Homeschooling is a deeply personal journey, and for many families, it’s a decision rooted in faith. As a parent, you want to create an environment that nurtures not only your child’s academic growth but also their spiritual development. At Portals, we understand this decision because we’re parents ourselves.
When we decided to homeschool, we knew it was the right decision for our family, specifically our boys. But I have to admit, I was terrified. We felt all the responsibility for these boys’ future was now on our shoulders – the responsibility of their success (or failures), of their achievements, of their moral compass; the men, husbands and fathers they were going to be – all on our shoulders. No pressure, right? At the time, I wasn’t even sure of my own ability to be a good mom, wife, teacher, so how was I supposed to help anyone else, much less these little humans in our family?
My husband and I know that we are responsible to step out in obedience and nurture the time, talent and treasure that the Lord has given us, but that we are not necessarily responsible for the fruit itself. Only God can produce fruit, through the Holy Spirit, in each of our individual lives – including these two beautiful lives growing in my home.
Home Based Learning Produces Fruit
A Sunday school parable that our boys know is found in John 15:5, in which Jesus tells us “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
We have learned much of what this looks like from my own attempts to garden. When you start your garden, you begin with seeds and soil. You cultivate the soil, prepare the environment, add water and not a little bit of love and hope, and plant your seeds. Each morning, you step to your pots with anticipation to see what might be coming through, and one day you see it – the little seedling brought to life; the beautiful green of it. You know you had a hand in its environment, carefully spraying it with water, giving it the right amount of warmth and light, but you had nothing to do with whether or not it germinated. That was in God’s hand.
In the same way, that gardening analogy applies to our children: You cannot make the plants grow and bear fruit and you cannot make your children become successful adults. All we can do, as their parents, is cultivate the soil and the environment they grow in by watering and tending to them. The fruit belongs to the Lord and His hand on their life.
Portals is Helping us to have a Healthy, Christ-Centered Homeschool Environment
In choosing to homeschool our boys, we know that the success of our experience can be affected by the curriculum you choose. Ideally, Christian believers should be seeking a Christ-centered homeschooling curriculum that takes each, unique child into account. Curriculum is more than just workbooks and checklists; it is also the real-life doing and learning. And most importantly, it places Jesus in his rightful place, at the center of all His creation.
This is what you will find with Portals. The whole curriculum gives you a Christ-centered homeschooling curriculum, creates a learning environment in your home that is based on the doing and learning, and is carefully curated so you don’t have to seek the “what” from the millions of options now available to us as homeschoolers. They have already done that for us!
So as you plan your Christ-centered homeschool environment, I invite you to see what Portals has to offer. You will find partners in your homeschool journey who understand the responsibilities you feel as a homeschool parent, who want to support and encourage you through this walk, and know how to use curriculum to create a life-giving environment in your home to help you steward God’s call on your life. Connect with Portals today.
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