BJU Homeschool Review: Basics of a Biblical Worldview

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Would you love to help your kids learn to discern and understand the various worldviews they’ll encounter throughout their lives?

Do you want to know how to teach your kids what postmodernism, scientific naturalism, or secularism are in an age-appropriate way?

Better yet, do you want them to know exactly what a Biblical worldview is, and be able to articulate why it’s worth holding?

If so, the BJU Press Basics of a Biblical Worldview course might be perfect for your middle-school-aged kids.

In this post, I’m going to give you a look at the curriculum, share why it will make a tremendous impact on your family, and how we use it in our homeschool.

But first…

Why Teach a Biblical Worldview?

You might ask why it’s so important that we teach our kids about Biblical Worldview foundations. Isn’t it enough just to use a Christian curriculum, and make sure we are regularly studying the Bible with our kids?

Those things are definitely important. But as Christian homeschooling parents, we have the unique opportunity to help our kids not just with their academic and Biblical knowledge, but also disciple them in their values, beliefs, and understanding of the world.

Everyone has a worldview – whether we realize it or not.  And it impacts how we live, and our worldview impacts how we teach and train our kids.

So what is a worldview? 

A worldview is a person’s set of basic beliefs, their “big-story picture“, their narrative about the world.  Where we came from, why we’re here, what happened, and where we’re going.  Our worldviews impact our actions and shape our culture.

One study I read that was done by the Barna research group in 2020 found that a person’s worldview is often set by the time they are 13 years old. 

So, it’s absolutely important that we are talking with our middle-school-aged kids about worldview issues.  

Research from Barna also showed that even though so many people own Bibles, and even know some of what’s in the Bible, many people don’t know how to take important Biblical principles and use them to respond to “real life” situations and challenges.

There are many worldviews that conflict with a Biblical worldview today. There are so many voices, and so much information, that our kids encounter on a daily basis, often without context or a clear source.  It’s important for them to know that information is not neutral, it comes from someone with a worldview (either very similar or very different from theirs!), and for our discipleship of our kids to include a strong foundation in what Christianity is, and why it’s big story is comprehensive and true. 

Biblical integration in the curriculum we choose is important, and helps us equip our kids to navigate through a world that often promotes conflicting ideas and values. It helps them develop critical thinking skills, enabling them to discern right from wrong based on timeless Biblical truths.

What is a BIBLICAL Worldview?

Ok, so what is a Biblical worldview?

Well, it’s a worldview based on the Bible! 

It’s believing that absolute moral truth exists, and this truth is clearly defined in God’s Word, the Bible.

The Bible is our standard of absolute truth that we can know, it’s the unchanging word of God who created everything, has power over everything, and knows everything.

Having a Biblical worldview involves interpreting and understanding every aspect of reality, including history, morality, purpose, human nature, and the natural world, through the lens of biblical principles and truths. And these interpretations change (or should change!) how we respond and interact with the world around us. 

So if you have a Biblical worldview and want to not only impart knowledge ABOUT the Bible to your kids, but also nurture their spiritual growth and help THEM develop a strong Biblical worldview, the Bible should be the foundation for your learning. 

Through our teaching, we want to help our kids interpret and respond to situations in their lives in ways that are consistent with what the Bible teaches.

There are many great resources and curricula that will help you with this in your homeschool.

One of these publishers is BJU Press.  

How to Teach a Biblical Worldview

I love that BJU Press is so committed to creating worldview shaping resources for homeschoolers. You can trust that the curriculum you purchase from them has been built with a foundational Biblical worldview, and that the Bible is not an afterthought to their lessons — it’s integrated throughout. 

Whether it’s math, or science, or even handwriting, BJU Press resources will help you teach your kids what God says about the subject and how those truths can be applied to their lives. 

About BJU Press Basics for a Biblical Worldview Curriculum

A few months ago I went to a conference at the BJU Press facility (yes, this is a thing you can actually do!).  I got to tour the warehouse, and the area where they film all of their classes, and get a “behind-the-scenes” glance at all of the different workspaces.

While I was on the tour, I saw this book and KNEW I wanted to use it in our homeschool this year.

