One of Jesus' last commands was to make disciples "of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey all I have commanded you." (Matthew 28) Everyone is called to make disciples. No one is exempt.

Which is all well and good and everything—like, kudos to all the missionaries out there that are living it out. But how am I supposed to do that? What does it even look like for an American teenager to walk out Jesus’ last command?

The most obvious way is to get involved in a mentoring relationship. If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, or if the only picture that pops up in your head is some kind of Big Brother program, let me explain.
A mentoring relationship is where a more mature Christian takes a new Christian under their wing and teaches them the basics of the faith. It’s a relationship that models what Jesus had with his disciples—the discipler and disciple spend time with one another, becoming friends and confidantes, praying and fasting together, seeking the Lord together, and encouraging one another to keep fighting the good fight. It’s actually a pretty complex thing that varies from church to church and relationship to relationship, but the gist of it is that the mature Christian takes care of the baby Christian.

Since I was eleven, I had been on the disciple end of the mentoring relationship, but the late summer of 2013 marked a new chapter of my life: I became the mentor.

I've had the privilege of watching a beautiful young lady mature in the Lord for nearly two years now. We talk about anything going on in our lives that’s difficult, asking for prayer and advice from one another. We discuss how our quiet times are going, what God has been teaching us through them, and questions that have risen from studying the Bible.

But our relationship doesn't end in that hour-and-a-half window.

We’re friends. We spend time with one another at events and at church, we have sleepovers. We go to the mall, to the movies, or we sit lazily in the other’s room and chat about whatever comes to mind. We're in one another's lives, and we grow closer with passing time.

The way the discipleship relationship works is quite simple, yet it requires an investment of oneself. You have to be willing to devote your time, your energy, your love, and your persistence. But it's worth it.

And it's only one of the many ways to fulfill Jesus’ last command.

Moving in the more officially sanctioned vein is starting new ministries and involving ourselves in current ones.

My brother-in-law and another one of the young men from our church started a ministry where they play basketball in a nearby neighborhood, invite the residents, and use that opportunity to share the Gospel.

I help teach Sunday School to four- to eleven-year olds, sharing Bible stories and their practical application in the kids’ lives.

My church has both a teen and a young adult program, ministries that are geared toward bringing in and building up people in those age brackets.

There are so many ministries available to us, waiting to be employed in the pursuit of making disciples. All we have to do is look, and join in. Finding a nearby ministry—whether it’s an extension of your home church, or some kind of organization that takes care of the widows and orphans and allows you to share your faith—is never all that hard. 

And once you’ve found your ministry, you dive in. Start sowing into people’s lives, caring for the broken and the needy—making disciples.

"When do you want to go home?" I asked my almost-college grad daughter, Julianna.

"Mom, we just got here," she chided.

"It's freezing, Julianna," her best friend, Marla backed me up.

But, Julianna was determined. It was the first day of spring break and she wanted to ENJOY the beach. Hah! It was chilly and windy. But, I had promised to go, so I slid my sweat pants down to my bathing suit. Immediately, goose bumps rose and I felt chilled to the bone. I grabbed a winter blanket and cuddled inside of it, wondering why Christians have to keep their word anyway.

The hours dragged on unmercifully until it was time to leave. Now, keep in mind, the beach is my very favorite place on earth and had I been wearing a parka that day, I would have enjoyed myself. But, timing is everything.

In homeschooling, timing is everything too. Just like Julianna tried to rush summer fun ahead of schedule, we can rush into teaching subjects ahead of our children's time table. Children are unique and learn at different times and paces.

When to Start Formal Education

 Katie Beth, my oldest daughter, was ready to learn her to read at the age of 4. How did I know. Well, I copied pictures of each of the letters from the phonics program I intended to use and hung them on the wall in the dining room of our small seminary apartment. I made paper, scissors, glue, markers, crayons, and other art supplies available for her in a large drawer in the china cabinet. When she began to copy the letters on her own and ask to write her name, I knew that interest was there.

I had been reading aloud to her several times a day and she loved to pretend to read books to her dolls. We started a fun phonics program that involved learning phonics rules through songs.

