research, reason, relate, and record. Divided into nine lessons, the seminar requires teachers to do additional reading, reflection, and writing as they learn. The two audiocassettes are used with this part of The Noah Plan.

The seminar is followed by curriculum “Guidelines.” The Guidelines introduce the actual curriculum with an overview of subjects to be studied and reproducible forms to be used. Next are guidelines for each grade, including a suggested schedule (geared toward traditional classrooms), a classroom constitution (agreement between student and teacher about attitude, getting work done, etc.), student supply list, a sample weekly goal sheet, and subject overviews. The subject overviews are the most helpful part for homeschoolers; they lay out the purpose and goals, principles to be taught, key definition, quarter-by-quarter topics to be covered, grading standards, notebook standards, texts, and recommended resources.

The Guidelines should be used in conjunction with the subject curriculum guides also published by F.A.C.E. for art, literature, English grammar and composition, math, history and geography, and reading. Guides for science, classical and modern languages, and Bible are in production. These guides get even more specific about what and how to teach for grades K-12. They include a teaching plan, model lesson plans, teaching methods, sample student notebooks or records (as for art), and lists of required resources.

I was able to review the Reading Curriculum Guide by Martha Barnes Shirley, The Literature Curriculum Guide by Rosalie June Slater, English Language Curriculum Guide by Carole Goodman Adams, The History and Geography Curriculum Guide by Elizabeth L. Youmans, the StoneBridge Art Guide by Wendy Giancoli and Elizabeth Youmans.

The Reading Curriculum Guide is quite extensive in scope. It outlines a reading curriculum that recommends the Writing Road to Reading program and also uses the Bible for reading material. (Children’s versions of the Bible are used for the early grades.) It includes explanation of the rationale and organization of the curriculum; charts for each grade level showing purpose, objectives, scope and sequence, definitions, suggested teacher and student resources, and specific skills to be developed within sub-areas of reading (through eighth grade level, with a “Reading with Reason” enrichment course provided for high school); “Foundations for Teaching Reading”—teaching principles; extensive how-to-teach information; and an appendix of recommended resources, reading lists for children, and reproducible forms.

The English Language Curriculum Guide outlines a complete language arts program aside from the reading instruction already covered in the Reading Curriculum Guide. Maintaining consistent methodology, language instruction also utilizes the Writing Road to Reading methodology for handwriting and spelling. More extensive than most language programs, this Guide explains how to teach the foundations of English language, orthography (spelling/phonics, elocution, penmanship), syntax (sentence structure/grammar), composition (including various forms of public speaking), and prosody (understanding the forms of and writing poetry and prose). One-page charts outline what is to be covered within each area for each grade level K-12. The Guide offers a mix of background for teacher training and specific helps. I particularly like the presentation on diagraming and sentence patterns—one of the clearest I have seen.

The History and Geography Curriculum Guide by Elizabeth L. Youmans focuses heavily on the basic philosophy behind the Principle Approach. History has always been its strongest focal point within subject areas since the “Red Books” that first presented the ideas dealt primarily with history. Curriculum charts for each grade level (K-12) for history are two pages each with a great deal of detail. Most teaching information is background for the teacher with strategies for using timelines, biographies, source documents, and activities. Developing a Biblical Christian worldview is a dominant theme throughout the curricula.

About half the book explains how to teach geography with curriculum charts for grades K-8. A great deal of factual information and map masters are included. Detailed instructions show how to teach students to create accurate maps. Among the suggested texts and resources for this Guide are Genevieve Foster’s George Washington’s World and Christian Liberty Press’s Streams of Civilization.

The Literature Curriculum Guide is similar to the Reading Curriculum Guide in format, but it is much larger (368 pages). It charts purpose, objectives, etc., although it focuses on content more than skills as is appropriate for the study of literature. It supplies some content coverage within the Guide. The Guide is very helpful, but it is uneven in the amount of information given from topic to topic. For example, extensive guidelines help us to teach Shakespeare, while we are referred to other syllabi for teaching the classics.

The StoneBridge Art Guide differs some from the Reading Curriculum Guide since it was developed for a once-a-week art class at StoneBridge School. Time limitations and the nature of art study demand a slightly different application of the 4R methodology (less notebook work being the most obvious). Homeschooling parents might choose to expand the lessons given more time. The Guide presents the rationale for an art curriculum built upon biblical principles of art. It then translates the ideas into application through scope and sequence for grades K-8, sample lesson plans, background information for teaching, suggested projects, and timeline and illustrations showing how artists fit the model of Christianity’s westward movement. Articles at the end of the book provide additional background for the teacher on art plus the basics of the Principle Approach.

The Noah Plan follows a challenging scope and sequence incorporating foreign language instruction throughout all grade levels in French, Latin, and Greek; research papers in the elementary grades; and other high-level, challenging, academic goals.

In all subjects, students create their own notebooks as they “four R” each subject. In addition to the subject curriculum guides, you will need to get a number of other resources such as the American Dictionary of the English Language, the “red books” by Verna Hall and Rosalie Slater, and subject textbooks (but not for all subjects). The red books and Dictionary are included along with the Noah Plan binder and curriculum guides in the basic package. Many of the books you acquire in the process of teaching this program will be the foundation of an excellent library.

The Noah Plan needs to be taught by the teacher, as is true with any Principle Approach program. The teacher must first master the material, which means quite a bit of work for parents.

[Note: the Principle Approach includes a religious/historical philosophy based on the idea that there is a geographical and chronological chain of the development of Christianity that began in the Middle East, moved up through northern Europe and tranferred to America. It depends upon a view that America is a Christian nation.]