Kind of a no-brainer to me but it wasn’t always that way.  Why teach Theology? After all isn’t that just for the seminary students? NO!

Let’s look at it from the alternative: not teaching Theology. Where does that leave your children? Stumbling, bumbling, blabbering that’s where! I can freely talk this way because I was a stumbling, bumbling, blabbering embryo for the first 9 years (that would be the last 9 years) of being a Christian.

It wasn’t until July 2009, that Theology became a spoken word in our house. Salvation? Sure I knew what that meant and yet I HAD NO CLUE! God is so much deeper than– say a prayer, dunk and go on with life.

I am so very, very passionate about teaching our children Theology…GOOD Theology.  Recently, two books came to live on our cozy bookshelves.  Who Is God? (and can I really know him?) and Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters.

****UPDATE: Dug Down Deep will now go live on the shelves of Hastings. Great book until page 185. I do not believe that people today have the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.  Add to it that Joshua Harris claims he often “forgets to use it.” ****

“Who Is God?” is a systematic theology for kids.  Looooooove it! I even wrote a review for it on christianbook.com and I never do that.  Our oldest is 7 going on 24 so I thought for sure it would be too simplistic.  But when you add in a 5yo and 3yo it becomes the perfect Theology class for kids.

Even if I was going through it with just Haley (7yo) it would be on par.  The units are varied and creative and logical.  Trust me, if I’m not bored you won’t be. If you are looking for a resource to help you teach biblical worldview this book will help you do that.

Then, there is Dug Down Deep.  Have you ever had a person come on your radar and stay there? I first discovered Joshua Harris from the Generation Cedar blog.  Kelly posted a video about a sermon called Sin and the Bean Bag.  It was great.  Turns out God had introduced Michael to Joshua in a totally different way.

Then comes Dug Down Deep.  Michael can NOT recommend this one enough! He’s read about every other page to me out loud because it’s that good!

Too many Christians have brushed off Theology in a day where we need true Theology more than ever.  How are we going to prepare our children for the attacks of the world if they don’t even know the true doctrines of our faith?

The video explains it all!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

I do believe that everyone should know what they believe! Educate yourself and your children…or someone else will.

I have found that, in the homeschool setting, memorization is the most effective tool I have for teaching my children discipline.  Memorization is never effortless.  Even for someone who is highly gifted in that skill.

I am good at memorizing but I have to put in work before I am able to recite it.  Now to recall it days later requires even more work.

Laurie and Harvey Bluedorn said this about memorization and recalling it in the future:

First, the practice of memorization is a mental discipline which strengthens the mind and carries its own reward.

Second, without some regular review, the memory often fades.

Third, I believe the Holy Spirit can bring things forward in our minds, but they have to be in our minds before He can bring them forward.

Fourth, it isn’t memorizing if it’s not word for word. We may begin to lose confidence that we have the right idea from Scripture if we cannot rely upon our memories. Often enough I have thought some idea was in Scripture, but when I went to look for it, I found my understanding to be quite inaccurate.

Psalm 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Psalm 37:31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

Psalm 119:97 O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Every day I have Haley memorize something.  But some days I struggle to find something new and fresh for her to memorize.  Obviously, Bible verses/chapters are top on the list, but some days we choose something else.

Some days we go to the catechism (Catechize and Memorize) other days learn poetry and most fun is when I hear Haley recite a Bible verse in Greek!

Next time you are searching for something to have your children memorize use one of these ideas:

Psalm 100

Psalm 103 (We love this book Bless the Lord: The 103rd Psalm)

John 1: 1-4

Little Lamb, Who Made Thee by William Blake

Psalm 123

The Lord’s Prayer

Apostle’s Creed

Hymns: Amazing Grace, Be Thou My Vision, I Surrender All, I’ll Fly Away, Wherever He Leads, I’ll Go

Psalm 127 (another beautiful book we love The Lord Builds the House: The 127th Psalm)

That should get you through a month or so
Memorization is a great confidence booster for you and your children.  I memorize right along with Haley.  The things I ask Haven to memorize are significantly shorter. Like 7 or 8 word answers!  At this point we are simply teaching Haven the art of focusing on something and being able to repeat it.

