Homeschool Companion

What If I Don’t Know What to Pray? If you are just beginning your relationship with Jesus, you might not know what to pray. Begin simply, thank Him, listen, read scripture, and pray by opening your mind to the Holy Spirit. Then ask Him for His Help. To conclude, we begin our interview with Jeff Kolkmann, who is an Olympics superfan. It started the day his father brought home a television set when...

In our devotional, we explore the question: How is singing like praying? When you sing scripture, praise songs, or hymns, you are lifting your heart in prayer through music. Next, during Arts-n-Crafts, we listened to the sounds of nature and created our own melodies to accompany scripture. Following that, in the segment Questions Parents Ask, we interviewed Dr. Neil Nedley, President of Weimar Uni...

Today’s devotional topic is: What’s a Prayer Buddy? For Arts-n-Crafts, we focus on team-building activities—for example, helping a friend complete pushup. In Curriculum Corner, we highlight the website CRHE.org (Coalition for Responsible Home Education). Next, we feature an interview with Dr. Sylvan Lashley and Florretta Mitchell. Dr. Sylvan A. Lashley, a seasoned leader and visionary, is CEO/Pres...

Isn’t it comforting that Jesus knows? That is our devotional topic today. During Arts-n-Crafts, we explore the Forest Classroom Theme. During Curriculum Corner, we discuss the benchmarks for each grade and how homeschooling parents can use them. Then we begin our interview with Becky Nordquist. She was the victim of abuse and has dealt with tragic loss, but she has found hope and peace in Jesus al...

Can I Trust God? Unfortunately, we spend a good deal of our lives not trusting God. During Arts-n-Crafts, we look at a coin and the phrase “In God We Trust,” and we also talk about making bread and how yeast works. Then we look at our devotional, 52 Weekly Devotions on Family Prayer, and examine how we could turn it into a Bible/Science curriculum. Next, we conclude our interview with Pastor Frank...

Can God Help Me with Bullies? is the title of today’s devotion. What do you think? So, during Arts-n-Crafts, we build up our muscles, write about our feelings, and learn how to replace mean thoughts. Our interview today is with Frank Yapp, Pastor of the Bathany Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is a military veteran who has served God for more than 43 years. His book All That Remains is about his s...

What Prayers Are in the Bible? We examine as many of the Bible prayers as possible for today’s devotion. Next, we illustrate Psalms 23. During Curriculum Corner, we discuss the many forms of assessment, noting that simply observing what your child is doing is assessment. Finally, we conclude our interview with Dr. Michael Coleman. He has authored two books. The first, Reflections on Issues in Musi...

Is a Short Prayer OK? is the title of today’s devotion. I believe God hears the yearning of our hearts even before the words are spoken. Moving into Arts-n-Crafts, we do a timer activity and learn SOS in Morse Code. Afterwards, we continue our discussion in Curriculum Corner about developing our own curriculum and including a mixture of media resources. Following this, we begin our interview with...

Healing Depression for Life is Dr. Jantz’s 39th—and most comprehensive—book. “This book is the culmination of three decades of learning, treating clients, and researching the very best techniques available. It is dedicated to the scores of people I’ve known who had the courage to confront their depression…and found healing,” he shares. Drawing from years of clinical experience, research, and real‑...

How Does Forgiveness Help Me? We illustrate this with an object lesson using two tubes—one clogged and one clear—to show how forgiveness opens the way for God’s love to flow freely through us. During Curriculum Corner, we recommend creating a template for your curriculum so you don’t have to reinvent one each time you develop a new unit study. Then we conclude our interview with Pastor David Kline...

How Does God Help Me Solve Problems? In Arts‑n‑Crafts, we explore how using different lenses to look at everyday objects can change what we see—and how, in the same way, we can be at peace because God knows the end from the beginning. During Curriculum Corner, we suggest creating a timeline to guide your curriculum writing. Then we begin our interview with Pastor David Klinedinst, MDiv, director o...

How Can I Stop My Anger? During Curriculum Corner, we look at developing unit studies and how an anchor assignment fits naturally within them. Then we conclude our interview with Yohanna Santana, who shares some beautiful free resources. Each year, Christian Record Services, Inc. (dba Christian Record Services for the Blind) impacts thousands of lives through services provided at no cost. Anyone w...

