Power of an Hour (POAH) is great for Home Educators who want to boost their cultural literacy, expand their breadth and depth of learning, and those who need to show a portfolio of work at the end of the school year. This is a simple system, it all adds up! This also saves the parent hundreds of hours compiling lists of people, art works, music, other resources and links for further study. POAH has a yearly theme based on a cycle or era of time:
- Ancient (4000 BC- 1 AD)
- Medieval (1 AD- 1500 AD)
- Renaissance (1500 AD- 1800 AD)
- Modern (1800 AD - the present).
This makes it easy to select scripture, literature, artists, musicians, mathematicians/ scientists, statesmen, and poets throughout history to learn about.
Power of an hour has three elements:
- A scripture episode.
- A read aloud from a classic.
- A daily enrichment.
This is simple and flexible enough to use from child to adult age, and simple, but can be expanded and taken as deep as one wants to go. This can be a supplement to what you are already doing or it can become a whole curriculum map. So, what is included and how is it used?
For Young Children in Core Phase (about 4-6) and those wanting something simple to expand what they are already doing. We call these Family Scholars because much of their learning takes place as a family.
If children are mid core phase this can be really simple. Read the scripture story from the scriptures, let them become used to the language. Then read a few pages and up to a chapter from a classic. The enrichment can be as simple as sharing at the dinner table, "Guess what I learned today..." Children this age can also learn by what they hear taught to the older children. Think of how well "Little Sister" in Laddie:A True Blue Story by Gene Stratton Porter, gained most of her knowledge before going off to school. She listened as her older brothers and sisters learned. Mrs. Stanton, the mother in the story was not formally educated and learned right along with her children!
We created portfolio for core phase called the Family Scholar Portfolio. This is designed to track where these young family learners have been on their educational journey of discovery and the development of the discipline of habit. This is not a planner, though it can may have a few planning pages, this is more a portfolio. The Family Scholar Portfolio leads into the Aspiring Scholar Portfolio and helps prepare them for the Personal Scholar Portfolio when the become a young scholar.Adult Scholars use the Personal Scholar Portfolio too.
Older Children in Transition to Love of Learning (about 6-8) If children are approaching transition into love of learning you can actually just share the ideas and do the activities suggested. This would include reading the scriptures and a classic aloud each day. For a fuller curriculum begin keeping a Family Scholar Notebook, Book of Centuries, Book of Nations, Nature Notebook and:
Sunday- Read and discuss the general conference talk and learn about a person from church history. A great day for family councils and personal interviews too!
Monday- Learn about an artist (the first week) and study one of his works each week. Miniature biography, links and art work are provided. Do a Charlotte Mason style picture study where you show your children the picture for a few minutes. Turn the picture towards you and have them describe the picture they remember. This helps build memory, descriptive capability, and is a pre-composition activity. Then teach them the spelling rule; they are short and take only a minute or two!
Tuesday-- Learn of a famous musician the first week. Study one of his works each week. Miniature biography, picture, links to musical work are provided. Listen to a musical piece by this composer (links provided). Let the children dance or move to the music. Teach them the grammar rule it only takes a few minutes.
Wednesday- Learn about a famous mathematician or scientist each week. Do a living math or living science activity each week. Miniature biography, pictures, and links to activities provided.
Thursday- Learn about a statesman each week. Learn about a nation of the world each week. Learn a Hebrew letter, word or phrase each week (second year is Greek, third year is Latin Roots, fourth year is a modern language). Miniature biography, links to statesman, nation info, and Hebrew letter (including audio link) are provided.
Friday- Learn about a poet the first week. Study one of his poems each week. Learn about a state each week. Miniature biography, links for poet, state and poem are provided.
Saturday- Scripture episode and classic.
Children in Love of Learning Phase (about 8-12) Power of an Hour Plus... Families can do all of the above and more, using the Power of an Hour as a springboard for broader and deeper study. A child should have the three reads each day- be read to, read aloud, and read to ones self. Scripture study can usually satisfy this. Add in a daily walk. We created an Aspiring Scholar Portfolio for children in the love of learning phase. As children are ready, they can begin to develop their writing through: year one- Journaling and Correspondence by keeping their own personal journal and letter writing; year two is Biography through writing personal history; year three is Research through family history; year four is digital Publishing through blogging. Aspiring Scholars also keep their own Book of Centuries, keep their own Book of Nations, keep their own Commonplace book (for copywork) of quotes from what they and their families are reading; and they keep an Aspiring Scholar Portfolio. The parent can share the extra links provided, or go to the library on Friday to pick up books on the subjects covered the next week. In addition the child can:
Sunday- work on Gospel in Action, writing letters, memorizing scripture, and more. Also, this is a good night for family counsel, personal interviews, and a family recital of poems memorized, music learned, or anything else they want to share.
Monday- add the artist and the art work studied to their Book of Centuries. They might also want to work on learning to draw or keep a nature notebook. Look for the spelling rule expressed in the scripture or classic.
Tuesday- add the musician and thoughts about his music to their Book of Centuries. They may want to choose to learn to read music or learn to sing or play an instrument. Also, they can look for an example of the grammar rule in the readings of the day.
Wednesday- add the mathematician or scientist to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to experiment further with the living math or living science activity.
Thursday- add the statesman to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to practice writing the Hebrew, create a map of the country studied, learn more about the nation, and add the nation to the Book of Nations.
Friday- add the poet to their Book of Centuries. They may also want to memorize the poem, create a map of the state studied, learn more about the state, and add the state to the Book of Nations.
Saturday- Family activity or service project. One can just keep it simple or one can move this to a full curriculum. Notice, this is not about the parent taking hours to prepare, the preparation has is done. This is based on the idea of exposure, experiment, and embrace. What the child researches and records for themselves they are more likely to recall than when the parent doing all the preparation and the child just receiving it.
The Power of an Hour is $2.99 a week or save by purchasing it by the month at $9.99. The next post will be on using the Power of an Hour as a blended approach, along side going to a public or private school.
Power of an Hour http://store.moorhouseacademy.org/p/2/the-power-of-an-hour-old-testamentancient-times
Portfolios and Binder Packets http://store.moorhouseacademy.org/c/15/binders
- Family Scholar Portfolio- $9.99
- Aspiring Scholar Portfolio- $9.99
- Personal Scholar Portfolio- $9.99
- Book of Centuries- $6.99
- Book of Nations- $6.99
