What is the Biggest Mistake Made by Homeschoolers?

Too many homeschoolers make the mistake I made in my first years homeschooling–setting aside Bible time for academics–putting trust in the wrong foundation!

We can so easily get anxious about the academics that we miss wisdom. Education must contain more than facts, theories, and objectives. God’s written Word provides the principles and wisdom we need to live lives that are pleasing to Him. True wisdom rests in our knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Word. A focus on studying God’s Word will transform both the teacher and the student by the renewing of their minds.

No matter how solid the methods of Bible study, you should purpose to study every single day. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word in all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11).

Our important objective in homeschooling should be, as Jesus summed up the entire Law and the Prophets, to encourage every person to love God passionately–with all of his heart, soul, and mind–and to love his neighbor as himself.

A.W. Tozer said, “We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.”

What’s Your Focus?

Emphasizing the external may bring an appearance of godliness but it actually denies its power. Any time our focus takes precedence over focusing on Christ we have lost our focus. When we depend on Him, not a church, a man, or a doctrine, then our faith begins to grow. ONLY in Him do we begin to love.

Our goal should be to live effectively by seeking His wisdom, and becoming hearers and doers of His Word. It is my prayer that all who read my writings will, at a minimum, take away this advice: Commit to begin each school day in God’s Word. Make a promise to yourself that you will make God’s Word your first priority, and never even open another book before you have spent time in prayer and Bible study.

A Command from God

We worry about state requirements but what does God require? God commands you to diligently teach your children His Word. Deuteronomy 6 says, And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart.And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Read the Amplified version of these verses: And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then] You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children…

Do you see how efficient God’s plan is? While you are teaching the Word to your children, you are learning. Once you begin to read the Scripture for yourself (instead of relying on a pastor to teach you) you will understand more and more of the Biblical truths on a deeper level.

Daily Bread

The Word of God is nourishment like milk or meat (Hebrew 5:12). To help you really grasp the importance of this truth here is a disturbing photo of a poor, starving child’s hand. Now imagine that there is a bottle of rich nourishing milk on the table that would save his life and comfort him, but his mother leaves the bottle sitting on the table because she thinks it’s too much trouble to give it to him.

Would you skip feeding your child a meal? Visualize that image every time you feel tempted to skip Bible study.

Paul told Timothy that we are nourished by words of faith and good doctrine (1 Timothy 4:6). God’s Word contains nourishing life-giving power–don’t withhold it.

Imagine the Potential

you imagine the potential results if every Christian homeschooler in America began devoting the first part of each school day to studying God’s Word?

Time spent in God’s Word can produce a spiritual transformation. Christ’s prayer in John 17:16-17 was that His followers not follow false loves or the values of this world, but that they would be holy. It is possible for us to produce an entire spiritually mature generation comprised of young men and women trained and equipped to feed themselves the Bread of Life–and to be able to discern the sacred and spiritual from the profane and carnal–a generation that would know Truth and be able to boldly answer a false teacher by saying “That’s not what that verse means. You are taking it out of context.”

George Muller read the Bible over 200 times in his lifetime. He said,

The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and to meditate on it. Thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, and instructed… As my heart is nourished by the truth of the Word, I am brought into true fellowship with God. I speak to my Father and to my Friend (although I am unworthy) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

It often astonishes me that I did not see the importance of meditation upon Scripture earlier in my Christian life. As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so it is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God–not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts.

… Through His Word, our Father speaks to us, encourages us, comforts us, instructs us, humbles us, and reproves us. We may profitably meditate, with God’s blessing, although we are spiritually weak. The weaker we are, the more meditation we need to strengthen our inner man. Meditation on God’s Word has given me the help and strength to pass peacefully through deep trials. What a difference there is when the soul is refreshed in fellowship with God early in the morning! Without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day can be overwhelming. (George Muller, Autobiography, 139)

How much more would we know our Lord if we read the Bible like this man?

You should also have the necessary Bible tools so your entire family can learn about biblical culture, historical settings, and language in order to fully understand God’s instruction for life. There are some that won’t hesitate spending $25.00 on a video or game but won’t invest in a good Bible atlas or Bible dictionary (useful for a lifetime).

Seek and be Filled

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Mathew 5:6

God gives us a relationship with Him through His Book. The Creator of the universe wants to speak to you and your children. He wants you to understand the depths of the knowledge of his love, his grace, and the gift He offers to us through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ.

Feed your children daily.

You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. -James 4:14

What’s Your Foundation?

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

Discover the Biggest Mistake Made by Homeschoolers first appeared in the The Heart of the Matter, a Christian homeschool support magazine.

Related:

1. One Needful Thing
2. What is Your View of Knowledge
3. A Wisdom Parable
4. An Easy Way to Make Homeschool Decisions
5. God Has a Plan for Your Homeschool
6. Homeschool? What about Socialization?!
7. Spiritual Journey: Reaching the Promised Land