The most important thing about your homeschool may not be what you think it is.
Every homeschool parent wants their children to excel. We pour over curriculum choices, stress about test scores, and wonder if we're doing enough to prepare them for college and career. But in our pursuit of academic excellence, we risk missing the most important question of all: Will my child receive the salvation that is offered in Jesus Christ?
Let's be honest: What does it profit a homeschool parent if their child gets accepted into Harvard because their SAT scores were so high but they die without Jesus Christ? These academic concerns are important, but they must be secondary to the salvation of our kids.
The Spiritual Must Come First
Many homeschool parents approach education from a mindset based on a public school classroom. It's easy to focus solely on academics and what needs to get done, rather than looking at the whole child. But effective homeschooling requires looking at everything, seeing children developmentally, spiritually, as well as academically.
The statistics bear out our need to refocus. Research shows that 60-80% of kids raised in Christian homes fall away from faith—and as Ken Ham's Already Gone study revealed, they're not falling away when they leave for college. They've already departed long before they head off to university. The crucial question for homeschool parents isn't whether our children will excel academically, but whether they will receive the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.
Here's the beautiful paradox: When we focus more on leading our children to Jesus, they actually start to behave and perform better. We get both blessings. These academic and behavioral concerns aren't irrelevant, but they must be secondary to the salvation of our kids.
Here's the freedom that comes with this perspective: don't compare what you're doing to what everybody else is doing.
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Don't compare your children to everybody else's children. Every child is individual.
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Homeschool families aren't competing against anyone. They don't have to measure up to anyone. They're not behind. They're right where they need to be.
When you prioritize the spiritual development of your children above academic achievement, you release yourself from the pressure of comparison and competition, and you embrace the unique journey God has for your family.
Homeschooling provides a tremendous opportunity to disciple your children daily simply because of all the time you’ll spend together. That spiritual development is far more important than what they're learning in a textbook. Of course, parents serve as examples to their children, but grasping that even in schooling, the spiritual component is the most important thing. It changes everything.
The Biblical Calling: Discipleship Belongs to Parents
God has given parents His word, and in it He's made it crystal clear that it's the parents' responsibility to disciple their children. This isn't found in just one passage like Deuteronomy 6. It's throughout the entire Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. This is God's plan for the family.
Here's an important truth to grasp: we're all disciples.
Parents are disciples, children are disciples. The real question is: who is discipling us? Who are we following? The sooner parents recognize and take ownership for the calling God has placed on their lives, the sooner they can intentionally walk in that calling with their children.
Sometimes that word discipleship can feel overwhelming. Parents wonder, "How am I supposed to do that? What does biblical discipleship even look like?"
The greatest example of biblical discipleship is looking at what Jesus did.
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He simply lived and experienced life alongside those who followed Him.
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When people chose to leave other things behind and follow Him, they lived together in community and did life together.
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He taught them through practical, real-life application of spiritual lessons, and then He encouraged them to walk in the things He taught them.
There isn't some perfect formula to discipleship. Families don't have to do it exactly like the family down the street.
Biblical discipleship really is just living our lives with our children, in front of our children, showing them our faith, walking out our faith, and always pointing things back to our relationship with God. Homeschooling is an outgrowth of that committment. And that's why it's so important to choose a Christian curriculum like Master Books that passes the Sunday Morning test.
The Critical Window for Discipleship
The urgency of this calling cannot be overstated. Jesus understood that everyday moments are discipleship opportunities. In Matthew 16:5-12, when the disciples realized they had forgotten bread to eat, Jesus didn't just address their physical need. In that very down-to-earth moment, He decided it was time to teach an important spiritual lesson that had nothing to do with filling their physical stomachs.
Discipling was at the top of Jesus' agenda, even in mundane circumstances.
Research confirms the critical importance of a child’s formative years. Dr. George Barna's decades of worldview research indicate that worldview is established between the ages of 15 months and 13 years. Upon reviewing the American Worldview Inventory 2020, he advised parents of the youngest generation to evaluate and take any necessary steps to shape the worldview of their children during this window.
We have a short window of opportunity to pour into our children the foundational truths of our faith. As children mature into adults and their brains develop, learning new things becomes more difficult. This is a challenge Jesus understood when He said that for an adult to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he has to become like a child (Matthew 18:3). Children have great faith! This is the time when they are impressionable; this is when we must make "the most of [our] time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16).
Discipling was at the top of Jesus' agenda, even in mundane circumstances.
From Disciplining to Perpetual Discipling
So how does discipling play out practically in the everyday life of a homeschool? It starts with a fundamental shift in perspective. Most parents think in terms of discipline:
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correcting misbehavior
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administering consequences
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demanding obedience
But discipleship reframes the entire concept: It actually shouldn't be disciplining, it should be discipling.
We're just perpetually discipling our children.
As parents we are perpetually discipling our children.
When your child disobeys, they're not simply being naughty. They're exhibiting their sin nature as totally depraved sinners. This means they're in trouble—real spiritual trouble—and you're on a rescue mission. Your goal isn't to bring them to your feet in submission, but to take them to the feet of Jesus.
