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Hello, fellow homeschool families! Thank you for your questions and interest in "That It May Go Well." Our family just completed our first year using it, and it was such a joy! It is an honor to be able to share this with you and I wanted to answer some of the commonly asked questions I receive. One encouragement I want to offer: If you are using the curriculum without the teacher’s guide please consider downloading it. You will find it is much different than a standard teacher’s guide, and it is really needed to make for an all-in-one program. The teacher’s guide is the bread and butter of this curriculum and where the Biblical value/Bible memory/worship time/Bible readings are found. Here are answers to some questions we receive frequently about "That It May Go Well." Question: Is this a one-year curriculum we use over and over? Answer: Lord willing, this will be a three-year cycle that I intend to use twice in our children’s elementary years. My hope and prayer is that all three cycles will be completed for K-5th by the end of 2024. The teacher’s guide for each year should be saved and may be used again, while student workbooks are consumable and you will need one at the grade level of each child you are homeschooling that matches the corresponding cycle you are working through. Question: Do you sell printed copies? Answer: Yes! By the beginning of 2024 the preschool workbook and cycles 1 and 2 should be available to purchase through Amazon. This is the most affordable printing I have found. I am sorry I am unable to ship directly and cannot accept returns. We do not profit from the sale of the printed books. We offer this option simply as a service to you. The prices of the books range based on the lowest cost that Amazon will allow me to offer them. I have heard other homeschool families have been able to take similar books to Office Depot and have the spine cut off and the book spiral bound. You may want to consider that for the Student Workbooks as it makes work pages and writing easier. My encouragement to you on printing if purchasing isn't an option: If your children are enrolled where you receive allotment funds consider how you can utilize those in printing this. You are not actually paying for any Christian content so you would simply be using funding for printing services or ink/paper/spiral binding. See if your school system can work with you to reimburse you! Question: What denomination is the curriculum? Answer: We are not affiliated with any denomination. We love the Lord and believe that Jesus is the Messiah. "That It May Go Well" is written with value for both the Old Testament and the New Testament. We try to stick with Scripture and validate all lessons from the Bible. Each cycle has been/will be written to help you teach your children to be Biblically literate, hide God’s Word in their hearts, live a kingdom-first lifestyle, actively share the Gospel, and be able to defend the faith. We believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, correcting, and training in righteousness. While the New Testament was being written, the Old Testament was the Scriptures that they had and searched to find out if the things spoken about Jesus were true. We believe there is immense value in knowing both and understanding the story of Scripture from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation. As always, we welcome you to make this fit for your family. If there is something within the curriculum that your family disagrees with I encourage you to teach your child, from the Bible, what you see differently. Over the years there were many times I had to pause in resources we used and explain to our children, from the Bible, why this wasn’t exactly the way we believe. Because humans are fallible and I believe that you are the best one to educate your child, I welcome you to use what is supplied in "That It May Go Well" and omit anything that doesn’t line up with what you believe. In closing, I want to give all glory to God for "That It May Go Well." It is truly a work He called me to and is not possible without Him. I am a mom who is doing my best to equip our children and to assist you in training your children in the way they should go. I have spent hours pouring over educational information and resources to make this curriculum useful and well-rounded. I would appreciate your prayers for our family as we continue to develop this curriculum and look forward to welcoming our fourth child this summer. As a free resource, there is not a large team of people behind this project. I do the writing and my husband supports our family and assists in editing and feedback. The Lord has graciously surrounded us with a community of believers who pray for us and are an encouragement. If you have a question that you would like answered and feel that it would be a useful addition to this article please email: lampandlightliving@gmail.com Download "That It May Go Well" here: https://www.lampandlightliving.com/christianhomeschoolcurriculum

