Reading, writing, and math, right? Uh, no.
Reading, writing, and math are vital skills. We want our kids to be literate, to be able to express important thoughts, and to be able to keep track of their finances. When it comes to prioritizing my homeschool day, however, those subjects sometimes get shoved to the side so that the boys and I can work on three subjects that trump all academic subjects.
The Most Important Homeschool Subjects
I’m not sure I’ve ever really addressed why we homeschool here on Thinking Kids. I suppose there are lots of reasons not to choose other schooling options, and I suppose that’s how families sometimes end up homeschooling.
However, we chose to homeschool for one primary reason: discipleship. We wanted the time and space to disciple our children for Christ.
I often wish we’d chosen homeschooling for our older kids, and I sometimes wish we’d chosen homeschooling for our younger kids sooner (we started in 1st and 2nd grade), but I’m ultimately grateful for the time we’ve had to intentionally disciple our youngest two boys (who are now in middle school).
1) Scripture
We live in a Scripturally-illiterate culture, even among those in the church. Ed and I want our kids to know Scripture. We want them to understand what it actually says, and we want them to read through the Bible several times before ever leaving home.
As Christians, we know the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. I can’t think of anything more important to teach my kids than God’s revealed will, and His plan for salvation. Can you?
It’s a three-year Bible survey curriculum for preschool to high school with notebooking journals, crafts, Bible memory verses and copywork, and a geography aspect as kids pray for and learn about individual countries.
Grab a three-week sample pack and take an in-depth look at Bible Road Trip™!
Be sure to grab a copy of Help Your Bible Learn and Love the Bible, too. It’s a crash course in everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
2) Relationship
I know, I know. Relationship isn’t really a “subject”, right? Hear me out.
Your children need to know you love and value them. The fact that they feel loved allows them to hear you when you pour into their lives. If our kids leave home with only memories of battles over math and clean rooms, I think we’ve failed. In fact, I truly regret not spending more time making sure my older kids truly felt loved.
I’m not saying we should toss aside standards and expectations in order to coddle our kids. Part of the parent-child relationship includes respect, submission, and authority. What I teach my kids about authority in my home becomes the standard in their adult lives. What I teach the boys about authority (because, like it or not, I am an authority in their lives) becomes the standard for how they view professors, police, employers, and even God.
Homeschooling gives you ample opportunity to love your kids and to build your relationship with them. Relationship building in your homeschool can look like a heart-felt hug, a serious conversation in the middle of history “class”, playing a game, going to the park at lunch, or just taking time to express honest appreciation for a sincere effort.
3) Character
Your child’s character will be either a hindrance or an asset in their adult lives. For Ed and I, teaching character is more important than any subject our kids study in school. We talk to our children so often about character that they’re probably sick of hearing about it. We use Scripture, media, Christian history, and Christian biographies to examine the character of others and to look at how that character affects others.
Children whose hearts are not regenerate–who are not saved to new life in Jesus Christ–are, of course, going to have deeper struggles with their character. We human beings have deceitful hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) and until God replaces a heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26), there is little reason for a sinner to even desire change. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t teach our kids about work ethic, and about the fruit of the Spirit.
Check out the Who What Why series… it’s a great way to teach your 8-11 year olds about theology and the heroes of the faith!
Subjects Worth Teaching
I’m not perfect at teaching Scripture, working on relationship, or talking about and displaying godly character. I am being progressively sanctified, and I have a long way to go. When push comes to shove, though, I feel strongly that Scripture, relationship, and character are the top three most important subjects I can teach my kids, and I think they’re the top three most important subjects for your homeschool as well.
Grab the Spiritual Disciplines Calendar to go with your Daily Devotions for Kids Calendar!
Your kids will develop a habit of daily Bible reading, Scripture memorization, and prayer in a fun, hands–on way!
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible
You want your kids to learn and love the Bible.
You want to teach the Bible…
As parents, we deeply desire the best for our kids. We look for the right schools, we make them eat right and exercise, and we get them involved in extracurricular activities. We take our job as parents seriously.
