Why would I homeschool?

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,                                             

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yield its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.  (Psalm 1:1-3)

Wordless Wednesday

 

Family Faith Development Scrutinized

I know, intellectually, that Sunday school doesn’t systematically teach my kids about their faith.  Yes, it teaches some things about their faith, but it can’t be the only vehicle used to impart a knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith.  And yet, I’ve let things go with the safety net of Sunday school and youth group.

Sure, we live out our faith in small ways at home.  We pray throughout the day.  We memorize scripture together.  We read the Bible (but not everyday).  We talk about God and His will and His world.  We learn about the world through God’s eyes rather than from a secular humanist perspective.  We do family devotionals…sporadically.  What we are missing is the diligence. 

I am very specific and purposeful when it comes to homeschooling our children.  I plan an extraordinary education for them and I ensure that we pursue it.  I have a vision for what I want for each of my children as they leave our home at the end of this part of their education and I know what steps need to be taken between now and then.  Where is that vision and plan for their spiritual development?

I have shied away from anything formal and structured because I don’t want to fall into legalism.  I want my children to have a relationship with Jesus, I want them to know they can go to God with anything, I want them to feel the grace of God’s mercy.

I also want to keep God’s commands.  He didn’t sit down and write the Bible as some tyrannical tirade - a list of do’s and don’t’s that must be followed.  I think he wrote out of love; as a father to his children.  He has given us the secret to life - everything we need to have the best lives possible.  Freedom from the pain and the brokenness that abounds in our culture.  Freedom to love deeply without holding back.

I’m called to make disciples of my children and teach them all that God has commanded.  I do this by teaching them about God’s world remembering the words of Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception,ccording to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”  Their education is Christ centered; they are not swallowing secular humanism and the relevatism that goes along with it.  But, am I diligently teaching my kids all that God has commanded?  No, not really.

I want to become more ordered in the teaching of our faith and pass on some clear knowledge of our beliefs to our children.  To do this I have to look honestly at what we’ve done so far and figure out where we’ve fallen short. 

This year our family faith development has looked like this:

Bible reading - fairly regular but also fairly sporadic.  NIV as well as the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Prayer - on school days we pray after we do Bible.  We pray at dinner and at bedtime and during the day sometimes (like if an ambulance drives by or if we’re all getting overwhelmed).

Bible Knowledge - occasional trips into Victor’s Journey Through the Bible.

Bible applied to the real world - our study of history, literature, geography, and philosophy are all from a Christian perspective as is our study of science; the kids have a Christian outlook on life in general so God is a part of our lives and our conversations.  Daisy and I have worked through Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle and are currently working through Authentic Beauty. 

Biblical Relationships - this comes up as we read the Bible, as we go about our day, and as we study Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends. 

Memory - This year they have memorized the first chapter of the Book of James.  It’s ongoing.

Worship - We listen to a lot of Christian music, but we don’t play any.

Where I want to go:

Bible Reading - an integral part of every single day with everyone in the family.

Prayer - I love what Dr. Baucham suggests about praying scripture and I think we’ll add that to our Bible reading time.  I want prayer to be a bigger part of our lives.

Bible Knowledge - a clear understanding of what we believe and why we believe it.  I want them all to have the ability to answer for the hope that is in them.  I want them to stand firm in their beliefs, like a tree with deep roots, so that they are not blown and tossed by the wind.

Bible applied to the real world - I want them to understand what a Biblical worldview is and to understand other worldviews and how they compare.  I want them to critically think of what they read, watch, listen to and weigh it from a Biblical perspective.  I want to immunize them against spoonfeeding. 

Biblical relationships - I want them to experience the love of Christ and to respond to others with that love as their strength.

Memory - I want this to be a part of every day, not just every school day. 

Worship - I’d love to have a family worship time each day. 

Now I just need to pray and then plan and then pray some more.

Gardening with Voddie

Last year I took Adam Andrews camping.  This year, Voddie Baucham and I gardened.  I’m not really sold on gardening yet, but I have some flowers I need to keep alive and that takes time.  Thankfully I have an iPod. 

