For many homeschool families, spring is a season of transition. We wrap up the school year, evaluate progress, and look ahead to the next year. But beyond academics, we might also consider how our kids are doing spiritually. In this post, I offer some Christian encouragement in the form of five truths. I hope these might help you in your season of homeschooling.
(Skip to any section.)
- Our Children Need to See Us Growing Spiritually
- Be Intentional About Daily Discipleship
- Discipline Needs to Point Our Children to Christ
- Trust God With What Only He Can Do
- Our Hope Is in Christ Alone
Homeschooling provides us with the wonderful opportunity to invest deeply in the lives of our children: to disciple them. The phrase to disciple, is commonly defined as: to teach, to train, to bring up. Our English language derives the word disciple from the Latin word discipulus, which means student or follower. We want to disciple our children to be followers of Christ.
There’s no greater joy than to see our children walking in Truth. Our hearts are full when we see our kids in fellowship with the Lord and growing spiritually.
Christian Homeschool Encouragement #1
Our Children Need to See Us Growing Spiritually
As homeschool parents, we obviously spend a significant amount of time with our kids. So much so that our parenting is considered unconventional. That time that we’ve fought for and protected as homeschool parents – it gives us ample opportunity to point our children to Christ.
In our efforts, there are many ways for us to check the “Bible” box. We use Christian curriculum. Our kids are memorizing Scripture and doing devotionals. We might also be working through a Bible curriculum or teaching them apologetics.
Leading By Example
Occasionally, however, I am reminded that sometimes with our children, more is caught than taught. When I see my little girls comfort their baby dolls or sing to them, it always makes me smile. They know how to care for these vulnerable little ones.
Other times, however, I’ve heard one of my children say something, and it’s made me wince. I’ve realized – I didn’t purposely teach my child to speak that way, but I know she learned that from watching me.
My youngest daughter has about twenty page markers sticking out of her Bible. It’s hard not to notice because there are so many. I’m sure she started doing this because I often mark verses in my Bible. I don’t have twenty page markers, but I often have at least a few. Seeing those sticky tabs in her Bible is a vivid reminder that my kids are watching me follow Christ. And oh, how I want to encourage my children to follow Him. That is my greatest desire for them.
One of the best ways we can do this is by our example. Our children need to see us spending time in God’s Word and spending time in prayer. They need to see us fleshing out what it means to be a follower of Christ. Do we sacrifice our time, and our money, and our talents to serve Him?
We can have a significant impact on our children when they see us actively pursuing Christ. They need to see us growing in this way.
Christian Homeschool Encouragement #2
We Need to Be Intentional About Daily Discipleship
My husband and I are actually in our second season of homeschooling. Our first season was thirteen years of teaching our oldest three children, who are now adults. We are currently homeschooling our youngest two.
In our first season, we never used a formal Bible curriculum. I didn’t think we needed to. We were using Christian curriculum for many of our school subjects. Our kids were memorizing verses and working on their devotionals. They attended church and participated in AWANA and youth group.
My thinking was: because we’re doing all that, our children are getting enough Bible training. Plus, I didn’t want to spend money on another curriculum and squeeze one more thing into our school day!
When we began our second season of homeschooling with our youngest two, I had this nagging feeling we should be doing a formal Bible study. I still had all the same reasons for why we didn’t need to add this to our school day.
But I began to feel convicted. I wrestled with it in my head for a while. Eventually, I asked my husband if we needed to add a Bible curriculum to our school day. He was supposed to agree with me that we didn’t. But instead, he told me to order the curriculum. So we spent the money, and I squeezed twenty more minutes into our homeschool day. I have to tell you, I wasn’t all that excited.
Discipleship As an Outflow of Our Study
I now realize I missed out on this opportunity with my oldest children! To daily study God’s Word with your kids and see their understanding grow as you work through the beautiful tapestry of the Bible – that’s a privilege. It’s a unique blessing for us as Christian homeschool parents who have the time to do this with our kids.
If your children are working through Bible studies on their own, consider digging into a comprehensive study with them. This may offer you more discipleship opportunities. And I share this as a mom with some regret in this area.
Of course, any Bible study is good! I’m suggesting that if at all possible, an organized, intentional study of the whole Bible alongside your kids is great! We have this short season, this fleeting opportunity, to teach our children a thorough understanding of the Bible.
This verse is a good challenge for me:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (ESV)
Our daily Bible study has provided so many opportunities to do this. Talking about God’s Word happens naturally, as an outflow of our morning Bible time. It’s a blessing that I hope each of you is experiencing with your kids as well.
(If you need help getting started, check out this post about our AiG Bible curriculum. It’s a great way to start the day!)
Do we have mornings when it’s a struggle to open our Bibles with a heart that is receptive to God’s Word? Yes (for sure)! But we keep at it – and we trust the Lord will continue to bless our efforts.