But are we also putting our time and energy into
teaching them the Bible? Giving them the life-changing, soul-nourishing words of Scripture is not only doable, it’s an essential part of parenting kids for Jesus. And the good news is, studying God’s Word as a family doesn’t have to be difficult!
2 Timothy 2:15, ESV, says:
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,
a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Our job, as parents who love Jesus, is to help our kids become approved workers, unashamed and rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news? Teaching the Bible isn’t hard. Your family can learn the Bible together.
…and you can!
A Crash Course in Teaching the Bible to Your Kids
Danika Cooley’s book, Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible, will give you the tools and confidence to study the Bible as a family. It will help you identify and overcome your objections and fears, give you a crash course in what the Bible is all about and how to teach it, and provide the guidance you need to set up a family Bible study habit.
You will finish this book feeling encouraged and empowered to initiate and strengthen your child’s relationship with the Lord through His Word.
Help Your Kids Learn and Love the Bible will equip you with everything you need to know to teach the Bible to your kids!
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We just started our school year with Bible Road Trip Year 3 and I’m doing it with all 3 of mine together (5, 8, and almost 11 year olds). We are really enjoying it so much that I have to put a timer on because we tend to go off on so many tangents. I’m looking forward to using the Fruits of the Spirit Scripture memory booklets with it! Oh! And that $500 gift certificate would pretty much cover our curriculum needs for a very long time. Plus it would be nice to have some of the crafts and things to go along with the curriculum.
This is a great opportunity!! I would be able to get DGP publishing materials
and a number of other goodies on my list.
I love your top 3 subjects! Thank you for this giveaway. We would pick up some fun games and probably a lot of books! I love Rainbow Resources.
Wow, what a blessing it would be to win! I would buy a microscope for our homeschool as well as the books in apologia science and mystery of history.
Amen. Great wisdom. Focus on these 3 and the others will come along in good time. Thanks for sharing.
Love this blog and I totally agree and attempt this with our children! If I won the giveaway, I would be able to purchase more character building and enrichment resources for our family.
I think I was supposed to comment on what I’d buy at Rainbow if I won the contest. Well, I have 4 children still doing school, so there’s plenty! I would get my high schoolers some good literature and literary analysis books and this wonderful huge world timeline map I’ve always wanted, and my younger two all the books they’ll be reading this year. And something for my new grandson if I had some left over. ;o)
Thanks for posting the Rainbow Resources give-away. If I won it, I would use some of the $500 to buy Christmas presents for all the kids on my list from their Games, Puzzles & Toys section. They have so many excellent products!
I would be able to get the materials I normally can’t afford for my High Schooler.
I’d buy school supplies that we need 😊
I would get five in a row and math curriculum.
I would go nuts with History and maybe a spin through science. So many lovely things, it would be hard to decide. Thanks for the opportunity!
I would invest in math ciriculum and other supplies.
I think I’d buy apologia science and Notgrass history!
I would buy Fallacy Detective – 38 Lessons (Revised and Expanded Edition). I need it for my son’s homeschool co-op!
Some history materials and maybe an art program. It would be fun to look through the catalog and see what else we could use.
Math, LA, manipluatives, geopuzzles, YWAM bios and Trailblazers that we don’t have yet.
I would buy Ecology, Master books, then Apologia books by Fulbright; and most fun- as many 3D models as possible:).
I love this post! This is the truth! Our number one priority as parents should be guiding our children to Christ and Christ-likeness!
Thanks for offering this! I would love to get some learning games for my daughter.
I am new to homeschooling, and I would buy everything I need to get started.
Amen! I need to continually be reminded of this!!
I’d buy Apologia books/notebooks, Math U See, All About Spelling Level 5, and Song School Latin.
This would help buy so much great curriculum for my child!
Love the 3 subjects you shared! What a great reminder! I would buy audio books, Master Books & other wonderful books to enhance Bible, History & Science studies!
I would start with buying our math curriculum for my two kids. And, then I’m not sure – so many good things!!
