As Christian parents, my husband and I have the primary responsibility of training up our children in Christian Discipleship. While we cannot force any of our children to want be disciples of Jesus, it is still our responsibility to train up our children in the way they should go and pray they make wise choices. Our responsibility permeates our homeschooling.
Our main homeschool curriculum resource is the Bible. We firmly believe that as long as the Word of God is the primary focus of our daily lessons, then our children will be well-prepared for life (including being academically prepared). While we do use other resources in our homeschooling, we consider all other resources to be secondary resources.
An invaluable secondary resource is the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths for School Subjects by Dr. Ruth C. Haycock (published by Association of Christian Schools International, 1993). (Note: This resource was originally published in four separate volumes, then published in one compiled volume, and is again available in four separate volumes.) Haycock’s resource relates Scripture to the following areas of academic study: Social Studies, Language Arts/English, Science & Mathematics, and Fine Arts & Health.
This webpage is designed to share with you one way to incorporate this secondary resource into homeschooling. Perhaps these ideas will spark something in your own imagination as to how you can implement Christian Discipleship in your own homeschooling. (By the way, for an all-inclusive ~ except for math~ Christian Discipleship homeschool curriculum, you may want to check out Student of the Word.) I encourage you to seek the Lord's wisdom on how He wants you to implement Christian Discipleship in your homeschool.
Resources you will need:
- Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible
- Encyclopedia of Bible Truths for School Subjects
- Four binders plus dividers for each child (The binders will have 9 dividers, 9 dividers, 9 dividers, and 7 dividers.)
- Copies of Notebooking Pages (see below)
Steps to set up notebooks:
1. Set up four binders for each child. The binders will be labeled "Social Studies," "Language Arts/English," "Science/Mathematics," and "Fine Arts/Health." If you use binders with a clear front cover pocket, you may want to use the following binder cover sheets to insert in the pockets:
2. Insert dividers in each binder. Glue the following pages to the front of the dividers, labeling the divider tabs with the appropriate names.
Social Studies
Language Arts/English
Science/Mathematics
Fine Arts/Health
Daily Activities:
Each day, select which of the following notebooking pages you want your children to complete. As they complete the pages, have them 3-hole-punch the pages and insert them into the correct binder behind the appropriate divider.
Social Studies
History
Geography
Economics
Government
Leadership & Administration
Social Relationships
Social Institutions: The Family
Social Institutions: The Church
Social Problems
Language Arts/English
Language Arts/English
Reading
Writing
Literature
Speech
Listening
Foreign Languages
Bible Memory
Literature Reading Logs
Science/Mathematics
Science
Astronomy
Earth Science
Physics and Chemistry
Life Science
Zoology
Botany
Human Biology
Mathematics
Fine Arts/Health
Creativity
Arts & Crafts
Music
Health
Sex Education
Physical Education
Death Education
Other
(as an example)Completing the Notebooking Pages:
Biblical Concept/Scriptural Support, Quotes, and Writing Project Notebooking Pages
Each day, you will select for your children which subject will be the focus of that day's discipleship study. You may simply want to rotate subjects as they appear in the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths. Once you have selected the subject for the day, choose the specific Biblical concept and Scriptural support to be studied.
Discuss the Biblical concept and support with your children. Write down any information they need on a large whiteboard to help guide the Bible study. For example, you can write on the whiteboard the Biblical concept being studied. Under the concept, write just the Bible reference for the Scriptural support ~ each child will look up the actual verse in the Bible. You can also write out the quote of the day which supports the Biblical concept being studied. The students will copy the quote in their best penmanship on the appropriate Quotes Notebooking Page. (Some quotes appear in the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths. You may need to do research for additional relevant quotes.)
Assign a life application writing project that is relevant to the concept/Scripture studied. (A handful of writing projects appear in the Encyclopedia of Bible Truths, but you will need to design your own projects, too.)
NOTE: All clipart on the notebooking pages are from the Microsoft Word collection.