Can God Help Me Stop Worrying? Our devotion reminds us that when God is our leader, we can trust that He will guide us safely home. We continue our conversation about writing your own curriculum—today focusing on identifying the spine, or anchor, of your topic. Then, in our interview with Yohanna Santana, we learn how Christian Record Services for the Blind seeks to value the blind and low‑vision...

Julie Bogart distills decades of experience—homeschooling her five now-grown children, developing curricula, and training families around the world—to show parents how to make education an exciting, even enchanting, experience for their kids, whether they’re in elementary school or high school. She demonstrates how to weave surprise, mystery, risk, and adventure into everyday routines, helping fam...

Have you ever been frightened by something that turned out to be nothing at all? Today’s story, Sea Serpents, explores just that—reminding us how fear can distort reality. We follow it up with a Moose Unit Study for young children, filled with fun facts and hands-on learning. Our featured game is Jenga, perfect for building focus and family connection. In the second half of the show, we hear from...

Today’s mystery, Dark Treasure, comes from Guide’s Greatest Mystery Stories—a perfect moment for moms and dads to take a little break while the kids dive into suspense and discovery. In Curriculum Corner, we explore what children learn while playing Hide-n-Seek, from problem-solving and emotional regulation to teamwork and spatial awareness. The episode concludes with reflections from Dr. Samuel B...

Today’s story, Where’s Our Stuff?, follows a group of boys who quickly suspect a friend of stealing from their clubhouse. But the real mystery unfolds as listeners piece together the clues. In Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Rosemarie Downer, we explore her 40-day devotional, Above Defeat. Dr. Downer reminds us that the most effective weapon in spiritual warfare is the Word of God. Her devotional...

Today’s show begins with a mystery story about Leyla’s dream, sparking curiosity and reflection. We follow it with ideas for fun, meaningful activities to enjoy with your children. In our featured interview, Dr. Rosemarie Downer explores the four Ds—Distraction, Doubt, Discouragement, and Depression—and the three Fs—Frustration, Failure, and Fear. She challenges us to rethink the human condition a...

Best‑selling author Dr. Gregory L. Jantz, Ph. D., founded The Center – A Place of HOPE, which is recognized as a Top 10 Facility for the Treatment of Depression. For decades, the standard approach to treating depression has remained largely unchanged: most people are prescribed antidepressant medication and talk therapy. However, at least 30 percent of those struggling with depression do not find...

How Do I Know God’s Will? This was the focus of today’s devotion, where we explored ways to seek and understand God’s guidance. During Arts‑n‑Crafts, we played a guessing game using envelopes, encouraging creativity and fun. In our curriculum development segment, we emphasized the importance of considering each child’s interests when shaping lessons. Finally, we continued our interview with Dr. Le...

How Strong Is God? We reflected on God’s incredible strength and power during our devotional time. For Arts‑n‑Crafts, we hiked to a high vantage point to appreciate the view, then built towers together as a hands‑on activity. In Curriculum Corner, we continued writing our own curriculum and discussed the importance of tailoring lessons to each child’s needs. Next, we began our interview with Dr. L...

Why does God let people do bad things? We explored this difficult question by discussing how, in a world influenced by sin and Satan, people are free to make their own choices—even when those choices are harmful. To illustrate the impact of sin, we filled a water balloon to the bursting point, showing how sin builds up until it causes damage. During Curriculum Corner, we focused on writing clear l...

When should I pray for someone else? That question begins today’s devotion. In Arts‑n‑Crafts, we played Eye Spy and made sympathy bandage notes. During Curriculum Corner, we started exploring how to write our own curriculum. Our guest was Doug Batchelor from Amazing Facts, the president of Amazing Facts and senior pastor of Granite Bay Church in California. He is known for his dramatic conversion—...

Legendary rock vocalist, Grammy and Dove Award–winning Christian artist, and GMA Hall of Famer John Schlitt has released his first solo album of original material in seven years. GO—an 11‑song collection of sanctified rock ’n’ roll—is a fitting title for a project that carries so much energy, conviction, and spiritual fire. Whether you’re a lifelong rock‑and‑roll fan or not, you’ll appreciate the...

As a child, I was fascinated by Mexican jumping beans—and now we know exactly what makes them jump. Today, we conclude our discussion on the topic of sending your high school–aged student to high school mid‑way. In Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Conrad Vine, he explains the Crisis of Conscience and how it has already unfolded during the pandemic. He also points to the many end‑time signs visible...