One of the things I love about homeschooling is the opportunity we have to really study God's Word. This year S is using a series of books put out by Apologia.

Apologia Worldview Curriculum

S is finishing up the 2^nd of the 4 books that are in the series. She already did Who Is God? and really learned a lot. Now she is in Who Am I?.

Quite often she will ask me to read part of the lesson to her as she retains more when she hears things. Today was one of those days.

I have always been impressed with the material in this series, but today really blew me away. The chapter, the last in the book, is titled Who Do You Think You Are?. It deals with who we are in God's eyes versus how we view ourselves. I want to share with you what impacted me so strongly today.

I am HIS daughter: He said so. Oh, the infinite gentleness of my God!  Margaret of Cortona, 1247-1297

Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ.  Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662

To be justified means God has REMOVED (emphasis mine) our sins completely. He does not just cover up our guilt or overlook it. God does not say, “Well, you're still guilty, but I'll let you off the hook.” He says, “You're not guilty!”

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

All my christian life I have looked at my salvation as God letting me 'off the hook'. But that's not it at all! Because of Christs perfect sacrifice on the cross I have been declared NOT GUILTY!

Justification. Just as if I'd NEVER sinned.

Now I get it. Today, while helping my child, God used her Bible assignment to open my eyes and make things more clear.

In 1 Corinthians 13:12,(KJV) Paul says, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Today another part of God's mercy was made clear!

Church...

We're still talking about 'church'.  Why we're doing what we're doing and where it is going.  Will we ever go back to a corporate church?  Possibly.  Will we stop doing what we are doing presently?  I hope not.

We are not content to just show up on Sunday morning and sit for an hour or 2 putting in our time.  We want to be able to ask questions when they come up, to add to the lesson.  This is what we can do in a less formal setting, this is what we are doing as a family, together.

We do not want to be age-segregated.  What good does it do to separate families? 

When we used to attend a church, we would get in the car after services and I'd ask the kids what they had studied.

Most. Of. The. Time.  they could not give a good answer because they had spent the hour trying to pay attention amidst all the distraction that the other kids brought to the class.  Daniel even went so far as to talk to his teacher after class one Sunday and asked him to please exert more control over the class.  To stop the horse-play and cutting up.  (This was a class of guys in the 7th grade and up).

This is in the same category as homeschooling.

We believe that it is our responsibility to:

1. Train up our children in the way they should go. Proverbs 22:6
2. Talk of these things when you rise up and when you sit down. Deuteronomy 6:1-9
3. Teach the younger women to love and respect their husbands. Titus2:3-5
4. Teach them to be self-controlled.  Titus 2:6
5. Teach them to fear the LORD.  Proverbs 1:7
6. Teach them to be hard-working and productive citizens.
7. Teach them to love their country and stand up for what is right.
8. Teach them to think for themselves and make decisions that will glorify God regardless of what the world says.
9. Teach them to honor and obey their elders.
10. Teach them in a way that they can learn and grow.  If it takes focusing on a math concept for 2 weeks to get it, so be it.  If we come to a list of spelling words they already know, then skip them and move on. 

Homeschooling gives us the freedom to teach our children in the way they need to be taught.

Home churching does the same thing for the whole family.  I cannot tell you how many times we have started with a question that has turned into a 2 hour investigation of what God's Word says.  This is not a lecture by Dad, though we have those too!  But it is an open discussion with everyone adding their questions and thoughts to the mix and with all 4 of us learning something.

Because we have chosen to home church for at least a season, some people are concerned about us.  Kinda like they were when they learned we were going to homeschool.  Thank you for your concern..  We have not gone off the deep end and written God out of our lives.  We have discussed this together and come to the decision that for this season of our lives we need to be at home.

We will in the future return to a corporate church.  We will continue to meet with other believers to fellowship and strengthen each other.  We will continue to pray and grow together as a family.

We will continue to seek His face.