We asked him the catechism “What is the chief end of man?” repeatedly over weeks before he could finally answer, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Same thing with the question, “Who makes up the Trinity?” Now if we ask, “Who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?” that complete stumps him. Patience. That’s what I’m learning.

Teaching Greek as part of our homeschool schedule has been such a blessing to our family.  Before we began, we first had to choose which curricula was going to best fit our goals.

Most Greek curricula will work for your family if you have a desire to travel to Greece and be able to converse with the locals.  But, if your desire is to read the New Testament in its original language, your choices are drastically limited.

Our family is using products created by Harvey Bluedorn and family (Teaching the Trivium).  We began the journeywith the simple Little Bitty Baby Learns Greek

With this board book you would give a baby, our family learned the Greek alphabet and how to pronounce it correctly!

Once we had mastered the recognition and pronunciation of the alphabet we moved on to A Greek Hupogrammon: A Beginner’s Copybook for the Greek Alphabet with Pronunciations and A Greek Alphabetarion: A Primer for Teaching How to Read, Write & Pronounce Ancient & Biblical Greek

This program is extremely simple to follow and learn. Each morning Michael copies the pages for the day and we work at the table together.

We are now at the stage where we write out Bible verses in Greek and practice memorizing them. Haley had a chance to share John 14:6 with a friend the other night!

I recorded Haley reciting the Greek alphabet for you. She did not do it perfect as there is no “a” sound like in “cat”. The alpha is pronounced “awlpha” or like the “o” in “cot”. So Kappa is “kawpa”, Lambda is “Lawmbda”.

If you have any questions about adding Greek to your homeschool schedule feel free to ask!

Click the arrow to hear our 7yo, Haley.

Oh, and what is Koine??

Koi·ne (koi-n, koin)n.

Two months ago I thought that Catechism was something that just Roman Catholics did.  How saddening to think I would have gone my whole life believing this and missing out on a blessing.

cat·e·chism (kt-kzm)n.

Late Greek katkhismos

Haley is very gifted in memorization,  Haven not-so-much.  You’ll quickly know how much your child can handle. 


The first 2 questions in the catechism are short and simple.  After that they get longer and with much more difficult words.

Question 2: What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

Question 5: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

Answer: The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God.

When I read the questions and verses to Haley each morning I sit back in amazement at the arsenal she will own when she leaves our home.  To have been taught these truths at an early age is priceless.  I think back to all the times I was overwhelmed and I kick myself for not knowing Psalm 61 or Psalm 23.  But, I’m learning them now!

Learning the catechism is a journey for sure.  It isn’t something we will have memorized within the next few years but something we will work on throughout all our children’s years of schooling.

Haven is playing soccer this season. On Saturday his coach asked him the name of his school (He never talks to “others” until he sees fit to do so). Haven’s response was heard clearly across the field by his very alert aka nosey sister Haley, “I’m homeschooled.”

Haley quickly announced it to us and everyone else in the stands and we sat very proud. This is the first time Haven has actually said he’s homeschooled (he’s 5 so technically this is the first opportunity).

Later we learned that the response by the coach was:

“Oh, so you are going to be really smart!”

So see, non-homeschooling parent DO get it. We homeschool for many reasons but the outcome is almost always the same- an intelligent, logical, well socialized young adult.

Have you ever stopped and thought about 5 things that you must teach your children before they leave home? I say “must” because these 5 things will probably be so important to you that you couldn’t imagine NOT teaching them to your children.

One of the beauties of homeschooling is being able to look back over everything you were taught, not taught, and life experiences and compile a list of “must-knows”.

Michael and I discussed some of the waste of time topics we were taught in every school we attended (middle school, high school, undergrad and doctorate!). How about the Kreb’s Cycle? Ya, I’ve referred back to that a whole bunch in life.

Or how about the fact that every stinkin’ math teacher in response to “when will we ever use this?” reduntantly repeated “oh, you’ll use it every day.” True, I use math in some form everyday but it’s never the way they taught it. It’s in the form of fractions (cooking) or the basic skills (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division).

