I think this was a rough copy – not what we sent in – still looking for the finished exemption on Craig’s computer.

Broad Curriculum Areas

Describe your knowledge and understanding of the broad curriculum areas you intend to cover as >you educate your child.

We intend to give Kaitlyn a Christian, Classical, Biblical/Hebrew education. All of these are important to us.

Our Christianity will be foremost and will be integral to every part of Kaitlyn’s education. It will be classical because there is a lot to be learned from those who have gone before us. Everything that has ever happened has happened in a period of time. So as we dwell on history we will be covering every other subject because everything has happened in the past, in history. And Biblical, because we want Kaitlyn’s education to be meaningful for her. She will study what is applicable for her. She will study something then apply it. Do more study then apply that. We want to be training her in spirit, soul and mind and strength. We want to train her to be a thinker. We do not intend to spoon-feed her “education”….well, it simply cannot be done. We want it to be living and alive for her. We want to help her to love learning, to be self-motivated and self-achieving. We will be giving her as broad an education as we possibly can. With the Internet and libraries and our own extensive library and life experiences, collective wisdom, general knowledge, etc., we want to train her to be and become far more educated than we are and a far better thinker than we are.

Describe your curriculum.

At primary level:

Using the Classical model, this is the “grammar” stage of Kaitlyn’s education where she is absorbing factual information like a sponge. It is the time for training Kaitlyn’s mind to retain information.

oral language

We are working on this orally as need be.

mathematics

I am working on Kaitlyn learning by rote the plus, minus, division and multiplication tables to 12. I use flash cards as well, the objective being for her to get 50 random flash card facts in a minute without any mistakes. She is leaning about factions from life – cutting up toast, cooking, gardening etc. Time she is learning from the clock on the wall etc

social studies, science, health, geography, history, and other subjects

Will all come from our reading and discussing with Kaitlyn. We aim for at least 2 hours a day reading a variety of books to her.

reading

Kaitlyn knows the alphabet and sounds; she is now working on blends. We are using the book Phonics by Wilma Minnee to teach her to read. We try to do about 10-15 minutes a day on this.

handwritting/written language

Kaitlyn has begun to work though the Italic Handwriting series by Getty and Dubay for hand writing. Once she is a good reader we will begin doing creative writing and journaling.

Latin

Kaitlyn is learning the meaning of words and is learning chants – Verb conjugations

Greek

Kaitlyn knows the Greek alphabet and is beginning to lean words

music

We sing a lot in our family several times a day. Next year she will begin to learn the recorder then another instrument once she turns 7 at the Saturday School of Music.

We are doing a programme with Kaitlyn and her brother Jedediah called “How to introduce your child to Classical Music in 52 easy lessons”

art

This happens all the time. We try to provide an environment that encourages artistic opportunities. Plus if she has a real interest in this area we will pursue classes where her talent can be improved and encouraged as appropriate.

physical education

We believe that physical movement is very important for developing mind and body. So encourage it whenever we can. There are lots of opportunities for her to be involved in sports and games especially with friends. With a trampoline as a permanent fixture in the back yard, she gets lots of time on that.

technology

We will encourage Kaitlyn to develop in this area as appropriate and will take any opportunity for this. She uses many instruments around our home and there are many more that she will be able to use in the future – such as computer, fax, photocopier etc.

At primary level or the Grammar level of her education we do not intend to use curriculum a lot. Instead we intend for Kaitlyn to learn from life and from living books. We want to train her mind so we will be putting an emphasis on memorization work and a heavy emphasis on review. She will do oral narration to us of books we read to her, and then later when she can read, she will do the same of books she reads to us. We want to see Kaitlyn develop into a good reader with excellent comprehension and discretion skills, able to tell fact from fiction, debate from propaganda, objective review from advertising, etc. From there we will develop her writing and other book work skills.

We are also working on Kaitlyn learning obedience, work, service, play and exploration. Field trips will be used and she will begin learning research skills.

At junior secondary level:

This is the time we believe is the most intensive time for us in being hands on in educating Kaitlyn. This is the “logic” stage of her education – a time for teaching her the tools of learning. This is time when Kaitlyn will be more inquisitive and analytical. First we will make sure that she is proficient in reading, writing and mathematics.

This is the time when we will teach Kaitlyn how to take notes, write book reports and general reports, write letters, write essays, do research, logic and debating.

We will be teaching Kaitlyn the skills of: reasoning – to critically question, analyze, evaluate, and discern causes, motives, means, purposes, goals and efforts, to investigate the theory.

Understanding for Kaitlyn will be imparted through coaching, debate, discussion, correcting and drilling.

Kaitlyn will develop a vocabulary of relationships, order and abstractions.

Our teaching of Kaitlyn will become more sequential and systematic, separating the different branches of learning.

Our goal is to develop competence for Kaitlyn in the tools of investigation: analyzing, comparing and contrasting.

We will begin to use a curriculum book for English and Mathematics at this stage.

Social studies, science, health, geography, history and other subjects will still be covered in our reading to Kaitlyn and in her own reading and as she studies specific things to achieve the above as we teach her the tools of learning.