Another daughter was not ready to learn to read until the age of 6, almost 7. I tried a couple of times to start reading instruction and she was just not ready. But when she was finally ready, it went smoothly.

The Early Years

The early years of childhood are the perfect time to prepare children for a lifetime of enthusiastic learning. Reading well-written, beautifully illustrated storybooks aloud, picnics at the park, and playground fun can fill your days. All the things mothers do naturally: teaching animal sounds, make up silly rhymes, singing songs together, and talking to children about family history introduce your little ones to learning in a fun way. Baking together, cleaning together, setting the table together, and shopping together introduce educational concepts to your sons and daughters. You can stop and look at leaves, bugs, flowers, and small critters when you go on natures walks. Or bring along a sketch pad and fill it with your discoveries.

Don't rush this time or turn learning into hard work. Enjoy living life together with your family, knowing they are learning so much in their memory-making moments with you. There will be plenty of time for formal education in the future. Fill the preschool years with precious memories that last a lifetime.

Your Child's Pace

"There is just so much to cover this year!  How can I get it all done?" has been asked of me more times than I can count. 

  My favorite subjects to teach are music and history!  What fun we have had exploring these subjects over the years. But I have found that it is important to "major on the majors" and "minor on the minors."

There are subjects and then there are tools and skills that are needed to learn all subjects.  When we give our children the tools of learning, they can explore every subject to their heart's content. 

After homeschooling for 21 years with a sixth, eighth, and eleventh grader still being educated at home, I have found that there are seven things (7 R's) that make a big difference in the success of our family's homeschool.  From Kindergarten through twelfth grade, I try to keep these things predominant in my homeschooling: relationships, rhetoric, reading, (w)riting, (a)rithmetic, research, and right living.  I weave them in to all that I teach or that our family explores through unit studies. These are not the only subjects in our homeschool curriculum, but they are the ones that get priority.

Relationships

Lives are changed in the context of relationships!  People, including your children, hunger and seek to be loved and understood.  The security that comes with healthy relationships allows people to learn and grow, reaching their full potential and destiny. 

The most important relationship that your child will ever have is his/her relationship with the Lord. Let your little ones see how much you love the Lord, especially by setting aside time each day to spend in prayer and Bible reading. Be committed to church, tithing, obedience, and serving because you love Jesus with all your heart.  Teach your children to have a relationship with Him too!

Children (and adults too!) want to model people they admire and trust, especially if they believe those people have their best interest at heart. When your child enjoys a healthy relationship with you, he/she is more likely to try to imitate your life, as well as attempt to please you!  This desire to please parents is present in almost all children, but ebbs away in teenage years if the relationship does not remain strong.

Rhetoric (verbal communication)

Rhetoric refers to communication both written and oral, but I'll use it to refer to verbal communication from casual conversations to formal speeches. 

Casual conversation, questions, and answers are the beginning of education for young children. "Why is the sky blue," your toddler asks you and prattles on with more questions.  From the time your little ones can talk, engage them in conversation. "Did you like the pretty pictures in the book?" you might ask after you finish reading them a book.  "What was your favorite part of our day," you query as you and your toddler set the table.  Don't shoo children away--talk to them about everything!  Speaking requires thought processes that stimulate intellectual growth! Ask questions and answer them!  Put down what you're doing if you need to and give your child undivided attention. But learn to talk with your child as you wash dishes, run errands, and cook dinner.

Before formal speeches, give your children plenty of practice reading the Bible, stories, and poetry aloud.  Encourage expression, inflection, and enthusiasm in the presentation. It is a great idea for older siblings to read to younger siblings, especially for the three years after they've learned to read. 

Eventually you will graduate to speaking in front of people to formal speeches to debate.

Reading

Listening to well-written beautifully illustrated story books make toddlers and pre-schoolers look forward to the day that they will read for themselves. As Christians, what joy there is in reading and obeying the Word of God!  No matter what career they choose or lifestyle they live, we all want our children to be Bible readers, understanding everything the Lord has to teach them. Reading is a necessary skill for growing in your walk with the Lord!

