September 18, 2024 – The Importance of the Bible in Your Homeschool

Christine Hage

Should the Bible Be Required in Your Homeschool?

As a homeschool parent, you understand that you must instruct your students in the traditional school subjects in order for them to graduate successfully, but could you be underemphasizing the most important subject of all? 

I’m referring to the Bible. How important is the Bible to your student’s success? According to God, it’s very important. Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

If you want your students to be successful in God’s eyes, you must require them to know, understand, and apply His Word to their daily lives. When you require your student to access the words of God on a daily basis during their school years, you are laying a solid foundation for years to come. The traditional school books will be laid aside one day, but the Bible should not be. It’s important for us to emphasize to our students that the Bible is our life’s guidebook. It’s essential in order to be successful.  

Using the Bible for your homeschool doesn’t need to be too difficult. In fact, it should be incorporated into as many subjects as we can so our students become thoroughly familiar with God’s Word. 

For example, the numbered verses are great for counting practice and number identification. Students can also keep a journal and copy some verses from their daily reading passage for penmanship. The days of creation in Genesis are an excellent way to study science. Older students can research what God made on a certain day then write a description of the scientific concept. Younger students can draw what God made on each day as they study about it. 

The idea is to show your students that God’s Word is relevant for their lives today. It’s not an old book about God. When we allow our students to consistently access God’s Word, we are providing them with the most important tool for their success. 

About the author

Christine Hage has been homeschooling in West Virginia for over a decade. She strives to live a simple, eternity-minded life as she raises her family and serves in the ministry with her husband. She and her husband lead a local homeschool support group offering encouragement and fellowship to other families. They also offer homeschool support and a free Homeschool Resource Guide at www.teachingnaturally.net.

Does your child have questions about dinosaurs, creation or the Flood? We can help! The K-8 Student Zone videos are now available both online and DVD!

Please visit www.genesisapologetics.com/lessons to learn more.

David West

The Importance of the Bible in Your Homeschool

Oxygen is necessary for life and is delivered to us through lungs filled with air. When lungs stop breathing, life ebbs from the body. As oxygen is to the body, so God’s Word is to our spiritual life. When God’s Word is removed from a homeschool, life ebbs away.

Moses told the Israelites to diligently teach their children the Law of God. The Apostle Paul told the saints in Ephesus to train their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Both of these commands were given to parents. Homeschool parents must take these instructions seriously. The Scriptures contained in the Old and New Testaments, the Bible, must take center stage in our home. 

Lungs do the heavy lifting to bring air into our physical bodies. Who, or what, does the heavy lifting of getting God’s Word into the hearts and minds of the children in your home? Many options exist. The Bible can be taught formally as a school subject. Family devotions, family nights which include a Bible lesson, or reading and discussing the Bible at dinner can all be effective means of getting God’s Word into the hearts and minds of your children. 

An important thing in a Christian homeschool is to keep the Bible as the primary thing in your home. As a Christian, the Bible should be the air you breathe, the very life of your home. King David said that God’s Word converts the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and in keeping God’s Law there is great reward. Your homeschool should reflect what you believe. If you believe King David, your homeschool should show it. Morning, noon, and night the Bible should be central. Flexibility exists in how you make this happen, but that you make it happen is not negotiable for those who call themselves Christian homeschoolers.

Like lungs delivering oxygen, your home should fill with God’s Word and deliver it consistently. As important as your next breath is the importance of the Bible in your homeschool.

David West is an ordinary father serving an extraordinary Savior. He is husband to Danette, father of six, deacon at The Cornerstone Bible Church, past chairman of the Sacramento Organization of Parent Educators (scopehome.org), sales manager by vocation, and a lover of books and writing.

Teach reading in 90 simple lessons! Reading and Spelling Pure & Simple is carefully engineered to ensure success for the student and instructor. Order today!

Danika Cooley

Your Most Important Parenting Task

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven,
and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth,
and maketh it bring forth and bud,
that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11

Consider God’s words here. God sends out his Word, which is written for us in the Bible, and it accomplishes his purpose. God’s Word never returns void or empty. His Word teaches us about Who God is, who we are and why we need a Savior, God’s great plan for salvation, and Jesus’ commands for his followers. 

Our faith in Jesus is real. Salvation is real. And, eternity is forever. 

We all want the very best for our kids. We want them to succeed in life and relationships. We want our kids to have fabulous homeschool days and fun activities they love. But, none of that matters if they don’t know Jesus.

Scripture tells us that salvation is of the Lord (Psalm 37:39, Jonah 2:9). You and I are not responsible for our children’s salvation. Whew! Here is, then, the job that God has given us (Deuteronomy 6:4-9): we are to teach God’s Word to our kids. It’s our most important job. It’s the job that matters for eternity. 

How do we read the Bible with our kids? Well, I wrote a whole book full of strategies and tactics, and an open-and-go curriculum. There’s help available. It’s up to you to undertake the most important job God has given you—to disciple your children in the Word of God. The Lord will do the rest.

About the author

Danika Cooley is an award-winning children’s author who blogs about Bible books, crafts, activities, and snacks at Thinking Kids. Her books include Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, Bible Investigators: Creation, and the Who What Why series, a line of Christian history for 7–11-year-olds. Grab your free three-week sample of her popular Bible Road Trip™ curriculum here.

Pillar of Hope

Beth Mora

The Measure of Success

Am I doing enough? Should I be doing more? Where are the holes in my kid’s education? Most homeschool moms are plagued with these kinds of questions on a daily basis that are laced with insecurity because we grapple with our end goal—homeschooling success. However, if we measure our homeschool day based on the answers to those questions, we will be found lacking. 

Let’s clear the fog once and for all. 

Biblically, how do we gauge homeschool success? The answer is found in Mark 12: 30-31. It’s loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and loving others as yourself. It’s not only a command; it’s the very center of life itself. From infancy to old age, it remains, hands down, the measure of success, and that includes your homeschool day. 

Your homeschool day may go differently than planned: sick family members need extra care, a challenging math concept takes hours, or an unplanned interruption demands our attention. We can be tempted to feel like a failure. However, if our family has opened God’s Word, pondered His truths, and welcomed the changes in our lives that His Word brings, then it has been a successful day. It’s that simple. God’s instructions are crystal clear:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:7).

Success clearly means:

• Opening God’s Word when you wake up. 
• Talking about God when you’re sitting at home. 
• Teaching about His grace when you walk together.
• Impressing God’s precepts on tender hearts before the night falls. 

That’s true success! 

Dear homeschool mama, this is why we do what we do. Don’t let anything else cloud your vision or rob you of your confidence as a home educator. It is not by accident that you are reading this reminder. Homeschool success is found in God and His Word alone. All other subjects are secondary. 

About the author

Beth Mora is a staff writer for The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC and lesson designer for www.Schoolhouseteachers.com. She is the creator/teacher-on-camera for Here to Help Learning’s Homeschool Writing Program Grades 1-6, and a homeschool conference and women’s events speaker. Meet up with Beth at Home To Home, one of her favorite places to encourage. Everything she does, whether laughable or heart-gripping, is done to honor her Lord and Savior, Jesus. God’s grace is the salve that has healed her own life and is what she offers liberally to others.

What is theology? How is the study of theology relevant today? These questions and more are answered in Introduction to Theology Part One: Foundations on SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Students taking this advanced course dig deep into the Bible as they discover the basis for Biblical doctrines such as anthropology, Christology, ecclesiology, and Bibliology. Reading assignments, definitions, explanations, and discussion questions introduce students to theology’s practical applications to living, and the dangers of having a wrong approach to it.

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