You homeschool because your child’s faith is important to you. We want to support you in training up your child. These blog posts show how to give your child a biblical worldview of each subject.
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When we consider the greatness of the gifts God has given us in Christ, any offering we could make in return seems rather paltry. But in looking at the men and women of the Christmas story, we find models of gift-giving that any believer can imitate. Though simple, their gifts were given out of hearts of love, gratitude, and joy.
The wolves howl hungrily in the Big Woods, but inside the little log cabin a cozy fire projects the lively shadows of Pa’s fiddle playing while Mary and Laura sing along. Scenes like this one from the Little House series are still etched in my mind. My mother read each of the Little House books to us children, and I recently began reading them with my daughter.
This beloved series captures the essence of pioneer life. We experience the nineteenth-century American frontier with the Ingalls family on long journeys plodding across the prairie in a covered wagon, through relentless Dakota blizzards that nearly brought a town to starvation, and against harsh farming realities such as grasshopper plagues and hailstorms. We learn perseverance, discipline, family harmony, and courage.
Yet as I’m reading through this series as an adult, I’ve noticed a big omission in the Little House series. We take for granted that Little House is a wholesome Christian series. After all, the Ingalls family prays, goes to church, and lives morally. However, the Christianity portrayed in the Little House series is merely cultural, from dull Sabbath-keeping and moral judgments to religious platitudes, such as “The Lord helps them that help themselves.”
The gospel is conspicuously absent from the Little House series and so the shell of Christianity that remains implies a works righteousness that cannot save.
So as I read the Little House series with my children, I want to point out the instances of cultural Christianity and contrast it with biblical truth. This may help them recognize cultural Christianity today, such as when we hear politicians say “God bless America” with never a mention of Christ or our need for repentance, or when we interact with that likable neighbor who believes his moral life and good deeds and occasional church attendance earn him a title deed to heaven. As we enjoy the story of American frontier life, here are some discussion questions you can use to help children distinguish between the shell of religion and real life in Christ.
In Little House in the Big Woods (210–11), Laura was astonished at how Charley disobeyed and distracted his father. She couldn’t imagine being so naughty, and she thought he got what he deserved in being stung by the yellow jackets.
Discussion Questions
The Little House series is full of practical proverbs and optimistic sayings, such as “All’s well that ends well” and “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” In Farmer Boy (146), Mother is frightened at the possibility of being robbed, but Father reminds her, “The Lord will take care of us.” She responds, “The Lord helps them that help themselves.”
Discussion Questions
In On the Banks of Plum Creek (168–76), Laura shows the normal human response of loving her friends and hating her enemies, seeking to get even with haughty Nellie Olsen by chasing her into the muddy creek area infested with bloodsucking leeches. Laura’s friend thought Nellie got what she deserved, and “deep down inside her Laura felt satisfied when she thought of Nellie dancing on the creek bank” (176).
Discussion Questions
Several times in the Little House series, the Ingalls family encounters Indians, much to Ma’s displeasure. In By the Shores of Silver Lake (82), she declares, “I always heard you can’t trust a half-breed.” The author observes, “Ma did not like Indians; she did not like even half-Indians.”
Discussion Questions
Stay tuned for Part 2 with more discussion questions to help us see the Little House series through a biblical worldview and gospel lens.
Works Cited
Laura Ingalls Wilder. Little House in the Big Woods. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
———. Farmer Boy. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
———. On the Banks of Plum Creek. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
———. By the Shores of Silver Lake. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.
Christian education is facing a crucial and unsettling time. It has sought for years to lay a thoroughly biblical foundation for students and to impart truth on every hand. But many Christian school students are cold, and even resentful, toward that teaching. As Christian educators, we should try to bring students back to Christianity’s foundation—the truth of the gospel—so that when we address students’ behavior it is motivated by and grows out of our dedication to the gospel.
Since young people sometimes try to define truth by their own subjective perceptions, perhaps we should ask ourselves some questions about what we are teaching them. Are we teaching them the whole truth? Could we actually be dumbing down our presentation of the truth? Amid calls of “Don’t give them doctrine, make it practical!” and an obsession with “principles to live by,” have we maybe lost sight of the basics and unintentionally obscured the person of the gospel, Jesus Christ?
We often respond with more and more behavior-focused instruction when our students’ behavior seems to indicate that they do not understand Christianity. There’s a need to balance our teaching of practical do’s and don’ts with teaching Christ’s perfect sacrifice for us on the cross. Perhaps one reason the gospel has lost its wonder and richness for young people is because of our presentation of the wonderful central figure—Jesus Christ. He is sometimes overshadowed by lesser goals when He should be the focus as well as the motivator behind practical Christian living.
In 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul also states that there were those (the Jews and Greeks) who found his preaching of Christ unacceptable. Even though the impact of Paul’s ministry on both his own generation and on every generation since is astounding, even Paul’s faithful preaching of the gospel was not welcomed by every person who heard it. The same holds true when we admonish our students. Some will accept it while others may reject the truth.
When faced with such animosity or dismissal of the truth, we may mourn our own lack of power and the great limitations of our flesh that we think make us inadequate to share the gospel that we love. We must remember that God is never frustrated or limited. His promise in Isaiah 55:11 shows that His Word is never “void.” He holds the key to our hearts and has the power to accomplish whatever He intends to—in spite of our sinful nature and wandering hearts.