Follow your convictions towards righteousness. It’s ok to be counter-cultural. The goal of a Believer and Disciple of Jesus has never been to succumb to the ideals and imagery of the world. Rather, we are called to be different and shine as lights among a wicked generation. It’s ok if being different ruffles the feathers of people around you. Jesus did it, and so should we! We don’t have to portray Christ and living for Christ from a position of rivalry. We should do this from a position of goodwill and love in defense of the Gospel. (**Phillipians 1:15-16 came to mind for me here**) We must live for and emulate the truth. Fear God more than people. 👉Fear God more than you fear not fitting in. The darkness of the upcoming day is undeniable. Just go browse the aisles of your nearest store. You’ll likely encounter it as soon as you walk in the doors. What part has light with darkness? The truth is, none! Ask yourself, “Would Jesus like this?“ If your spirit recoils, you’re in good company. Mine does, and I am fairly confident it’s really the Holy Spirit within me wanting no part of darkness. We’re to bring truth and deliverance to darkness, not to join forces with it! A moment I’ll never forget is having a client once tell me, casually, that her son was dressing up as a demon. 😭 She wasn’t a believer and it wasn’t my job to judge her. Sadly, she didn’t have a heart for Jesus. I was speechless. My heart was breaking for her and her son. I genuinely loved and cared for her and I wanted to shout “Please, Don’t do that!!!!!!” I can think of only a few moments I was speechless as a hairdresser and this was one. My heart was so sad. Do you have any idea the havoc demonic forces can bring to a person who does not have God in their heart?! Satan, demonic forces, and spiritual warfare are very real. They’re not just characters in a movie or someone fun to dress up as. The battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, and powers of this dark world. Against the forces in the Heavenly realms that oppose God. Their goal is to kill, seek, and destroy and they will gain a foothold in anyone or anything they can to satisfy this goal of destruction. How far is too far? Can you nicely take your kids trick or treating? What about an alternative party? We are not God and it isn’t up to us to decide. I would strongly encourage you to seriously pray about this. Ask God what He thinks. Ask Him to bring truth, clarity, sound mind, and righteousness to your home and family. And remember, the world is the world. Judgment starts with the household of God. What if, like our family, you have decided to just treat this day like any other day and not celebrate at all? (It’s such a blessing the fall Biblical feasts fall in this time frame so we have something admirable to look forward to!) I used to turn the lights off and sit in the dark, but last year the Lord convicted me over that. We are to be the light! Our job is not to succumb to the darkness, but to shine outwards to the world, against the grain, to combat the darkness. So, last year I made a nice little sign with a Bible verse that lovingly portrayed the message, “we don’t celebrate.”We left all the lights on, hung the sign on the front door, and went on with our evening shining brightly for the Kingdom of God. To God be the glory in all aspects of our lives!

How do we steward our time well? What does it actually mean to steward time? We have choices in our life every day. Small choices lead to big realities. Habits we practice each day develop a place our life goes. To change our reality we have to change what we do. As a Christian, my time is not my own. I am not stewarding my resources, but the Lord's. God determines the number of days we have and I believe we will answer for how we use them. If you entrust something of value to someone, what is your expectation? I hope you expect what you give to be valued. I believe the Lord expects what He gives us to be valued- time, talent, and resources. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus. This is not an issue of salvation, yet I believe it is an important discussion to have. Will you spend a moment taking inventory of your time? Time questions: How much time do I spend on others? How much time do I invest in my family? How much time is invested in my community? How much time is invested in taking care of my home? How much time do I invest in buying, sorting, and organizing things? How much time do I spend cleaning and on upkeep? How much time do I spend on activities I enjoy? How much time do I spend seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Without being intentional our time can quickly be consumed by less important things. Several years back I realized I was not spending my time or resources well. I was not being intentional about what I bought, owned, and had to take care of. Because of this, my life did not look the way I knew it should. We can prioritize time with many intentions- more time for ourselves, more time for fun, more time for pleasure. However, I would challenge you to think Kingdom First on this. Are you spending your time in a way that stewards your time and resources and allows you to invest in activities and pursuits that put Jesus first? Do you have the time needed to pray and read your Bible? Are you able to take moments of time to be still before the Lord? Sometimes training and prep work for what God calls us to is extremely practical. Mine was. I'm often asked how I have time for Lamp and Light, making Bible studies, and such. The answer is: The Lord prepared me for years before I knew what He was making time and space for me to do. I learned routines and a lifestyle that created time. I learned to simplify my laundry, buy less stuff so I had less stuff to manage, and reduce the number of toys and senseless activities that I do with our kids. I learned to spend less time on what I wear by having a basic capsule-type wardrobe. I shop less. I spend less. And I have more. More time. More resources. More value. Often what we let go of intentionally and with the Lord's help lends us to where we really need to be. Some things are downright practical. Simplified cleaning routines, laundry routines, and owning less have led to a more Bible-based life for me, yet they require really practical steps. "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105

