Dayspring Christian Academy: The Pilgrim Story a Schoolhouse Crew Review

Dayspring Christian Academy is located in Pennsylvania.  They offer full academic courses from kindergarten through high school – on campus, a hybrid mixed with homeschooling and online options.  From Daypsring’s website:

Dayspring employs the Principle Approach, America’s historic, classical Christian method of education to prepare young people to be servants, scholars, and statesmen in our constitutional federal republic.  This requires developing a biblical worldview as well as excellence in character, skills, and talents.  The Principle Approach is very intentional in its purpose:  equipping young men and women to help restore America to her gospel purpose, thereby helping to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.

The Bible is central to the Principle Approach.  My first introduction to the Principle Approach was through a Bible study, but this approach is applicable to so much more.  While learning about the beginnings of our country, what better lens to use than through Biblical principles.  From our experience with The Pilgrim Story, I have a more clear understanding of the Principle Approach and how it is put into daily use.  The Principle Approach seems to be something I agree with, would like to use within our own learning.  It is so different than how I learned and what most of us are familiar with.  This unfamiliarity has made the Principle Approach seem more difficult to me.  I am thankful for our latest review item if for nothing more than a better feel for how to use this Biblical approach.  For those not interested in the Principle Approach, The Pilgrim Story is so much more.  Read on to learn a bit more about this fascinating online study into the Pilgrims.

The Pilgrim Study is set up as self-paced and interactive.  Self-paced means you can take as long or as little as you like.  There is no schedule or meeting time to work around.  The lessons are set-up to take 30-45 minutes.  The lesson consists of audio with accompanying slides.  There are tabs on the lesson screen to pull up the resources used (note sheets, etc.).  Another tab has each slide listed.  This is makes it easy to jump to a specific spot.  We have used this to re-visit a part of the lesson that my children need to review.  This would also be beneficial should you not complete the entire lesson in one sitting.

At the beginning of each lesson you are prompted to print out the needed sheets.  Always there are note sheets to aid in taking notes during the lesson, often there are documents defining a Principle covered during that particular lesson.  This is laid out in such a way that is easy for the students themselves to navigate easily.  You can have your child complete this independently or go through the lessons together.  We have chosen to work through together.  As with most things we do, all of us are doing this together.  The youngest 2 are usually kept quiet with legos or coloring pages.  The target age is grades 3-6.  Even though my eldest son is in grade 1, he has been an active participant – surprising me with what he is getting from the lessons.

Each new lesson begins by reviewing the previous lesson.  There are 17 lessons (not counting the introduction and unit tests) spread over five units.  The lessons also end with a review.  If we are completing the lessons closer than 3 days apart, they find this tedious.  If I think they need the review, we do it anyway.  If I feel they know it, we will jump past this review.  The course access is for 6 months allowing you to plan the lessons to fit into your schedule.  I don’t think you would want to try to do them too often.  There is a lot to take in at each lesson.  Not just the facts, but some deeper thinking on the Biblical principles.  We have found Mondays and Thursdays work well, though that is often tweaked due to life happening.

We have just completed unit two.  We haven’t had any hands-on activities — yet.  I hear those come in later lessons.  We have been doing these lessons in conjunction with our regular American History studies.  So far the pace has worked well.  Our regular curriculum is beginning to move a bit faster, so we will see what we need to tweak to keep both moving.

The Pilgrim Story goes much more in depth than anything else I have seen.  Just prior to beginning our lessons, we watched a video that introduces the things covered (Monumental).  The Pilgrim Story course ($99/6 months access) has been a wonderful way to really dig into this time in our country’s beginning.  What we are learning is so much more (and in some cases different) than what I learned in school.  It has made a great addition to our American History studies.  Even if we were not covering this time period, the lessons learned (not just the historical facts) are so important.  Discussing God’s Principle of Self-Government and Christian Unity with my children have been some of the most meaningful conversations we have had.  What a blessing to be able to call this school!

Other families on the Schoolhouse Review Crew reviewed The Pilgrim Story from Dayspring Christian Academy as well.  Read about their thoughts and experiences by starting at the Schoolhouse blog.