Shaping Worldview

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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November 6, 2018 by Megan

We’ve always taken our children with us when we go to vote. But when my daughter was three, I noticed that she was especially excited about going. I thought her excitement was a little odd, considering that voting meant standing in line and waiting—two of her least-favorite activities. But a little election-day excitement is certainly not a bad thing, and it made the people working at the polling place smile. What really confused me, though, was that when we got ready to leave after casting our vote, she burst into tears.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

“We didn’t get to see the boat!” she wailed. “Where was the boat?”

Then it clicked. When we talked about going to vote, she thought we were saying boat because she had no idea what a vote was. No wonder she was disappointed!

Elections and the importance of voting can be confusing concepts for young children to understand. Here are a few tips to help you teach your young children about good citizenship.

Show Your Children That Voting Is Important

Your children may be too young to cast a ballot, but as a homeschooler, you have a great opportunity to model good citizenship every election day. Demonstrate to your children that voting is an important part of citizenship by going out to vote yourself. Take your children along with you so that they can be a part of the experience too.

Role-Play Elections

To help young children understand what voting is and why it’s important, you might want to stage an election at home. Choose a topic that is important to young children (such as “What should we have for lunch on Friday?” or “What game should we play during family time?”), and have family members vote on it. Create a ballot box from an old shoebox, and make ballots with only two choices (you may want to include pictures for nonreaders). And be prepared to act based on the winning choice! This is a great time to explain some election terms they may have heard during a campaign.

Talk About the Importance of Choosing Good Leaders

During the weeks leading up to an election, my mailbox is usually stuffed with political mailers. When I open my front door, a political flier often falls out. There are political advertisements on television, radio, and the internet—I can’t get away from them, and neither can my kids. They might be too young to understand what the president does or what the difference is between a Democrat and a Republican, but after seeing a political ad, they do sometimes ask me, “Is he (or she) good?”

When my children ask me about specific candidates, it gives me a good opportunity to talk with them about the kind of character we want to see in our leaders. I explain that a leader is ideally someone who is righteous, just, and humble. But every political candidate, just like all the rest of us, is flawed by sin. Despite that, we have the responsibility to vote for a person we think will govern wisely in accordance with Scripture.

Pray About the Election

Finally, be sure to include the election and the candidates when you pray together as a family (1 Timothy 2:1–2). Doing so will help show your children that God ultimately decides who our leaders will be. In His hands, we can trust His good plan for our nation.

Reaching Out This Fall

October 4, 2018 by Guest Writer

I love fall and everything about it: the cooler temperatures (perfect hoodie weather), low humidity, brilliant colors, and a plethora of autumn recipes to try. It’s a perfect time of year to enjoy lots of outdoor activities with family such as hiking, bonfires, hayrides, corn mazes, and apple picking. It’s also a great season to establish family traditions and create lifelong memories. But as we make fall plans, let’s take some time to think about how we as homeschooling families can use some of these activities as a means of reaching out to the unsaved around us.

The Reason for Reaching Out

After all, we’re not here on this earth to just rear our children, work hard, serve in our churches, and enjoy recreational time—although all of these are good things. God left us here after He redeemed us so we may bring Him glory, and one way we can do that is by fulfilling the Great Commission in witnessing to the lost and seeking to bring them to Christ so they can be discipled and grow. And it’s much easier to witness to people when we’ve established rapport and found common ground with them. Yes, we should invite them to church, but we need to find ways to connect with them outside of church as well.

Fun Activities with Purpose

So what better way to get to know non-Christian acquaintances than by enjoying some of these fall activities with them? Ask them to join your family at a local corn maze or for a hayride. Invite them over to your house for a bonfire and s’mores. If they’re outdoor people, plan a hike together and pack a picnic lunch. You could host a pumpkin carving/decorating contest. Maybe you’ve met an unsaved family that is either unable or not quite ready to join you for these activities. A great way to still reach out is by baking them a fall treat such as pumpkin cookies or an apple pie. Consider signing your children up for a community sports league, such as soccer. This is a great way to meet families in your area; not only will you perhaps get an opportunity to witness to someone, but so will your children.

