If you have made some progress on your 12 year plan this week - congratulations! The hardest part is starting, as you are bound to be telling yourself at least at a sub-conscious level that you couldn't possibly do it at all! Or for the perfectionists - that you oughtn't start what you can't finish with honours!



In a few posts time I want to share with you how I take what is written on one column of our master plan and schedule that into a weekly timetable but today I would like to start discussing the various resources in our Master Plan, and why I chose what I did.



Perhaps something in my thought processes will identify with yours or send you in an entirely different direction all together - and that's okay. The main point is to get you thinking about what may suit you and introduce you to a few more of my favourite things.

This includes educational resources. What is there not to like about the passion that others put into and convey in their resources that I can then use to empassion and inspire my precious children.



So in no particular order, I present to you "Balancing the Sword".

Due to the start of our journey away from organised religion during the the time period that I was preparing our 12 year home education plan, we were very wary of using any materials that taught a child what to think about God.

It is more important to us to let a child be stimulated to think for themselves, and straight from the source. So that means the bible itself.



Balancing the Sword is a 2-volume set of questions that walk you through the bible twice over. Each pass is completed in one volume and then the second time around different questions are posed in the second volume.

Not only that but the illustrations and quotes within their pages are beautiful.



Each set is meant as a self-study workbook, giving a half column area for you to write in.

As much as perhaps we would like for each child to have their own, we have decided to have them write their answers in a story like manner into a hardback large format exercise book.

This also allows for the child to mature their answers over time, although some would treasure the 'snapshot in time' that re-using such a resource affords. Its not just for children though - I'd highly recommend these books to ANY CHRISTIAN.



Along with the 2 volume set of study guides, there is a cd with planning software on it that helps you chart your own reading plan. It is different from many others out their as it breaks sections up into word counts not chapters.

The idea is that you enter the date you want to start the programme, the date you want to end by, any days that you want to skip, how many days per week, which books of the bible etc, and it spits out a checklist plan for you to work with.

We have chosen to complete the 2 volumes over 4 years, so at the very least our children will have read their way through the bible twice (albeit not chronologically). That is twice more than their mother who is only starting on this pursuit with the New Living Translation Chronological Bible herself!).



The pity for us was that the software is a Windows-only resource and does not work very well under Linux emulators. There is supposed to be an online version being created to overcome this issue.



In a nutshell we like the flexibility of Balancing the Sword and that it doesn't shove religion down your throat confuse religion with authentic christianity!