Secular, “neutral,” and Christian homeschool curriculum

Secular, neutral, or Christian homeschool curriculum…what is the big deal? Isn’t it better to present our children with an “unbiased” education?

(You can listen to this in podcast form if you prefer here.)

Friends, there is no such thing as neutral. There is no such thing as unbiased. Let’s explore what these claims are, and why Christian homeschool parents should be wary.

Secular homeschool curriculum

Secular homeschooling is very popular amongst non-religious families, but the concerning thing is that Christian families deliberately choose this, too. In my research, I went to sources that promote secular or neutral curriculum. HomeschoolGameschool.com was one of those sources.

According to HomeschoolGameschool.com, secular curriculum rests on the foundation of evolution, millions of years, and “the absence of religious bias.” I must point out that though there may not be an explicit religious bias, there is a worldview. It may be atheism, or humanism, or some other -ism. Absent the Christian faith, there are many other worldviews, but they are expressly about the absence of God.

To put it more directly, “Secular curriculum teaches students that God is utterly irrelevant.” (Jason Lisle: Education and the Myth of Neutrality)

HomeschoolGameschool further states: “A scientist’s religious beliefs should never, ever enter the lab with them.”

But history tells a different story.  Isaac Newton, widely revered as the father of Physics, said, “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being,” and “Gravity explains the motions of the planets,” Newton said, “but it cannot explain who set the planets in motion. God governs all things and knows all that is or can be done.”

“The greatest scientists—the ones most responsible for great discoveries—were creationists. These include Kepler, Newton, Boyle, Bell, Kirby, Maxwell, Pasteur and Carver, among many others. Their numerous discoveries include physical astronomy, calculus, chemistry, electrodynamics, vaccination, and immunization. They believed that, as scientists, they were “thinking God’s thoughts after Him,” learning to understand and control the laws and processes of nature for God’s glory and man’s good.” (Institute for Creation Research)

Did you know this? If you were educated in public school, you may not. If you’re giving your children a secular education, they will not know this, either.

Homeschool Gameschool continues: “Religion’s role in history is taught from an outsider’s point of view.”

There go thousands of primary source documents! It also makes me think of Howard Zinn’s trashy history: his entire goal was to tell history from the viewpoint of the “outsider,” the underdog, the oppressed. That’s one side, but it’s certainly not unbiased.

Further: “There will be no religious quotes; be sure to check the teacher’s guides, too. There will be no mention of religious-based values or morals.”

I cannot begin to stress just how much material has to be omitted from history with this method. No religious quotes?? No mention of values or morals if they are religious based?? Did you know that values and morals are all based in religion? Even Horace Mann knew this. What a detriment to education!

More research turned up a post by HomeschoolResourceRoom.com, in a post naming their top favorites in secular curriculum. This blog post explains secular curriculum even further:

What does secular mean in this post?

✔ It means that the resources you find are free of religious references and scripture quotes.

✔ Science is science, including evolution. Not faith-neutral, either – actually secular science.

✔ Texts including language arts and history are secular, not created from a religious world-view.

Evolution, secularism – these are worldviews. Whether you want to call it religion or not, they are belief systems.

“Atheism and secular humanism are religions—blind-faith beliefs.” (Ken Ham)

Let’s be very clear: this is the public school method.  There are so many parts of an education that are lacking in a government school. It’s shocking to me that many people still believe a public school education is neutral. It most certainly is not. Public school students are getting one very biased side of the story.

And now, in the 21st century, they are going further — the unraveling of science and history are happening before our eyes. Male and female are now fluid, sex ed is moving to younger and younger grades, the great men of history are being erased, creation is ignored, evolution is taught as fact, and it seems that segregation has been invited back.

Secular homeschooling is very popular amongst non-religious families, but the concerning thing is that Christian families deliberately choose this, too.

Secularism, humanism, atheism rest on the belief in millions of years, that there is no Creator, and that the Bible is not the word of God or a reliable history book. As Christians, why on earth would we want such an education for our children? Apparently, some Christians prefer that, and warn other homeschoolers to choose a non-Christian curriculum.

Neutral homeschool curriculum

A curriculum (or a parent) who claims neutrality is hoping not to offend anyone, or state any strong beliefs. In order to accomplish this, a lot of information has to be omitted, and principles must be compromised.

I see parents asking in homeschool forums every week, “Looking for recommendations for a neutral curriculum for my homeschool.”

Let’s examine what a “neutral” curriculum is.

HomeschoolGameschool explains it like this: “The author/publisher will not take a firm line on evolution or intelligent design, stating that they prefer to focus on “just science.”

Let me ask: if you aren’t addressing evolution or creation in your science lessons, what on earth are you doing?

She goes on: “You cannot remove religion from history, but this is exactly what neutral materials attempt to do.”

This statement is correct. Christianity has directly impacted the course of history since the beginning of time. You can’t leave that out. Omitting religion (any religion) from history lessons is not neutral. This is a worldview.

BookShark, a popular “secular” curriculum created by Sonlight (a Christian curriculum company!), bills itself as “faith neutral.” (I read that blog post about two weeks prior to writing this; now, it appears that BookShark has removed that post from their website.)

As Christians, the phrase “faith neutral” should horrify you.

