When I first started homeschooling I had no idea how much this decision would require me to walk by faith – faith to trust what the Bible has to say about wisdom versus the educational establishment’s so-called “learning requirements.” It didn't take me long to see that the very circumstances I couldn't control were fertile soil for shaping my children’s character, giving them hearts of compassion, and conforming them to the image of Christ.

     My oldest daughter, Claire, received a vision for one of her life callings to minister to children with special needs – after the devastating loss of our fourth child who was born with Trisomy 13, a genetic syndrome. The second half of her senior year was spent getting her certification as a therapeutic riding instructor. It didn’t fit under the typical transcript material for that level of education, but it did fulfill a desire of her heart, one that that the Lord put there in the first place. It was an opportunity that God arranged and she was free to pursue it, because she has been taught to think outside the curriculum box.    

       After I saw how the Lord used real life circumstances to direct her studies, I realized that God has a plan and purpose for each of my children that has little to do with state requirements. It would have been easy to thwart His season of preparation by fulfilling the public school's mandated curriculum above the promptings of the Holy Spirit!

      According to the Bible, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Proverbs 9:10 (KJV). The word fear means “reverence,” and wisdom is from the Hebrew 4678 Sophia; meaning “the knowledge of how to regulate one's relationships with God, wisdom which is related to goodness.” When one is wise unto God, he is Phronimos (5429), “prudent unto others and knows how to regulate circumstances.” (Strong’s concordance) Isn’t it liberating to know that the fountain of wisdom begins in the heart of the God and is given liberally and without partiality to our hearts for the purpose of knowing Him, the source of all knowledge?

    The heart is the seat of the affections, and passions, the seat of wisdom and understanding, the seat of the will and desires, and the disposition of the mind. That’s why our children’s hearts are so much more important then their so-called “school education.” Through the trials of life we are given the knowledge of how to regulate our relationship with God, our spouse, and our children. We can actually be connected with our children in a more intimate way during trials if we do not lose heart and think that they would be better off in public school, because we are falling behind. I always say to my kids, “Falling behind whom…and what?”

      Early on in my homeschooling experience I began to see that my goal as a parent was not to make sure that my children were at the grade level that corresponded with their age, but to make sure that their hearts were kept soft so they would be able to receive instruction from the Lord. This meant that I had to stay focused on what God's word said. I was no longer a homeschooler, but a home discipler, drawing my children to the Living God. I had to become a disciple too, spending time at the feet of God and clinging to Him, even when I thought I couldn’t make it one more step. I began to understand that home discipleship was a covenant relationship as found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. And for better or worse, through the good times and bad, we are in it together – for the long haul.

   Instruction from the Lord is promised to us in the times of adversity. Do we really want to hear what He is saying? We must if we are really going to understand what trials are all about, and equip the next generation to stand up under them. Isaiah 30:20-21 says, “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers; and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Every time I walk through a trial I come to know my Savior in a deeper way, to hear His voice and what He requires, and so do my children!

      I’m teaching my children to not be afraid of the trials of life. They’re beginning to understand that trials are not given by God to break our hearts in two, but to bring about a good result. We must all learn to embrace God in the times of our deepest pain and not grow weary of well doing. It’s a process to work through grief and pain, but He promises that if we ask for wisdom, we will lack nothing, especially in our children’s educations. The learning requirements won’t center on man’s limited understanding though, but on eternal wisdom – and God’s curriculum of life!