Raise World-Changing Leaders Right at Home
As we look around at our world, we see a desperate need for godly leaders who fear the Lord and care about the people they serve. I long for leaders with integrity who keep their word.
What can I do? What can you do to change the world?
You can raise godly leaders in your home as you homeschool. You are educating your children at home for such a time as this.
Don’t feel overwhelmed. You are already teaching them to read and write. Raising leaders weaves naturally into everyday living and each subject that kids study.
Think about virtue, practical skills, and a thirst for wisdom. We look for those things in a leader, and we can cultivate these things right at home.
Virtue
Virtue starts with loving God, obeying the Bible, and attacking problems with prayer.
Family devotions every morning can be simple. Read a Scripture passage, talk about how to put it into practice, and pray together. When children hear and obey the Bible as they see their parents do, it transforms them!
When problems arise, do we worry, fret, and complain? Or do we gather the family together and pray for God to do a miracle or give us supernatural wisdom. The practice of going to God first in life’s challenges is a priceless gift we can give our children.
I remember one time when my husband’s business lost a big account. He gathered us all into the family room. We got down on our knees and prayed for him and his business. God answered our prayers.
When someone says “I’m just not really sure what to do,” someone else in the family usually says, “Let me pray for you right now!”
Now, I’m not talking about long wordy prayers but simple ones. God hears them all!
When we see God move in our life, it increases our love for Him. It makes us want to obey Him. The Bible says if we love God, we will obey Him (see John 14).
Step back from your family life for a minute.
What do you value most in your children?
- A clean room?
- Good manners?
- Obedience?
- Cheerful disposition?
- Humor that is funny but cruel?
- Ability to talk his/her way out of things?
When we value things, we compliment our children verbally and show approval nonverbally. Check where your compliments are going.
Learn to say things like
- “Thank you for being so faithful to make your bed every morning. God values faithfulness.”
- “That was a really hard assignment, and you showed so much perseverance – I’m proud of you!”
- “You gave your word to your brother you’d help him clean his room, and even though he was mean to you at breakfast, you still kept your word. You are a young man of integrity. I’m proud of you.”
Notice virtue and commend it.
For more on this topic, read 7 Reasons Home is the Best Place to Raise Leaders HERE.
Practical Skills
Leaders greet others, serve others, make decisions, manage projects, and handle conflict. Life is full of opportunities for your children to grow in these skills.
If you don’t notice them naturally, pray for God to show you things and ask your husband for ideas.
Opportunities to Learn Practical Skills
- Role play greeting people until they are comfortable to greet people of all ages in a variety of situations.
- Serve elderly folks together as a family by raking leaves, weeding the garden, cleaning house, reading aloud to them, or bringing a meal.
- Give them a project to manage on their own from start to finish – planting a garden, creating a unit study, rearranging the living room (with input, of course), plan a party, host a party, plan a field trip.
- Once they can manage a project, let them oversee a project with people helping that they must oversee. Teach them to be gracious and kind in delegating tasks.
- Walk through conflict confidently when your children argue or fight – put the principles of how to handle conflict found in Matthew chapter 18 into practice so that it becomes second-nature to your kids. Walking through conflict confidently is a great leadership skill. Leaders deal with conflict all the time!
- Let them make choices early on with your guidance and in teen years on their own – arranging their room, choosing a color scheme for their room, scheduling their school day, selecting books to read from a long list, picking who to invite to their birthday party, deciding what gifts to give at birthdays and holidays, voting for a pet, and giving sound reasoning.
Thirst for Wisdom
Leaders are readers and lifetime learners. People follow leaders because they see them as people of wisdom who know what they are doing. This requires constant humility, seeking God, and acquiring knowledge.
Inspire and motivate your kids to love reading and learning.
One thing you can do is discuss books family members have read or things learned in school at the dining room table. These discussions are priceless. It can be lighthearted or serious, but the art of discussion is a good one to learn in a relaxed positive environment like your home.
Here are some questions someone in our family has asked that have sparked lots of animated conversation.
- Since we’re studying the Pilgrims, we should try to have an authentic Thanksgiving feast – what should we fix for dinner?
- Is Robin Hood a good man or a bad man?
- Was the ending of that book satisfying?
- Which Founding Father is your favorite and why?
- Which Founding Father is Daddy most like and why?
- How would Jesus tweet the Sermon on the Mount?
- How would the American Revolution have been different if they had cell phones?
- Which book in the series you are reading is your favorite so far?
- Josephus thinks Gilgamesh is Nimrod. What do you guys think?
- Do those characters remind you of anyone in our family?
- Would Hound of the Baskervilles be spooky if it was set in a Caribbean island?
- Wow! Queen Victoria lived a long time. What things happened during her reign?
- Wouldn’t it be fun to wear Victorian clothing every day?
- Do you think it would seem like Christmas if we lived in Australia where the holiday falls in the middle of summer?
Finally, have your children take at least one year of formal logic. Logic and common sense are missing in America’s political discussions.
For more on learning and reading, read my blog posts:
Until next time, Happy Homeschooling,
Warmly,
Meredith Curtis
Bio
Meredith Curtis, homeschooling mom, writer, speaker, and publisher, loves to encourage families in their homeschooling adventure. She is the author of Travel God’s World Geography, Travel God’s World Cookbook, and HIS Story of the 20th Century. You can check out her books, curricula, unit studies, and Bible studies at PowerlineProd.com. Read her blogs at PowerlineProd.com and listen to her at Finish Well Podcast.
