This page contains our thoughts and decisions on the content our children will be learning as well as the approaches we use in that process. Our curriculum is simplistic, but does utilize technology extensively.
Here is an outline of our thinking:
1. Our goal in teaching our children is to produce independent, well balanced, critical thinking, empathetic, high-functioning adults. We try to nurture individualism while balancing that with a healthy sense of community and interdependence and an obligation to care for others. Ultimately, each child is an individual soul, created uniquely by God, with specific and a myriad of attributes, characteristics, traits, gifts, and skills, and we want to give them the tools and resources needed and expose them to a variety of content that will create in them a healthy sense of who they are, where they are going, and give them practice in deciding how they will get there.
2. While we operate under the mandate of Eph 6:4, “bring [your children] up in the training and admonition of the Lord” and the example given to us in Deut 6:4-9,“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as something permanent between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Yet we still do not wish to indoctrinate our children into our religion. We are convicted that our children must have adequate training in the Bible and in theology, but are also are convicted that they must be adequately trained in philosophy, in science, in mathematics, and in history.
3. We approach learning primarily from an augmented Robinson Curriculum methodology. We focus on reading, writing,and arithmetic, but also add typing, vocabulary, spelling, and the core online curriculum from Khan Academy’s online courses (math, science, language arts, and history). We also include languages: Greek is a required language to learn and we are using Logos + weighted Bible reading + LingQ. Our children are also pursuing Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, and Sign Language independently, are active with music learning: piano, violin, and drums, and are very interested in pursuing art as a hobby. Skye is very passionate about calligraphy, drawing, and Japanese calligraphy, and Jeremiah is very interested in wolves and outdoor learning (survival skills, bushcraft, etc). Elly is currently into all things girly and the more sparkly and pink the better. She also keeps asking if she can spend time on my lap typing on the computer. We will be setting her up with her own laptop shortly.
4. We have added Touch Type and Read and Spell as a major component of their daily schedule because of some learning challenges some of our children are experiencing. It is a comprehensive program for kids to learn how to read and spell effectively, be self-readers being able to sound out words as they go. It has a core course of 24 levels and 31 lessons per level. Once they complete the entire course they should be able to touch type effectively (my goal is for them to type 80wpm but I would be satisfied with 40-50wpm). This service also has preset subject lessons where they are typing content from different articles, etc. Additionally, you can add custom subjects such as articles from different places (such as IMPACT articles from Institute of Creation Research) or excerpts from the books they are currently reading or have recently read. It is really great to have them work through a vocabulary list for an upcoming book they are about to read. This “primes the pump” if you will so they comprehend more when they do the actual reading.
4. We have experimented with several different schedules over the last three years, but are typically doing academic school 3 days each week with informal learning the rest of the days. I do think we will be giving the kids more choice over their daily schedule in the future: choosing if they want more school days with less work or more work with fewer school days, etc. It is my ultimate hope that sometime soon (in the next year or two) the children will embrace the learning process and will take over their educational journey. Instead of us directing them on what and why and how they learn, I would like them to explain to us what they are learning, why they are learning it, and how they are going about that process of acquisition. This site will serve as a major communication hub for them to document, explain, and systematize their learning results.
5. We operate primarily using the “content mastery” system used at Khan Academy. Basically, there are no grades and no “passing” based on a percentage correct (70% example). Instead, our children must exhibit competency. On Khan Academy, this is 100% on all lessons, all units, and all quizzes, and all course challenges. This is a very high bar, but I am convinced it is the very best way to learn the material and it also teaches performance based learning rather than seat time. It will hopefully teach our children that results matter rather than just putting in required time where they learn very little.
6. We utilize a comprehensive and often changing Reading Book List. These books are organized roughly based on reading level, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Additionally, the kids are allowed to choose from the book list titles they find interest in. They are also free to add to their reading other books they would like to read on a 1:2 ratio (1 book list book to every two of their own books). What is important for us is that our kids are actively reading every day. We have amassed an extensive library (about 2000 books + 5000 plus book Logos library digital books + 50k ebook library). The kids seem to prefer print books, but they each have their own kindle e-reader and we side-load most of our digital library based on what they are reading. Much of our digital library is being uploaded to the cloud where it will hopefully be accessible from their readers in the future.
7. Our kids have an eclectic, systematic Bible curriculum utilizing several different systems. First, they are using the Bible Project and are watching through all of these videos each day. They also were reading a chapter each day from the Bible and then taking a simple test on the content. This “chapter reading” has been replaced with Awana, working through their books daily and they are active in the program at a local church. In the future, they will be engaging (and have already completed one course so far) in the full Koinonia Institute program. This is a systematic program that works through each book of the Bible, verse by verse, book by book, with additional topical courses. The program is primarily taught by Dr. Chuck Missler and we hope that they will be able to complete the entire KI program by the time they turn 18 and are adequately prepared to serve Christ in ministry or recognize their ministry and their gifts if they are truly called by God to salvation.
8. Our children have their own work spaces in our home. They have a central area (single school room or office) where they have individual desks with organizer bookshelves. They keep all of their school materials and are responsible to keep their desks and work space organized and neat. They each have a refurbished Macbook air that they use for most of their school. These computers are installed with a program that limits the internet based on a black list of sites that kids should not be accessing. It also gives us access to what they are doing on their computers. We also have access to their Khan Academy, their TTRS, and their KI materials and can chart their progress.
8. As already stated, our children utilize technology extensively in their school curriculum. Our older children each have their own Macbook air, they each have their own fire kindle tablet, they each have their own kindle readers, and as they get older (12 on average) the each get the privileged but limited use of their own cell phones. All devices are protected by parental controls or special software. They do not receive devices as their own personal items that they are able to use without limit or that they keep as an extension of their personality. Devices are treated as tools to be used for educational and communicative purposes. They are not used as sources of entertainment. Phones are only used when parents are away and we need to remain in contact with those who are at the house. There is no or very limited social media use (example: Skye shares a Pinterest account with her mother and the two share images with each other of cats, food, recipes, art, architecture, building projects, woodworking projects). We are also not active in online video gaming as a family and actively limit our children’s’ exposure to addictive games (they have an old arcade game that has Atari like games on it).
Conclusion:
In the end, we desire well balanced, independent thinkers, who are not easily persuaded, indoctrinated, or convinced of the various worldviews that are floating around in life and among people. We want them to be able to get and maintain a job, pursue a career, be able to manage money effectively, and see the importance of a work-life balance. Ultimately we would love for our children to understand the Bible, accept Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead (and thus, be saved), but this is a situation wholly between them and God. We do our part – and ensure they are raised in the Scriptures and try our best to model Christ in our home life and with those around us.
Education is a journey, and we hope our children come away from their childhood with a love for books, a love for learning, and an aptitude and skill set that will aid them in their life as they venture out on their own and create their own families and their own memories and pursue their own dreams.
Feral Kids Academy 