Choosing a Bible Verse to Guide Your Homeschool
Choosing a Bible verse to guide your homeschool year can help keep you focused on what matters most. Kym shares her experience with that in this post.
Our decision to homeschool was based on many factors, and one of the most important was our belief that it was the best way to develop godly character in our children. When we started out, we included Bible as a separate subject and have done so in many of the years since. For high school graduation, we require credits in Bible. In the areas of science and history, we’ve chosen curriculum that is based on a Biblical worldview. But no, we have not had Bible as a full subject in school every year.
If developing godly character and Biblical worldview is so important, why is the subject heading Bible not on my student’s report card? There are a couple of reasons.
First, I’ve been cautious about having my children see the Bible as something like the Periodic Table that you only study to pass a test or if you plan to pursue it as a career. Or as an exercise like detailed sentence diagramming that might be useful but it’s knowledge you’ll likely never use once you graduate. Knowing Scripture is essential to knowing God, and every Christian should study God’s Word throughout their entire life no matter how they are educated or what their profession.
Second, because I believe that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”¹ and that the Word of God speaks to every subject and every area of our lives, those Biblical worldview curriculum choices and everyday studies tend to allow opportunities to discuss what the Bible says and how it applies.
Choosing a Bible Verse to Guide Your Homeschool Year
A number of years ago, I started choosing a passage of Scripture as a theme or mission statement for each school year. I admit, this has been primarily for me, to remind me of why we’re homeschooling and what we hope to accomplish. But it also serves as a reminder to the kids of why they are studying and doing their best, and that knowing God is more important than any of the other things they need to know in order to graduate. We need to remember that our plans – even lesson plans! – should be directed by God.
We need to commit our days and our plans to God and ask him to help us acquire the knowledge we need, and to use our knowledge to glorify him. So we have chosen Scripture like Philippians 1:9-11, which starts out this way: And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best.
In our homeschool, we struggle with procrastination and other time management woes, so one year I chose Psalm 90:12 as our prayer for God’s help in using our time wisely.
This is our last year of homeschooling and that means we face some questions and uncertainties about what comes next. Anxiety is a real struggle sometimes. That’s why this year I chose a passage from Philippians 4 that reminds us that God is in control and his peace guards our hearts and minds – our thoughts!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation (like studying a difficult subject or choosing a college), by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus.²
It’s our prayer that the lessons learned while homeschooling will prepare our children to love God and to live for him no matter what they study in college or pursue as a career, and that with God’s help we have laid a solid foundation for their faith and trust in God’s Word.
The graphics and Scripture in this article represent some of the School Scriptures for our homeschool over the years.
Do you choose a Bible verse theme for your homeschool? Leave a comment and let us know!
~Kym
¹Psalm 111:10
²Philippians 4:6-7
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