Planning Your Homeschool Week

Every homeschool day is an opportunity to have an eternal impact on our kids. We’re not just filling their heads with information; we’re preparing them for the rigors of Christian life by equipping them with a biblical worldview and sound doctrinal foundation. These goals go far beyond what schooling in the public sector sets out to do. Since our goals are vastly different from those of secular educators, we want to be careful to avoid approaching our homeschool week with a conventional mindset.

Rather than covering the same subjects as government-run schools, it’s vital to make room for God’s Word coupled with apologetics.

The numbers of students turning away from the faith as teens and young adults is catastrophic. Homeschooling is not an inoculation against this tragedy. In fact, we shouldn’t be surprised if our children cannot easily answer skeptics or rebut criticisms to the Bible or the accounts therein. A strong personal faith and understanding of apologetics doesn’t automatically pass down to our kids. It takes planning, work, and intentionality. That’s why it’s important to employ foresight in planning our weeks. Rather than covering the same subjects as government-run schools, it’s vital to make room for God’s Word coupled with apologetics.

Revolutionize: Choose to plan your weeks with the end in mind. Ask yourself, “Is my homeschooling preparing my kids for real-world Christian life?” Even for young children, it’s worth soberly considering the dangers they’ll face from pervasive secular ideas. Statistics show that most Christians hold a compromised view of very basic Christian doctrines such as salvation and marriage. The fact is that compromise, doubt, and disillusionment are all real dangers every Christian youth faces today. By using discernment to evaluate legitimate risks our children face, we revolutionize our approach to education to meet the realities of life.

Strategize: Don’t just teach your children, prepare them. Training up a child should involve active practice in applying the truth of God’s Word. Although the disciplines of faith that lead us to Christian maturity cannot be taught prescriptively, we should nevertheless daily model turning faithfully to God’s Word, trusting it’s truth, and treasuring it in our hearts. To combat compromise, it’s vital to show your students how to apply sound hermeneutical principles to understanding the Bible.

In addition to Bible study, apologetic training is essential. We don’t want our children to hear attacks on Scripture for the first time after they leave home. Even if we can’t prepare our kids for every criticism of the Bible they’ll hear in the years ahead, we can teach them that for every attack on Scripture, there’s a rebuttal that reveals the falsity of the claim. Train up your children to find answers. Prepare them to contend for the faith from the presuppositional position that God exists, the Bible is his Word, and his Word is absolute truth.

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Prioritize: Wisely balance competing time demands. Include a time slot for Bible Study paired with apologetics in your days. There’s a wealth of great resources you can use for this. See the list of suggested resources at the end of this blog. I like to start our homeschool days with Bible study at the kitchen table before moving to subject work. When our kids were young, we followed our Bible study with reading through the Answers for Kids books one question each day. In later years, we set aside one day per week for in-depth apologetics in addition to our morning studies. As our children grew, we used more in-depth and complex materials, including adult resources by the time they were in high school.

As you divide up your time each week, ask God to give you wisdom on how to use your time wisely (James 1:5). Keep in mind that we’re training our children to stand firm in their faith long after they’ve left home. We don’t want to find ourselves wishing when it’s too late that we’d found time for Bible study and apologetics. We don’t get a redo. While we can’t fireproof our kids against ever doubting or experiencing a crisis of faith, we can equip them to stand confidently on the truth of God’s Word.

I cringe a little when I meet homeschoolers who routinely don’t accomplish much more than extracurriculars throughout the week. Homeschooling is a blessing, but if we’re not careful, there can also be a lot of time that’s wasted. Let’s use our time wisely and prayerfully each week in light of life’s realities.