This changes everything about how you enter conversations with your children. Instead of anger and commands, you enter with understanding: "Son, I get you. I understand you completely because I was a monster as a child too. But here's what God says about honoring your mother. When you don't do that and when I didn't do that, we're sinning. So you know what we have here? Two sinners who desperately need a savior named Jesus Christ." You administer discipline not as punishment for sins (Jesus was punished for those), but to express the consequence and sting of sin. Then you pray together as two sinners and send them to make things right.
This isn't theoretical theology—it's eminently practical Christianity that will transform the way you view your family and what you're trying to accomplish as a parent. You have the chance to minister to your children all day, to model Jesus all day, to show them the gospel continually. That's the gift of homeschooling.
Discipleship doesn't have to be difficult. It takes intentionality—just showing up and being present with your children in their spiritual development. And here's the beautiful goal: the whole point of a discipleship model is the idea that parents are walking out their faith in front of their children, letting them see openly their relationship with God, for the purpose of the children developing their own relationship with God.
Teaching Children to Know God and Lean on Him
If parents want their children to have a relationship with someone, their children have to know who that person is. The same principle works with our relationship with God. God has told us in scripture who He is—the things He likes, the things He dislikes, His character traits. He hasn't tried to hide Himself from us; He's revealed Himself to us.
Many adults claim Christianity but say things like, "Well, my God would never do something like that," when in fact that is something He literally says He does in scripture. This reveals a lack of understanding. Being a Christian should mean knowing who God is because we have a relationship with Him. Since He's not hiding Himself from us and has revealed Himself to us, parents need to help their children understand who God really is—the way He shows us in His word.
Parents also need to teach children what a life in relationship with God looks like. While teaching Godly character traits is important, the emphasis shouldn't be on being good just to be good or to measure up to some perfect standard. The emphasis should be on leaning into the Holy Spirit to do these good works through us. A child might not have the ability to show self-control in a certain situation, but they always have the ability to lean on the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work self-control through them.
This is part of the relationship, and it's the beauty of the relationship—we're never going to be perfect on our own. We have to lean on Him and let Him do the work through us. Parents should teach about Godly character traits while putting the weight of those character traits back on the Holy Spirit to work through us, instead of telling children they have to be perfect. This will carry children through their whole lives and make Christianity not a burden where they feel like they're constantly failing or winning, but truly seeing that position of being in need, humbling themselves before the One who has everything they need for life and godliness.
Discipleship Tools for Your Young Family
Getting Children Into God's Word, Even the Messy Parts
It's important to get children into the word of God at a young age. Biblical storybooks are valuable, but there's tremendous power in the Living Word of God. Getting kids comfortable with holding their Bibles, looking through their Bibles, finding verses, and reading things on their own is really important.
Some parents are scared of the messy parts of scripture and exposing their kids to everything that's in the Bible. The encouragement for parents is: don't be scared of those messy parts. Children can read the Bible, the living, powerful word of God. We know that it's alive and active and can make such a difference in their hearts.
If children come to their parents with a question about something they read, parents can simply say, "I'll have that conversation with you when you're a little bit older." Parents can be open and honest with their kids that they're not ready to have that conversation yet, but they don't have to cut off the whole Bible just because of that.
Parents can still get their children into the word of God at a really young age. Obviously if a seven-year-old isn't ready for independent reading yet, that's perfectly fine. But whenever children are ready, parents shouldn't let fear of what they might read hold them back from what the Holy Spirit can do in their lives.
What better gift can parents give their children than the love of the word of God? That will take care of everything—it's the medicine for their soul, the Healer, the Salvation, the Redeemer, the Deliverance. He sends His word to heal us and deliver us.
Release the Worry
Sometimes parents can be consumed with worry about whether they're doing enough or doing things the perfect way, or whether they're following the perfect formula they see other families following. That worry is not from God. Our God equips us and empowers us to walk out what He's called us to do.
Parents should lean into God as they answer the call to disciple their children, trusting in the promise of Hebrews 13: "Now the God of peace who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever."
Take yourself off the hook, mom and dad. You can't get your kids saved because salvation is of the Lord. It is the Lord who makes dead sinners born again. Your job is to be faithful in walking out your faith before them, living like Jesus, and leaving the results to the Lord.
The most important thing is whether you're faithfully discipling your children toward a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.
Keeping the Most Important Thing at the Forefront
The most important thing about your homeschool isn't your curriculum choice, your teaching methods, or even your children's test scores. The most important thing is whether you're faithfully discipling your children toward a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. You have a precious window of time, a unique opportunity that homeschooling affords, to live out your faith in front of your children every single day.
Make the spiritual your priority. Turn everyday moments into discipleship opportunities. Point your children constantly to Jesus, teaching them who He is and how to depend on His Spirit. Get them into God's Word early and often. Choose a curriculum that is faith-full and based on The GENTLE Approach™. Release the worry because God has equipped you for this calling.
Your homeschool is successful not when your children achieve academic excellence (though that's wonderful), but when they love Jesus and walk with Him for the rest of their lives. That's the eternal impact. That's ink on paper touching eternity.
