10 reasons to buy the curriculum guides even if you don’t use the Noah Plan

The Noah Plan curriculum guides from the Foundation for American Christian Education are hefty tomes full of almost anything you need to know to teach a subject using the Biblical Principle approach. But those who use a different approach can still gain a lot from FACE’s work.

1. Time lines. While not comprehensive, their time lines are well done and informative, and highlight the use of the subject for the advancement of the Gospel. They are helpful for planning the history of any subject, and cross-referencing to see what was going on in other spheres at a particular point in history.
2. Resource lists. Especially in history and literature. They are a gold mine. In the history guide they are arranged historically. And their lists incorporate as many original sources and classics as possible for a book this size.
3. Charts, forms and graphs. Especially in English and the line maps in History and Geography. And they have sample notebook grading charts and other teacher tools.
4. The focus on Providential History. No matter what your approach, a Providential approach to history affects all subjects and shapes your Christian worldview. Each subject guide addresses that subject’s history
5. Research. In the literature guide, the information on Shakespeare is almost worth the price of the book. In each guide they offer original documents and a view of a subject that is hard to find in other homeschool resources.
6. Notebook examples. Even if you are not into traditional notebooking outlines and such, there are many examples of well thought out pages. They can inspire and challenge, or even help solve a problem.
7. The passion. The authors of each guide are master teachers, and reading their guides can spark an interest, rekindle an excitement or reinforce an idea. Anyone can get on board with doing things well, even if you aren’t keen on the specific methods.
8. The projects. Each guide offers ideas for projects that you can adapt to any unit study or textbook you may be using.
9. Tools. Things like word studies and the elements of notebooking are things that any teacher can use. Word studies will serve you well in elementary school through graduate school. It is an invaluable skill. And tools like sample notebook grading sheets can give you a place to start when creating your own materials.
10. Easy on the pocketbook. There is only one book to buy for each subject. It takes you from kindergarten through high school. All this goodness is wrapped up in one volume for each subject. The investment is only made once.

See samples of the guides here.

Brenda (132 Posts)

Brenda is a homeschooling mother of 5, who has a wonderful husband encouraging her to be the best woman that God has created her to be. Together they are very intentional about spending time together as a family. She considers her daily life with her children as her ministry and has found many avenues to encourage others to live a lifestyle of learning. She is the founder of an online homeschool community, Our Lifestyle of Learning and a curriculum review site authored by a group of well-known homeschool bloggers, Curriculum Choice. She blogs about their homeschool journey and family traditions at Tie That Binds Us.