From Secular to Christian Homeschool Curriculum: Why Our Homeschool Needed More

In recent months, I’ve seen more and more people interested in homeschooling and being intentional about using secular curriculum — meaning they go as far as to say they are only interested in secular or non-religious curriculum. This question has been on my mind: why?

Then I realized something — I used to be them.

I have experienced both the desire to use secular curriculum and Christian-based curriculum, so I thought I’d take a stab at explaining why I believe Christian curriculum is the better way to go.

If you know me or have read other posts, you know we pulled our kids out of public school in 2020 with absolutely zero intention of staying that way. We both had careers. How could we live on one income? Only weirdos homeschool. Is it even legal? There’s nothing wrong with the public school system. I’m not a teacher. I don’t want to deprive them of any of the experiences I had growing up. And my favorite one: I can’t imagine spending all day with my kids.

I veered off topic a little there, but you get the point — we had plenty of reasons not to continue homeschooling. Honestly, that paragraph could be its own post and maybe it will be in the future.

We thought we believed so strongly in the system — in “traditional” education — that I was dead set on using secular curriculum because I wanted to keep school as close to what I thought was traditional as possible. In reality, it wasn’t a strong belief in the system, rather a lack of a belief system at all.

Here was my first problem: my reason for homeschooling was against something the public school system was doing, not for something greater. My views and values were shaped entirely by my experiences. I didn’t know anything different until I encountered something different.

Let me tell you how incredibly difficult that first year was. I’m talking fetal-position-in-the-closet-crying-kind-of-hard.

You might think it was hard because I had never done it before. But now, being in our sixth year with a little perspective, I want to argue that my approach was completely wrong. My approach — and my mindset — are what landed me drenched in my own tears in a dark closet.

You can read other blog posts of mine to learn that I’ve had a spiritual awakening over the last six years. Maybe that’s the reason I’m no longer face-down admitting defeat over this brilliant homeschool plan. But I would argue that it also has everything to do with the curriculum we changed to.

As I said, we started off with secular curriculum as a very conscious choice. My mindset back then was simple: learn facts, move on. That’s how I learned when I went to school.

But God is the Creator of all things. He created our ability to think and to learn. He created science, math, and every event in history. Without Him, we have and are nothing.

In Israel Wayne’s book, Education: Does God Have an Opinion?, he discusses how a biblical worldview applies to each core academic discipline. Reading that book — and hearing him speak at a homeschool convention — was a pivotal moment for me. It changed not only how I viewed education at home, but how I approached everything. It changed how I viewed public school education.

The book helped me see education from God’s perspective. Through my own transformation with the Holy Spirit, I began to see homeschooling as the actual traditional form of education — not what I had believed was traditional my entire life.

A belief in God — not only in life, but in homeschooling — brings order to the chaos. It brings meaning and purpose. We went from just learning facts to learning with purpose.

God is not just the reason for the season (as the catchy Christmas phrase goes). He is the reason to homeschool — the reason to disciple and take full responsibility for your children’s education.

Homeschooling should never be about turning away from something. It should be about turning toward our Creator and honoring Him in all that we do — including educating our children.

Without that purpose, without curriculum rooted in a Christian worldview, we are merely going through the motions of education without meaning. In that case, is it truly an education at all?

I grew up getting an education because I had to. That’s what you did to go to college. That’s what you did to have a career. That’s what you did to have a “purpose” in life — get a job, make money, buy things, go places.

Is that how you view education?

After experiencing homeschooling through a secular lens and now through a God-centered one, I can unequivocally answer: no. No, that’s not an education.

For me, homeschooling without God was lonely, rigid, cold, and honestly devoid of meaning.

Homeschooling with God means we are following His design. We are stepping up to serve. We are holding the most precious creation in our hands with intention, devotion, and purpose.

I can honestly say that since including God in our curriculum, our daily schedule, and our routines, I have not found myself at the bottom of my closet crying uncontrollably.

Does that mean homeschooling is easy now? Not in the least.

It means I have purpose. I know what that purpose is. I stand on conviction — the kind that tells me I am exactly where God wants me and my family to be.

Of course, I can’t say for certain where we would be if we had stayed on the secular homeschooling path. But I can make an educated guess.

What we did in those first one to two years was not sustainable.

God gave us the ability to learn and think for ourselves for a great purpose. We don’t always know what that purpose is. But when we view learning through the lens of gratitude — recognizing that God has given us the ability to take in knowledge and use it for something greater — that motivation is stronger than any secular reason or curriculum on the planet.

I am not teaching my kids so they can get a job, collect a paycheck, buy a house, and go on vacations.

I’m teaching my kids so they can follow God’s purpose for their lives.

I’m teaching my kids so they can see the world through a different lens.

I don’t write this to boast or to sound superior. I write this because maybe my experience — moving from secular homeschool to Christian homeschool — can give you perspective. Maybe it will provoke thought. Maybe it will help you see that there is a greater purpose to homeschooling than mere education.

And maybe, just maybe, there is an easier, softer, and far more powerful way.

From Secular to Christian Homeschool Curriculum: Why Our Homeschool Needed More