How do you switch to a discipleship homeschool way of life? Theresa, mother of ten asked me such a question â€“ here is her letter and my reply. Theresa has given permission for this to be shared in the hope that other families will be encouraged too.

Question from Theresa First of all I have to say that I just love your website. You have articulated what I have felt in my heart for some time but have not known how to act upon. Having said that, I would like a bit of practical advice if possible. I have 10 children (15yo down to 1yo) and have always homeschooled. I find that I am struggling as to how to implement such “discipleship homeschooling” because first, it is so foreign to how I was taught and second, I fear getting more “behind” than I already am (life with many little blessings and only so much time.) My heart yearns to have the freedom and relationship with my children that you speak of. Honestly though, sometimes I don’t know if I have it in me anymore to do anything that requires a lot of me in terms of planning. I hope I’m making a little sense. I just wondered what you would do in my situation with so many children with various needs because of age. What would that look like? Thank you for your time and wisdom!

My response: 10 children certainly does paint a different picture than what happens in my house but I believe that principles should be applicable regardless of our circumstances. If I am reading your email correctly you are asking “How do I change from a traditional education to a discipleship education, even with 10 kids?” So thinking through some of the principles that I have found helpful hopefully I will say something that will be of help to you.

Change needs courage:

It takes courage to make changes from where we are at, to something new stirring in our heart. Before we step towards change we need to know (deep in our hearts):

That God is in control and if we are keeping up with Him we can’t be behind!

That relationships and moral character are the foundations to all learning.

That we prepare for God’s purposes not for a career plan made by man.

When we realise the truth behind these statements we can confidently walk away from the institutionalised methods of education that we have been following and start something new.

[Tweet “Changing your homeschool to a discipleship based approach takes courage but has many rewards.”]

Implementing Discipleship Homeschool:

I am a firm believer in making small changes, though some people like to jump in boots and all. There are things that you can do little at a time and start to see changes happening. We need to remember that discipleship homeschooling is more about our heart towards our children, rather than what curriculum we do or don’t use.

–Look at how much time you spend as a family building relationships; both family relationships with one another as well as your relationship (and your children’s personal relationship) with Jesus. If this gets pushed aside by the busyness of your studies this needs to change. I have often been frustrated that we don’t get the same amount of studies done as other people seem to – but then I realise that we spend a large amount of our study time in the Bible. We have personal devotions, family devotions and Bible study. I cannot achieve the same amount of science or history each day as a family who does not do extended Bible study time. But it is our family priority so the other stuff is shuffled down to allow the priority to fit. And I have to be happy/content with that.

–Look to see if your children are helping with the family responsibilities: cooking, cleaning, shopping, maintenance etc. One key I found is that I trained my oldest to do a chore, and when he could be responsible for that chore, that freed me up to train the next child with a different skill. Take a season – how ever long it takes â€“ to get this in order in your home. Make sure the children are always occupied during ‘chore’ time. Mother’s role becomes one of trainer / facilitator. Once these habits are established ensure that there is sufficient time in everyone’s daily routine to achieve the things that need to be done around the home. These life skills are a part of our children’s education.

–Look to see that each child is doing something that reflect their uniqueness: In our family Joshua studies history and politics, Jessica plays music and works on the computer, Nomi does art, Daniel builds stuff and takes photographs. Now these are not the only interests our children have, neither do these interests totally define our children but for this season in their lives I make sure that these things are happening regularly, regardless of how busy we are. It isn’t hard for the kids to spend time on these things because they are subjects that they are interested in.

[Tweet “Do you prioritise relationships, responsibilities and unique talents in your homeschool?”]

I am convinced that if we have a season where these three aspects are the only things that happen in our family as far as intentional learning goes our kids will be learning many things. The truth is though that these seasons of training, or finding our feet, or dealing with interruptions, are short lived (relatively speaking) – you will soon be able to add more formal study (though it maybe less than you were previously thinking)

When it comes to introducing academic studies to your day I prioritise skills that help our children learn. Reading, Writing, Keyboard, Thinking. Once a student gains some independent study skills they can pick up other more traditional subjects and pursue them independently while younger members are still focusing on the above aspects.

So another question to ask yourself is – Which of my students are able to study independently for which subjects? When we make room for independent studies we will lighten the teaching load considerably and give them the challenges that they need on their way to becoming responsible adults.

Sometimes people get the idea that discipleship homeschooling doesn’t include much study – I don’t think that is responsible. We are educating the whole child which includes the mind. How each child studies varies and makes use of their strengths without completely ignoring their weaknesses. Though I have never counted I would guess that we focus around 4 hours a day, 3-5 days a week, for about 30 weeks a year. The other weeks would be taken up with family projects (which we need to remember are equally valuable in educational terms). Academic subjects are important – it has its place but don’t let it overwhelm all else.

Preparation time for Discipleship Homeschooling:

The more I focus on discipleship homeschooling the less lesson prep I do. This is because:

I prepare lessons for the students who are dependent, more than I prepare for the students who are independent in their learning.

I prepare lessons for the discipleship aspects, not necessarily the academic subjects. Eg. I spend more time preparing Bible study and character studies but limited time preparing Math, Reading, Science and History (not because we don’t do those subjects but because I chose curriculum and resources that match our learning methods and need little prep.)

I do spend time ensuring that we have balance in our daily routines. That we have time to build relationships, work on talents and interests and study. And that we have time to breathe!