Ruth Beechick - A Biblical Home Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of Gods Word

TEACHING HELPS

BIBLE

1. Bible Doctrines Listing

2. Bible Literature Assignments

3. Bible Words Wall Chart

WORLD HISTORY

4. Chain-of-Writers Project

5. Readings Checklist

6. Noah's Ark Model

7. Israel Chart

8. Tabernacle Model

9. Gentile Kingdoms Chart

10. Gentile HistoryA Sweep Through

SCIENCE

WORLDVIEWS

12. Evolution and Young Earth Checklist

13. Religious Checklist

14. Government Topics Checklist

15. Family and Society Checklist

THINKING

16. Family Thinking

READING

17. Tutoring Plan

18. Follow-up Checklist

STUDY SKILLS

19. Study Environment Checklist

20. Alphabetizing Lessons

21. Reference Skills Checklist

22. Reading Skills Checklist

23. Whole Memory Steps

24. Memory Passages Checklist

WRITING

25. Writing Ideas Checklist

BEGINNINGS

26. Memory Checklist

27. Spiritual Development Checklist

CURRICULUMS

28. Money-saving Shopping Tip

Introduction

C hristian homeschoolers are the greatest strength of our churches and our society. Individual hard-working families may feel isolated, but the big picture is that collectively they form a movement of millions that will turn our country back to the Bible, if anybody can do it these days.

Teaching children at home does not have to be as difficult as people make it by trying to follow too much of the world's schooling system that has developed layer upon layer over the years. We can peel away excess layers by the one great principle of viewing language learning as different from the content subjects. Language includes speaking, reading, writing, listening, and thinking. These are skills to use for learning Bible and all other content. Children improve these skills by using them in their content subjects. That is more effective and more efficient than adding layers of skill classes.

In the first four chapters here we examine some content subjects and how each should be closely related to the Bible. Public schooling today has pulled these apart from the Bible. It banishes every thought of God working in the world or of God making the world. Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that anti-God teaching can lead only to foolishness.

These content chapters provide an overviewthe big picture of curriculum areas, particularly from a biblical perspective. With the big picture, you will be better able to choose curriculum materials and to guide your children through little parts of the picture. You often can connect their learning with the Bible and help them build up their own big picture of God and His creation.

Ancient world history receives more emphasis here because there already are numerous excellent books on the Christian history of America. But we have great need to match ancient history with the Bible, and only a few scholars are working on that. Some young homeschoolers could join them if we open their minds to this fascinating field.

If your children are in public school, these first four chapters can help show areas where you can counteract anti-God views your children learn in school. If you are already homeschooling, these chapters can remind you of why you took your children out of the public system. And they give information on how to stay on the Christian path and not be lured back toward the methods and content of the system you once rejected.

Following the chapters on content are several chapters on language skills. These provide insights on efficient ways for children to develop these skills by using them in real life and in the content subjects. They show where to delete most of the separate study and out-of-context drill for these skills. They show probably the greatest time saver and frustration saver of all, and that is to delay grammar until the right time. How to do this and why are laid out in these sections.

Next is a chapter specifically on beginning with young children in a gentle, commonsense manner. The final chapter gives pointers on what kinds of curriculum to buy and, more important, what not to buy.

Strong Christian families build a strong society. The Bible at the center will keep our light shining in a darkening world. While we work hard, we can sing that great line: I read the end of the Book, and we win.

1 Bible for Homeschoolers

T he Bible dominates all other books in our Western civilization. Researcher E. D. Hirsch, Jr. wrote, No one in the English speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible. He came to that conclusion after he and colleagues researched a wide range of common reading material to determine what knowledge people need in order to read with good understanding. If someone is said to see the handwriting on the wall or to be meeting Goliath, a reader must know something of the original stories to comprehend the meaning intended. The researchers listed references to all kinds of literature as well as to history, science, politics, artsanything that is mentioned in reading materials. In the thousands of items collected, the Bible references far outnumbered everything else. So children must learn this book above all others to be educated and literate.

Former literature professor Northrop Frye of Toronto University, though seemingly not a Christian believer, wrote that the Bible should be taught so early and so thoroughly that it sinks

More important than literacy is good moral and spiritual living. The major aim of government schooling is to raise good citizens, good people, so the Bible should be the book for that. But the Bible and its teachings have been removed from public education and that causes trouble in our society. Homeschoolers today are leading a movement back to the Bible. This education is superior intellectually, morally, and spiritually.

A good and free Bible study help is the Online Bible. With this, learn first how to search for English words and phrases. Learn next how to find definitions of Greek and Hebrew words, and then how to search for one of those Greek or Hebrew wordsno matter how it is translated in the English. Many other great features are available also. This was an early program offered freely on a ministry basis, and it was so good that it became the model for others now produced commercially. You can download this free or order a CD for a small charge.

For young children you can read from Bible storybooks. During elementary years, phase into using the Bible itself most of the time. It is the primary source. You may find some homeschool curriculum plans that lead you to study the Bible itself, but avoid curriculums that are similar to what your children already have in Sunday school. Those may focus on things that are safe to market to many denominations. The large publishers asked denominational representatives to read each course, and if they found anything that did not strictly fit their church beliefs, it was removed. The end result, then, is a minimized, watered-down curriculum. It lacks the important Bible doctrines. The books also may be ineffective fill-in-the-blank style and filled with trendy teaching theories and padded with twaddle (a wonderful homeschool word) rather than with solid Bible learning.