Are your kids going back to school next month? My kids start back to school in 2 weeks! And, as we start back to school every year, for all 5 of my kids, I consider the Bible, Personal Development, Worldview, and Prayer as the most important subject for each of them. I kind of lump all of those together as one subject. And, no matter if you are homeschooling, sending your kids to public school, doing international school, or even a private Christian school, please consider how you should be teaching this subject in your home.
I have homeschooled my kids for 9 years, and on August 19, we will start our 10th year of homeschool--what in the world?!?!?! I did not set out to homeschool. I do not have strong personal convictions that lead me to only homeschool my kids, it is just that for those first 9 years of school with our life circumstances, occupation, location, and specific direction from the Lord for our family those 9 years, that's what we have done. And, I know that I will be homeschooling all 5 of my kids for one more year. It is likely that in the Fall 2020 that will change, but one thing that I will work hard to keep the same no matter our schooling choice or their age is to teach my kids the Word of God, develop them personally (habits, manners, choices, work ethic, etc.), shape and expand their worldview, lead them in prayer, and mentor them as long as I am able.
I am sharing a list of resources I have used with my kids in their school for 10 years (preschool, kindergarten, all grades 1st - 8th grade). This is a list of resources that I shared at a homeschool conference last year. I have led three different workshop sessions at homeschool conferences (others are homeschooling multiple grades and homeschool with infants, toddlers, and preschoolers in the home), and the session I led on this remains my most passionate one and this is something I would figure out how to incorporate in our home no matter our schooling situation. I have friends that do this well in all different school situations, and I for sure will be calling on them as our family faces changes next year!
Foundation—My Favorites and Top Recommendations
· Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd-Jones (All ages)
· Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, Sally Lloyd-Jones (All ages)
· First Book of Questions, Carine MacKenzie (Pres-school, Younger Elem)
· 24 Family Ways, Clay and Sally Clarkson (All ages)
· The Young Peacemaker, Corlette Sande (Older Elem)
· Who Is God? John Hay & David Webb (Older Elem)
· Who Am I? John Hay & David Webb (Older Elem)
· Who is My Neighbor? John Hay & David Webb (Older Elem)
· What on Earth Can I Do? John Hay & David Webb (Older Elem)
· Heaven for Kids, Randy Alcorn (Older Elem)
· Radical Book for Kids, Champ Thornton (All ages)
Other Catechism Books
· Everything A Child Should Know About God, Kenneth Taylor (All Elem)
· The Ology, Marty Machowski (All Elem)
· The Biggest Story, Kevin Deyoung (All Elem)
· The New City Catechism, The Gospel Coalition, Kathy Keller (All ages)
Bibles
· The Big Picture Story Bible, David Helm (Preschool)
· Read Aloud bible Stories vol1, vol2, vol3, vol4 (Preschool)
· The Child’s Story Bible, Catherine Vos (All ages)
· ESV Family Illustrated Bible (All ages)
· ESV Children’s Bible (All Elem) (sorry the one we prefer is no longer in print/$100)
· The Bible Project, Tim Mackie & Jackie Casey, thebibleproject.com (Older Elem and Older)
· Exploring the Bible: A Bible Reading Plan for Kids, David Murray (Older Elem & Mid School)
· The Action Bible (Older Elem & Mid School--especially boys)
Foundational and Teaching Books
· Big Truths for Young Hearts, Bruce Ware (Do with Older Elem)
· God's Design for Sex Series, Jones (Preschool-Mid School)
· Good Pictures, Bad Pictures, Jensen & Poyner (Do with Older Elem)
· This Changes Everything, Jaquelle Crowe (Give to Middle School)
· The Tech-Wise Family, Andy Crouch (Parent Source)
· 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, Tony Reike (Parent Source)
· Passport 2 Purity, Dennis Rainey (Weekend to do with Middle School)
· Passport 2 Identity, For Young Men & For Young Women, Rainey (Mid & High School)
Fun Books for Heart Bonding or Reading Aloud
· Q&A a Day for Kids, Betsy France
· Little Pilgrim’s Progress, Helen Taylor
· Wingfeather Series, Andrew Peterson (Get all 4 books)
· Tales of The Kingdom (3 Book Series), David & Karen Mains
· Prince Warrior Series, Priscilla Shirer
Praying for the World
· Operation World, Jason Mandryk
· Window on the World, Molly Wall & Jason Mandryk
· Children’s Atlas of God’s World, Craig Froman
· Apps for Prayer—NPL, Operation World, Affinity Apps (ask me)
If you would like a pdf version of this list, please contact me through the website contact form, and I will email it to you!
Also, if you have additional resources you love for developing your kids and **especially for high-schoolers,** would you please send them to me! Thanks so much!!!