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The goal of my homeschooling reaches beyond completing a course of academic study.  The real goal is pointing my boys to a God who is always present, who longs to abide and commune with them- to a Christ who is able to save, and who desires to live in their hearts.  This mission compels me to search out ways to reach my wonderfully busy-easily distracted- lovers of great deeds-thoughtful/thoughtless- boys. The solution I find myself turning to again and again, is the simple character story.

The New Testament is filled with the parables Jesus told- simple stories to challenge His listeners to discover freshly, what God and His kingdom are like.  He told parables to move hearts towards a response to God, and to use the ordinary everyday as a tool to show another hidden reality.

A good character story brings out a lesson that hides just beneath the surface- leaving the listener to apply the lesson to his own heart.  A good character story is rich in bold characters and flaws; is easily remembered and has rich meaning.  I find that a well-told story with a lesson is more potent then any lecture or stinging verbal correction.  My boys seem heedless at times, but I have seen beneath the surface, sensitive hearts longing to do right if confronted with it.

Charles Spurgeon had this to say about the simple parable;

“…And so is man’s mind constituted that we can always see a thing better through a picture than anyhow else. If you tell a man a simple truth, he does not see it nearly so well as if you told it to him in an illustration. If I should attempt to describe the flight of a soul from sin to Christ, you would not see it one half so readily as if I should picture John Bunyan’s pilgrim running out of the city of destruction, with his fingers in his ears, and hastening with all his might to the wicket gate.”

Resources I use in our homeschool for instruction and for subtle correction are:

A Child’s Book of Character Building by R. Coriell

This is actually my very favorite resource. This book presents thirteen different character traits such as “attentive”, “obedience”, and “contentment”. I have used this book with all my children,  and my eldest girls can still, years later give you the definitions of many of these traits.
Each trait is introduced with an easy to remember definition and a Bible verse, then you are given four stories-for example: “Attentive” – “listening with my ears, eyes, and heart” the stories that follow are; “Attentive in the Bible”, “Attentive at home”, “Attentive at school” and “Attentive at play”.  I like to stretch out each word into two weeks, reading two stories each week.  Daily we practice reciting the word and definition, and I keep on the lookout to catch the kids exhibiting these virtues.

Another gem is the Miller series by Mildred Martin. These stories are Amish- a peek into a different world, and are rich is virtue.  Two of my favorite stories are “Timmy’s Goat”-dealing with caring for pets responsibly and humanly, and “Bossy Betty”.

The pinnacle of parable, is of course, “Pilgrim’s Progress”.  I have found the picture book version “A Dangerous Journey” approachable, exciting and inspiring with lavish illustrations.  You can stretch this book out into a unit study by exploring vocabulary, Bible references, story elements and Veritas Press even has a study guide if you are inclined in that direction.

These books have laid a firm foundation for my boy’s instruction into deeper things.  They are rewarded with a good story first, and a deep truth to think deeply about after.  At the end of the day, my bedtime philosopher has much to reflect on and pray about.