A Biblical Home Education

Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God's Word

Ruth Beechick

• Publisher: B&H Books
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780805444544
• eBook ISBN: 9781433674907
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

An immensely respected leader in today's homeschool movement, Dr. Ruth Beechick encourages families to center all aspects of their children's learning on God's Word in A Biblical Home Education.Beechick begins by showing how the subjects of worldview, science, and history have been pulled apart from the Bible and how they can be sensibly reconnected. In the author's words, "Since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that anti-God teaching can lead only to foolishness."Also included are chapters on thinking, reading, writing and study skills, learning methods, curriculum tips, and extensive teaching helps.

1 Bible for Homeschoolers

The Bible dominates all other books in our Western civilization. Researcher E. D. Hirsch, Jr. wrote, “No one in the English speaking world can be considered literate without a basic knowledge of the Bible.”¹ He came to that conclusion after he and colleagues researched a wide range of common reading material to determine what knowledge people need in order to read with good understanding. If someone is said to see the handwriting on the wall or to be meeting Goliath, a reader must know something of the original stories to comprehend the meaning intended. The researchers listed references to all kinds of literature as well as to history, science, politics, arts—anything that is mentioned in reading materials. In the thousands of items collected, the Bible references far outnumbered everything else. So children must learn this book above all others to be educated and literate.

Former literature professor Northrop Frye of Toronto University, though seemingly not a Christian believer, wrote that the Bible “should be taught so early and so thoroughly that it sinks straight to the bottom of the mind, where everything that comes along later can settle on it.”²

More important than literacy is good moral and spiritual living. The major aim of government schooling is to raise good citizens, good people, so the Bible should be the book for that. But the Bible and its teachings have been removed from public education and that causes trouble in our society. Homeschoolers today are leading a movement back to the Bible. This education is superior intellectually, morally, and spiritually.

A good and free Bible study help is the Online Bible.³ With this, learn first how to search for English words and phrases. Learn next how to find definitions of Greek and Hebrew words, and then how to search for one of those Greek or Hebrew words—no matter how it is translated in the English. Many other great features are available also. This was an early program offered freely on a ministry basis, and it was so good that it became the model for others now produced commercially. You can download this free or order a CD for a small charge.

For young children you can read from Bible storybooks. During elementary years, phase into using the Bible itself most of the time. It is the primary source. You may find some homeschool curriculum plans that lead you to study the Bible itself, but avoid curriculums that are similar to what your children already have in Sunday school. Those may focus on things that are safe to market to many denominations. The large publishers asked denominational representatives to read each course, and if they found anything that did not strictly fit their church beliefs, it was removed. The end result, then, is a minimized, watered-down curriculum. It lacks the important Bible doctrines. The books also may be ineffective fill-in-the-blank style and filled with trendy teaching theories and padded with twaddle (a wonderful homeschool word) rather than with solid Bible learning.

When you want to teach any particular Bible topic, try a real book by an expert on that topic. Many adult books today are not that hard for children to read. At least read and talk about parts, perhaps parts that answer particular questions. Then the book goes on a shelf alongside your Bibles. It joins your family's permanent collection and is available for future reference, with your underlining and highlighting to help.

Chronological order does not help during the early years. Children can gather stories and information into their heads in any order, along with memorized passages. After a good background of information, sometime during the teen years, they could do a survey unit to get the big picture of historical order.

The following sections show some reasons why the Bible is important to children's education, and they give suggestions for incorporating it in homeschooling.

Important Bible Doctrines

Your children's worldview and their thinking about every subject are based on their knowledge of Bible doctrines. Doctrine means sound, unchanging, and unchangeable teaching based on the Word of God. See if your pastor can give you a good list of doctrines that are important in your church. You need more than a simple statement of salvation and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper that are sometimes available for guests or prospective members. The list below will work for most serious Bible believing churches. The Scriptures suggested provide a start for teaching the doctrines, and you can add more topics and more Scripture as you wish.

God. Existed eternally; is one God revealed in three persons —Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; created all things in heaven and earth in six days; controls all things. When your children know that God is a Trinity, they can see on this alone that other religions are false.

Creator—Genesis 1:1; Exodus 20:11

One God—Isaiah 44:6, 8

Trinity—John 1:1, 14; Acts 5:3–4; Philippians 1:2

Bible. God's revelation to mankind; each and every word inspired by the Holy Spirit; authoritative; infallible.

Deuteronomy 4:2

Romans 3:4a

Timothy 3:16

Revelation 22:18–19

Story in Jeremiah 36:10, 21–32

Angels. Mission and activity of the faithful angels and the fallen angels, especially Satan. There is much open talk about ghosts, “aliens” from other planets, and other paranormal phenomena. Don't spend time studying that stuff; but when your children hear some of it, they must be able to relate it to Bible teachings about demons and angels as the “extraterrestrial” beings so as not to believe other strange theories that abound today.

Daniel 6:21–22; 8:15–17; Revelation 7:1–4

Cherubim and Seraphim—Genesis 3:24; Isaiah 6:1–3; Ezekiel 1:1–25

Demons—Luke 9:37–42; 10:1, 17; 2 Peter 2:4

Satan—Job 1:6–7 and the story following;

Isaiah 14:12–15; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14;

Ephesians 2:2

Man. Created in the image of God; now sinful; must repent and be saved by grace through faith in Christ; the redeemed go to Heaven and the lost go to Hell. Sin affects all mankind and it is the cause of crimes, wars, political oppression, and all evils in the world, though people often blame God. People mishandle these problems because they have false views such as that there is good in every man.

Created—Genesis 1:27

Fell into sin—Genesis 3; Romans 3:10

Needs salvation—Romans 10:9–10; Ephesians 2:8

Goes to Heaven or Hell—Matthew 7:13–14; John 14:2; Revelation 21:8

Jesus Christ. Existed eternally; appeared in the Old Testament; was born of a virgin to become God in the flesh; died and rose again for our salvation; all things will be gathered in Him in the future. By this one doctrine students can judge the truth or falsity of modern religious talk. Many people have a “Jesus,” but it may not be the true Jesus of the Bible.

John 1:1, 14

John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14

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Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Teaching Helps
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Appendix
• Notes
• Index