Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

What is discipleship—and why is it important in your homeschool? Tune in as HSLDA President Mike Smith discusses that question, on today’s Home School Heartbeat.

Mike Smith:
Have you ever watched parents teaching a child to walk? They hold his hands—helping him to steady himself as he takes his first steps.

A baby doesn’t learn to walk by reading a book, taking a test, or discussing the relative merits of walking versus crawling, riding, or swimming. Rather, his parents walk beside him—providing an example for him to imitate, and catching him if he falls.

Parents have firsthand experience that the best learning takes place when we interact with someone we admire and begin patterning our life after theirs. That principle applies not just to a child’s physical or academic growth, but his spiritual growth as well.

In Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses commanded the Israelites, “. . . these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6:6-7, NKJV).

Teaching our children to follow Christ doesn’t just happen in Sunday School or when the family gathers for evening prayer. It occurs at breakfast, when bickering children are reminded to speak encouraging words to one another; during a discussion in your homeschool on creation versus evolution; and when you and your daughter talk about her post-high school plans while preparing dinner together.

That’s true discipleship. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.