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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