Creating a biblical-centered Catholic homeschool has always been the vision for my homeschool. It’s important to me that my children know these biblical truths. The best way to teach children these truths is to weave them into their homeschooling curriculum.
There are many ways you can do this without having a “bible study” section in your schedule. Now listen, if you weave the Bible throughout your curriculum, everything comes naturally. The study of our Catholic/Christian truths is right there. This is why we love our Catholic homeschool curriculum because it does just this! The Bible is throughout everything my children are learning. We don’t just use one curriculum; we have been able to use two different ones and then fill in the blanks in areas that we feel may have been lacking. This really is the beauty of homeschooling: being able to mold your child’s education.
When teaching an education focused on the Bible, there are some items that I absolutely love to have in our homeschool that make doing this super easy.
#1: An Engaging Bible:
It’s completely okay if you want to read directly out of your own personal bible, but one that is engaging for children will keep their focus. I have a few Bibles that I like to rotate when we do our daily readings and even during our co-op days. (I teach religion in our co-op.) Sometimes they are shorter versions, some times they have beautiful photos and imagery, and other times I will just read directly out of my own personal Bible, but having a Bible that can keep your child’s focus is essential.
We have a few that even have questions after the reading, which allows the child to narrate back what they just heard and helps to really instill the reading into memory. This is one of my favorite Bibles for my kids, shown below.
#2: Bible Verse Memory Cards:
These are great to have to help your child memorize bible verse. They are like flash cards; you can even make your own and print them out. Now if you don’t want to spend the time printing your own you can check out these ones here. We do a different bible verse each week, and the kids learn to recite it. Come the end of the week; they know it by heart.
#3: Various Bible Story Crafts:
These are super important because they allow your child to get hands on. We all know that doing things in practice really helps us learn. When it comes to learning about the truths in the Bible, this is no different. The Internet has many resources, and you can also buy sets that are already done for you with everything you need. Kids love crafts, and this way they are having fun being creative while also learning about our Catholic faith.
#4: Daily Prayers:
We always start our school day with the pledge of allegiance and our daily prayers. I have written up a weekly prayer schedule that we use. Depending on what time of year it is, we have different ones. For example, around Lent and Advent, there are special prayers for the season. Doing daily prayers in our Catholic homeschool is a wonderful way for your children to learn prayers by memory. Honestly, repetition is really the only way they will learn them.
#5: The 3rd Commandment:
While not an actual “item”, it’s still absolutely necessary. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. While this is something that happens outside your home, regular mass attendance is critical to raising up the next generation and passing on your Catholic faith to your children. This also allows you to use mass as a lesson; they learn how to behave in mass at a young age. This can be trial and error, but it is best to just bite the bullet.
We have been taking out boys to mass since they were infants; your fellow parish members will respect this and love that you are bringing up the next generation in the Catholic faith. If there are moments where you have to excuse yourself, that is ok. Trust me, your fellow brothers and sister will understand. These moments will become less and less as your children learn what is expected of them in God’s house.
I truly hope that this post has inspired you to take these steps to make your Catholic homeschool more Christ-centered.
If you happen to still be considering homeschooling, still on the fence about the idea, you might want to check out this article here.
Blessings!