Thank you so much for sharing this! This was a true breath of encouragement to me this morning. And thank you for the awesome giveaway! If I won, I would buy some of the great character building books they have available. This is something I feel would really help our family grow in our path to follow Jesus. Thank you!
If I won the gift card, I think I would get the starter pack of curriculum. Or maybe a mix. Idk! There’s too many great products! !!
This makes me feel better about those days when little gets done except “character building”. It is true though, that these are the most important subjects or more preparations for life…really, that’s what an education should be about, a right relationship with God and with man. If I won the gift certificate, the first thing I would get is the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s Deluxe Teaching Writing Structure and Style and Student Writing Intensive. I’ve been trying to convince my husband for months that this would be a worthy product.
What would I get? Games! Games teach so much and there are so many wonderful ones out there. Another item I would look for would be building activities that my girls would enjoy.
Thanks for this post. With the gift card we’d buy books!!!
What a great reminder of the essence of what we do! No matter how long we have been homeschooling, things are always changing and needing focus. I would get more MathUSee and AllAboutSpelling that we could never afford, and a nice microscope.
So many wonderful things! I would love to get some great books for my high schooler, and some games, and a few Christmas presents! Thanks for the giveaway
Art supplies, AAR/AAS for this school year, SOTW audiobooks. These are all on my wishlist 🙂
We’re needing the next levels for math and the journals to go along with the science I was able to get. Lots of good things to check out, and some things to get. Thank you for a great give away. Blessings to whomever wins.
I would purchase a microscope and other science materials.
I would love to be able to buy Math and Spelling curriculum and manipulatives that we’ve put off purchasing because it’s just not in the budget! In addition, we would get some Trailblazers books and other biographies. Thank you so much for this great giveaway!
Oh my yes! The discipleship aspect is a huge part of why we homeschool too! As for what I would purchase with $500 at Rainbow… Books and Games. That would cover this years books, next years books and half of Christmas! Thanks for the opportunity!
Rainbow Resource is my favorite place to shop for all things homeschool! I always get as much as I can from there! I would buy all my science books and supplies if I won. 🙂
I would start looking at high school materials! I’d also be on the hunt for fun stuff…crafts, games, etc.
Thank you for this opportunity! if the Lord allows me to win I would purchase materials needed for our upcoming school year..
What wouldn’t we buy? We need readers, crafting materials, journals, pens, pencils, compositions books, Logic books, math books, and the list goes on, & on!
I absolutely agree with the top 3! They are my top 3 as well.
I have not purchased our curriculum for this coming year as of yet. I plan on using Apologia science along with the notebooking journals; lab kits; some educational toys; Practical Arithmetical by Strayer-Upton; just to name a few things.
Thank you for the post and giveaway!
This would be so wonderful for buying homeschool supplies and curriculum!!!
I would buy everything in my Rainbow wish list!
I would buy math, science, and games for my kiddos if I won this giveaway! Thanks for the opportunity!
Awesome! I will be sharing this with my church family who does homeschool their kids. I only have furry children.
I would love to put this towards my daughter’s geometry curriculum and character training materials and handwriting books for my son. I also need various living books and literature. This would be a huge help for our family!!
Money is tight right now, so I would buy lots of things: a curriculum for starting my son with learning Latin, math games and manipulatives, geography resources, and probably lots of stuff I haven’t even considered yet! 🙂
If I won the giveaway, I’d stock up on things for the next couple of years for all 3 of my kids!
I have a list of books we need for the coming school year. I would love to win the gift card.
I would buy some boy books. Things they pick that they’d like to read.
Also some art supplies.
School Supplies!!!! I’m looking for Story of the World, more Life of Fred Math, and anything else I come across to enhance our learning at home.
We shop for most of our new homeschool items through Rainbow Resource. It would free us up to purchase some fun extras too!
What a blessing it would be to win! I would buy a solar system model & some good books!
I would be interested in purchasing Games and habit and character development as my kids are preschool age.
Thanks for these opportunities. I would get a microscope, math curriculum, games. So much fun.