I will readily admit to being a homeschool geek.  I am a homeschool geek.  I don’t have cool music on my iPod - I have homeschool convention talks.  My iPod makes me a walking homeschool convention and frankly, I think that’s incredibly cool; that’s how much of a homeschool geek I am.  Anyway, the Christian Home Educators of Colorado Conference always seems to have incredible speakers and challenging teachers so for the last couple of years I’ve downloaded talks from Best Christian Conferences to listen to at home.  This year I picked a talk titled Family Discipleship:  How to Pass on the Faith One Generation at a Time.  Wow.  Dr. Baucham goes beyond the typical “5 steps to guiding your children spiritually” and really challenges parents to read what the Bible says about discipleship and to truly practice it in the home.  I listen to a lot of homeschool workshops.  For the most part, I’ll agree, or disagree with the speaker taking what will bless my home and leaving the rest behind and then I move on to the next book or audio without a huge impact or influence in my life - this was different.  It’s impossible to listen to Voddie Baucham and then simply carry on as before. 

What he says isn’t rocket science.  People are wondering why 75 to 88% of kids raised in Christian homes are leaving their faith behind during their university years…I’m not sure why that stat is so surprising.  Most of these kids are being discipled in secular humanism.  Luke 6:40 says that when a student is fully trained he will be like his teacher - so why are we surprised that our students are turning out to be like their teachers?  That’s what we sent them to school for, wasn’t it?  To gain the wisdom and understanding of our world from the teachers we told our children to trust in?  The problem with that is that our kids are being taught that the real world doesn’t include God.  They aren’t holding every thought captive to Christ - they’re leaving God at the door and being discipled in an environment that has removed God from our world.  So when they get out into the “real world” that school has educated them about they leave God behind.  God isn’t part of history or science or literature or psychology; He isn’t really part of anything intellectual or scientific.  That’s what we teach our children by allowing them to be discipled in the religion of secular humanism. 

A couple of weeks ago as our kids left for Kids’ Church our Pastor prayed that they would see Jesus, hear Jesus and get to know Jesus through the teaching at Kids` Church.  That`s my prayer for every facet of my children`s life.  Not just for Sunday school.  Colossions 1 16 – 17 says that by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. – I`m not sure how we can teach that to our children when their education about things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible is without God.  I`m not sure they will know that God was present in the power of the rulers and authorities in history without their teacher ever talking about how God worked through a ruler or how his sovereignty is clear throughout history.  If our children are learning that God is not present in the real world then many will turn away as they grow up and enter into this world they learned about for so many hours in school. 

 

I think that they should learn to see Jesus in history, hear Jesus in science, and get to know Jesus through discussions with their teachers – right now they are learning that the real world does not include Jesus.  When Christians send their children out to be discipled in secular humanism we should expect them to pick up many of the values and beliefs of the secular humanist.  Our adult children are living their lives the way they`ve been taught to live by their teachers.  They sing, Every Step I Take I Take in You in church on Sunday but then they leave Jesus at the door before entering the school building – for the majority of students God will not ever enter into their thinking as they`re being taught social studies or science or English.  God will never be mentioned in any essays they will write or in any projects they will spend hours working on.  They`re being taught that Jesus is for church and home and that God doesn`t really have anything to do with the real world – with ideas they have to grapple with, concepts they have to master, opinions they need to debate – they`re being taught that God does not exist in the real world and that it`s just one belief system out of many; all of which should be equally respected.  If I sent my children to a very good Muslim school it wouldn`t surprise me if they became Muslim.  Discipleship is a powerful tool.

 

One of my favourite Voddie Baucham quotes is, “if we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, they’ll continue to come home as Romans.”  Amen, Voddie.

 

Education is a very influential form of discipleship because through education children learn how to view and think about the entire world; from history to science to career and personal planning.  The real world is opened up to our students through education. 

 

I think that Christian education (whether at home or at a Christian school) is the best way to ensure that our children are being trained in the way they should go even during school hours.  Heritage Christian School estimates that between 60 to 80% of their graduating students remain passionate Christians even after graduation; through university and beyond.  I’ve heard that 94% of homeschooled Christian kids retain their faith through university and beyond but I’m still searching for the source of that stat so don’t quote me on it yet. 

 

If you’re at all interested in discipling your children then read Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God.  I don’t do blanket book recommendations.  I just don’t.  But, this time I will.  This is a book that every Christian should prayerfully read. 

 

Now, if you’re cheap like me then you might order one talk from Christian Home Educators of Colorado and then you might surf around the internet to see if you find anything else about Dr. Baucham.  I found out that a lot of homeschoolers are already talking about him (funny about that).  Some was kind enough to point me towards another of his talks:  scroll down to #8 - Closing the Generation Gap.  After that I was hooked.  I bought Family Driven Faith and I downloaded the rest of Dr. Baucham’s talks from CHEC.

