Category Archives: What is L.E.D.

L.E.D. is Freedom & Simplicity™

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What is L.E.D.?

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ is Freedom & Simplicity™ in Spirit LED home education, grounded in God’s Word

Real Books and Family-Friendly Natural Methods
+ Biblical Foundations and Reasoning for Excellence
= Freedom & Simplicity™ in Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™

  • Freedom from man-made constraints and beliefs about education.
  • Freedom to follow God and His ways for our families.
  • Simplicity of natural, common sense methods.
  • Simplicity of living a family-friendly lifestyle of learning.

See other articles on Freedom & Simplicity™:

Finding Freedom & Simplicity™And download our “dirt cheap” intro guide on breaking out of the school-at-home box,
Finding Freedom & Simplicity™.

L.E.D. is Seeking Wisdom

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Seeking Biblical Wisdom through Universal Principles with Unique Applications™

“Wisdom is the principal thing therefore get Wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom: and knowledge of the Holy is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

L.E.D. is a philosophy of education–really all of Life–based on seeking Biblical Wisdom and living our lives according to it, and discipling our children in it to prepare them for their God-given unique calling in life. We believe that God reveals Himself through His Word, which gives “unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” It is our external light, guiding us on this path of life and is our final authority for knowing how to live and glorify our Maker.

He also reveals Himself, to those who are His (see our most important page), through the internal light of His Holy Spirit, guiding and directing us in our unique individuality but within the confines of His Word. We believe these two ways of guidance are the best way for teaching our children also; thoroughly grounding them in Universal Principles of God’s Word, and then within that framework, prayerfully guiding them in Unique Applications in preparation for the future He has for them.

We teach our children to be led by the Word, by teaching them to “think Biblically” in all areas of life, learning to reason from the Scriptures to find the Biblical Principles in all of life and learning, that they might be transformed by the renewing of the mind.

We pray for our children to be led by the Spirit, that they would truly be set free, to live lives of liberty, that they may both glorify and enjoy God in all they do.

This is Discipleship for Life!

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship

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This article is part of a series for new home educators. In this, and several other articles, we cover What style of education is right for our family? And where do I get our curriculum?

We have come to the end of this series, which covers the broader categories of various approaches to home education. I hope through these articles you’ve been able to narrow down from the broad scope of styles to what may be most appropriate for your family. If you’ve come to some of the same biblical conclusions we have, we hope you’ll take a further look at Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™.

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ is primarily a Christian Discipleship/ Worldview philosophy, which has also incorporated several valuable aspects from other philosophies and methods that make home education in Freedom & Simplicity™ a reality. Reaching and training the heart is an important aspect of education, in many ways more important than just teaching the head. Learning should be a discipleship relationship of “you follow me as I follow Christ.” But education is not just an emotional journey, it also includes learning to recognize, live by and to articulate Truth–the Living Truth of Jesus Christ, that is the foundation for all other truth in this world. God and His Word are not isolated aspects of the Christian’s life, but the foundation that permeates every area of life, learning and thinking.

We also are strongly Living Books oriented, using excellent literature and no twaddle, boring textbooks, or busywork workbooks. Gentle, natural, “common sense” methods and the liberal arts are also important to us, making our connection to Ruth Beechick and Charlotte Mason methods strong.

We are not grade level oriented and we integrate the various subjects (as much as is natural), like Unit Studies do. However, we don’t believe in forcing every subject into every topical study just because it is “required”.

We recognize the importance of right reasoning, and reading the greats who have gone before us, like the Classical approach. But not every old book, even the ones highly esteemed by the world, are truly great and worth reading.

We believe that children’s styles and giftings should be taken into account in their education, as Delight-directed does. And that young children’s learning comes mostly from living life and play, and that formal academics should be delayed.

We believe these things all combine for the best of a Discipleship approach. Our goal is to help you apply this in Freedom & Simplicity™, teaching you some of the best methods to accomplish this in your home, without dictating to you exactly what you should be doing and reading on a day-by-day basis. Your home will look very different than our home–or anyone else’s.