God alone is able to reach our hearts and those of our students. Whatever work He intends to do in our students’ lives is not impossible. And we can help by trusting in His power, not our own, to guide us as we share His truth through our words and actions.
How do you share the Truth with your students?
Have you ever felt completely helpless to regain control over your classroom using a biblically driven methodology? Concentrating on teaching children a biblical approach to a subject is easily sidelined when you are concentrating on keeping the students from erupting into a cacophony of chaos. Worse, you could end up teaching them an unbiblical approach to life if you deal with their sinful actions in pragmatic ways that are more consistent with secular psychology. Maybe your classroom is a model of discipline because you know plenty of practical methods to get students to behave. But, as you know, simply getting students to behave is not the end goal. The end goal is to disciple children to practice godliness because of their own inward desire to see God glorified (Titus 2:11–14).
Let me be clear that I’m not opposed to rewarding students for a job well done. (When I was a teacher, I used a mystery box to reward my students.) Rewarding students can be done in a manner that is consistent with God’s practice of rewarding His children (1 Corinthians 3:14; 2 Timothy 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4). Pursuing the blessing of the reward is a legitimate motivation when that motivation is rooted in the ultimate desire to live in a pleasing manner because of your already-established relationship with God. Believers ought to be primarily motivated by the value of a loving personal relationship with God Himself (Philippians 3:8-11). The relationship is central. And so it should be in the classroom.
Classroom discipline must be founded on a proper relationship with God and others. Structure your practical methods to reinforce motives that are in line with the Great Commandment: love God and love others (Matthew 22:34-40). All God’s laws are simply descriptions of what it means to love God and others. When you formulate classroom rules, make sure to ground them in love for God and love for others. Communicate to your students how all of your classroom rules are meant to reflect a love for God and others. Help the students realize that their willingness or unwillingness to follow policies clearly reveals who and what they truly love. Use these classroom rules as an opportunity to teach your students the whole point of the Great Commandment. It’s impossible to keep God’s law perfectly. It’s constant evidence that they’re not naturally good (Matthew 19:16-22). They need to turn to Christ for forgiveness and the ability to live a transformed life under His redemptive rule (Colossians 1:13-14).
Be sure that love for God and others is the foundation for all of your classroom discipline. Begin the first few weeks by focusing on these truths. Plan blocks of time throughout the year to reinforce the relational obligation students have to God, to other students, and to you based on the Great Commandment. Your first and routine response to disobedience should be to immediately point them back to the Great Commandment. If you’ve already done the groundwork, a simple reference to this obligation ought to be a sufficient reminder. However, you may need to set aside time at some point in the day to address the heart with further discipleship. Even when you use practical methods or rewards, always keep the biblical truth at the forefront by explicitly mentioning it. Don’t be discouraged when they don’t seem to get it or care. Keep reminding them anyway what their true motivation ought to be.
What have you found helpful for encouraging your students to follow the Great Commandment?
How can you help your children or students understand and then apply the Bible to all of life? How can you teach them to think and operate according to a biblical worldview?
The purpose of Christian education is rooted in a conviction that children must understand and apply the Bible in every sphere of life. That’s why parents and churches combine their resources to expand the understanding and application of the Bible to all of the particulars within a field of study that the pastor has no time or expertise to address in the Sunday sermon. The purpose of Christian education is not only to provide spiritual and ethical reinforcement but also to provide biblical worldview training for understanding academic disciplines in a way that is consistent with biblical thinking.
Since expanding the understanding and application of the Bible to all of life is the primary motivation and task of the Christian educator, knowing how to do it well is vital. Choosing a curriculum that provides a solid foundation to build on is the first step. But that’s only a starting point, a guide. It offers help by providing suggestions to point you in the right direction. But the teacher is still key.
The teacher structures and develops the meat of the lesson. What mindset should guide you as you seek to help students understand and apply the Bible in a particular field of study? One helpful approach is to look at your subject matter through the lens of Creation, Fall, Redemption. Evaluate students’ understanding by asking them to explain the subject matter—how it ought to be done or viewed according to God’s creational norms/laws. Evaluate students’ critical thinking by asking them to analyze and evaluate fallen humanity’s twisting of that subject matter. Evaluate their application skills and creativity by challenging them to think through a biblical approach to the subject matter even within a fallen world awaiting God’s full restoration.
Secular textbooks are filled with the subtle assumptions or evangelistic zeal of multicultural pluralism—the idea that all cultures are equally good or neutral and thus equally acceptable. This is consistent with secularist goals and values such as “truth and values are relative” or “tolerance will solve the conflicts of humanity.” However, if cultural geography is taught from the biblical model of Creation, Fall, Redemption, students will learn that all cultures reflect the ideas and behaviors of people groups that are both created in God’s image and fallen. Thus, all cultures combine both creational goodness and human fallenness. Some cultures are more conformed to God’s law than others due to God’s common grace and the influence and contributions of the redeemed in that culture. Students must learn not only to appreciate cultures distinct from their own but also to critically evaluate all cultures, including their own, by the ultimate standard of God’s Word.
Using Creation, Fall, and Redemption in your thinking will help you shape a biblical worldview in the minds of your students. May God give you help to that end.
How do you help your students maintain a biblical worldview in their studies?
