Revolutionary Homeschooling

I just finished my new book, Teaching the Trivium. It was intense and really challenged my thinking. The basic supposition is that everything we do, including homeschooling, should be done for God's glory. Anything else is a waste of time.

So how does this apply to homeschooling?

Well, the authors address each subject and give the objective for each:
English - to better communicate God's truth to the world
History - to see God's hand working throughout history and to see the errors of those not following His will
Science - to discover God's principles for our universe and to see His awesome power revealed
Math - to recognize the orderliness of God and His consistency
Reading - (primarily our reading focus should be the Bible) to learn about God and His character and His will for our lives

Then they add the kickers:
Logic - to be able to reason and logically present the Truth of God's plan and will for our lives
Rhetoric - to effectively use the spoken word to defend our faith
Latin - to understand the English language even better in its syntax and grammar and to be able to communicate God's message with even more effectiveness
Greek - to read the New Testament in its original language and to therefore to better able to understand His word in the language He chose to communicate it in. The authors believe once we have a generation of children reading the New Testament in Greek, we will have a revival!

The most fascinating part of all was their recommendation that you shouldn't begin teaching formal math, that is math with worksheets and a textbook, until after age 10! Stating that the child's brain is not ready to understand such abstract concepts before this age, they make a compelling case for waiting. After pointing out many historical references to show that up until the 1900s, this was the way children in America were taught, I began to believe this was not such a wingnut idea! I looked back on our own experience with teaching math and it certainly rang true for me. They use the Biblical admonition not to exasperate our children. I did a lot of exasperating, believe me!! Of course my children are both 10 or older, so it doesn't help now, but I wish I had considered this idea back when we started.

In short, we are instructed to be training our children to be:

1. Absolutely grounded in His word and principles
2. Able to communicate His Truth effectively
3. Ready to give a defense of their faith
4. Used to instigate revival through the renewed understanding of the New Testament
5. Genuine Christians who live their lives in such a way as to bring glory to God.

That's a big job.

I'm supposed to be training revolutionary Christians, and I thought we were just learning the three R's. I'm overwhelmed!!!