I would be able to update my home school books for my daughter just starting high school. I have home schooled 9 children and she is my last. Where does a mother go to retire??? 🙂
I would buy homeschool supplies, middle school curriculum,
I would buy things we need for the coming school year. 🙂
Love your top 3!!
I have not used Rainbow Resource before, but I hear they are good. I would purchase some of Mr. Stebbing’s How Great Thou ART Christian homeschool art things so we can do more of the things that touch their souls in addition to the basics. A nice microscope would also be very helpful, in addition to the Handwriting Without Tears things we need, and some language arts games.
If we won the $500, I would purchase History, Science, and Bible curriculum! I love the three most important subjects listed above. They are the reason we homeschool! Thank you for this blog post and for the contest!
Language Arts is still on our “to get” list for the upcoming year.
I’m just starting the home school journey this year. I really like the Bible Road Trip idea and would like to get it as well as other things for my home schooling. It has been a bit overwhelming the amount of home school material that is out there though.
I would start with kindergarten supplies and curricula, then move up from there.
Thank you for this post. It was a fantastic reminder, and so timely. I needed to be reminded of those truths and refocus this morning.
If we were blessed enough to win, we would place that order that has been in my Rainbow Resource cart for 3 weeks as I wait for extra cash to purchase our math and science curriculum as well as biographies. I could even add back some things that got cut from the shopping cart.
Ugh- I still haven’t finished buying this year’s basic curriculum. $500 to spend at RR would be a HUGE blessing for us!!
I enjoy the resources you share here. I would order my daughter’s reading program and a literature program for both kids.
I’d buy apologia and other remaining school supplies for the upcoming year! What an amazing gift opportunity!
appologia science and notgrass history
My daughter is going into 11th grade, and we have never, since we started homeschooling in the middle of 4th grade, had enough money to get all the curriculum we’ve wanted, so we’ve settled for other items along the way. This would bless us SO much, in every area.
If I won the $500 Rainbow Resource Giveaway, I could buy some great books to add to our library and some art supplies that the boys and I can use as we do journaling in our bibles and separate journals. I’ve gotten my boys excited about reading their bibles this summer by adding in some journaling each day about what they’ve learned. It’s been a joy to watch.
Thanks for the RR give away. I think that I would purchase math curriculum, but with so many choices, it is hard to narrow it down!
This is so great! There’s always things we need to get from Rainbow Resources and this would be such a blessing!
I would buy Singapore Math for my children and Biblioplan. Love both those things. And some other fun things that just don’t fit in the budget.
I would like to get Singapore Math, Apologia science, art supplies, handwriting books for my 6 and 8 yr olds, and SWR enrichment studies.
This would be such fun to win! I would get All About Spelling, All About Reading, and it would probably last me a couple years!
This would be such a blessing to our little homeschooling family. If I won this I would be buying all of the Magic School Bus kits for my Kindergartner & Second grader first thing. Then I would use the rest to buy a lot of the supplements we’ve been needing for school & a reading program for my struggling reader.
If I were to win, I would buy various supplies. I have 4 children in 4 different grades.
I would love to win this for my special needs daughter. She needs a different math program.
If I won the Rainbow Resource Giveaway, I would buy some activities and toys to keep my 3 year old busy and learning while my older 2 are doing school. We had an international move so we no longer have what we used when the older 2 were younger. 🙂
With $500 I would buy a little of everything. Reading books, art supplies, science goods….
This would be so helpful to our homeschool life! We could buy our LLATL and Horizons Math for both kids, Sassafras Science, FIAR, and sooo many other great things!!
If I won I would finish getting the odds and ends that we need for our new year and maybe look into a microscope!!
I’m also very intrigued about your Binle Road Trip materials. I’m so burdened that my kids KNOW the Bible on a deep level and am looking for somthin great could help me reach deeply into the scriptures.
I will by any extra workbooks like Easy Grammar and some new books.
Wonderful reminder! The 500$ would be such a blessing, with four kids at different levels I would use it for a variety of things. Teaching textbooks is something I have wanted to try but have not been able to afford, so I would use some for the that.
Is Bible Road Trip still offered weekly?