I love the summer. It is a great time to “tie up loose ends”. I have a bit more time for personal Bible study. There is a bit more time for play. We spend a bit of time honing up on subjects that in which we are lagging behind. It’s a fantastic season to spend some extra time, prayer and effort on summer projects.

In our home, “Projects” are not solely building a bird house, compiling a scrapbook, FINALLY working on that Greek temple made from toilet paper rolls, or finishing a math text.

“Projects” in our home are a mentoring/discipling/parenting tool. We’ve discovered the shotgun approach doesn’t work well for us. We can’t change all areas in all of our children’s lives at once. We can, however, be intentional in our focus. Projects are specific areas of focus for each of our children’s lives. These are prayed over and I believe Holy Spirit impressed. I write these down in my Tryst Journal. At any given point, if confidentiality were not an issue, I could tell you each current project for each of our children. Our projects are a tool that allows us to actively partner with what we believe God is working in each individual family member. This has been very effective.

We make “Projects” a matter of prayer and observation. We notice which character traits or personality issues or discipleship/doctrinal issues God would have us work on - and we focus on those. The key words are: intentional and focus. We may suggest books or Bible passages to our older children, complete a topical study with our child, we bathe each project in prayer and we look for Holy Spirit moments when we can speak to the issue. We evaluate and pray about each project quarterly. Many projects run for several quarters.

Here is one example from YEARS ago to illustrate our family home projects. With one of our darlings we attacked “deception – lying/cheating”. First, the issue became a focus during my family fasts and prayer times. Second, we did a topical study on deception during family circle. Third, I was aware of the opportunities the Holy Spirit opened for me to speak to that area. Fourth, as Mike and I are in agreement he also looks for those God-ordained teachable moments. God was faithful. Conviction, repentance and growth followed. This is currently not a project for any of our children.

Projects are a wonderful tool for individually mentoring each of our children. They take a bit of time and energy, but we’ve seen time and again lasting maturity and heart change when we, as parents, put our efforts where God is working in our child. For our older three, all adults now, this is matter of prayer and the occasional comment, rather than daily training. For the very young ones there are never-ending topics for new projects. ::snort::

We try hard not to ONLY look at behavior but on the heart issue behind the behavior…..this is one tool we use in our endeavor to be a pastor’s family that doesn’t raise children who are inoculated to the gospel or practicing Pharisees.

The NBA is preparing to hold their Draft Pick on June 26th in New York City. Many teen guys and their dads, even some girls and their mothers, place the Draft date on their calendars in the excitement of seeing who their favorite team will be choosing. The Coaches need to select players that can help meet the needs of the entire team. In Basketball they may need to draft a ’shooter’ like Sasha Vujacic for their offensive team so they can score points. On the other hand, the coaches may decide to strategically select a defensive player like Ronny Turiaf, who can prevent the other team from scoring points.

As parents, we have the responsibility of drafting in key players in our teens lives in order to help train them to be a balanced individual with skill, character, and academic excellence. These players are designed to support the morals and high standards that God would want our children to have. Each person in the lives of our children help to form them into the adult they will some day be. Our teens thoughts, opinions, and philosophies are formed in their minds and souls by the people they are around, the books and blogs that they read, and even the music they listen to.

If Sasha Vujacic choses to fill his body with unhealthy foods, never exercise, and spend time in the bars, he isn’t going to be much good to his team members. However, if he eats right, works out each day, and spends his time wisely studying the play book, he will be more equipped when it comes to game day. We can view the moves our opponent makes, but spending too much time studying their moves and not enough time studying our own plan, we can easily become distracted from the main objective. We can learn how not to play the game, but if we invested more time in the fundamentals of the game and work hard at improving our skills and memorizing that play book, then we’ll all end up being the best player we can be.

If I tried to be a Sprittibee or a Jacque Dixon, I’ll never be any better than second best. But I can be the best Sisterlisa I can be as I spend time in my own play book. Each homeschool family has a different set of needs, goals, and desires, so some of the strategies won’t be the same. Yet, as we use the same play book, we can learn the basic fundamentals needed to insure that each of our team members gets the best guidance in making decisions for their game day.

Here are the top 5 plays our family makes in our game.

1. Pray. In order to have an open relationship with the Lord, we need to talk to Him everyday. Schedule time to pray as individuals and as a family.

2. We read the Bible. Even children as young as 3 can read the Bible. Even if they can’t pronounce words yet, they can identify letters. Each child should have a Bible reading

schedule suited to their abilities.

3. Meet with other believers. It’s important to meet regularly with other believers who will support your values and your relationship with the Lord. Some people have good solid churches they can be a member of, while others may have a small country home church. Wherever you meet with fellow believers, be faithful and help to meet the needs of the entire team.

