Depending on your personality and experience you may know exactly how to plan for your homeschool or you may have no idea where even to begin. There are thousands, if not millions of pieces of information, examples, downloads, and more online to help you do these things. Therefore, rather than create one more set of planning pages to navigate and decide on I thought it might be more helpful to look at scheduling and planning through a uniquely Biblical lens, that way our focus can be honed to only a handful of choices rather than gazillions. đ
First, let us consider our why and our purpose. Why should a Christian classical homeschooler plan and schedule? I can think of three main reasons, alertness, stewardship, and what the ebb and flow of life teach us about reality.First, regarding alertness, in Ephesians 6 we learn about the armor of God. I think all of us have heard or read about that, maybe so much so that it has become a bit of clichĂ© for some of us. J A while back I was studying that section of scripture in depth and was quite surprised by what I had never noticed before. There were two small words in verse 18 of chapter 6 that I must have read, but I never noticed. I guess I never noticed them because whenever I heard a sermon about this passage, the emphasis was always given to the first part of the passage, but the instructions did not stop there. He goes on to tell us to pray and keep alert. It dawned on me that this must have been pretty important if it is also included in Scripture. I began to think about being alert, the Greek word that is translated into âbe alertâ literally means to take care of or to keep zealous watch over. What does that look like in real life and am I living in that state when it comes to homeschool? I had to be honest, I was not there. According to Ephesians 6 what would I not be able to do if I fail to be alert, pray, and put on the armor of God? Well, its part of the instructions given to Christians that allow us to âstand against the devilâs schemesâ. While I do not feel equipped to give a long list of what I think the devilâs schemes are, I can be confident that his schemes have a lot to do with deception and to keep us from becoming one with the Father as Christ is one with the Father.
Let me ask you something. If the whole point of Christian classical education is to become one with the Father, to be made complete, do you think we may encounter the adversary of our souls when we commit to making wholeness a reality in our familyâs life? You bet we will! How much more should we make sure we are alert!?
Second, regarding stewardship, the Scripture tells us through the parables of Jesus that we are managers. We have been given time, life, resources, and talents that we can either invest in something that multiplies or we can squander them. Most of us know that if we do not have a budget for our money then we will not have any when we need it. Scheduling and planning are a budget for our time, resources, and talents. It is only when we are intentional and faithful with them that they tend to increase and produce fruit.Lastly, the ebb and flow of life teaches us just as much about reality, God, and creation as our subjects do. Just like the way we teach makes all the difference for a classical education, the way we view and move in and out of activities and tasks makes all the difference for a classical education as well. I am really just beginning to learn about this area. So I will direct you to what I am currently learning from. If you havenât joined the classicaleducator.com community then you will need to do that first. Once you have joined you have access to a vibrant library of videos, resources, and forums. The one video I have been quite enchanted and changed by is âThe Liturgical Classroom and Virtue Formation,’ by Jenny Rallens. This talk goes into so well the concept of the ebb and flow of life teaching us just as much as the content of our courses. Ms. Rallens is a classroom teacher, so I had to listen for the principles and apply them to the homeschool. In addition, there is a network of bloggers I am just becoming aware of that talk about this and related topics. I had no idea there were so many amazing classical/Charlotte Mason bloggers and readers. I feel like I have a brand new sisterhood of like-minded women! Such a blessing! I will include some links that relate to scheduling and planning below.
So my prayer for us is that whatever we do for scheduling may we do it for the Glory of God, challenge ourselves to be honest about what things are keeping us from being alert and a faithful steward, and may we gird ourselves with courage to accept those realities and release them from our lives. Amen.Expanding wisdom, extending grace,
Jen
ResourcesGetting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Managers of Their Homes: A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families by Steven & Terri Maxwell
Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
Return to the Getting Started with Classical Homeschooling series
Brandy Vencel says
Thanks for the link. đ
And also: I love that you said we can scheduled to the glory of God. Amen and amen…and yet…easy for me to forget, so I thank you for the reminder.
Jennifer Dow says
My pleasure! Thank you! đ