Homeschooling has long been associated with religion. The Christian/faith-based homeschooling movement was born in the 1960s and 1970s and took off in the 1980s. By this point, many families had grown disillusioned with the public school system and sought to not only take control of their child’s education but also instill their beliefs into daily lessons.
Today, homeschooling (in part because of COVID-19) is wildly popular. Home education has moved squarely into the mainstream as an attainable alternative to public and private schools. And while many families still homeschool for religious reasons, it’s become an appealing option for secular education as well.
That said, for families who prefer to center their teachings around Christ, faith-based homeschooling offers the freedom to do so.
What Christians Are Facing Today
Christians today are witnessing a shift away from religion in all aspects of life. The fact is, there are many new and different voices out there sharing their beliefs and opinions. Every voice has the right to be heard; however, some of these voices speak negatively of the Christian faith. This has led to an undermining of Christian beliefs and values; the message that, because one doesn’t adhere to Christian beliefs, those who do believe are wrong or bad people; and the removal of God from education.
Many Christian families today are afraid that public schools will continue to undermine their religion and dismiss their beliefs, especially regarding education. Along with academics, Christian parents want to teach their children about character, integrity, service, love, representing Christ, making a difference, and nurturing their gifts and abilities so they can impact the world around them.
Homeschooling provides those families with a safe forum to do just that.
Homeschooling as a Christian Family
Millions of Christian families homeschooled prior to COVID-19. Many more joined them once the pandemic hit–and those new to homeschooling were delighted by what they discovered:
- The freedom to decide what you want your children to learn and when you want them to learn it
- The ability to incorporate the teachings of Christ and the Bible into your child’s everyday lessons
- The security of protecting your child from physical harm, messages, and behaviors that conflict with your beliefs
And those were just the religious benefits of homeschooling. Beyond those, families learned that they had:
- The freedom to create a schedule that works for them
- Time to add creativity to every lesson
- The flexibility to meet kids where they are academically
- An education personalized to their child’s strengths, personality, and learning style
- Increased confidence as their child pursues areas of interest and experiences success
Homeschooling has become the method of choice for families looking to educate their children in a way that’s appropriate for them. Because when you homeschool, you:
- Embrace each child’s unique gifts and abilities
- Shift away from one-size-fits-all instruction
- Work with your child to nurture and grow their unique gifts and passions
- Choose the curriculum, worldview, topics, and lessons that match your family’s values
- Dig into topics that pique their interests
- See your child succeed and their confidence soar!
So, where do you start your faith-based homeschooling?
Choosing the Right Faith-Based Homeschooling Curriculum for Your Family
Along with the freedom to incorporate values and faith into their child’s education, many families around the world are choosing to homeschool their children with a Biblical worldview so they can freely share their faith and have their child comfortable doing the same. Here are eight tips and ideas to keep in mind when choosing the right Christian homeschool curriculum for your family.
- Step back and define what you are looking for in a curriculum.
- Reach out to publishers and online course providers to request a sample or demo view.
- Build off of your samples and then decide if the curriculum has a sound teaching-learning process.
- Once you’ve found a curriculum with a sound learning process, ask yourself if the doctrine is appropriate.
- Ask other homeschooling families about their Christian homeschool curriculum.
- Be creative and choose various elements from different curricula.
- Focus on Learning Style.
- Enjoy the freedom of a curriculum that prepares your students to stand firm in their faith.
Discover Religious Freedom in Education
Families looking to incorporate their faith and beliefs into their child’s education have choices. One route is homeschooling with a high-quality, family-friendly curriculum like Discover! faith-based curriculum. Powered by Bridgeway Academy and designed for students in grades 1-6, Discover! offers online, worktext, and instructor-led activities. Discover! also features daily lessons that challenge students to think critically, encourage them to express their thoughts and ideas, and allow them to participate in fun projects.
With Discover! faith-based curriculum (it is also offered as a secular option), children learn core subjects through worktext and digital content written from a Biblical worldview–and with the additional Faith Connections option, they can delve even deeper into your family’s beliefs.
Discover! Faith Connections is an interactive component within the digital environment that each student completes once they finish the digital content for the lesson. They do so before they take their quiz and are officially done with the lesson. Faith Connections has four screens, each with a specific purpose.
- Screen 1: Connects the student back to the topic they just learned about by re-engaging the student with the topic.
- Screen 2: Reinforces the student’s faith by connecting Biblical truths to the topic they learned.
- Screen 3: Connects the student to the truth/topic for application.
- Screen 4: Reviews the connection/larger idea in a short summary.
Overall, Discover! Faith Connections is designed to help students review or learn new Biblical truths, relate and integrate Biblical truths into realistic situations/contexts, and apply Biblical truths and principles to their lives.
Faith-Based Homeschooling with an Accredited Academy
You can also opt to partner with a world-class, accredited homeschool academy such as Bridgeway! With Bridgeway Academy’s faith-based learning, you can bring God back into the classroom. Over the course of three decades, Bridgeway has supplied thousands of families with a Christian homeschool curriculum.
If you want the Bible to play a fundamental role in everyday learning, you’ll appreciate that Bridgeway Academy offers Christian homeschool curriculum options for every subject, including online courses. Bridgeway Academy is where faith meets academics, where what you say matters, and where you have the freedom to lay a firm foundation for your children. To learn more about Bridgeway’s faith-based homeschooling, call (888) 303-7512 to speak to an educational consultant.