Families that homeschool often want to introduce their children to values and religious beliefs as part of their schooling. Is it possible to do this without neglecting or undermining the academic portion of the school day? Even if religion isn’t the primary purpose for homeschooling, homeschooling integrates the family with the education, and so, it is natural to blend religion into the teachings.
Religion can be introduced into various topics quite naturally. Every event in history involves morality, for instance, and while the full range of academic knowledge is taught, the discussions can include discussions of the values and spiritual teachings involved. For example, a unit on the Civil War will naturally include discussions about God as the creator and Father of all living and His great love for all His children, regardless of race. A literature lesson on the Little House series can deal with negative statements about Native Americans in the same way. Children can be helped to understand the cultural context of the statements and then be led to understand what we know today through our careful study of God’s teachings.
A simple lesson on percentages can be enhanced by a very practical lesson on how to calculate tithing. If a child has been taught to pay a full tithing of ten percent, his math lessons can include story problems about children deciding how much tithing they owe, and real-life application can be made when the child pays his own tithing.
A parent who is teaching ancient history can include the Bible in the study. As the Old Testament is read in family scripture study, parents can time the reading to match up with the historical events taught in the history class and spend special time learning about events related to both, such as celebrating Hanukah one year or learning about the Egyptian religions to better understand their influence on the events of the Bible. Discussions can follow that show how we view those things today and how they relate to our faith.
As children read good literature, families can discuss the books in terms of their own values. “Do you think she made a good choice here? What do you think Jesus would tell her to do? How would you handle it yourself?” Most school teachers would ask the questions about whether the choices made were good. Religious homeschoolers simply add an additional dimension by including what Jesus would do or what their religion would teach about this situation.
Science is one place that sometimes tangles up education, particularly when it comes to creation. Parents wonder what to do about the varying beliefs on how the world was created. It is important to remember that very young children generally believe what their parents tell them and they also tend to believe whatever they learn first. The time to inoculate them against academic pressure to believe otherwise is when they are young and the parent is the teacher.
This lesson was brought home by a student in a secular world religions class in college. Everyone in the class was a Christian. The teacher was a former minister who no longer believed in God. All but two students, a Mormon and a Seventh Day Adventist, had gone to Christian schools and had never even heard of evolution. By the end of class, overwhelmed to discover there were beliefs other than their own, and hearing this at a time in their life when they were deciding what to believe, those who had not previously been exposed to opposing viewpoints lost their faith. The two who had gone to public schools, but whose parents had discussed the issues with them at home, stayed strong in their faith. It wasn’t the faith that made the difference. It was having confronted opposing viewpoints at a young age that mattered. They had heard other viewpoints about creation and beliefs, but those they loved and trusted had assured them of the truth and guided them through the process of gaining a personal testimony of these things before they reached a rebellious age.
Parents who are homeschooling can deal with this by first teaching the truth without question, strictly from a faith perspective. Then they can bring in the science. For instance, a Mormon parent will go to the Institute of Religion manual on the Old Testament. This textbook contains a more scholarly approach to religion for college students, and it includes a discussion of creation and evolution from a combined scientific and religious perspective. Since it’s written for college students, the parents may need to put it into simpler words, but the information is appropriate for younger children. This allows children to learn how to view the alternate views taught in the public schools and helps them formulate a way to express their feelings about the subject. It helps them address the various issues and arguments, while the parent guides the discussion and exploration. Parents needn’t be threatened by having their child learn some people believe in evolution without God if the parent can help the child learn the truth and learn to discuss that truth effectively. Then, when he is in college and away from home, he will hear the incorrect beliefs-because he is going to hear them eventually-and be able to think through the rhetoric with his parents’ teachings in his mind.
After a time, it becomes very natural to integrate religious teachings into the homeschool day. It takes nothing away from the academic studies, but rather it enhances them and gives them context with the life the parent wants the child to live. Education is meant to be a preparation for the real world, and by integrating faith with academics, the child receives an integrated education, rather than one that is segmented-academics in school and religion on Sundays, with the two often contradicting each other and confusing the child. When the two are integrated and contradictions are openly discussed and dealt with at the very moment they are introduced, the child finds them less confusing and less threatening to his religious beliefs. This is the most effective preparation for an integrated adult life and one that helps to safeguard faith while preparing the child for adulthood with its overwhelming assortment of choices. Contradictions are dealt with in the context of a close and loving homeschooling family.