Outreach Opportunities

As the holidays come closer, the opportunities for reaching out and serving others also increase. Does your church do a soup kitchen or other mission projects during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons? Plan to help out this year! Your children can also participate in Operation Christmas Child, a special program run by Samaritan’s Purse. Shoebox collections end on November 19, so make sure to get your box together before then. Here are some more ideas for serving others this fall.

Whatever the method, use it as an opportunity to build bridges so you can eventually bring Christ into your conversations. As homeschoolers, we have unique opportunities we can use to spread the gospel to lost families all around us. Let’s pray for God to use us this fall as we seek to bring the good news of salvation to those who may have never heard it.

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Jennifer is a pastor’s wife and mom of two young girls and loves homeschooling them. During her own twelve years of being homeschooled, Jennifer developed a passion for reading and writing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and relishes writing during her free time.

Teaching the Constitution Early

September 13, 2018 by Ben

Recent surveys show that many Americans don’t know much about their own nation’s governing document. In our homeschool, one of our main objectives is to teach our children about the US Constitution. As believers, we want our children to exercise godly stewardship when it comes to voting (in the future). In order to help them understand the Constitution, we have decided to start early.

Framework

It’s important to provide children with an overview of the framework of the Constitution. A helpful place to begin is with the three branches our Constitution divides the duties of government into. Since our family is using BJU Press heritage studies textbooks, we introduce this concept in first grade. Every year, we repeat it—with more detail added each time. This might seem basic, but only one in four American adults can identify these branches, and even fewer can identify the duties of each. When children understand that the Constitution dictates who makes, enforces, and settles the laws, they have a solid working knowledge of what the it does.

If you’re wondering if your little ones are ready for something as big as the Constitution, remember that this is just an introduction. Also, you can teach them with hands-on-activities. I found that even our verbal learner was helped by doing an activity. You can read how we used Legos® to learn about the Constitution .

Narrative

One thing that often makes studying government documents dull is a narrow focus on the mechanics of governing. The learning is more engaging if you place the Constitution within a narrative context. The Constitution arose out of a certain set of historical events, such as Shays’ Rebellion. Studying the document within its historical context provides interest and understanding.

Narrative also helps us understand one especially critical part of the Constitution—the Bill of Rights. Throughout our history as a nation, various people, groups, and movements have attacked our liberties . For example, even our second president, John Adams, threatened our First Amendment right to free speech. Exploring these historical events can help children understand what their rights are under the Constitution and how they’ve often been threatened in the past.

Capstone

Even though we lay a framework and expand understanding, we need to pull it all together in a single course. When I was in high school, I joined another group of homeschool seniors and juniors for an in-depth study of American government. That class brought together the various threads of the Constitution I had learned through the American history I had studied over the years.

Teaching the Constitution enables our children to engage wisely. But if we try to pack it all into the final year of homeschooling, they’ll likely find it overwhelming and dull. Instead, we should attempt to give our children a foundation that they can build on all through the early years.

Time Flies, So Make It Count

September 4, 2018 by Guest Writer

Recently my husband and I had a conversation that went something like this:

“Can you believe it’s almost time to start school again?”

“No, it seems like we just ordered last year’s materials!”

You can probably relate; and like us, you realize just how quickly the weeks, months, and years are speeding by. The time we still have left with our children at home will be over before we know it; and a good question to ask is, “Are we making the most of the opportunities we have with our children?” Ephesians 5:16 exhorts us to be “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The beginning phrase can also be translated as “making the best use of the time.” God wants us as parents to make the best use of the time He has given us with our children. How can we do that?

Time In School

As homeschoolers, we have chosen the role of teacher. Therefore, we have to make sure that our children are getting the most out of their education. This means taking time to assess our children’s academic growth. Are they developing critical thinking skills? Do they know how to accurately apply logic and reasoning in solving problems? Are they forming solid studying habits? Just getting them to complete their assignments and take their tests isn’t enough to redeem the time.

