Valor Ridge / Academy

Devotions

Scripture we're sitting with

Scripture is part of the daily life of the Academy, not a subject reserved for one hour of the week. This page holds what we are reading now, what we are learning to carry, and the verses that give our work its direction.

THIS TERM · PSALM 144:1–2

Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight: my goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust.

This passage gives the Academy its posture. The hands are trained, but the Lord is the fortress. Capability and trust belong in the same life; neither half is enough alone.

The narrow path

Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7:14

The trail running down the edge of these pages is that verse. It draws itself as you go and it does not widen. It's a small thing, but our son asks about it, and that was the point of putting it there.

Gratitude

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Not gratitude when it's earned or when the month went well. In every thing. It's the hardest of the practices in this house because it has to be said out loud on the days nobody feels it, and those are the days it's actually for.

The verses we carry

Each role at the Academy has a verse attached to it. They're on the back of our ID cards, which means we read them more often than we would otherwise.

AdministratorJoshua 24:15

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

The decision that makes the rest of them simpler
TeacherDeuteronomy 6:7

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

The whole case for teaching at home, in one verse
StudentProverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.

Where the learning starts, not where it ends

The fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22–23. Nine of them, and they're memory work here. There's a card for this in the library if you want to print one.

How we do it

Short and daily serves us better than long and occasional. We read a passage in the morning before math and ask one honest question. Later in the week, we return to why it matters. The conversation that stays with us often happens at dinner rather than at the desk.

We use the King James for memory work because the rhythm makes it easier to hold, and a modern translation alongside it when the language gets in the way of the meaning.

A note on this page

We're not teaching anyone else's kids here. This is what one household is reading, written down so our son can look back at it later.