 

Here’s a snippet from YouTube:

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Help - I’m buried!

My box of books arrived from Amazon today.

love Amazon

These were mostly historical fiction titles to go along with Early Modern Times.  I’m putting together my own plan and had actually forgotten most of what I ordered back in April so it was kind of like Christmas today.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) the delivery prompted me to pull out all of my Early Modern Times titles. 

This is what my evening looks like.  And likely many evenings to come.  Someone’s going to need to dig me out of this pile.

Professional Development

My plan for Pro-D this summer is to look for inspiration and ideas in homeschooling, homemaking, and parenting.  Over the summer I want to use what I’m learning to create year plans for each area. 

Excellence in Homeschooling

The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

Gifted Children at Home by Janice Baker, etc.

Teaching the Classics: Worlview Supplement by Adam and Missy Andrews

The Lost Tools of Writing by Andrew Kern

To Learn with Love by William and Constance Starr

From the Tower of Babel to Parliament Hill by Brian Stiller

Excellence in Homemaking

The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer

FlyLady emails

Excellence in Parenting

Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas

Your Anxious Child by Mary Ann Shaw

The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson

 

 

I made a cake

I couldn’t have done it without the step-by-step photo instructions at The Pioneer Woman.  Sam is having his Sunday school class over tomorrow for a swim and some cake and I’ve been looking for an excuse to make PW’s 4th of July cake for a long time.  This counts as a good enough excuse, I think.  I just hope enough people show up.  Why is it that people don’t RSVP anymore?  So far we know that one family is coming and one family isn’t able to - I have no idea about the rest of the class.

We’re Canadian, so we didn’t go with the whole US flag theme.  I’m not brave enough to attempt the Canadian flag so Sam suggested we do a cross since it was his Sunday school class, after all.  He was worried that it would look like a Crusader cake but I relieved his fears by adding blueberries.

I am scared to eat this cake.  Even the cake batter was good - so good!  I had a hard time stopping myself from eating it and surrendering the bowl to the dishwater.  And the icing…   Mmmm…. 

I really hope we end up with a ton of people tomorrow or I’m in big trouble.

Weekly Report - summer schedule

We’re on our summr schedule which means that things are a lot more laid back.  I need to firm things up a little because it seemed like the boys didn’t accomplish a whole lot this week.  Sam did really well with math - he’s working through Singapore 3A, but I didn’t do any math with Harry and I didn’t do TOG with either of them.  But, we did have friends over to swim two days in a row and we also went strawberry picking one day. 

It took me most of Wednesday afternoon to get the strawberries washed, cut, and frozen.  Kudos to those of you who actually can things - it’s all I can do to throw them into a Ziploc bag and freeze them.

Daisy began training Sam so that he can do a triathlon this year as well.  She’s a task-master.  I poked my head out for a couple of minutes and the ran back inside before she had me in the pool doing laps.  Here she is directing Sam to go faster or swim harder or get his arm up or probably all three.  Daisy’s been very devoted to her training this week and has practiced two different sports each day.  It makes me tired just thinking about it.

She’s also done really well with her own work.  Most of her summer work is independent and she’s doing a great job staying on top of it.

And look what I did!  I cleaned up my hot spot and now it looks neat and tidy.  No purses or book bags on the floor, no sweater haning over the chair, no big pile of surprises next to the computer, no coffee cups on the desk - doesn’t it look great?  And my sink is shiny : )  It’s been a good week.

Year end thoughts on Worldview

In the last few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time listening.  Listening to Mp3s from the BC Christian Home Educators’ Convention,  listening to Greg Bitgood’s podcasts and listening to the last few sermons at church and I’ve been inundated with the importance of discipleship.  Homeschooling has been revolutionary for me.  I grew up attending a public school and going to church for Christmas and Easter.  I know that my parents’ lack of faith was an influence, but even more than that was the influence of my teachers and the curriculum through all of my hours and weeks and years in school.  I remember in grade 5 when we all received our little New Testaments.  My best friend, Liz, and I read ours faithfully for about a week.  We got down on our knees together and prayed and then one night we were talking “rationally” and decided that Christianity was created to soothe the fear of death.  It was a “creation story” and nothing more.  In fact, we even talked about writing a novel from the perspective of two young men who wrote the Bible as a lark and then watched as everyone fell for it.  That was the night I became an atheist. 