We hope you will spend more time here on our website and in reading and listening to our resources we’ve written for you, as we come alongside you on your homeschool journey, as helpers of your joy, in Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™, as you develop the path of instruction that is right for your family. Click to read why you’d want to do that.

Defining Biblical Principles Education

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This pic has nothing to do with this post, but is only included for the Summer Splash BiblePrinciples Facebook Party 🙂

God’s Kingdom is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field. ~ Matt. 13:31

What is Biblical Principles education? I believe it can be summed up in one word, Foundations or Seed. It is about seeking that which lies under, supports, and from which all else is built upon.

It is more than just “teaching based upon the Bible”, although it certainly is that. Biblical Principles education is based solidly on Christianity, particularly as seen in the historical protestant faith beginning in the Reformation, that sought to restore the pure Christianity of the New Testament, that taught that the Law of Liberty begins in hearts submitted to God. It has as its foundation some core teachings of the Reformation, Sola Scriptura–God’s Word alone, and Soli Deo Gloria–for God’s glory alone. Biblical Principles education is a specific philosophy and methodology of teaching based upon the Bible for specific goals.

Foundational Goals

Some of the Foundational aspects of Biblical Principles education are in realizing that what is produced and seen externally begins internally. This is seen in some of its goals:

  1. to be self-governed under God, which requires a heart submitted to God.
  2. to reason Biblically, taking all of life and learning back to “what does the Scripture say” that applies to this.
  3. to think governmentally, determining not only who or what is vying for control, (while realizing that everything lies in the ultimate control of God Himself,) but also discerning what view of government is being promoted.
  4. to see life and learning from God’s perspective, that is in context of the Big Picture. This is wisdom.

Rudiments

Every effect has a cause, and these results are accomplished by seeking out the perspective, purpose and principles of what we are studying. These are the “seed that contains the whole” of our study, the basic elements from which all else (the details and facts) spring forth. These basic elements, Rudiments, are:

  1. seeking God and His purpose in everything learned–the Biblical origin, foundation and purpose of each subject and topic studied.
  2. seeking out the foundational principles of a study–seeing the Big Picture of the study, putting it in context–in both God’s Word and His Creation. I heard it said recently that we can really only study 2 things, God and His Creation. His Word is our Source, His Creation is our re-source. The Principles found will be both Universal (in context with its relationship to all things) and Unique (specific to the subject itself).

Relational Learning

From this “seed” of our study springs forth the entire study. From a foundation of wisdom, we gain understanding and knowledge. From seeing the study in the above context we are able to relate it to our own life (and other things in God’s Creation), learn from it, not just learn it. Then when we learn the facts and details unique to the study, we are learning them in proper context; the facts and details have meaning and relationship. We can look at them both in their universal and unique applications.

The Kingdom of God is like… Seeds

This is Kingdom Education. Have you ever noticed how God so often relates His Kingdom to a seed? (another message for another day) It is whole learning–wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, seeking God’s perspective, purpose and principles, in everything we read and research, so that it is understood in the context of Truth, so we can apply it to our own lives. When we apply God’s Word, in all areas of life, to our own lives, that is growth, true education. What is the final result of the growth of seeds? Reproducing more seed. This is seen in our recording our findings so we can both teach others, and build upon our own learning.

Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™

As you can tell, this is not just a curriculum, in the context of a daily plan and set of resources, you place before your child. It is a lifestyle of education that begins with you renewing your own mind, pressing toward those goals above for your own life. The education of your children is actually “seed reproduction”, planting in their lives from the harvest in our own. This is discipleship. Notice at the end of Matthew’s telling of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, what we call the Great Commission, that Jesus told His disciples to make disciples, to reproduce themselves. Notice, the teachers were to first of all be students of Christ themselves. This is what I call Lifestyle Education through Discipleship.

In a Nutshell

To put it into one sentence I could say, Biblical Principles education is seeking God’s perspective, purpose, and principles in every area of life and learning, and applying them to my own life, and journaling all the rich treasures I find therein.

To hear a short clip from our Freedom & Simplicity™ of Lifestyle Education through Discipleship™ Seminar on how Principle Approach™ and L.E.D. fit together, click here.