Posted in The Principle Approach: A Summary
God’s Principle of Individuality
Everything in God’s universe is revelational of God’s infinity, God’s diversity, God’s individuality. God creates distinct individualities. God maintains the identity and individuality of everything He created.
When we get to the Self-Directed Study, we will be spending one full week on each principle—defining them, comparing them with God’s Word, and reflecting. By this process, the principles begin to become a part of you. So I don’t want to get overly involved in that process right now but I still would like to give you a feel for each principle.
It isn’t possible in a few minutes to fully understand and appreciate each principle. It requires a process of learning. I know I definitely don’t understand them fully. But the more I work with them; light bulbs begin to go on. So every so often with each principle you work with, understanding starts flickering as they begin to make absolute sense. And then, of course, you think, why didn’t I see that all along.
When I first looked at God’s Principle of Individuality, I didn’t understand why it was here. But after studying and reflecting on it, I understand so much more. Our individuality is something to be celebrated as a gift from the Lord. He never intended for all of us to be alike. So why is it that we require each other to be so much alike. God made us unique and he wants us to remain unique. The simplest example of individuality is our own individuality. We teach that to our children…that God made you who you are. An extreme example of lack of individuality occurs in socialist nations. The individual is pretty much expunged and everything is for the “state.”
By teaching each principle initially in its simplest form and expanding it throughout the grade levels, complicated principles in God’s word begin to take root that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to get across in a brief period of time; such as, self-government versus socialism; i.e., the state taking control of your life.
Each principle has four layers of expansion {leading ideas} recommended to be covered in grades K-12 for in depth comprehension of each principle. The following applies to God’s Principle of Individuality.
- Christian Individuality
- Geographic Individuality (i.e., Continent of Origins, etc.)
- Individual Links on Christianity’s Chain
- America Declares Herself an Individual Nation
Basically, layer 1 is recommended for Primary, layer 2 for Elementary, layer 3 for Junior High, and layer 4 for High School. Since my older kids are just starting in PA, I’ve decided to establish our base and then expand to layers 3 and 4 at a later time when they fully understand the first two layers.
In The Noah Plan this principle is introduced at the primary level in Kindergarten in its first layer of “Christian Individuality”. So whatever grade level you start with, you could introduce this principle right away. Some of the principles are just too complicated for young minds, so they are introduced in later years. But this one is introduced immediately.
The following is the description provided by The Noah Plan History and Geography Curriculum Guide, p. 68.
God’s Principle of Individuality
“Everything in God’s universe reveals His infinity and diversity. Each person is a unique creation of God, designed to express the nature of Christ individually in society. The parent and teacher cultivate the development and flowering of the talents, which God has placed within each child. Do we each appreciate how unique and special each one of us is?”
probably going to do is go over the remaining principles next week and then the next week or two finish up with the remainder of the Summary including Christian Scholarship. Then we’ll get started with the Self-Directed Study.
Next time…
- The 7 Principles on which PA is based
- Principle 2—The Christian Principle of Self-Government
Staying faithful,
Karen
