What is the Principle Approach? It has been said that whoever educates our children disciples our children. Education is not neutral, as such it is either man-centered or God-centered. Secular classrooms today elevate man attributing all advancement to man’s efforts. The Principle Approach classroom teaches students to see God’s Hand moving to fulfill His plans and purposes—making God the center of all things, giving Him, not man, the glory. This is the Principle Approach.
In a Principle Approach school, students learn through a method of scholarship that teaches them to think and reason from biblical principles. Students learn to develop the skill and habit of reflective thinking and deductive reasoning derived from Scripture. This technique develops a skill, a habit, a way of thinking, and, ultimately, shapes the worldview of the student. This process lays the truth of God’s Word at the center of learning, which helps teach students how to think—not what to think—while it illuminates the understanding and consecrates the mind.
At Dayspring, we believe that the classics add to the depth and breadth of the Principle Approach education. Students learn the classical disciplines of logic, which exercises students in the mechanics of truth and enables them to work through ideas and develop mature views.
In rhetoric, students learn to communicate persuasively to better defend their faith and position themselves as leaders wherever God may call them. Exegesis provides an explanation and interpretation of the original texts of Scripture. The classical languages of Latin and New Testament Greek are taught.
Classical literature at every grade level provides an enriched and highly developed vocabulary.
Dayspring teachers are subject experts and can, therefore, teach deep into subjects and inspire curiosity, learning, and exploration of knowledge.
As teachers in a Principle Approach curriculum, our teachers become a living curriculum and have completed extensive research in their subjects. This not only makes them excellent teachers, it gives them the expertise to teach the research process.
Additionally, teachers begin their subjects in God’s truth, which provides the context of “why” for students and reveals God’s Hand in the world around us.
What does the Principle Approach look like when applied to the curriculum? Our course catalogs detail our curriculum by grade and reveals how God’s Word is at the core of all of our courses. Visit our Course Catalog page for more information and to view our grading scale.
Private tours for you and your child are available. Additionally, middle and high school students are able to experience a day of school at Dayspring through our visitation program. Call Karol Hasting at 717-285-2000 or use the button below to register.
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