I don’t often (all though I have) solve for some unknown variable or compute the area of a nonagon.

Knowing what it is that you want you children to be equipped with as they leave the nest is hugely important. Perhaps I may sound like I have had this list filled out for a while now…no. Last night Einstein asked me and I was forced to thoughtfully come up with an answer.

Here are the 5 topics my children will learn from me before they graduate:
1) How to persuasively write.
2) How to defend their position on anything (debate).

3) How to create a healthy, balanced menu and cook those items with little effort. (girls)
4) Reasons why our family makes the choices we do: homebirths, breastfeeding, chiropractic, awareness of environmental toxins, … Teaching them these things is probably my #1. They not only affect them but their children and so on.
5) How to budget. We follow Dave Ramsey and they are already familiar with him.

Michael’s list is similar, here is his:

1. About God. This includes prayer, what the Scriptures teach us, the Gospel, theology, and NT Greek to read the original NT language.

2. Love for learning through books.

3. How to start, grow and run a business successfully. (Preferably a home-based business.)

4. True health. How the body works and heals, and what can be used naturally to assist it’s healing.

5. How to write and speak persuasively. (The better one is at this, the easier it will be to accomplish #3 above.)

6. Family Values. Includes marriage, kids, modesty, etc. (basically a subsection of #1 above.)

I didn’t include a thorough working knowledge and understanding of the Bible in mine because I thought it was too obvious. But it is the #1 priority we work towards every day.

I encourage you to prayerfully create your own list. It’s never too early to start working towards those goals. Actually it makes them much easier to accomplish the earlier you start.

I loooooove to bake. Not just the occasional batch of cookies. I’m talking every day- cookies, cakes, brownies, anything!

I say every day but that is really my wishful thinking. My husband has limited me (meanie). He would be happy, as would his waistline, if I baked only once a week. I can usually squeeze in a good 3 desserts.

When one loves to bake and one has a limit on the number of times this hobby can be practiced, one has to be more creative than baking the nightly dessert . So, this morning I made homemade pancakes with homemade chocolate syrup. So lovely.

None of that Bisquick bunk. Bah! Would I dare lower myself to buy Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Nay!

Only real sugar in this house lol.

Being a lover of all things baked I tend to be a bit selfish. Not just in eating the goodies but sharing my kitchen to create them. I’ve had to pray that I will be more open to allowing my children to bake with me.

Like many moms, that thought “I can get it done quicker if I just do it myself” always infiltrates my mind. But this morning when Cha-hisser said she wanted to make the pancakes because she “loves to cook”, I was happy to indulge her desire.

They turned out fabulous if you don’t count the fact that I couldn’t remember the exact oil measurement so they were a tad dry. But who the heck cares when you have homemade chocolate syrup!

Along with the chocolate syrup I pulled out the honey (what we usually use). When Einstein asked everyone what they wanted I laughed at the thought of anyone refusing chocolate!

The chocolate syrup recipe I used was from Hillbilly Housewife. The pancake recipe is one my mom taught me and if I shared it with you I’d have to … well maybe if you beg I’ll share. After all, every kid deserves real pancakes

Cooking with your children is an excellent way to incorporate learning into everyday living. Cha-hisser understands that 3tsp make a tablespoon**, 4- 1/4 cups equals a cup, and so on.

It is so much more impressionable when a child learns measurements and fractions in a fun setting as opposed to sitting at the table with felt pie pieces (just an example).

**Cha-hisser did not learn this lesson until she made homemade cornbread the other day. I told her to put in 2tsp of baking powder while I went out to do laundry. Afterwards, I asked her why the Tablespoon was out. I made her figure out how many teaspoons she actually put in. The cornbread was still plenty good!

Since June our family has been learning how to read Greek (Biblical Greek).  It has been such an amazing experience!  It’s something we ALL do together.  Yes, even the 2 year old!

We do everything else together so why not Greek?

