What is a Delight Directed Homeschool with Bible Principles Like?

One of the many appeals of a Delight Directed homeschool is the nurturing of a child’s individuality. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines individuality as a: “Separate or distinct existence.” Indeed, children are unique individuals. And our Heavenly Father has given each person interests, talents, and learning styles which add to their individuality.

With this in mind, loving parents desire to nurture these areas of their children. And they desire to do this in a way that makes learning a delight. But do you know that this can also be done with the application of teaching Bible Principles in each subject?

For Christian homeschooling parents who want to implement Delight Directed learning ideas and teach Bible Principles, this is what it’s like…

Defining Delight Directed and the Principle Approach® Methods

To be clear, Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines delight as:

“1. A high degree of pleasure, or satisfaction of mind; joy.”

Ultimately this is the foundational idea of focusing education on a child’s curiosities. And a wise parent will see God’s Principle of Individuality in this idea. But also, a wise Christian parent will endeavor to take these opportunities to teach their children about God. And about His principles contained in the Bible.

Specifically, the Principle Approach® method’s definition is:

“The Principle Approach has been called “reflective teaching and learning.” It is America’s historic method of Biblical reasoning which places the Truths (or principles) of God’s Word at the heart of education. Each subject is predicated upon God’s Biblical principles and students are taught to think and reason from principles and leading ideas using The Notebook Method to Research, Reason, Relate and Record.”

The Foundation for American Christian Education

Additionally, Psalm 1:2 speaks of keeping God’s Word at the heart of education as a delight:

“But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.“

Truly, when teaching our children Bible Principles in each subject, we’re teaching them how God’s Word is a delight!

In many cases the two methods overlap in such a lovely way. In some ways they differ. And yet the Principle Approach® has a way of making learning deeper and richer. But let me show you below how they work well together.

Of note, I’ll mostly refer to the Delight Directed method as DD and the Principle Approach® method as the PA method.

Delight Directed Planning

Certainly, parents are involved. And having a plan laid out helps to ensure that there is a target to aim for. Parents still teach Mathematics, English, Spelling, Penmanship, etc.

But generally Literature, History, Art, Science, etc. are interest led by the child. And planning for these subjects may go out as far as a week or two or three at a time. It really depends on how long any particular interest in any of these subjects lasts.

Additionally, the observant parent will study their child to discover her interests and talents. For this reason, children find blessing in parental support of their hobby and skill interests. Therefore, as far as parents are able to, they offer time during the day to encourage these areas of individual interest.

What Delight Directed Learning Encompasses

Similar to a Charlotte Mason Education, DD shares a love for living books. Indeed, boring textbooks are out the window. Because all they do is give snippets of facts anyway. For learning greatly increases with narrations from authors who absolutely love what they’re writing about. Furthermore, parents may find documentaries or movies that relate to the topic of interest and incorporate those in lessons.

In short, each child’s individuality sets the pace for their unique learning experience. That is to say, the child’s current interests direct the lessons.

What Delight Directed Learning With Bible Principles is Like

Loving parents encourage questions, help with research, and seeking answers. And this is where teaching with Bible Principles comes in to play.

For example, let’s say that a child is showing interest in learning about all things mountains. As you can imagine, research for this geography lesson ensues with excitement. As a part of looking up geography facts about mountains, a Bible study can be done. And this is how to turn it into a Bible study:

Together, ask questions about mountains. Like, “What’s the purpose of studying mountains?” Or, “What does the Bible have to say about how God uses mountains throughout history?”
Look up the word geography in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary and read the definition with the child,
And look up the word mountain in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary and read its definition together,
Use a concordance to look up Bible verses about mountains,
Find Bible verses that relate to the purpose of mountains in geography
Wrap the lesson around to how everything in God’s Creation has purpose.
Have your student journal from the lesson and keep it in a 3-ring binder to delight in later.

Notably, the exciting thing about it all is that these simple steps turn every subject your child wants to learn about into Bible studies. How delightful to open their eyes to so many wonderful things about our Heavenly Father. Namely, in this instance, He’s intentional and He makes provision.

Taking Delight Directed Learning Deeper Still

Yes, this is possible! Consider the following:

Teach History as His Story

Teach Christ as the Focal Point of History
While reading through literature on History, help your children to see God’s Providential Hand.
Help them to see the cause to effect of events.
Take them to God’s Word to learn the basic Biblical principles of government.

Teach Christian Character Through Literature

Do an author study of the book your child wants to read.
Get into the setting by learning about the geographical locations the book mentions.
Keep track of the plot while reading through the book.
Study the internal and external qualities of the main character(s) and help your child to see the cause to effect of the characters’ choices.

Additionally, turn Literature into a Bible study with the same steps above for a Geography lesson:

Jot down notes about ideas, actions, thoughts that characters have.
Make notes of the internal qualities of the characters.
Look these words up in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary to have a clear and correct definition.
Grab a concordance and look the words up to find Bible verses that may relate.
Go on a treasure hunt in the Bible to find basic Biblical principles that apply to the positive or negative issues you’re researching.
See how the characters develop and change throughout the story line.

For a list of the 7 Loves of Literature to help you find quality books for your children, read: The Surprising Companionship of Literature.

In Conclusion

Delight Directed learning is an amazingly intuitive way to nurture children. And to help them grow into who God has created them to be as individuals. Combining it with the Principle Approach® method, keeps the Bible at the heart of education. Which by the way is exactly what America’s Founding Fathers did!

Blessings!