Cathy Duffey’s review of Book Shark highlights the differences between Sonlight and BookShark:

BookShark is essentially a secular version of Sonlight. The subject of history highlights some of the major differences. Sonlight’s history is presented within packages titled “History with Bible and Literature” while BookShark’s history packages include only history and literature. This is evident in the resources selected for the programs. For instance, the level E history package for both programs uses The Landmark History of the American People: Volume II. Both packages include a biography of William Wilberforce, but Sonlight’s choice stresses the importance of Wilberforce’s faith. Sonlight includes the book Lights in a Dark Place that tells fourteen missionary stories and the book Bruchko, the biography of a murdered missionary. BookShark includes Moccasin Trail, the story of a pioneer boy raised by Crow Indians. I have to add a heads up for those opposed to same-sex marriage since the DK™ book Children Like Me (in the BookShark level B history package) presents a family with a same-sex marriage.

 “A secular liberal view is far from neutral.” (Nancy Pearcy, Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning)

When science and history curriculum leave God out, they are still making a statement. They are teaching your children that God does not matter, and that He is not relevant to their lives. And I repeat: they are leaving out a lot of information.

The result:

• multiple generations of Americans are clueless about many very important people, events, and concepts
• multiple generations are given an incomplete education

As a Christian, my hope is to point my children to

• the God that created them and the world they live in
• the God who controls the heavens and turns the hearts of men
• the God who gave us minds to understand and hearts to believe

Without that, what good is history? It’s just a random series of events, wars, rulers, and death.

Do you see? You can claim that you don’t do Bible study with a history curriculum, or a science curriculum, or even language arts or math. But every resource you choose is either complete, or incomplete.

“There is no such thing as a religiously neutral academic subject (Math, Biology, Logic, Art, Music, etc.). Every subject will be taught from either a Humanistic worldview or a Biblical worldview.” (Israel Wayne)

Neutral education is for robots. Everyone, every curriculum, every teacher has a worldview. I cannot tell you the damage that is being done to the hearts, minds, and worldviews of children who are being taught an anti-biblical education for 13 long years.

Don’t just get any ol’ education for your kids. Invest in their future. Choose wisely. Devote the time. Give them a Christian education.

Christian education

What, exactly, is a Christian education? Bible verses on each workbook page? Leaving out evolution? Can math even be “Christian?” Does grammar need to be Christian?

A distinctly Christian education looks a little something like this:

• the educational materials point to God whenever possible and logical
• science is taught from a biblical creation worldview
• math is taught from a biblical creation worldview (“What if they learned that in studying math properly, they were getting a small glimpse into the infinite mind of God?” – Jason Lisle)
• history is presented as the big picture of mankind
• biographies tell all the facts of a person’s life, including their religion (or lack thereof)
• language is taught as a means of beautiful communication in a dark and hurting world
• the Bible is taught as both history and theology, the guide in all areas of life

R.J. Rushdoony said, “It is a serious mistake to assume, first of all, that there is any neutral subject which can be taught in the same way by both Christian Schools and humanistic schools. To believe so is to deny God’s total sovereignty over all things. It means that areas exist where man, not God, is the Lord. There is no area of neutrality in all of creation. What we believe determines our perspective in mathematics, history, biology, geology, art, physical education, and everything else. The triune God is totally the creator of all things and thus totally their Lord and determiner. All subjects are either taught from a Biblical, a theistic perspective, or they are taught from a humanistic, a man-centered perspective.”

When you choose a Christian curriculum, you get

• language arts with scripture and beautiful classic sources (text choices matter!)
• creation with biology, chemistry, and all the sciences
• the historic perspective of ancient history with the Old and New Testaments
• church history down through the centuries alongside kings, empires, and migrations
• books about the faith of the great scientists and explorers
• an understanding of the deep faith of America’s founders

When it comes to history, our worldview shapes our understanding of historical events. We can look at the events of the past 6,000 years and see that God is everywhere, or determine that He is in His heaven and is not involved with the human race.

“In the Christian worldview, history is the execution of God’s sovereignty over human affairs.  We see how God has rewarded the obedience of some nations and punished the wickedness of others.  We see numerous instances of divine justice and divine mercy spanning millennia!  We even see God using human wickedness to bring about good, all for His glory.”  (Jason Lisle)

I received a message recently, requesting that I create a version of my Little Town on the Prairie study guide so that it would be suitable for a secular/inclusive co-op.

Here’s what I responded: “I appreciate the request, but if you know me, you know I will not alter my homeschool or my messages to fit a secular world. The numerous references to scripture and the fruits of the spirit in this book were the main reason I decided to create this study. In a time when Americans really believe that this country was not founded as a Christian nation, I love to show just how embedded Christianity and biblical living actually were in the entire fabric of American society. This book is just one example among hundreds. They didn’t write I AM A CHRISTIAN in every document; it was assumed, and understood, because the majority of the population was.

I grew up reading these books, and many others, that reminded me how much Christianity was a part of America in the 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. I want others to see this, too. When more Americans see it, they might connect the dots based on John Adams’ famous quote: ‘Our Constitution was created for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'”

Friends, this is what has happened to public school curriculum for a century. By trying to make it “neutral,” we’ve given the impression that America was never a Christian nation. By creating “informational text” in school books, instead of letting students read complete books and complete documents, they’ve been led to believe that our founding generations were “deists” or some such nonsense. And by using internet searches (and don’t get me started on AI), that belief is even more cemented into Americans’ minds today.

All I did was highlight the biblical character of the Ingalls family. And this is what Christian curriculum does for your homeschool. Choose wisely, and give your kids the whole truth.

You cannot educate without some worldview. The question is, will you provide your children with a secular humanist education in the name of neutrality, or will you teach them the full counsel of God, and allow history and science and languages to point them to their Creator?

Recommended Reading: Education: Does God Have an Opinion? by Israel Wayne

Related Blog Posts:

• Why we love Mystery of History homeschool curriculum
• The 101 Series Science Curriculum
• Christian Education