The short answer: real integration means the worldview changes what gets taught and how — not that a verse gets added. It shows up heavily in history, literature, and two specific points of science; lightly in reading instruction; and essentially not at all in math. A school doing it well can give you a concrete example from last October. A school that answers with chapel and a verse of the week is describing activities — good ones, and not integration.
The distinction matters whether you’re evaluating a school or teaching at home.
The test
Before anything else, here’s the question that sorts it:
“Give me a specific example of how a biblical worldview changed something you taught in history this year.”
Ask for the example, not the philosophy. A strong teacher has one ready, because they actually did it. A layer school reaches for values — what really matters is that we love these kids — and they probably do. It’s still not the answer.
Not every subject carries the same load
This is the part almost nobody says, and it saves an enormous amount of misdirected effort.
| Subject | Worldview load | What integration actually means |
|---|---|---|
| Bible / doctrine | Total | It is the worldview |
| History | Heavy | Whose story, going where, with whom at the center |
| Literature | Moderate to heavy | Depends entirely on the reading list and how it’s handled |
| Science | Heavy at two specific points | Origins and human dignity. The rest is chemistry. |
| Health / family life | Heavy | Anthropology — what a person is |
| Reading instruction | Low — it’s a method | Almost none. See below. |
| Math | Essentially none | A verse in the margin is a sticker |
Where the energy usually goes wrong: a great deal of it hunting for “Christian math,” and very little on the history sequence — which is where the worldview actually lives.
What it looks like, subject by subject
History — the heaviest, and the most neglected
Every history course answers three questions whether or not it admits it: Is the story going anywhere? Who counts as a person? What is a human being capable of?
Integration here looks like:
- History has a direction. It’s not a cycle and it’s not an accident. It’s going somewhere, because Someone is taking it there.
- Every person in it bears God’s image — including the conquered, the enslaved, the losers, and the ones the sources ignored. This single conviction changes how a whole course is written.
- Human nature is honestly assessed. Not progress-myth, not despair. People are image-bearers and they are fallen, and the record shows both. A school that can’t say that about its own heroes hasn’t integrated anything.
- The church is in the story — including the parts that are hard to read.
A layer school teaches the standard sequence and opens with prayer.
Literature — it’s the reading list
Integration isn’t avoiding hard books. It’s what happens when you meet one.
A school with a foundation asks: what does this book believe about people? Is it telling the truth? What does the author want you to want?
Three approaches to a book with objectionable content, and there’s no single right answer:
- Skip it.
- Teach it and address the content.
- Teach through it — use the content as the lesson.
What matters is that the school has thought about it. “We just don’t read those” and “we read everything” are both answers; a school that’s never considered the question hasn’t integrated anything.
Science — and here we’ll be careful
Two points carry the worldview. The rest is science.
Point one: origins. A Christian school teaches that God created — that the universe is authored, sustained, and purposeful, and not ultimately naturalistic.
But note what varies, honestly: the age of the earth, the length of the days, and the reach of common descent are read differently by conservative believers who fully affirm inspiration. Young-earth creationism is commonly taught; old-earth and framework readings exist among people who love Scripture just as much. So “how do you teach origins?” is a question with several faithful answers, and what you’re listening for is whether the school has thought it through and can tell you plainly — not whether it matches you exactly.
Point two: human dignity. This is the firmer boundary, and it reaches further than origins does. Man is a special creation in the image of God — which bears on biology, medicine, ethics, psychology, and how the school treats a struggling child.
Everything else — chemistry, physics, weather, cell structure — is just science, and it’s God’s either way. A school teaching it excellently is doing Christian work. Excellence is not in tension with the mission; it’s part of it. Work done badly isn’t sanctified by being done for God.
Reading — mostly a method, not a message
Blending isn’t Christian or secular. There’s no Apostolic way to teach a vowel team.
That’s not a loss — it’s a relief. It means a school should buy the reading method that works, and put the faith energy where it belongs: into what a child reads once they can, and into the knowledge that makes later reading comprehensible.
And Bible knowledge does double work here. A child who knows what a shepherd did, what a covenant is, why the temple mattered, understands a vast amount of literature, history, and art that other children have to be walked through. It’s spiritual formation and the most efficient background knowledge in Western education at the same time.
Math — the honest answer
Almost none.
Two plus two is four in every worldview. The Christian contribution to a math class is that it’s taught well, that the teacher treats the struggling child like an image-bearer, and that order and number are not accidents.
A verse printed above a page of long division is a nice touch. It is not integration, and paying extra for it is paying for a sticker.
A school that tells you its math is Christian because of the verse has told you it doesn’t know what integration is.
How to spot the layer
Not because layer schools are frauds — most are sincere, and most are doing hard work on thin budgets. But you’re buying one of two products at a similar price.
Signs it’s a layer:
- The example never comes. Only philosophy.
- Integration is described as chapel, verses, and the mission trip. (Good things. Activities.)
- “Christian math” is offered as a feature.
- Bible is a study hall with a devotional.
- The history sequence is the standard one, unexamined.
- Nobody can say what the school believes about origins — or the answer is “we don’t get into that.”
Signs it’s a foundation:
- The teacher has an example in ten seconds, from October.
- They’ve thought about the hard book and can tell you which approach they take and why.
- Bible is graded, with a curriculum.
- They can name what they’re not good at.
- The struggling child is treated like an image-bearer when it’s inconvenient.
If you’re teaching at home
Same map, and it saves you months.
Buy math, spelling, and handwriting on quality alone. Buy reading on method — explicit, systematic, no guessing. Spend your real attention on history, literature, and the two science points, because that’s where the worldview lives.
And the Bible and doctrine are yours. Nothing you purchase does that part. (See: How to Choose Apostolic Homeschool Curriculum.)
The point
“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth… And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Colossians 1:16-17
In Him all things consist. That’s the claim integration is making — not that we add Him to the subjects, but that He was already holding them together, and a Christian education is one that says so out loud in the places where it actually shows.
Which is fewer places than people think, and they matter more than people think.
What to ask
- One specific example from history this year. (The single best question.)
- One from science.
- How do you teach origins? What do students read?
- The hard book — skip, teach, or teach through?
- Is Bible graded, with a curriculum?
- What are you not good at?
(The full version is the Christian School Evaluation Checklist .)
Take the school evaluation checklist and ask for one real example.
ContinueScripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.