Why I Put God First in Homeschooling

This world does not need more educated idiots.  

What is an “educated idiot” you ask? 

In a sense specific to our age, it is someone who jumps through all the academic hoops to become “approved” by globalist culture so they can go on to support the work of internationalism. 

In a more general sense, it is a person who grows up to accept and promote the lie that the intellect is supreme over all other portions of living beings (and it is often used as the deciding factor for sentience; as in, “I think, therefore I am”). 

When I was a little girl, this was represented in movies and TV shows by the super-evolved alien with a huge head as big as a beach ball, only uglier. 

Supposedly, the heads of all advanced aliens grew so huge because they were used more; as in how a muscle gets bigger when it is exercised more. 

It was disturbing enough to cause nightmares. 

I’m sorry folks, but I’m not raising that. 

My children will be capable of thinking clearly and solving complex problems, not because I trained them to use their minds more, but because their minds were renewed along with the rest of their soul as a part of their body, soul, and spirit. 

Yes, I’m talking here about the renewal that happens when we meditate on God’s Word with minds which have been transformed by being born again of the Spirit. 

—————————- 

Lately, we’ve been discussing how to have your best homeschool year yet, and we’ve been concentrating on the four pillars of learning, which are:

1. Gaining favor with God and man
2. The tools and skills of learning (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.)
3. Content (history, science and the like)
4. Application of all of the above in real life 

Today, specifically, we are talking about the first pillar: Gaining Favor with God and Man.  

In case you were wondering where I came up with this title for the first pillar, it’s from the description of how Jesus grew up:  

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. 

Luke 2:52 

_______________ 

I just can’t help it. Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to me, and God’s Word is the most profound, life-changing book I have ever come across. 

And Jesus is not only the most important person in my life; He is the most important person in history.  

On February 4, 2020, a man by the name of J. Warner Wallace conducted a Google Books search listing the persons in history with the most books written about them. Here are the top 10 results: 

1. Jesus Christ (109,000,000) 

2. George Washington ( 58,400,000) 

3. Plato (27, 800,000) 

4. Aristotle (21,000,000) 

5. John Milton (20,800,000) 

6. 6. William Shakespeare (18,700,000) 

7. Charles Dickens (16,200,000) 

8. Buddha (13,300,000/Martin Luther (13,300,000) 

9. Gandhi (12,600,000) 

10. Abraham Lincoln (9,340,000) 

But there is more. 

The arrival of Jesus on this earth has been the pivotal event on which we’ve decided to count history; with all years before that counting down to His appearance, and all years since counting forward. The abbreviation B.C. stands for “Before Christ,” and the abbreviation A. D. stands for Anno Domini, directly translated as “Year of our Lord,” indicating Jesus’ ruling as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  

(Of course, social engineers and academics couldn’t allow this, so they have tried to rename both as “Before Common Era and Common Era—but we all know that’s a bunch of baloney. What does “Common Era” denote, anyways? Does anyone know? Does anyone even care to investigate?) 

Jesus Christ is not only the most written about figure in the history of the world, He is also the most portrayed in art, most discussed, and most argued over.  

Even though He never traveled more than 70 miles from where He was born; even though He never authored a single paper or book; He is the most influential person in all of history. 

And the Bible is the most quoted book in all the literature of the world. It also happens to be the most sold in the world as well.  

Even according to msm.com, a news agency not considered to be supportive of Christianity, the Bible is considered, “the foundation of Western Literary Consciousness.” 

Since all of this is true, why don’t we consider of paramount importance to study the Bible and to connect with the Author of life?  

I think it is because we have falsely believed we could separate knowledge from insight. You know, like Spock on Star Trek. Supposedly, he and other Vulcans were able to separate themselves from all emotion so that they could become totally “logical.”  

As they said over and over in Dragnet, “Just the facts, ma’am.” 

But facts without insight are not only dead; they are destructive.  

Let’s look at this from a Biblical perspective.  

In the Old Testament Hebrew, the word for insight is the same as the word for knowledge; the two ideas are inseparable from each other.  

When we read of Solomon’s insight for judging between the two harlots who were arguing over an infant, the same word is used as when God gave artisans the ability to craft items for the tabernacle, or when Solomon know all about the different creatures and trees of the natural world. It’s also the same word used for “wisdom” in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 

But this changes in the New Testament.  

In passages such as Romans 11:33, we see there is a different word for the two: 

O, the depth of the riches 

of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 

How unsearchable are His judgments, 

and untraceable His ways! 

The two words here are: 

Sophia:  Insight 

And 

Gnosis:  Knowledge. 

We see here there are two components, but both are present with God in His thinking.  

And this is what we want to promote in the lives of our children.  

There is no such thing as education that is without some sort of insight; even if that insight is devilish in its origin.  