Christian Homeschool Encouragement #3
Our Discipline Needs to Point Our Children to Christ
I mentioned previously that the phrase to disciple is derived from the Latin word discipulus, which means student or follower. The word discipline comes from the same Latin word, discipulus.
I have to remind myself that discipline is training. In our moments of disciplining our children, they are still our students. We’re teaching and training them. It’s easy to forget that in our frustration.
Our discipline needs to point our children to Christ. We need to train them to follow Him. Not just with their behavior but hopefully also with their hearts. So we must be intentional about how we do this.
I think it’s important to consider: what is my child believing that isn’t true – that isn’t Biblical?
What Training Does My Child Need?
Our little ones might not understand, for example, that when they take their sister’s things, they are coveting, and that is sin. And it grieves mom’s heart and dad’s heart, and most importantly, it grieves God’s heart. There needs to be confession and repentance.
When my child is throwing a temper-tantrum, she is not thinking about the fact that she is a child of God. And that means she has the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead, she is being ruled by her anger. I have to train her to speak Truth to herself. So she learns: I can be self-controlled. I can show love, patience, and kindness to others. I can follow Christ’s example.
Our teens may not fully understand that Scripture is the ultimate authority. It is the standard by which we measure all things. In today’s culture, it is imperative that our kids understand what it means to be created in the image of God. Male and female, he created us. That is what gives us value and purpose.
Our teens may desire fulfillment through creation, rather than our Creator. Idols, such as entertainment, may rule their hearts and eat up their time and money.
God Pursues Us!
We sometimes forget who God is and what Christ experienced on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. When our children need discipline, we must lead them to a greater understanding of Biblical Truth in their area of struggle.
The Bible allows for consequences. It allows for grace. The best thing we can do for our children when we discipline them is help them understand their need for a Savior. Their sin is evidence of that need. We have a Savior who stands ready to forgive. We point our kids to Truth, and then pray for God’s work in their hearts.
Don’t grow weary in your efforts. I know it’s hard. Maybe you have a teen who’s almost out of the house, and you might be feeling like it’s pointless. It’s tempting to step back. But loving our children means continuing to guide them. (God pursues each of us!)
“For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Hebrews 12:6
That leads me to my fourth point.
Christian Homeschool Encouragement #4
Trust God With What Only He Can Do
Proverbs 22:6 tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” This verse is sometimes misunderstood, and I think there’s value in evaluating it.
We might believe, after reading this, that as long as we do a good job of parenting, our children will follow Christ. But we need to understand that this verse is a proverb, and not a promise.
Being a Godly parent does not save our children. Homeschooling does not save our children. Only God saves. He brings our children to a place where they understand their need for a Savior, and they accept his gift of eternal life. Only God can do that.
Adam and Eve Chose to Sin
Adam and Eve had everything they needed in the Garden of Eden. They walked with God in the garden. And yet – they chose to sin. In their perfect surroundings and perfect circumstances, they chose to sin. We each have free will. Our children are definitely impacted by our parenting, but ultimately God allows each of us to choose if we will seek Him or go our own way.
This should comfort us as parents. We can not bear the burden of our children’s choices or their salvation. That doesn’t belong to us. To claim that we parented so well that our children were saved, or that we parented so poorly that our children can’t be saved, is contrary to God’s Word. We are responsible for training our children in Truth, but we do not bear the responsibility for their salvation.
Remember that our children belong to the Lord, and he loves them even more than we’re capable of loving them. He doesn’t desire that any one of us should perish. His desire is for your children to follow Him. So we need to go before him and ask for his work to be done in their hearts. And remember that we are not responsible for what only God can do.
Christian Homeschool Encouragement #5
Our Hope Is in Christ Alone
When homeschooling and parenting feel joyful, it’s easy to trust God. When it feels overwhelming or unfruitful, we must remember where our hope lies. We need to speak Truth to ourselves.
Our hope does not lie in our children’s accomplishments, or in our relationships, or in our ministry or volunteer efforts, or in any other endeavor we’ve deeply invested in. Our hope is in Christ, and nothing else.
You may experience homeschool seasons with academic challenges, spiritual battles, health concerns, or financial burdens. Be assured that when we stay rooted in Truth, we come out of those seasons with a greater love for our Savior. Because he is sovereign. He has allowed those circumstances in our lives for our good and his glory. His love for you and your family is beyond measure.
“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:17-19
I hope that at least one of these truths has encouraged you today. We can trust that God is at work in the lives of our children. We need to stay faithful, keep pointing them to Christ, and trust God in every season.
Is homeschooling a struggle? Find more peaceful, productive, and joy-filled days: When Homeschooling Gets Hard – Ten Areas to Evaluate for Better Days.
