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I’m on a homeschooling chat list and a mother asked for ideas for her 12 year old son who is gifted in math and science but completely bored in Bible study. She said she uses various curricula and he knows all the stories and the answers but he just doesn’t care. This woman got 92 thorough answers in two hours! Here are the thoughts I shared:

• Take advantage of this logic stage to do lots of critical thinking from all angles.
• Physicists argue about whether or not something can come from nothing. Consider the law of conservation of energy; where did energy originate?
• Look into how algae reproduces. Is creation that obscure and intricate designed by a creator or just by random chance?
• What is matter? A particle is filled with a vacuum with a little bit of something in it, but when you examine that closely it is a vacuum surrounded by a tiny bit of something… You can look closer and closer into matter and never get there. So what is substance actually?
• And get into considering the nature of the infinite. Now there’s a concept! What does that look like? What is infinite? How many infinities are there?
• Mathematical numbers and musical notes follow spiritual laws as well; can he identify those universal laws?
• And if he actually starts to get that God exists, how many qualities and attributes of God can he list? (I have upwards 700 and counting…)
• And maybe you should get him out of his head and into his heart by volunteering in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter.
• These are just a few ideas… Keep it challenging and relevant, not rote, nor doctrinal, nor merely historical. Science can lead you to God when you really ask the toughest questions with an open mind. Don’t be afraid of doing that.

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