Phonics is the method I have used to teach all my children to read (Sing, Spell, Read, and Write) and they have all learned in about a year's time. The goal was to get them reading!  My son was less enthusiastic about reading then all his older sisters, so I had to "make him read."  I had to search for books he liked.  The "Three Cousins Detective" series and "Childhood of Famous Americans" were both series that he enjoyed, so I bought every book I could find in the series. 

To foster a love for reading, I allow the children to choose the books the want to read within parameters.  I have book lists for various ages (feel free to download these lists:  http://joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/readinglists.aspx ) that are based on my actual bookshelves. 

Reading aloud is fun to do together as a family or with only one child at a time. We love reading aloud and snuggling. Reading and speaking lay the foundation for writing.

'Riting

Writing concretely, concisely, and graciously is the goal of Understanding Writing, the writing curriculum I have used through the years. Written by a homeschool mom, she stresses writing to glorify God. We have added poetry, stories, journalizing, and other fun writing assignment to our writing lessons over the years. 

Reading good writing and expressing yourself clearly through speaking set children up to write well. You need both to lay the foundation a writer needs. 

Start with sentences. A sentence has five things. (noun, verb, complete thought, begins with a capital letter, and ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point) Teach your children to examine their sentences for these five things.  Once that is down, help them to write clearly. Teach them to use adjectives and adverbs to express themselves and to avoid clutter words such as very, a lot, and really.

The next step is paragraphs. My children write a paragraph once a week from second grade until sixth grade.  Sometimes they write longer papers, but they always at least write a paragraph, I correct it, and then they rewrite it. Re-writing should be part 2 of every writing assignment. A good writer always rewrites! Don't be negative about it, though. Praise their papers and then move on to the next part of the assignment--making their paper better!

'Rithmetic

"The skit was excellent. But, unfortunately, that is exactly how my family is," a man admitted to my husband at the Finish Well conference. He was referring to the skit that opened up the conference on Friday night portraying the communication problems that many homeschooling families experience in their homes. This skit revealed the spiritual battle that occurs when we try to communicate.

Many fathers, after the skit was finished, listened attentively as Pastor Mike challenged them to lead their homes and walked them through how to win back the heart of a rebellious teen. In fact, you could hear a pin drop. Every eye was watching Pastor Mike, listening. I never knew the problem was so intense in homeschooling families. People needed hope. When an altar call was given, dads rushed forward to ask the Lord to help them, anoint them.

What fun it has been to design my children's high school classes! It has been one of the greatest joys of homeschooling for me because I love planning, learning, and planning to learn. Now, you may not feel the same way I do. I can understand that. So, we will keep everything simple.

We have an overall plan. We understand the concept of credits. If not, review our previous articles in our homeschooling high school column  Now we are going to talk about designing individual classes! You can design classes to earn 0.5 credits or 1.0 credits. 

Ingredients of a Class

The various aspects of designing a high school class are: textbook or main living book (or DVD teaching series), supplemental books and materials, written and oral assignments, other assignments, and requirements for final grade.

Classes can be simple or complex, depending on what you want your child to learn and what he wants to study. The best way to explain how to design a class is to show you! Let's start with something simple.

A math class is pretty simple to design.  A math textbook, math tests, and sometimes lectures or videos comprise a simple math class. Let's look at Algebra II.

Algebra II (1.0 credit)

Textbook: Saxon Algebra II

Supplemental books and materials: The Algebra 2 Tutor Video course

Assignments: Complete one lesson a day. Take corresponding test once a week.  Watch one video segment a week.

Grading: For an C grade, complete all work, watch all videos, and test grades above 70%. For a B grade, complete all work neatly, showing how you did the problem, watch all video segments, and test grades above 80%. For a C grade, complete all work neatly, show all problem solving work, watch all video segments, and test grades above 90%. 

Now let's get a little more complicated. You are going to teach a literature class and you're not sure what to cover. You want him to read the classics, but your son wants to read mysteries.  What should you do.  One of your options would be to design a class based on classic mysteries. Your son could read a classic mystery and another book by the same author each month. You also want him to do some writing, but he hates writing and reading. You are trying to think of some way to make this class more fun, but don't want to compromise. You notice that your son spends hours on facebook or on a blog site blogging. Ah, you will have him write book review to post on his my space. You will call it blogging, but require correct grammar and spelling.