Everything I learned in school confirmed my new belief.  We humanists weren’t quite sure how the earth came to be but we definitely knew it couldn’t have been “created”.  We marvelled at how amazing evolution was; to think that things like the eyeball and the bee are here today when once there wasn’t anything here at all.  Wow.  We learned about Ancient Egypt without mentioning Moses or the Israelites.  We learned about the Middle Ages without hearing about how God shaped history during those years and how the Church grew and changed.  Oh, sure, we had to write a paragraph about “religion” in the Middle Ages, but it was just another opportunity to feel sorry for how misguided people were during the Dark Ages.  We learned about ethics and human rights and when a foetus becomes a person – and there was no mention of God. 
I saw confirmation of atheism and humanism in every subject we were taught; there was nothing “secular” about my education.

Thankfully, God intervened in my life.  I think it was an answer to prayer from all those years ago.  Now, as I work with my own kids I can’t imagine teaching them geography without finding out how God is working in different parts of the world and praying for the people there.  As I teach science I can’t even fathom how I would approach it without God at the center.  I was working with my boys yesterday and we were discussing how amazing God is to have given animals instincts so that they are able to do all kinds of intelligent things to survive.  We read about how the birds have no storeroom or barn and yet God feeds them.  My son pointed out to me that animals need instincts because God didn’t give them free will.  What an amazing thing to recognize.  My kids are learning about Johannes Gutenberg – not just as the inventor of the printing press, but as an instrument of God.  They are learning about him as an example of God’s sovereignty and they see how God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things to further His Kingdom.  Our history lesson included a discussion on God’s sovereignty in our own lives.  A lot of time is spent teaching kids how to deal with personal conflicts and bullying in school – what is the point of teaching this without learning about Godly relationships, servanthood, and responses of the Spirit instead of responses of the flesh?  Prayer, forgiveness, grace, and humility go a lot further than any humanist conflict resolution techniques I learned in school.  This is God’s world – every part of it and trying to separate God out of it doesn’t make any sense. 

Because of my secular education I have a hard time seeing God in all things.  Sometimes old doubts resurface and I find myself arguing with my humanist younger self.  It’s hard to try and see things from a Christian worldview when you spent thousands of hours being taught about the world from a humanist perspective.  But I rely on God’s wisdom and I keep plugging along.  I’m grateful to have the opportunity to disciple my children when we rise up and when we sit down and when we walk along the path…all day, every day.  When questions arise I’m there to guide them, point them to scripture, and pray with them.  Their spiritual development doesn’t just happen when we read the Bible or when we pray at night – it happens during science and during history and during lunch hour, too.  I want to make sure that I’m available as these opportunities for discipleship arise and to ensure that God is at the center of their education. 

I do this with humility and faith in God’s provision.  I’m not equipped to impart a Christian worldview in all facets of their lives.  However, I’m leaning on God and I’m grateful for the wisdom of others who are better equipped.  I have friends who are able to teach from a Christian perspective while using secular resources.  They have a wide knowledge base and are able to seize the opportunity to use Scripture to expand on or refute what is being taught in the text.  To be honest, most of those opportunities would go right over my head.  Thankfully, there are some incredible resources out there that teach from a Christian perspective.  I’m finding my relationship with God deepening as I begin to fully realize His role in the real world and I’m grateful that my children are learning this first hand.

I would love to hear from other parents about how they are imparting a Christian worldview as they educate their children. 

Here is a list of resources that have been a blessing in my life:

Tapestry of Grace – teaches history, literature, Church history, geography, philosophy, and art from a Christian perspective using quality resources and a Classical methodology.  You can download a 3 week trial for free from the site.  All grades.

Exploring Creation with…  – Jeannie Fulbright’s materials published by Apologia.  These are great for elementary aged kids.

Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends – a book on sibling relationships written by three homeschooled siblings – good for all ages.

A Child’s Geography – a Charlotte Mason style study of geography for elementary students.

100 Wonders by Heather Larratt – shows God’s presence in various areas of science.

Window on the World – prayer atlas for children. 

Discipling this Generation for a Digital World – this really was a wake-up call for me.  It has helped me to recognize that discipling my children also must include preparation for issues their generation will be facing. 

Educating the Whole-Hearted Child – a discipleship based guide to homeschooling.

What Do You Learn in School? – how to create a Biblical curriculum.  Brian Watts was our featured speaker at convention last year and has a number of fantastic resources on his website.  You can also download some of his talks from the site.

Christian Worldview podcasts – Greg Bitgood’s series on teaching from a Christian worldview.  I love podcasts because I can listen while I cook dinner or while I’m gardening.