Trail Guide to Learning: Paths of Progress Set

Wouldn't you love to guide your students in learning How to think rather than simply What to think?

Imagine working with real books, reading and writing for a reason, and using activities that don't just fill time and paper but bring points home. Imagine needing little teacher preparation because all lessons are clearly laid out. Imagine your students creating personal notebooks that double as portfolios to show what they have learned.

The Trail Guide to Learning series does all these things. Now you can teach multiple levels together with tremendous flexibility, all while producing one remarkable result encouraged students!

The Trail Guide to Learning is based on proven educational principles, and fully utilizes methods developed by noted author and educator, Dr. Ruth Beechick.

It will help you:

-Set in motion the thinking skills that lead to comprehension and writing ability.
-Increase science, history, literature and geography knowledge while establishing tool skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).
-Use real books to provide key connections and motivate listening and reading.
-Utilize Charlotte Mason's philosophy of developing thinking skills naturally through observation and narration, while connecting subjects in a thought-provoking way.

Paths of Progress is the third step on the Trail Guide to Learning. To grow as a country, another group of leaders had to step forward during our history scientists and inventors. Study those who used their talents and abilities to answer questions that provided better ways of living and working. The lives of these devoted individuals and their contributions will be examined throughout our history, into the Industrial Revolution and the beginning of the 20th century. Primary science focus involves Physical Science (such as energy, motion, and work) and the economic impact of each development. Some key figures studied include Ben Franklin, Samuel Morse, George Washington Carver, the Wright Brothers, and Thomas Edison. This full one-year course is targeted for grades 5-7, but the lessons can easily be adapted for 4th and 8th grades as well.

So, pack your bags and prepare to travel through time and history with inventors and scientists as your guide!

Debbie Strayer received her bachelor's and master's degrees in education and has many years of experience as an educator, consultant, and student evaluator. She is the former editor and co-founder of Homeschooling Today magazine, the author of Gaining Confidence to Teach, the editor of The Homeschool Answer Book by her mentor, Dr. Ruth Beechick, and co-author of Learning Language Arts Through Literature series.

Debbie feels her most important accomplishments are that she has been the wife of Greg Strayer for over 30 years, and a homeschooling parent for 16 years. She speaks and writes about homeschooling topics with humor, honesty, and encouragement.

Linda Fowler received a BA degree in Visual Communications from the University of South Florida, where she also met her husband, Colclough. She subsequently spent 17 years homeschooling their four children, from 1st through 12th grades, and developing an unshakeable appreciation for the power of encouragement. The Fowlers reside in Tampa, Florida.