When we started out we simply made notecards and memorized the symbols.  After we had a good knowledge of them we began with the worksheets.  We use the system by Harvey Bluedorn. Besides disagreeing with Harvey on the pronunciation on many of the English words, I am very pleased with this program.

Michael prints out the appropriate pages for him, me, Haley and Haven.  I then change the Greek letters to a corresponding English letter for Haven.  That way he is involved and learning English first   Paisley “writes” her ABCs on paper while begging for her own praise.

We are only up to Lambda, but already we feel so intelligent!  There is something about learning a foreign language to boost your self-confidence.

As far as schedule goes, we were doing Greek after dinner and before family worship.  But, that was making the evenings so crunched.  We’ve moved it to after breakfast (and the reading of Proverbs) and it really sets a great tone for learning with all the kids.

I am so proud of Haley.  She is the most brilliant 7 year old I’ve ever spoken with.  She keeps right up with Michael and I and often corrects me.

Our long term goal is to read the New Testament in Greek.  I can’t wait!

2 Heads? For sure!  I mean I must if I homeschool, right?

That’s certainly what many people think when you tell them you homeschool.  It’s interesting that the fact that we homeschool always comes up after they’ve raved incessantly over the local schools.

Ever noticed that everyone who sends their kids to public school resides in THE top school district in the state? Fascinating.

I try to smile as they give me this golden nugget of information then, because I would hate for them to leave with the wrong assumption , I politely say “we homeschool”.

The funniest response I have gotten to this statement: “Oh, well, if you ever decide to not homeschool anymore Kerrville has amazing schools.” This man, the pest control man at that, had already bragged on the schools 4 times!

What is so funny about this statement is that he (and most other people) believe that to homeschool is some flippant decision we up and made one day.  Like it’s on the same level as deciding what color underwear to wear today.

It’s actually quite insulting to the intelligence of homeschoolers to assume that it’s a decision made lightly.

I remember very clearly when homeschooling became a part of our lives.  Michael was driving home from the practice when he heard James Dobson talk about how detrimental the public school system is for boys.  This one statement was enough to flip a switch in Michael.

We had been discussing homeschooling but weren’t sure which way was best and what God wanted for us.  Hearing Dobson was just confirmation that we were heading in the right direction.  From then it wasn’t a question but a matter of how and what.

I was almost 100% NOT on board.  I mean really, what mother doesn’t dream of the day she gets some “free time”?  Who doesn’t wish they could read a book at 11am, take a shower at 1pm and bake cookies for the kids as they arrive home from prison daycare school?

Once I got over those insanely selfish feelings…3 years later!…things have actually been fun.

It wasn’t until this year that we were “really doing school”.  We’d been teaching since Haley was 3 1/2 and her intelligence was praised by many.  But as far as having a set plan, 2009 was the start.

We knew that Classical Christian teaching was our future plan but we weren’t sure where to start with a 7yo.  So we purchase Adventures in My Father’s World.  After a couple of months of doing that Michael read Teaching the Trivium.

Talk about confirmation!  Teaching the Trivium put into words everything Michael thought and wanted for the education of our children.  It gave us resources, schedules, ideas, and support that we had been craving.

My previous post talks more about that.

I can say that 80% of the time I enjoy homeschooling Haley, Haven and Paisley (on a good day Sterling is napping).  If you’ve figured out how to not be selfish 100% of the time PLEASE let me in on the secret!

My favorite part of our day is reading a good book.  I say “good” because not all of the books I read would I consider good.  Sure the kids love Hank the Cowdog but …

I really do love to see the raw excitement that the children have for Greek lessons.  They honestly love it and so do Michael and I.  Our family is so close.  We eat every meal together, read together, have Bible reading 2x/day together, take walks together, drive in the country together, learn together, live life and LOVE GOD together!

That is what homeschooling is about!

(originally posted June 21, 2009 at Do I Need A Bigger Plate?)

Over the past few weeks, life in the Beck house has changed dramatically. I am so humbled by God’s ever present hand in my life.

For years we have known of the book Teaching the Trivium by Bluedorn. We knew of this book because we homeschool using the Classical Christian approach.