For years I googled things like “Bible-Based Homeschooling” and “How to Use the Bible As Your Primary Textbook”. My searches always came up empty. I seemed to cycle back to the same resources I already knew and used. They’re not bad resources, but many of them are expensive and I was looking for more. I had what I like to call Holy Discontentment. I wanted to homeschool in a way that saturated every part of our day with God’s Word! My primary motivation for homeschooling, after all, is the Truth we get to instill in our children. I started asking questions. Why do we teach our kids fables instead of parables? Jesus told stories, why not use those to teach?? Why do we memorize cute poems when we could memorize Psalms? Why do we simply take the world’s methods, pull the mention of evolution out, slap God in a couple of the stories, and call it Christian? A few years of these thoughts, praying and suggesting to other people that they ought to make what I wanted to use and That It May Go Well was born. It is a project the Lord pursued me with years before I ever had a website or a thought to write. Certainly long before I dared to try! I believe this curriculum is a work in progress, something that will hopefully be added to over the next few years. I anticipate it growing with our family. Truth be told, our kids are the motivating factor behind it. When I finally said, “Yes” to God’s nudges to write a curriculum I said, “Ok, I’ll write OUR curriculum.” And somewhere in there, I knew I had to write it in such a way that I could share it with you! If you’ve homeschooled for a long, or even just googled homeschooling, you’ve likely come across alllllll the philosophies. I honestly appreciate the people who can confidently choose a method and give it 110%, pouring it into their children. As I read and looked at many ideas I couldn’t settle. I love the idea of living books, most of all that the Bible is THE LIVING BOOK. I like the idea of limiting technology, but I also recognize the need to responsibly use and vet technology. How about handicrafts?! Yes please, less clutter because of fewer useless, time-wasting projects. Sign us up! We don’t enjoy boring textbooks and neither do our kids. But, I also am not a total free spirit…In fact, I probably thrive on structure, as does our oldest child. The thought of abandoning all structure seemed like a free-for-all. (And the truth is, it probably would be here around here!) All of these thoughts influenced the way That It May Go Well is written. It is a well-thought-out program, designed to be used easily when you’re homeschooling multiple children at one time. It is truly a Holy Spirit-led and accomplished project. I encourage you to check it out! There are pages, ideas, and worksheets that may be helpful for you even if you use another curriculum currently. The Teacher Guide has a Bible plan, Bible verses, and many questions. It would be great to consider as your Bible program added to what you already use. Within the student guides are writing assignments you may find useful if you homeschool using living books. There are many science worksheets, Bible verse writing assignments, and printables within the student guides. Even if you’re not ready to commit to using this full time I suggest downloading it if you homeschool. That It May Go Well is completely free to download and always will be! Most of all, I hope this curriculum will inspire you to question your child’s education. I hope you will question what we teach, how your children learn best, how Jesus taught, and why education looks the way that it does. I hope it will give you courage to toss the fables in favor of parables. I hope it will give you the courage to toss the history of the gods of the nations in favor of the history of the one true God of creation. I hope it will give you courage to say that our kids don’t need things to uselessly waste their time. I hope it will give you courage to teach everything from a Biblical world view. I hope it will give you the courage to say that there is only one way, one truth, one life- Jesus! If we don’t boldly teach our children, the brazen world will. Look at the small minority of flamboyant people who have turned our entire culture towards sin. What if you and I stood up, spoke up, and refused to shut up? Greater is He who is with us than he who is with them! Have the courage to teach your children absolute truth without compromise. That is where true love and life is found! “Your Word is lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105

The cute Pinterest homeschool spaces are dreamy! But what if you don’t have a designated space to spare? Don’t worry, neither do I! This will be our fourth year of homeschooling and it’s always at the kitchen table or in the living room. We generally keep one end of the table for eating while the other is used for schooling. I keep our school decor minimal because I still enjoy having our dining room feel like it’s a dining room and not overtaken by homeschool. Our pencil sharpener is hidden behind a sign, our ABCs match our house decor, and cute baskets keep clutter out of the way. We store our homeschooling supplies and books in an armoire in the corner of the room. (This also houses other items, one drawer, and a couple of shelves double for office supplies and homeschool supplies.) I find a family-style approach works well when homeschooling multiple children and caring for little kids at the same time. Our youngest can play in the living room or have a snack in her seat at the table while I work with the older kids. I enjoy homeschooling near the kitchen so I can quickly accomplish a task while the kids work on individual work. A designated space and huge amounts of resources are simply not needed to homeschool. While we aren’t minimalists by any means, I find that often less is more. By carefully choosing resources, not overwhelming with what isn’t needed, and organizing what we do have, our space works well. So, if you’re pinning adorable spaces but just aren’t certain you have a spot to homeschool- don’t worry! If you have a table and a small shelf it’s enough. Work on making what you have functional and cozy. It less about the space and far more about the quality of the time spent in the space!