You can design high school classes! Really! You can do it! Think about all the things you would like to teach your child in high school. Go ahead and make a list.

Dreams for Your Children

My list for each child will include things that are the same and things that are unique for each child. For instance, I want all my children to read Communist Manifesto in high school so that they can understand the socialist agenda in American universities and colleges. I also want them to study worldviews so that they can recognize the different worldviews that are predominate in our culture. Most of all, I want my children to know God's Word and apply it to all of life.

Dreams for Each Teen

But then I have unique dreams for each child. For Katie Beth, it was to cultivate her gift of writing and give her opportunities to act. Julianna was a singer, so I wanted her to take voice lessons. Jenny Rose is a song writer--she developed that gift in high school. Sarah Joy is already skilled at movie making. Her high school classes include assignments to make videos! 

Your Dreams to Teach

Now, let's talk about you. What is it you want to teach your children in high school? How do you want to equip them for life? Make a list of things that are near and dear to your heart in this area. Once you have that list, we'll move on to making a general plan for the high school years. After we have the general plan, we will move on to individual course.

Ready for next year? My favorite part of high school is planning the classes for my teenagers to take the following year. If it is not yours, relax. I will walk you through a simple way to plan next year. Keep the Lord part of the process and cast your cares on Him!

Time to Plan

After you've evaluated the past year, it's time to make a plan for next year. Don't forget your overall plan for high school. If you want to design your own classes, you may want to review Create Your Own High School Courses and High School Credits. What classes does your teenager still have to take before graduation? Are their classes that she would like to take? Are there things that you still want to teach her? The years are flying by, but there is still time to do that special project you've always wanted to do with her--weave it into a class!

Dream Big!

At the beginning of every school year, I start my planning by dreaming big--the sky's the limit. Yes, most of what I write down gets chopped but sometimes God does amazing things to let homeschooling dreams come true! One year I wrote down that I wanted my family to play sports together for fun. No one liked my idea of spending family night playing basketball or volleyball instead of watching a movie. But, a family friend started Sunday Sports on Sunday afternoons where children and adults from our church play soccer and football for four hours every Sunday afternoon.  Sometimes, the whole family goes, but my children go almost every week!  It's great exercise, fun, and takes care of that P.E. credit for high school.

Why don't you try it too, after a simple prayer for God to give you wisdom, creativity, and vision! Jot down everything you can think of that would be awesome to do in the coming year. Write down books you'd love for your teens to read and other books you'd love to read aloud together. (Yes, you can still read aloud together in high school!) Think of adventures that you'd enjoy with your teen. Now, walk away from the list for a few days and keep praying about the coming year. Let this be the most prayed-over year ever!

In Light of the Overall Plan

What classes/credits does he still need to take before graduation? Pull out your overall plan for high school. Are there any skills (e.g. writing) that he needs to focus on?  Make sure to include these skills in class assignments. Find out what enrichment classes, dual enrollment classes, and coops are available for your teen to participate in next year.  Do any of them interest you or your teen?

Creativity in Teaching

It's that time of year again when homeschool conventions, curriculum catalogs, and all kinds of sales on homeschooling products are going on. What should you purchase for next year?

Stop and Evaluate Before Planning Next Year

Before you order, sit down and make a plan. But, before you make a plan, evaluate the past year. Have you had one of those years where your child did all the work, but can't remember anything? Or maybe they did learn, while complaining how dry and boring the curriculum was. One year I got these wonderful high school history tapes. Katie Beth, my oldest daughter, endured them without complaint, but when it was Julianna's turn to use them, she let me know how difficult it was to listen to them. Jenny Rose has never even heard of the tapes! I moved on to something new for American History.

Learning From My Mistakes

Katie Beth succeeded with independent learning, but she missed being part of family fun. Looking back, I wish I'd included her in some unit studies. She did all her high school work, except for coops and dual enrolling for three classes at the local community college, on her own. She was in the house with us, but not part of what we were doing.