Outside School

In a world where parents and kids are busy with their own separate pursuits, it’s especially important to do family activities. As homeschoolers, we are obviously with our children a lot, but it’s crucial to make family time outside of school. Take walks, play board games, go bowling, throw a Frisbee®, catch fireflies—the list could go on and on. It’s not about doing huge exciting things; it’s about enjoying simple moments with our children, making memories, and drawing closer to each other.

Round the Clock

But the greatest way we can redeem the time is by reading and discussing God’s Word and praying together. Not just at breakfast or bedtime but throughout the day as various circumstances arise. Every success and every failure is an opportunity to teach our children about God and His Word. Deuteronomy 6:7 admonishes us to teach our children His Word when we’re sitting at home, when we’re going places, when we go to bed, and when we get up in the morning—in short, every chance we get! That means we as parents have to constantly keep our minds on eternal spiritual matters so we’ll be ready to engage our children in God-centered conversations. This doesn’t come easily. We have to put a lot of thought and effort into it, but isn’t it worth it? Time is flying, so let’s make the most of it!

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God’s Word to His Creation

July 31, 2018 by Ben

Our family enjoys gardening together. Even our toddler likes to explore the climbing pea vines and touch the ripening tomatoes within her reach. In the South, we’re able to plant early. We can put out plants vulnerable to cold by the beginning of April so that we can start enjoying their fruit in May.

However, this spring, we experienced three late frosts. My eight-year-old enjoyed wrapping the plants with rags and towels to keep them safe from the light frost. Despite our efforts, we lost a zucchini plant and a bell pepper.

While we scurried around to keep our plants safe, it was comforting to reflect with my daughter that the Lord was holding all things in His hands.

The World—By His Word

Paul tells us that Christ holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). It isn’t that God created the world and left it to operate on its own without His intervention. He actively maintains it.

And Peter identifies God’s means of maintaining the world: His Word (2 Peter 3: 5–7). God keeps the world by the same word by which He created the world.

Snow—By His Word

In Psalm 147:15–18, the poet meditates on the role of God’s word in the coming and going of snow.

He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.

These images depict God’s word running across the face of the earth, scattering snow like wool. Then, He sends another word and it melts the snow. God is able to speak to every single particle in the universe. And since He is infinite, He still has unlimited capacity to listen to His people and answer.

The psalmist concludes that “he sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel” (Psalm 147:19). The word of God to creation and His written Word are laid side by side. So let’s compare these two sets of words.

Similarities

The words have the same author. And so those words have the same authority. His commands are perfect. And the Lord is unchanging. He’s consistent. He never fails to hold the sun together. And His precepts will never change.

Dissimilarities

God’s written Word is clear. While interpreters have disagreements about the meaning of some difficult passages, the vast majority of Scripture is plain, while His words to creation are unintelligible to us.

Another dissimilarity is how the words are obeyed. God’s words to creation are never disobeyed. Yet we routinely ignore the written words of God.

God’s Word and Natural Laws

Scientists have identified some theories that hold up under testing so often that they call them laws. I believe that the laws of science persist because the Lord is constantly speaking to creation. Bodies of mass always attract (something we call gravity) because of God’s speech. If the speech of the Lord is observed in creation, we ought to observe the effects of God’s speech in nature. These observation will help us know how to live well in God’s world by living according to His creation.

God’s Word and Creational Norms

When we adjust our lives according to the way God made the world, we are finding creational norms. These norms enable farmers to plow, plant, and harvest in a timely manner to bring in the most produce. In some cases, God gives us explicit instruction in His Word. But we often have little direct instruction from the Lord. So we study creation through the lens of God’s Word. We observe, experiment, and adjust. When we do so, we are “listening in on” God’s speech to creation.

Finding Norms

The education of our children enables them to identify creational norms. Their study of math, science, language arts, and history is a collection of discovered norms that they should incorporate into their lives to live well in God’s world. That’s why education is so important to our children. It’s also reason for the need to learn in the context of a biblical worldview.