{To read all the posts in this series, click above.}

When I started homeschooling, I didn’t even know what a worldview was.  Subsequently, I had no idea how my worldview would affect my homeschooling.  But the fact of the matter is, you don’t need to know you have a worldview to have that worldview affect everything you do.

When I started homeschooling 9 years ago, my worldview was focused on my belief that academics were the reason I homeschooled and those subjects I taught were fully separate from Christ.  I had what is called a secular vs. sacred worldview in which I believed there were two different realms of study – the things of God and the things of man.

This type of thinking will say “full-time ministry” only pertains to pastors, missionaries, and the like.  “God’s work” is only that which is done during church hours or in a specific ministry of the church.

And in our homeschool, it would mean Bible is separate of every other subject. Because of this thinking, I looked only to my children’s grades as the measure of my success as a homeschool mom.

So, things like my two oldest being gifted, or my daughter having Aspergers characteristics, or my son being interested in science stressed me out.  I didn’t know how I could possibly be everything to everybody and get each child what they needed in the way of academics.  It seemed impossible.

And it IS impossible when you view your world as a place where academics are based on man’s approval and wisdom rather than a world based on God’s approval and wisdom.  There can be no separation of sacred and secular. ALL must be sacred.  Yes, even math and science and grammar.

Perhaps you are wondering how I got to the place where I was comfortable throwing out my old worldview.  I can tell you this, it wasn’t one single event.  It didn’t happen in a month or a year.  It has been years.

But, I can tell you where it all began.  One little homeschool convention where Doug Phillips of Vision Forum was the keynote speaker.

He said things we had never heard before.  He said things we didn’t even know were in the Bible.  We left that convention with our eyes glazed over and our hearts hungry for more. We went home and plunged into our Bibles, testing and searching.  And we found Truth.

Our worldview began to change.

Over the years, more has added to that change.

Movies like The Children of Caesar: The State of American Education.

Magazines like SALT.

Books like Assumptions that Affect Our Lives (set for re-release soon, so do not buy it at this price!), All the Way Home: Power for Your Family to Be Its Best, and The Socialization Trap all helped to chip away at what we believed and set our feet on the path of God’s Truth.

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps 50:10).  He owns my children, my curriculum, my schedule, my entire day.

There is no separation.

I either worship God or I worship man (Rom 1:25).  I either set the course of my homeschool facing toward the Light or I set a course toward the world.  I either stand for Truth or I stand in the way of sinners (Ps 1).

It’s not God on Sunday and life Monday through Saturday.  It’s not Bible as a subject taught in my homeschool.  It is God in and through every single subject I teach.

Here are a list of goals we have set for our children that are borrowed from some wonderful friends of ours and firmly grounded in a Biblical worldview.

Homeschool Goals

#1 – That our children should know the Lord.

#2 – That our children should display godly character.

#3 – That our children should love learning.

These are listed in order of importance.  No lower priority is to trump a higher priority.  For instance, if while doing a lesson in math, a child displays an angry countenance or is gruff with a sibling, math is put on the backburner while the character issue is dealt with.

Above all else comes their relationship with the Lord.  No academics or work or earthly relationship comes before turning their hearts toward Christ and discipling them in His ways.

We don’t do this perfectly every time, but it is the goal we have and it what we strive for.  It is our purpose.

If you are curious about your own worldview and how it affects the things you do in your homeschool, take this free worldview test and carefully consider what you believe.

Announcement: Today is the release of the free ebook Homeschooling by the Numbers at The Homeschool Classroom.  My article: 5 Ways to be Teacher of the Year is included in that ebook.  Get your free copy today! (note: only 100 downloads are allowed per day, so if you can’t get it today, keep trying!)