Julianna and Jenny Rose did a lot of work independently, but they were part of our history unit studies and other classes. It required creativity to weave everything together, making sure we stayed on track for high school requirements and credits, but it was worth the time and effort. Not only did the girls enjoy learning with the family, but it's good for the little ones to hear the wisdom that comes from high schoolers.  Yes, I said wisdom. Teens thrive when they are heroes/role models to younger children and they rise to the occasion to dispense wisdom to younger siblings. 

Don't assume that because your teenager can do schoolwork on their own, they don't need you anymore. Homeschooling is still a full time job in high school. One of the most important thing a mom can do when teaching high school is to discuss what is being learned. Intellectual discussion is stimulating and a way for teens to process all the material in their classes.

Teens Can Help Evaluate

"I've decided to go ahead and switch my major from Finance to Accounting," Julianna informed her daddy and me one evening. We had been praying with and for her on this decision for several weeks.

"Well, if you think that's God's will,..." I began.

My husband shot me a look. The look warned me to not share my personal feelings about accounting.

I had mentored a younger Christian girl in college who had majored in accounting. She hated it and I hated it for her. She worked faithfully as an accountant for ten years, married to a college professor, eventually pursuing another field. Her experience put a bad taste in my mouth. Not wanting to see my little girl suffer, I had my hesitations. I have since had to adjust my thinking on accounting. While not all people will enjoy accounting, it is not the boring task I once envisioned.

How thankful I am for people who crunch numbers and are good at crunching numbers. Since starting my own business, I see how important accounting is--how it can even make or break a business. My personal philosophy of educating my children includes training them to start and run their own business. So, when Professor in a Box sent me their Financial Accounting Class, I was excited to check it out. However, after looking it over, I decided to take the class myself so that I can grow in the area of managing my own business. Interested?  Let's take a look at this "course in a box."

What's Inside the Package?

Michael P. Licata, Ph.D. is the creator of this accounting course, Professor in a Box:  Financial Accounting, for homeschooled high school students. He is an accounting professor at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. My guess is that he is a popular professor because of his practical teaching style. Everything he taught had practical application with companies that young people can relate to.

Accounting, the language of business, is introduced to the high school student through lectures, homework problems with solutions available, and exams. Taught from a non-traditional approach, there is not a big fat accounting textbook to read. Instead, 12 chapters are divided into 2 or 3 flash lecture slides each. The flash lecture slides include a description of each key concept with discussions of all the important concepts and sample problems with step by step illustrations of how to work them out. The slides are bright and cheerful, easy on the eyes, but very informative and easy to understand. I learned a lot by reading them for this review. They were very impressive.

Investigating the Class

_ If our homeschooling journey is like a race, then high school is the final lap. We all want to run in a way that we can win the prize, crossing the finish line to the shouts of affirmation from Heaven. We long for kudos from our Heavenly Father, to realize that He is pleased with our hard work. We desire to see good fruit and success in our children's lives, to know that our labor has not been in vain.

Our children are the measure of success in our homeschooling endeavor. Are they godly men and women who love Jesus, serving Him with all their hearts or do their hearts wander to things of the world? Do they resist temptation or do they cave in to the devil's tricks and schemes? Are these ladies and gentlemen confident and courageous, or do they shrink back, afraid to live life to the fullest? Are people important priorities? Do they enjoy healthy relationships?

We can look at our children at graduation, ten years after graduation, and at their children to see the results of our homeschooling. But that is in the future. What about now. In the homeschooling high school race, how can we finish well?

Commit Yourself to Finish Well

First of all, we take homeschooling high school seriously, realizing that the results of our efforts will last a lifetime. Homeschooling is not a "part-time job," a hobby, or something to try out for a year or two. Homeschooling is a calling from God. He sets us apart for this ministry to raise up mighty men and women of God for Him!

Answer this call from God with an act of consecration. Dedicate yourself to him...Again! Yes, you may have done this before, but do it again. Tell the Lord that you are committed to follow His plan for your life, including His call to homeschool. Then pray and give yourself to the Lord fully for this mission. Get ready for God to do amazing things. He just waits for hearts to be fully consecrated to Him!