After seeing it go on sale I purchased it for Michael and once he cracked the book life as we knew it changed. It’s not like we were living a bad life, God just had bigger plans for us.

Have you ever known that you believed in something or knew something but couldn’t quite put it into words? Then when you read it in print the huge lightbulb flicks on and you have that moment of suspended motion. A moment when you say “finally! Someone else thinks like I do.”

Well, Teaching the Trivium provided that moment for Michael. I love to see this fire in my husband. He can’t stop devouring new information (if you know Michael you’re probably thinking that he’s always been this way. he has but now it’s multiplied exponentially!).

If you are completely clueless on what classical christian homeschooling is or what the heck Teaching the Trivium is about, here is a synopsis:

The Trivium In a Capsule

The Trivium consists of the first three formal subjects of the seven liberal arts: Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. This is the formal Trivium in the classical sense. This formal Trivium is an academic reflection of the more basic Biblical Trivium, the mental capacities of Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. (See the list of references at the end of this article.) The classical style of education is built upon these three mental or intellectual capacities:

1. The first, for receiving and gathering up information – Knowledge.
2. The second, for arranging and connecting the information in a logical order – Understanding.
3. The third, for putting this gathered and ordered information into practical expression – Wisdom.

Children are continually developing in Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom. Though these three capacities are mutually dependent upon each other, and the capacities are developing in the child from before birth, nevertheless, children pass through several developmental stages, or levels of learning, where one capacity experiences rapid growth. We will describe these stages below. Keep in mind that our age divisions are not meant as nice neat little cubicles. They are only arbitrary approximations, and they may vary greatly from child to child.

…
In summary, the capacities for Knowledge, Understanding, and Wisdom are not neat little compartments with sealed doors between them. Rather, they all develop at the same time from the very beginning, yet they each pass through successive periods of intensive development, until they finally catch up with each other and work harmoniously together. These ages are only approximate, and your child may be on either side of the line.

To summarize it all in one sentence: we first instruct the child in Knowledge; then we guide the youth in Understanding; then we challenge the older youth in Wisdom.

*Exodus 31:3; 35:31; 36:1; Deuteronomy 1:13,15; First Kings 7:14; Job 15:8-9; Proverbs 2:6; 3:19,20; 5:1,2; 8:12; 18:15; 23:23; 24:3,4; Daniel 1:4,17; 5:14; Ephesians 1:8,9,17,18; Colossians 1:9,10; 2:2,3; and many other places.

Peruse that site for more information on the Trivium and Classical Education.

Now, as my title eluded to, here is our daily schedule. Michael feared I would push-back (as I often do with change) and that the kids would resist. However, like all things God designed “the cards fell into place”. Life has been much easier, less chaotic and abundantly rich since implementing this schedule.

7:00 am Wake Up. Breakfast. Chores (I will add this chart in another post)
8:00 am Bible time/Family worship/Prayer
8:30-9:30 am General meeting

1. Recite memory work- Bible verses, alphabet (eng., latin, greek, hebrew)
2. Reading- children read (Bible history, Constitution, poetry, etc.)
3. Practice narration- Haley or Mommy reads, Haven and Haley narrate back

9:30-10:15 am Mommy reads. May ask questions to children about what was read. Can do art or crafts but must be quiet! (the littles may busy their hands but must listen)

10:15-11:30am

1. Phonics for Haven – English notebook
2. Copywork- minimum 15-20 minutes (Bible, history, poetry, quotes, speeches, latin, greek) – can combine w/ artwork and draw pictures of what is being copied – put in English notebook
3. History and Timeline

11:30-1:00pm

1. Prepare and eat lunch
2. chores
3. clean house

1:00-2:00pm Naps.

2:00-2:45pm Mommy reads aloud (same system as 9:30)

2:45-4:30pm nature walks, play outside, library, volunteer work, field trips, museums, fairs, workplaces, ….

4:30-5:00pm Mommy works out

5:00-6:30pm Dinner and chores. Bible reading and questions w/ daddy.
6:30-7:30pm Daddy reads. Latin or Greek work.