When my kids were little, I would hold them close and talk to them about the wonders of creation and the power and grace of God, and they would soak it up like a sponge.
The greatest thing about homeschooling? As my kids grow older, discipleship is still the focus of their education. Sure, we cover the three R’s, but the Bible is the foundation of our homeschool, and God’s Word is the gauge which determines our path.
Equipping our kids to go out into the world involves not just teaching them how to read and write, but also helping them gain a biblical worldview and the confidence to defend why they believe what they believe. This is achieved through diligence, prayer, study, and lots of discussion, but the main thing is that it is a part of our “all day, everyday.”
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:18-20).
While discipleship is a heart matter and a relationship, there are some methods and resources I use to incorporate discipleship into our “lessons.”
- Bible study is on our list of subjects each year as a “course” in and of itself, but it also carries over into our read-aloud time each night. We always have a Bible story book going for my youngest, which my older kids admittedly love, too. We’ve read Egermeier’s Bible Story Book, Catherine Vos’s The Child’s Story Bible (three volumes), The Book of Books by Trevor Dennis, and The Family Illustrated Bible from New Leaf Press. For Bible study, I use resources from Sonlight and Master Books. Some devotionals that have been an especially big hit with my boys are Dangerous Devotions and More Dangerous Devotions by Jackie Perseghetti.
- I love Sonlight curriculum for history studies because they present it from a biblical worldview. In learning about different cultures and religions, my kids are developing a broader awareness of the world. Sonlight also includes many titles about missionaries, which have been some of our favorite books.
- Progeny Press literature guides are great resources for bringing a biblical perspective to secular titles, especially at the high school level. I don’t really censor what my older son reads, but we do discuss books in the context of the author’s beliefs and motives, the world events of the time, the themes, and the literary influence and cultural impact of the works from a Christian perspective. This includes everything from Shakespeare to The Hunger Games.
- For science, I like Dr. Wile’s science resources. He acknowledges evolution but respectfully refutes it with research and evidence.
- We do lots of nature study, and I find that the majority of field guides include evolutionary content. I think this is funny, because the more my kids study nature, the more they see the hand of God in everything. My favorite nature study resource is Anna Comstock’s Handbook of Nature Study.
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