Recently on the Truthquest History Yahoo loop, the question of combining Truthquest with the Principle Approach was asked.  Does anyone do this?  How do you do this?  Etc.

Having started with Principle Approach and later deciding to switch from Noah to Truthquest for history, I was anxious to not only find it compatable, but be happy that we had made a good choice all the way around. 

I can happily report success!  Here's what I found:

If you are unfamiliar with Truthquest, it offers a somewhat chronological and more complete history than I had seen to date.  This program that emphasized the use of living books and reading together, caught my attention right off the bat!  It also boasts (truthfully!) of a wonderful Biblical perspective in the narration.  My only question at the time I was deciding, was that with Principle Approach, I had been taught to teach each of the 9 (or 10!) links on the Chain of Christianity (COC) each year. 

Initially, I liked this idea--I still do.  However, when I began to compare the scope and sequence of Noah vs Truthquest, I saw a startling lack in the Noah, of anything other than "main" events, people, etc.  I truly want to give a broader teaching of the subject so I sacrificed the "once a year" idea.  I also saw that from other subjects, such as Bible, literature and geography, we could cover multiple, if not all of the links on the COC, so that need not be an issue!

Now, if you are new to Principle Approach, the idea of teaching all subjects from a Biblical worldview with the understanding that God created all subjects, has a plan for each thing, person, etc. that He has created and teaching Biblical character through a series of scriptural principles, is better than ice cream! 

So, how to combine the two. 

First off, the Chain of Christianity.  Each week, usually on a Friday, we spend the lesson time with our timeline figures, remembering what we've learned and putting the figures up on the wall and in our timeline notebook.  This has been great reinforcement and helps us to solidify that we are looking at God's providence/story, not someone elses!  Very simple and rewarding.

Another thing we use is a chart I came up with that records each of the five P's of God's providence:  His purpose (call), promise, preparation, provision, and protection.  Son will fill it in, or occassionally we'll do this orally, as son is 2nd grade and doesn't always enjoy lots of writing.  I will also write his narration for him. 

We also like the T chart that shows internal vs external character, and use it frequently.  This is a shorter version of the Katherine Dang Key Charts for key individuals, key events, and key documents.  I plan to use these more as we grow and writing becomes less of an ordeal!  They are available in the files section of the PA loop. 

The biggest threat to PA with Truthquest has been lack of focus on what we're really trying to convey-- God!  It's so easy with all the wonderful books, subjects, etc. to not stop and acknowledge Him and His providence throughout.  At first, we truly had to "force" ourselves to remember, which sounds bad but made us appreciate our history time all the more!

I find it helpful to remember, for those already teaching PA, what Katherine Dang teaches about focusing on One idea, per subject, per day.  Then, you're not trying to cram too much in! 

We are totally loving Truthquest and are glad we made the change, but I would not sacrifice teaching Principle Approach.  It's so incredibly valuable!

Well, I hope this look into our history time is helpful. Be sure to let me know if I haven't answered a specific question!