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I found a picture of my sister and me standing on the front porch of our childhood home with a bouquet of flowers each. Dressed in our Sunday best, it was the first day of school. I was embarking on the fifth grade. The last year in our elementary school. One final year before the dreaded middle school years. My sister was beginning first grade. Her first year of attending school all day long.
Looking back, I wonder if the flowers were a bit much. Of course, they weren't my idea, but I did give them to my teacher. As did my sister. I do remember liking that year of school. Honestly, my fifth-grade teacher was my all-time favorite teacher. Maybe it did have something to do with getting started on the right foot, flowers and all.
It's funny how we can look back and see how certain actions led to certain results, yet they were unbiblical. The Bible talks about the wickedness of bribery over and over. Proverbs 15:27 says, "Whoever is greedy for the unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes shall live." I'm assuming all parties involved, back on my first day of school in fifth grade, had no idea that the Bible teaches this principle. I didn't.
That is a wonderful joy of homeschooling. Even if we weren't raised understanding, learning, or living biblical principles, we can still teach them to our children with rich resources available to us. Of course, the Bible alone is enough to teach, train, and instruct, but I also appreciate using materials not to add to God's word but to reinforce what is already there in the Bible Study Guide for All Ages.
Using this resource, my children and I work through the Bible, pausing to stop and think about how to apply the principles in our everyday lives. I love the coloring sheets with added activities for the younger learners. I tend to buy them for some of my upper elementary kids, too, since they are so rich with wisdom in a simple and practical way. Teaching our children how to remain sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit is precious. If they are unsure if an action is wrong, the Word will teach them. How wonderful that, as parents, we can teach them the way of the Lord and how to walk in it.
Maybe bringing flowers to my teacher on the first day of school isn't terrible, or a sin, but when I look now as an adult at the power of bribery when I see it play out around me, it is a warning sign. I can see the hidden dangers and teach my children to protect their hearts from either attempting to bribe or accept bribes and to keep themselves pure in a defiled world. I love that as we go through the Word of God with our children, their hearts become sensitive to the things of God. I see certain actions that my kids take that are biblical that I never would have done as a child. Certain actions that they take because the Lord is leading them to, not out of religion or obligation. It is a beautiful thing.
Start your school year off right. Make sure you have a Bible curriculum that teaches the Bible—not off-brand theology. I have gone off script too long and am thankful to stay on point, teaching them the basics, how to "Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly," with their God, (Micah 6:8).
