Homeschool Curriculum: Loving God With ALL Your Mind

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’;and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” Luke 10:27 NIV

Homeschool Curriculum Choices

God asks us to love Him with ALL OF OUR MINDS.  Homeschooling gave me a whole new perspective on this verse.  God is in every single subject, and not just in a “I’m a weird homeschooler and will make this religious somehow” kind of way.  God is in in EVERYTHING because He created it.  We weren’t created to simply have faith and walk around blindly.  Sure, some situations require us to have faith, but God created our minds and He wants us to use them.  

Here is a list of some of my favorite curriculums.  Many directly point you back to the amazingness of Our Creator in a thought-provoking way.

Cross Curricular Homeschool Programs

My Father’s World:  I found this program while literally walking around a homeschool convention and praying that God would show me what would work best for our family.  I had been teaching my son similarly to the way they did in public school, and it wasn’t working for him.

My Father’s World is a great curriculum presented from a Christian perspective from preschool through high school.  They mix various educational philosophies to present you with a well rounded experience.  The core of their program centers around history from a sequential, Biblical perspective, and then incorporates Bible, science, art, and literature.  They do suggest purchasing a separate math and language arts curriculum, and they offer suggestions for these. One of my favorite things about this program is that you can teach multiple ages at the same time for most of the subjects. The work level is simply adjusted depending on each of your students abilities.  

If you are one who loves to plan, you can find a ton of blogs, pinterest ideas, and Facebook groups to supplement the themes of the curriculum and make it even more entertaining and educational.

Math

Math usually not taught from a biblical perspective because it is all about understanding numbers work, so there isn’t really a biblical verse non-biblical perspective at all.  If you want to go to a football field and mark off the measurements for Noah’s ark though, go for it!  

Right Start:  This is a fantastic program if you really want your child to understand how numbers work and develop mathematical thinking.  Students learn mainly through a series of fun math games. They are learning how to manipulate the numbers instead of doing many worksheets. Therefore, they don’t get discouraged when they get something wrong.  Instead they focus on thinking about how the numbers work.  I have learned a lot using this program too!  Teachers must participate and all of your students must work at their own levels, so it can be a little time consuming.  For the knowledge we gain, I definitely think it’s worth it!  

Khan Academy:  Khan Academy is a FREE online program for all school aged students and beyond. They have several subjects as well.  We use their math program to supplement our Right Start Math.  My favorite thing about this program is that there are hints and video tutorials if students don’t know how to do a particular type of problem.  Student progress is graphed so they can see how much they have accomplished. They can earn special badges and awards as well. There are also parent and teacher pages and reports so parents can keep up with what the students are doing.  

Store-Bought Math Workbooks:  In full disclosure, I want my children to be able to do worksheets too.  After all, one day they will be taking the SAT so they can get into college and get a scholarship (I’m optimistic!).  We buy a store-bought math workbook to supplement occasionally.  This is great for those days when you have doctor’s appointments and want to get your math done while you wait.   You may be surprised, but you can get some of the best, comprehensive grade level math workbooks at Sam’s Club, Costco, Half Price Books, or McKays.  

Science

Apologia:  Apologia is a fantastic science curriculum that teaches science from a Biblical perspective. Elementary topics take you through the various stages of creation–astronomy, botany,land animals, water animals, human anatomy, etc.  For elementary students, there is a science textbook and a coordinating student notebooking journal for a wide variety of topics.  There are also Junior Notebooking journals for the younger elementary students who may not be able to write as much.  Notebooks can include spaces to write, answer questions, record experiment data, do crosswords, or even color pictures.  There are also audio CDs, which make life a lot easier for us!  We like to listen to CDs in the car so we don’t miss out on busy days.  Even days at home can be made simpler when mom doesn’t have to do a ton of reading!    We haven’t gotten to the middle and high school levels, but I have heard great things about them as well.  

 

History

Story of the World:  Story of the World is a best-selling history series that comes in 4 volumes.  The stories are chronological and engaging. Biblical history is included too.  There are activity guides that coordinate with each chapter for further extension.  As always, you can find even more extension activities on Pinterest.  This series has been very interesting to me–someone who grew up hating it.   Don’t let “for the classical child” in the official title scare you away.  Everyone can enjoy a good story!  

 

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

What are your favorite homeschool curriculums or thought-provoking books?  How do you renew your mind?

 

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