Mary McLeod Bethune says:

‘On October 3, 1904, I opened the doors of my school, with an enrollment of five little girls…whose parents paid me fifty cents’ weekly tuition…I considered cash money as the smallest part of my resources. I had faith in a living God, faith in myself, and a desire to serve…That’s how the Bethune-Cookman college campus started.’

Though the Lord may not have placed in any of us the desire, much less the anointing, to begin a college in our homes, I believe with my whole heart that we decide to homeschool with similar ideals – and not much else. Our traditional academic environments then lead us to, inevitably and sometimes too quickly, to curriculum choices.

Without a doubt, from the moment you began to think about homeschooling, you had visions of school days dancing in your head. Are your “students” in desks for 7-8 hours each day? Are they perusing through textbook after textbook? The reality is that it takes a period of readjustment for us as parents to encompass all that homeschool can be. You must also factor in helping our children adjust if they have spent time in traditional academic environments. Even if your child has never seen the inside of a classroom, he or she may have an expectation based upon conversations with friends or relatives.

There is nothing wrong with a traditional approach to home education, if that is your preference. Too often, we enter into a conventional approach and then dive into major curriculum expenditures because that is all we know. The facts are that your homeschool, within state-specific boundaries, can look as much or as little like a traditional school as you and your “student(s)” find effective. I will offer this bit of wisdom: before you spend money on education for your children, invest in your own education.

One of my favorite passages of scripture is Jeremiah 29:9-11 in which that Lord encourages us that He has plans for us, “plans to prosper us and not harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.” I am reminded when I look at our children that, in the same spirit of our heavenly Father, we desire to give our children a hope and a future. You know the plans that you have for your children, and after praying about homeschooling, there is no better starting point than to begin to write those plans.

It may be clear to us that we need to establish yearly goals for our students, but what about setting goals for yourself and for your school? Knowing what you want your children to accomplish long-term, and knowing what you want to accomplish as a parent/ home educator will shape and define your school environment as much as any curriculum decision. I cannot stress this enough: invest in your own education and understanding before you take on the overwhelming task of curriculum decisions.

There are, from my perspective, two sets of goals that are critical to your homeschooling vision. The first has to deal with what you want your children to be able to do after they finish school. You may be able to quickly list “go to college” or “get a job,” but how about the more intangible goals that relate to what habits we teach each day? When we really thought this through, we began to list goals such as these:

1. As adults, we want our children to be our friends.
2. We want our children to marry spouses that know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
3. Our children will be independent thinkers (i.e. plan “A” should not always be to call Mom and Dad!) .

These were the activities that set the backdrop for our curriculum choices, and in many cases, the decision not to choose a traditional textbook/workbook approach. We instead began to introduce great heroes of our past and present to our children, in most cases, before they were heroes. Words like the ones above allow children reflect on the thoughts of those who have immortalized themselves with what must have been small, but selfless, acts at the time. More importantly, these words plant seeds of potential greatness within a child as they see history makers, not as unreachable superhumans, but as boys and girls who enjoyed everyday life and used it to spark greatness.

First and foremost, however, we chose tools (emphasis mine) based upon maximizing the opportunities for God to visit us and minister to our family right there at the kitchen table. Nothing is more important than His presence. Even if we don’t get to everything I have planned, we take time to understand the price that was paid for our lives, and to know the one who paid that price. It is not enough that our children have “head knowledge” about Jesus; they need to know Him in a real way.

I have one final thought regarding what we teach and what tools we use to help us. When I am not teaching our own three blessings, I am privileged to teach college students. In many cases, they are not traditionally-aged college kids, but adult learners who could not or did not take advantage of the benefit of a college education earlier in life. Much of my work with them involves exposure to introductory concepts in the world of management and leadership. Over the years, these are the lessons I’ve learned:

• God teaches us love; the world teaches us tolerance.
• God teaches us humility; the world teaches us arrogance.
• God teaches us to prefer others over ourselves; the world teaches us to love ourselves over others.
• God introduces us to Jesus and Christianity; the world introduces us to religion and spirituality.
• As an educator, I fully recognize that our children may go off to college and not have a believer to teach them. However, I stay mindful with all my students, whether they were born of my womb or not, that teaching for the sake of sheer knowledge is empty without a God-given revelation of how to use that knowledge to change this world for the better cause of Christ Jesus. The presence of God and the presence of written goals are instrumental tools in finding the right curriculum. But before rushing to the nearest vendor, rush to a Bible, a pen, and paper. You will not regret it.

Check out my article on page 24 of the funky flipbook edition of Heart of the Matter Magazine.

Belinda Bullard is a wife and homeschooling mother of three, Belinda is an author and the owner of A Blessed Heritage Educational Resources, a literature-based history curriculum featuring African-American presence in history, as well as the contributions of other races to American history. A chemical engineer by formal education, she also serves as adjunct faculty for college distance learning programs.