The Basics for a Biblical Worldview course has been designed to give kids Scripture knowledge and teach them all of the Biblical principles and foundations that lead to a Biblical worldview. Plus, it will equip them with practical ways to live that worldview out.

BJU Press Curriculum Flip Through

To give you a better idea of how the curriculum is structured, I did a video flip through you’ll want to watch!

In the video, I show you ALL of the units that are included, and you’ll see exactly how the teacher’s manual and student activity pages are laid out.

The teacher’s guide is a pretty typical BJU Press teacher’s manual – the student book is contained in the middle, and you’ll find teacher notes along the outside edges of the pages.

It’s pretty easy to follow, and each section follows the same flow: Engage, Instruct, Apply, and Assess.

This is definitely a curriculum you’ll want to do with your kids — I wouldn’t just hand them the textbook and activity book and let them have at it.

You’ll want to have rich discussions about all of the topics…and you’ll probably learn a thing or two along the way as well!

If you’re familiar with BJU Press materials, you’ll appreciate how thorough they are and how the notes tell you exactly what you need to say or do, and what questions to ask during discussions.

With this curriculum, you are also given many other references to resources if you want to dive deeper into a particular topic yourself.

It’s very much open-and-go; not many other materials or resources are needed. There is a journaling component, so you can either have your kids use a separate notebook for that, or simply use looseleaf paper when needed. A lot of the other written work will go in their activity journal that comes in the curriculum package.

Overall, the curriculum is very engaging and interesting and I have truly been enjoying using it with my kids this year! It’s designed to really help kids think deeply about many of the issues they are going to face at this age, or in the upcoming years of their life.

How We Use This BJU Press Worldview Curriculum

This curriculum is intended for 6th grade, but this year I’m using it with my older three kids together (6th, 5th and 5th).

It’s been very much a traditional, discussion-based curriculum. Each day we read the lesson, discuss some questions, and then some days we complete extra activities in their workbooks.

There are a few different projects (“worldview quests”) that are part of this course, but we have not gotten to them yet (they look really interesting, though!).

This curriculum is definitely best for kids around middle school age. My daughters do 5th grade work in most subjects, but they are actually two years younger than my son, and I do think that this has been a bit challenging for them.

However, I will also say that some of the discussions have been very good…but as a course, I would definitely save this one for your middle schoolers (so around 11-14 years old). Simply because of the complexity of some of the topics and the critical thinking that is required. For example, there are questions that require kids to think as though they had a different worldview (how would someone with a secular worldview approach a topic?), and that was very difficult for my 9-year olds. But it’s given us good starting points for many discussions that we need to be having.

Finally, this is a full year curriculum. There are 8 units, and the course is planned out at 180 days. We will most likely take our time and spread this out over 2 years. Mainly because of our schedule; this is NOT the only Bible curriculum we are using (we also participate in a local BSF group), and we just…run out of time some days! And I don’t want to rush this. So we are taking our time, and mainly using this in our homeschool as a means of discussion through the concepts and lessons.

Easy Lesson Planning

I will also share that one of the things I absolutely love is that BJU Press curriculum is available in the Homeschool Planet marketplace. This makes lesson planning so easy!

So if you end up purchasing this course and you also use Homeschool Planet, make sure you grab the lesson plans and import them right into your online homeschool planner. This helps me easily move and shift our schedule when I need to.

If you use other BJU Press classes in your homeschool however, another great option is the Homeschool Hub they offer.

Worldview Shaping Homeschool Curriculum

I can’t recommend this one enough. Go check out Basics for a Biblical Worldview for your homeschool this year, or keep it in mind if you won’t hit the middle school years for a bit.

And really, you can’t go wrong with any of BJU Press’s resources if you’re looking for tools to help you build that solid, Biblical worldview foundation in your homeschool.

And let me know in the comments: what questions do you have about this curriculum? I’m happy to help answer them!

Related Posts

• New BJU Homeschool Feature That Makes Planning a Breeze
• BJU Press Homeschool Curriculum: Our First-Year Experiences
• How to Organize BJU Homeschool Curriculum

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