 Our first homeschooling high school conference took place in July 2009 and I had the privilege of teaching with Cheryl Bastian and Virginia Knowles at Finish Well, our mini-conference to equip homeschooling parents with high school students. Cheryl is the mother of seven amazing children with two high school grads. Virginia has a darling brood of ten, with three high school grads. What a joy it was to teach with these ladies again and to meet so many wonderful homeschooling families!  Here are some of the highlights of the day!

My husband opened the day up in prayer, praying that all of us moms would be refreshed and equipped. God definitely answered our prayers. The first session was entitled "Joy and Success in Homeschooling High School." There was a call to build up, not tear down during the high school years. Keeping the goal to educate and equip our children for the life the Lord has called them to live allows us to make plans that will be productive and effective. Homeschooling moms were reminded to imagine their children at graduation--what do they want them to know? What kind of character do they want in their hearts and lives? What kind of relationship do they want to have with their children? This specific goal affects the plans that we make. We tailor our plans to fit the goal of who our child will be at graduation. The first plan to make is the overall four year class plan, keeping it adaptable. We continue to tweak it as unexpected opportunities cause us to make changes. 
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Running the race together is more fun than running alone, and sometimes the only way to finish the race. When we find ourselves knocked down and on the sidelines, watching the other runners pass us by, we need another runner to stop, give us a hand, and help us get back into the race.

Finishing well can require healthy relationships! Last time we talked about how our relationships with our husbands and children can help us finish the homeschooling race well. Today, we'll talk about homeschooling with other families and our support system.

Homeschooling with Other Families

Most of us homeschoolers reject age segregation. Instead, we believe that life is best with all ages mixed together. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is not on the same page, so we get to church and the family is divided up--teens to youth group, kids to Children's Church, and parents to the "Married with Kids Sunday School Class." Of course, the church is waking up and ridding itself of age segregation in some parts of the world and maybe you belong to a church like mine that mixes every age together.

Homeschooling families long to connect with other families who are on the same page when it comes to being together as families. Parents want to be with other parents who like having their kids around and kids who enjoy hanging out with their parents. What a wonderful thing to be friends with other homeschooling families, not just to coop together, but to enjoy life and ministry together.

When the Nolette family joined our church in 2000, we became instant friends. When Laura pulled her older sons out of public elementary school, I had a homeschool buddy. Soon we were co-oping once a week and calling it "History Day." Those weeks turned into years and, to this day, we still have "history day" once a week. Sometimes "history day" has been government or economics class, but we have continued to enjoy a friendship over the years. Our children are all close friends and we have helped each other through many difficult times, including a period where we only had one working vehicle between both families!

Throughout all the plans, classes, and endless documentation of high school, we want to keep our eyes on our destination. Let's talk about boating.

On a boat trip, you must steer carefully, not getting too close to the sides, lest you run aground. This is accomplished by keeping our eyes on our destination (the goal!) and maintaining vigilance.

Depth

Depth of the water is important when boating. The water needs to be deep enough for the boat to glide through without touching the bottom. Spiritual depth is important in our own lives so that we can impart our faith to our beloved children and receive grace to homeschool for the glory of God. We also need to maintain vigilance about the depth of our children's walks with the Lord. Doing certain "normal" teenage things (like dual enrolling or joining the church youth group) require a depth in their walk with the Lord that will withstand the temptations that assault our teens in these situations.

Steer Clear of Obstacles

Everybody knows the story of Daniel and his friends in Daniel chapter one. He resolved not to defile himself with the unclean food of the Babylonians because he was a servant of the Lord. The guard agreed to let Daniel and his friends eat a different diet that would honor the God of Israel.

"At the end of ten days they look healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away the choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds," (Daniel 1:15-17 NIV).

Daniel's Choice Leads to Blessing

Not only did God bless these young men spiritually who had resolved not to defile themselves, but he also gave them knowledge and understanding of literature and learning. If we want to raise smart and godly kids, there is only one way to do it!  Resolve to not defile them with the world's ways, but instead always seek first the Kingdom of God. The Lord always blesses those whose hope is set on Him!

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