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Dear Katy,  

I absolutely loved your response to the missionary’s letter (see missionary letter <a href=”http://www.continuinghomeschooling.org> here).  The Lord wants me to do what you said in the latter part of your letter about teaching from the bible. Can you give me a little more detail about using the Bible as my source?
God's eternal love, India

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your kind words.

There is a source for a curriculum that has already been prepared to guide you in teaching from the Bible, as I outlined. It is the Weaver curriculum. I think it is a little pricey, but if you could find a used copy, you could get yourself grounded in the method, at least, and gain a little confidence. Even if you did not like the way it was presented, I have found that such things help me, just to know what I do NOT like. Then I can zero in on exactly what I DO like, instead. I have never used Weaver, but I have always admired the people who do, (not because they use it, but just because it seems that the type of people who are naturally drawn to it are the type of people I naturally admire.)

I have taught literature this way, though, but from the sources of literature, not from the Bible. This was on a high school level, and I would pick out all the words that were hard to spell or that might be confusing in meaning and would make a spelling unit from it, requiring the student to look them up, alphabetize them, write them three times, each, and use them in a sentence. That was a one-day assignment. Then there were questions to answer that brought out the author's intent and style.  I think it would not be too hard to transfer this method to the Bible.

Anyway, I have never taught this way, (from the Bible) so it would be  hard for me to delineate actually how to do it. Still, I know that if you just jump in, then the Lord will take you by the hand and keep you walkin' on the water! :) I think you would probably want to have an encyclopedia on hand. I think writing many reports would be the way to engage the older ones. If the children in your home are very young, just telling them the basics about each tiny detail in the Bible would be enough, I would think. Maybe you could make color pages and small science projects, such as when you do Gen. 1:1, you could talk about the 3 states of water, and then heat an ice cube until it evaporates, to demonstrate it.

This style of teaching is very intense. It would be good to plan, I think, for some time off each week, like a weekly teaching video, or something. You could show a video about the Grand Canyon, for instance, to show what happened when the Flood came along and the deep opened up. Some museums have teaching kits that you can borrow for a small fee, that include lots of informative stuff, such as books, activiites, videos, etc. You could also plan a field trip as often as possible, to places that show the child what you are studying. If you could get other moms interested, you could take turns presenting parts of it. (Of course, involving others can make its own problems, if they are not as committed.)

Do not be afraid that weekly essay or report writing will diminish your child's love of learning. Many children learn well this way. You must do what is best for your children, though. If they are not very verbal, the writing will boost them greatly, but if they have good writing skills, you could be building future authors. Either way, it is good for them like vitamins, to learn to write well. Find someone to help you learn how to score essays, too. You will be surprised how much you improve, yourself. It is great to home school. One resource that I love, for help with writing is a book by a guy named Strunk: Elements of Style. It is a great, classic help.

Keep in touch. I would love to hear how you do. I wish I could go back to my childhood and be home schooled and have this be this way that my mom used, instead of going to public school and being ridiculed all my life. You are doing a good thing. Do not be afraid.

Love and prayers,

Katy