There are two non-negotiables. The Bible is absolutely true, and God is absolutely real. Look around, without a firm foundation chaos comes to a culture that abandons constraints. I don't know about you, but I thought I believed what the Bible says. That is, until I started examining Scripture to make sure. I was raised in Christian School, I went to Church multiple times a week, and my parents did far better than average of reading the Bible with us. But, you see, a couple thought provoking questions were asked of me and instead of allowing that to destroy my faith I took those questions to the Truth. I knew the Bible was true. I knew God was real. And I also saw a mess around me of people who weren't living even remotely close to what the Bible teaches- yes, myself included. Increasingly, we hear stories of people trading popular opinion in favor of Scripture truth. I want to suggest to you that perhaps they never truly believed Scripture. Simply going along with “good” culture isn’t enough. As culture secularizes more and more so do those who don't really know and believe God. When we really believe God and know the Bible to be true, we gravitate towards it when things get stormy. If you rely on the people surrounding you to be the foundation...Best wishes. You're on sinking sand and you probably won't know it until it's too late. If the moral failure of someone you know causes you to doubt God maybe, you don't believe in the same God I do. Because if you believe in the one true God, Yahweh, you'll know that people have failed since the beginning- yes, literally the beginning of time. But God never does. God never fails. You can be disappointed, devastated, horrified, or maybe even outraged but you should never doubt the goodness of God and the truth of the Bible in that moment. People will fail but God never does. When we start examining 21st century Christianity against the Bible and the Church of the New Testament we come to some startling realizations. Maybe like me you'll start asking, "How did we get here?" And there's certainly some history behind that, but more on that another time. What I want to ask you to do is test what you believe and how you live. Don't compare it to your neighbor, your friend at Church, the Sunday school teacher, the pastor, or anyone else. Test what you believe and how you live to the Word of God. Ask good questions. Scary questions. The kind that can unravel your faith if you don't believe God and believe the Bible. Remember the two non-negotiables? Ask the kind of questions that would make the status quo Christian upset. If you really believe God and you really believe the Bible, your foundation is firm, and you'll end up better off than when you started. Questioning the way church is experienced does NOT mean we don’t love the Church. It does not mean we abandon the Church. This is not a vendetta against the body of Christ, but rather a sober reflection on the fact that perhaps we, the Church, have left the foundation of truth found in the Bible. When I started asking these kinds of questions about 10 years ago I was shocked to realize that what I thought I knew so well, what I thought I believed, didn't really stand to the test of Scripture. Much of it did, but much of it didn't. Hopefully you have the basics right. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. He is fully God and came to earth as a man, lived a sinless life, and died as the Messiah to save the world. This basic truth will literally save your life. Don't worry about anything else until you are sure that you know that you know Jesus is the Lord of your life and your salvation. Be willing to let Scripture answer your questions, and don't brush what doesn't add up under the rug. It's time to pull up the rug of religion and expose the dirt. We need the Lord to clean up the mess. "Say this prayer, repeat after me," sound familiar? If so, here's the first question: Where does the Bible say that? Is the sinners prayer Biblical? If not, how is a person saved? Do you go to church in a building on Sunday? Why? Search Scripture and ask yourself why people go to a building that we spend copious amounts of money to build and maintain on Sundays. Do you believe that the Sabbath day is Sunday? Why do you believe that? Test it to Scripture. How about pastors? Is a single, head pastor a Scriptural idea? Hint: Check out overseers and elders. Church leadership is Biblical, but you might be surprised how it was structured. What did Jesus really do? If you've been in Christian circles long you've probably seen WWJD- What Would Jesus Do. Well, what did Jesus really do? How did He live, how did He talk, where did He gather, what Law did He obey, what days did He celebrate? Read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and Acts without imposing what you already do and believe onto them. Read them and ask what you would do and how you would live if you had never set foot inside of a modern, 21st century church (sometimes ran more like a corporation than anything you can find in the Bible.) Do you belong to a denomination? Why? Are they in the Bible? Are you sure yours is right? What about unity in the body of Christ? Explain to Jesus why there are 100s of denominations in your city all professing to worship Him. Ask Him who's right and if that is HIS idea of the Church. I mean it. Really pray right now and ask God to give you discernment and wisdom through the Holy Spirit to test all of this to the Word of God. We cannot afford to sit around and lament the droves of people who are abandoning their faith without asking why. We must examine ourselves and check the Church. The Bible says that judgement starts with the household of God. (1 Peter 4:17) If you really care about the body of Christ, holiness, and Biblical truth you'll be willing to ask hard questions. Spend time in the Word of God and make sure your beliefs reflect truth. "This is just the way we do it" does not suffice as an answer. God gets to decide what is right and wrong. Not me, not you, not your pastor, not the leader of your denomination. God and God alone is the one who calls the shots. Every way isn't the right way. Work out the non-negotiables between you and God. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you in this process. The Lord is faithful and He is the firm foundation to build upon! Thanks for reading through my first blog post on Lamp & Light. I promise not every post will be this intense...you'll find a variety here, Lord willing! Devotionals, Biblical word studies, homeschool content, and Christian Living are all things I hope to write on. You can follow me on Instagram @lampandlightliving and join me here for a bit more depth and variety! "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path" Psalm 119:105