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As we start contemplating what curriculum to use for our homeschool adventure we have to address the important question of what the most important thing to teach to our children is.
Don’t get me wrong– we want children who can think, who can reason, and who are as smart as they can be. We want our kids to be able to use their gifts to the best of their abilities.
However, if all we are concerned about is academics, I think we will have missed the boat. We believe that we have to help bring our children up in the Lord, and that means that God can’t just be another subject, but has to be part of the education.
Mrs. Elliot recommends Danielle’s Place:
One of the best resources I’ve found for early childhood education is Danielle’s Place, a Christian website that ties together bible verses, weekly themes, and alphabet letters. This site has been invaluable to me as a Sunday school teacher. I’ve even used some of the craft ideas in my own classroom, but I can hardly wait for the day I can begin to teach my own children.
We’ve also purchased Abeka’s Alphabet Verse Cards so that they can attach the letters of the alphabet with verses.
What do you do to teach your children values?
For us, it goes beyond teaching values, it is being immersed in a Biblical worldview in every area of their learning. And committing to starting off the school day with the most important thing….God’s word. I want them to know it well, to love it, to turn to it before anything else.
We commit to do these things, even if we can’t get to anything else that day. I believe God has richly rewarded this commitment because we do have bright, intelligent, outgoing children who love to learn.
There are so many good academic resources that I am often tempted to regret that we didn’t do more. But I would never trade what we did – spend massive amounts of time discussing everything with our kids. As older teens now, they are serving God and making decisions from a biblical worldview. They also encourage their friends to respect their parent’s decisions and treat their siblings kindly.
My opinion, and I’m okay that many probably disagree with this, is that Bible should not be a school subject, at least not exclusively. Bible reading is a regular part of life, like sleeping and eating, not a school subject, like math or english.
I also think it’s better to have your own personal time with the Lord when your kids are around, rather than when they are sleeping.
We do teach Bible as a subject but not ONLY as a subject. I think it is good to teach things like church history. We also study scripture in our history lessons as well as in logic, science, and other subjects. We do have a seperate time as well where each one has their own time in the Word (quiet time). I think another great tool to use is the catechism. It is a systematic way to learn the doctrines of the faith. Even our preschoolers are memorizing the catechism as well as scripture verses.
MIn – I know MamaArcher’s kids and they are lovely!
MamaArcher, thanks for the perspective. We’re really looking for material that puts it all together, and it looks like we have the same goals.
We really like Veritas Press curriculum. They incorporate Bible and church history into their history program. As well as with their other subjects.
I just posted this morning on great catechism books to use with little ones. Stop by and have a look if your interested.
We use Sonlight and have been VERY pleased with the worldwide education they offer, as well as the real world faith they support. Plus, it’s comprised of interesting books and stories rather than workbooks and memorization. And the best part is the way values, missionary stories, and biblical truth is woven into the curriculum. I totally love it, and perhaps more importantly, my son does too!
I would also agree with the others who have recommended catechism work and memorization. We use that in our family devotion times, and it has been great for getting basic doctrinal truth into our children’s foundation of faith. We are a part of a doctrine that eschews doctrine, calling it dull or unnecessary or old-school. But when a generation rejects doctrine, we reject depth.
Character training is one of the most exciting aspects of homeschooling– you can see it happen, line upon line, precept on precept… day by day. What a blessing!
~Jess
We’re actually doing the Patch the Pirate devotions with our two oldest (4, 3) and I think it’s a little over their heads! I do like that they challenge them with verses.
Right now it looks like we may start preschool/kindergarten with Abeka.