4. Share your faith. If you don’t have a church, you can still reach souls for Christ. Many Christian book stores have Gospel tracts that you can invest in and are very affordable. Hand them out to people you come in contact with each day. The cashier at the store, the bank teller, even mailing them in when you pay bills helps to reach a lost soul.

5. Apply what we know. It’s one thing to just become knowledgeable in a subject, but it’s a whole other ball of wax to be able to apply it. We know that we should read our Bible, so be sure to read it. We know that we should go to church, so be sure to go. We need to reach the lost, so reach out. Be sure that you spend time in communication with God, and He will give you His power to live each day as a vessel that will bring Glory the Most High God.

These are the basic fundamentals that each game player should not only know how to do, but is in practice using these fundamentals each and every day. Be wise when you seek players that help you to meet these needs in the lives of your team. Be sure you’re selecting the best in the draft!

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well today and that you had a GREAT weekend! Our son, Timmy, had a T-ball game on Saturday and we had such a great time! When we signed Timmy up for T-ball, Scott was just thinking about being an assistant coach. However, what happened was that the league asked my husband to be the team’s manager and head coach! Well you can just imagine after having three girls and FINALLY getting a boy, how exciting this is for us to be involved in a sport with our son.

We have such a GREAT team of parents and their boys are just so much fun to watch play ball. In T-ball it doesn’t matter who hits best, runs fastest, or who had the best season last year. In fact, these boys have very little idea of what to do in baseball and it’s so comical to see half the team run after the ball as it’s hit into the outfield. The greatest thing is when the little batter smacks that ball then runs to third base instead of first! These little guys have so much zeal and team spirit and have such fantastic sportsmanship!

In the professional sports arena the league has a Draft at the beginning of the year in which they select their ‘picks’ to join their team for the new season. These draft picks come from colleges across the nation. The coaches want the hardest working, most dedicated, and most talented player for their team. The coaches are also now beginning to see the benefit of a high moral character in the players they are drafting. They don’t want players that all run after the ball hit to the outfield or a player who runs to third base instead of first base. They also don’t want players who, off the field, make poor life decisions that affect not only their future, but the future of the team. They want the best of the best! Coaches want players who know the game, strive to achieve their goal, who have the dedication to better his performance on the field, and remain loyal to the values that were taught to them as a child. That’s what I think about when I come to the HSBA! I’m a homeschooling mom and I’m looking for the best of the best in homeschool blogs! I want to learn how to be a better teacher and find encouragement along the way.

I’ve been to many homeschool blogs and various other homeschool sites and one thing lacking is the content on homeschool sports. Last night I was up late searching for keywords such as, “blogs, homeschool, sports”. Although I didn’t find a lot of blogs with sports featured, I did find many sports sites for various teams such as football, baseball, and cheerleading!

“Scott, I can sense that God is revealing to me the importance of sports in homeschooling today and what God’s Word says about team spirit. Can you please share with us what you think about sports, homeschooling, and how the Bible applies to all this?”

“Yes, Lisa, I’d be honored to.”

In my prayer time, leading up to the writing of this article, I have come to several conclusions and I would like to share those with you now.

1. In my reading of the Bible I don’t recall any stories or teachings where it talks about the children being sent away to school. This tells me that the parents taught their children at home. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7and Luke 2:52) This is not limited to facts and figures. I believe this encompassed many facets of training and education which include:

• Academic - (Daniel 1:4) Bible, reading, writing, arithmetic, history, science, physical education, etc…
• Vocational training - (Psalm 104:23, and Proverbs 14:23) Such as carpentry, farming, blacksmith, metal fabrication, soldiering, marketing, etc…
• Vocational training - (Proverbs 31:10-31) Cooking, sewing, home keeping, budgeting, child care, shopping, etc…
• Life Skills - (Psalm 1:1-6) Decision making, finances, community involvement, public relations, etc…
• Spirituality - (Mark 12:30-31) Salvation, baptism, prayer, Bible reading, church attendance and fellowship, reaching the lost.

(*Note - This does not include areas of secondary education where an individual may choose to further advance or build upon that which they have already been taught. Such as supplemental educational or vocational opportunities.)

2. The traditional home had the men working outside of the home and the women as the keepers of the home. This promoted home education and the true definition of Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

3. The spirit of competition in a godly application leads to dedicated individuals performing together as an efficient team, thus the Body of Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:13-14) This modern day example is that of a sports team working together, each individual counting on the other to perform their responsibility at a level that would help the team accomplish it’s goal.

In the future we will be featuring a variety of biblical examples to help further convict, inspire, and educate us regarding homeschooling. Also, we will be sharing some examples of inspirational homeschoolers, and homeschooling parents that will bring encouragement to you as you learn how they have made educating their children a priority and incorporated the fun of extra curricular activities into their lives.

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