No school on earth, no matter how “secular” can claim to be without prejudice. Even the exclusion of God in the curriculum is a philosophical bias, because it implies the underlying idea that God has nothing to do with anything of consequence in this life. 

When I first started out homeschooling, I wanted this to be the emphasis, but there were times when it was lost in all of our efforts to make sure we were covering all the areas of knowledge. Instead of being in the place of pre-eminence, it was simply a quick acknowledgement on our way to the better stuff.  

I hope this little talk today will help keep you from making the same mistake.  

Now, just how do we go about this? Do we need to buy some more curriculum, maybe subscribe to an online course or two? 

Well, you could certainly do that, but I don’t think it’s necessary.  

Remember, the best lessons go straight to the heart of the matter. It’s the same with inculcating the bible and knowledge of God into the hearts of children.  

The best, most direct way to learn about Him is to go straight to the Bible. Even young children can understand it—it’s truly amazing how open their hearts and minds are to the truth of God.  

You don’t have to do anything elaborate; simply read it aloud and talk about it. You can start with Genesis in the Old Testament, and Mark in the New. 

And don’t worry about things being broken up in chapter and verse. Read it as the narrative it is, with natural breaks accordingly.  

I know many of us don’t feel comfortable doing this, because we aren’t that familiar with the Bible ourselves. Don’t let this deter you! You will be learning right along with your children. When you come across something you don’t quite understand, just pause at that place and look it up together.  

• Also, enjoy looking into the different aspects of each passage, such as the author, the setting, etc.  

• If you like, you could add a notebooking page, perhaps with a key verse for emphasis or to memorize. You could require some copywork as well. As our children aged we required a whole passage to be copied daily. 

• You could also include something visual, as in some sort of art or watching a movie on a particular story.  

• If you are going through one of the wisdom books or some of the sayings of Jesus, you could do some role-playing and act out how to put the Word of God into daily practice.  

One example of this would be how to solve conflicts that often arise in sibling relationships according to the Golden Rule. 

We’ve had a lot of fun with this over the years as our children know how to ham it up. I’ve learned laughter to be one of the best aids in learning! 

There are also good books you could add into this mix. Over the years my husband and I have read aloud tomes such as Hinds Feet on High Places, Pilgrim’s Progress, various Christian biographies, and devotional works such as Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God.  

We have also enjoyed obeying what the scripture says about “singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” by singing hymns and other worship songs together a cappella. Of course, there are karaoke tracks on YouTube for just about any hymn you would like to sing as well.  

And then there is prayer.  

It’s so easy to hurry this part up to get to the rest of the day, but this can be such a mistake.  

If we don’t include the Holy Spirit, we aren’t going to get the best from our learning time, so why not invite Him in the midst of it? Why not sit and meditate on God; to express worship through thanksgiving and open up the day for Him to lead and protect? 

It’s also a great place for everyone to lay their burdens down, as well as a place to practice charity by praying for those outside the family.  

And, even though we make a special space for concentrating on the things of God, we should never stop there.  

Our goal should be to develop the tendency to see all things in life through a Biblical lens.  

History, geography, science, literature; everything as coming from, through, and to Him.  

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. 

To Him be the glory forever! Amen. 

Romans 11:36 

Now, I have to admit I didn’t always know how to do this, and I’m still discovering more and more ways.  

Thankfully, in our information age, you can find numerous helps in this regard. Answers in Genesis is a site I highly recommend you mine for loads of articles, books, etc. that will be a great help.  

Lastly, I would like to leave you with this thought.  

Gaining a good enough education to get through college doesn’t take that long. As I’ve demonstrated in previous posts, it can be done in three or four years.  

Instead of chasing after the worldly goal of education to job to hopelessness, we need to be taking advantage of the short window we have of influence in our children’s lives and point them to God.  

Then, as they navigate throughout the rest of their journey on earth, they will have a “default” to fall back on. Even if they reject Jesus initially, at least they will know the truth about Him deep in their psyches. This will be the place they can return to when they finally realize all else is rubbish.  

But do this with caution. While we want to introduce our children to God and His ways, we must also act like our loving Father in heaven and never mandate or transgress their wills. We introduce and we encourage, but we respect their volition, just as God respects ours.  

Otherwise, we are not practicing Christianity, we are practicing paganism.  

I hope this has encouraged you today. I hope you are going to have some wonderful adventures in the Word of God beginning this next week ( I know many of you already do this in your homeschooling—share below some of the creative things you have done with your children—I know we’d love to hear about them!). 

Next, we’re going to go deeply into the second pillar of a good homeschooling education: the tools (or skills) of learning. I think you’ll love it! 

I have recorded a podcast concerning this subject (but slightly different) which you can enjoy by clicking below:

iTunes: Why I Decided to Put God First

Spotify: Why I Decided to Put God First