Music, physical education, art/craft, technology will be all followed as Kaitlyn has an interest in them. Our home is full of music; the children are always active in our back yard or joining with others for a game of some sort. We go on walks and bike rides regularly.

Kaitlyn will continue to work on her memory work, Latin, Greek and logic.

At senior secondary level:

This is the “Rhetoric” or the wisdom stage of Kaitlyn’s education. It will be a time when Kaitlyn will be more creative and expressive so we will seek to give Kaitlyn opportunities to express this. This is the time for us to be motivating Kaitlyn and helping her to open doors for his future.

We will be encouraging Kaitlyn to study the areas that interest her.

She will continue in her mathematics and English curriculum books.

Kaitlyn may also continue to learn Latin, Greek and begin to learn Hebrew and any other living language that appeals to her.

This is a time when Kaitlyn will be able to put the information and order into practical use – she will be able to apply wisdom to the things that she is doing because of her training.

We will be teaching the skills of prudent judgment and effective expression – through communication and practical application.

We will impart wisdom in Kaitlyn through encouraging her initiative and innovation, by asking questions and leading discussions. We will seek to develop in Kaitlyn a vocabulary of philosophical ideas and values. We will begin to recombine in Kaitlyn the knowledge and skills from separate disciplines. We will seek to see the application of principles, values and goals in Kaitlyn’s life.

So to summarize it all in one sentence; we will first instruct Kaitlyn in Knowledge or Grammar; then we will guide Kaitlyn in Understanding or Logic; and finally we will challenge Kaitlyn in Wisdom or Rhetoric.

Plan

To help the Ministry understand how your curriculum vision (see Appendix 1) translates into practical terms, we ask you to include a description of how you would tackle one topic of your choosing.

We are looking for the following elements in your statement:

The Topic: Maths

The Aim: the 2x table

Resources/method: First I will write it out on a card. We will read it together over several days. Then I will get Kaitlyn to try to quote it until she can quote it without mistake. I will then get her to quote it to me nearly every day for 7 weeks, then weekly for a couple of months, then we will review it monthly. Once Kaitlyn is quoting the 2x table to me I will write out each one on a flash

card. I will add it to her other cards and we will see how many she can do in a minute. We will record how many he does in a minute, how many she got right and how many she got wrong. We will do this nearly every day.

Assessment: As Kaitlyn achieves more in a minute with fewer mistakes we will know that she is getting a better grasp of this. We would like to be able to see her doing at least 50 in a minute with no mistakes.

Resources and Reference Material: flash cards.

Please provide a comprehensive list of all resources and reference material available to you.  Also list the type of material you may intend to include in the future.

We have an extensive library of our own. We are also using the Public Library, the National Library, Dayspring, our friends Libraries.

Maths: I am interested in using a maths programme that is still being written by James Nickel. The first book is finished and he is now working on the next book. Since I won’t be using a curriculum for maths until Kaitlyn is about 10 then this will suit us fine.

Reading: Phonics by Wilma Minnee and Jackie Waldergrave

Handwriting: Italic Handwriting Series by Getty and Dubay

English: Scope

Latin: Mars Hill and Matin Latin

Greek: By the Bluedorns

We have many, many resources in our library – too many to list. Also we will change what we are doing if we find something better.

Environment

We will take the opportunity to use any opportunity to enrich Kaitlyn’s education through visiting speakers, field trips, science center, museum visits and travel in New Zealand and overseas. She has already traveled all over New Zealand and been to USA.

Social Contact

We use hospitality to enrich our children’s lives. Our children learn to serve others and to meet the needs of others through hospitality. Of course as we show hospitality sometimes it is shown back to us so they too can learn to be served and have their needs met. It is also a learning situation when Kaitlyn helps us to do things or show hospitality to those who cannot return the deed. Kaitlyn is involved with our Church. Kaitlyn has no lack of friends. There are children at our home and on our outings nearly every day.

Assessment

We are always looking to see that Kaitlyn is learning and progressing in her learning. As she learns more of the maths tables, Latin, Greek and her memory work we see her little mind developing. As she narrates back to us we see how she is learning to retain and understand.

Regularity/Timetable

I will not be providing you with a sample timetable because I do not use one and do not intend to use one. We do everything by priority. We work out what our priorities are and then work through from the number one priority and try to achieve as many as we can in the day. If all we achieve is our number one priority then we are happy, as we have done the most important thing in the day. Of course we aim to achieve a good number of the priorities in each day. Our priorities will change from week to week depending on how far each day we got on our priorities. If there is something that we feel we are missing a bit then we will bring this higher up the priorities for a time until the need is met for that one. Because we are aiming to give our children a very Biblical approach to their education we do not take holidays. All of life for us is education. If something comes up that interrupts a day we know we will get back to what we were doing and keep going. Often the interruption is very educational for our children as well. In saying all of this we do begin working with Kaitlyn in the morning on the main priorities of memory work, maths, Latin, Greek, Handwriting, Narration, Phonics and reading to Kaitlyn. In the afternoons we read more and do the more fun activities although if we have not achieved enough in the morning we will continue in the afternoon or evening on some of the core subjects.