When I first started homeschooling, I spent weeks researching religious curriculum. I wanted something aligned with our beliefs in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God—synod approved, theoligically sound, homeschool-friendly.

I found a resource a homeschooling pastor in our synod had created and was using with his family, and had it printed and bound.

Then I added another Bible.

Another workbook I found on Instagram.

Another devotional.

As a trained educator, I was determine to find the right tool first.

But here’s the thing I realized…

… the resources were never going to be able to do what I actually needed them to do.

Here’s what we were doing:

• Daily Bible time during our morning lessons

• Memory work during lunch

• Evening devotionals with dad after dinner

• Sunday School on Sunday mornings

We checked the boxes. Followed the order. We had faithful consistency. All of it good and none of it wrong. To this day, we still follow this pattern.

But something was still missing. I could feel it in my spirit. I was not settled that this was it.

It hit me in this terrifying moment in our basement, my son trembling in fear (if you haven’t read it yet, start here):

I Was a Certified Teacher. Here's What I Had to Unlearn to Actually Disciple My Kids.

Erin

·

Apr 21

This past week the Wisconsin weather was INSANE. Storms Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We had twenty-something confirmed tornados in less than a week in April (that’s what we normally get in one season!).

Read full story

TLDR: My son (age 7), with a terrifying storm raging outside, prayed his little heart out. And he didn’t stop. He kept going. Completely putting his faith in Jesus during that storm. This is not something I explicitly taught him during our 8:30 a.m. Bible lesson.

Discipleship actually looks like the in-between.

It’s the moment your child witnesses you opening your Bible because you need it… not because it’s on the lesson plan.

It’s the conversation that interrupts the math lesson (and you get totally derailed).

It’s the question at bedtime that stops you cold—and the answer you give is honest instead of textbook-perfection.

I want to start by focusing on Proverbs 22:6.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

God explicitly tells us to train our children.

In the footnotes of my Bible, it references the word “dedicate”.

Definition: to commit to a goal or way of life

A way of life.

A way of living.

Every moment possible should reflect our devotion to this task in order to train up our children.

It’s not just happening at 8:30 a.m. Monday to Friday. It’s an immersion. Training happens all day, every day, in everything.

I believe the most powerful tool is that of your own faith. Letting your children see you living it out. Crying out to God in prayer. Praising Him in song. Getting in Scripture as often as you can.

Don’t underestimate the power of modeling.

In Ephesians 6, Paul writes to the church about what it means to live as the body of Christ in a pagan world. He is instructing children and fathers, and even slaves and masters for how to live in a way that is so very different from the society surrounding them.

In the first few verses, we are reminded of the fourth commandment (or fifth, depending on your tradition) to honor your father and mother, and in doing so, a long life may be the reward. Honoring is easier to do when there is warmth and relationship shaped by time, presence, and wisdom from life experience, and in verse four, we get the next directive for fathers:

Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The Holy Spirit directs Paul in leading with relationship. Before our verbal instructions for our children can take meaning, we must first be rooted in relationship with them.

Our children must know we love and adore them and want nothing but the best for them, even when our “instruction” goes against what the majority of the world around us is doing.

Again, we see this idea that the 8:30 Bible time slot is not sufficient on its own. The whole-life relational formation happens through presence, modeling, and immersion.

I’ve mentioned modeling a few times now, but here’s where we dig in.

Ask yourself this: Can your child see Christ living in you? Not in your lesson plan, but in your actual life?

• Do they see you turn to Him when you’re overwhelmed?

• Do they hear you pray desperately, not performatively?

• Do they know that it looks like when their mother or father wrestles with God and returns to them changed?

Let’s explore Galatians 2:20:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Paul’s Holy Spirit-inspired words here are shared out of frustration, reminding others that Jesus’s death meant something for them. He didn’t give up his life for nothing. It was not about what they can do for themselves, but what He did for them. This is the gospel.

That 8:30 time slot is what we do. It’s what we can control. And it’s good that we do it.

But if we’re not also showing our children how Christ lives in us every minute of every day, then we need to re-evaluate and make a change.

The curriculum, the resources, all of that is important. It’s the structure. It’s the foundation that gives way to something simpler and more powerful. It’s turning to Him—partnering with Him—throughout your day beyond education and into true discipleship.

In our home, the shift looked less like a curriculum overhaul and more like this:

• having Bibles scattered throughout our home (and vehicles) to grab and reference as needed

• worship music playing or hymns being hummed

• praying outloud: sharing gratitude, praise, and asking God to meet me/us in the struggles and help us

If you’re not doing these things (yet), that’s okay. This is your permission to start. It’s as simple as adding another Bible or two to your home, or saying that prayer out loud next time instead of keeping it in your head. It’s catching yourself in the overstimulation, and instead of automatically yelling at the children for being too loud, you reach for the word instead. It’s singing along to your favorite hymn as you prepare the next meal.

These things only require your faith. Your actual relationship with Jesus. Lived out loud in front of your children every single day.

Your children don’t need a better Bible teacher. They need to watch you need Jesus.

If this stirred something in you and you want to think through what this looks like in your homeschool specifically, I have a few spots open for a free conversation. Just hit reply or send me a message.