A Time to Learn II – Continuing Education

Welcome back to the Inspire a Fire Academy for the 2026/2027 school year. I’m Mrs. Mayfield, and today is the first day of this semester’s continuing education curriculum.

Let me break the fourth wall for a few moments (that imaginary wall between actors on a stage and the audience, helping the actors pretend there’s nothing past the edge of the stage except a “wall”). Our oldest daughter has chosen to homeschool her children because our homeschool days delighted all of us. She also chose to follow the fun teaching style of unit studies—a journey of teaching all the subjects (math, English, etc.) through one topic, such as her unit on dinosaurs last year.

The ocean world became this year’s unit study theme. I get to create a series of kid-friendly devotions with activities based around the theme—ocean animals, geology, geography, literature, etc. I googled Scriptures on theme, and splash! This post surged with the tide.

Continuing Education – Science

As a teacher who enjoys science but sees the learning of said subject as terrorizing (long story involving blue dye over myself, the table, and the floor!), I tend to float to the category of biology (minus dissections!). Learning about animals immerses my heart with joy!

In the Holy Bible— our main Text for these lessons – we learn in Genesis that Our Creator created the oceans and the ocean animals. And not only that, but He declared them “good.” A few verses later, after creating us in His image, He makes the same declaration (Genesis 1:20-21, 27-28, 31). Oceans, aquatic animals, and we, God’s most beloved creation, are all good, a fact we must keep in our ocean truths retention repertoire.

Additional verses trickle with more facts to learn about sea life.

• Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small. (Psalm 104:25)
  • From the mammoth of the sea, the blue whale, to one of the tiniest organisms, the diatom, the ocean swims with animal life.
• Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small. (Psalm 104:25)
  • Large numbers of ocean creatures are found throughout the earth (geography!), varied in size and type. Scientists discover 1,500 – 2,000 new species each year, including 150 types of fish themselves.
• Praise the Lord from the earth, all sea monsters and ocean depths. (Psalm 148:7)
  • All of life praises its Creator, even ocean animals. (NOTE: A bit of ocean trivia! Sea monsters and dragons surf in our seas! “The Bible tells me so!”)

Continuing Education – Math

During our science lessons, we discovered some math concepts about the ocean. But we’ll leave the counting of new species to our elementary classes. When learning upper math, we need to dive deeper into its depths.

• He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities.You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
  • How deep does that mean our sins lie embedded in the ocean floor? The Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean sits nearly 6.8 miles below the water’s surface.
    • 8 X 5,280 = 35,904 feet
    • That’s a lot of steps into the “depths”!
  • Too simple for advanced mathematics, you say? Okay. The total surface area of Earth equals about 197 million square miles, of which the ocean takes up 139 million square miles. What percentage of the earth’s surface is ocean? Let’s use an algebra equation. (I know, elementary students do this, too, but with empty square boxes!)
    • N% X 197,000,000 = 139,000,000
      • N% = 139,000,000 ÷ 197,000,000
      • N% =  0.70558375634518
      • N = 71
      • 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water; ergo, figuratively, our sins sank under 71% of the earth.
    • Our God surely submerges (and forgives) our iniquities (Micah 7:1).

Continuing Education – Language Arts (Reading and Writing)

Throughout history, streams of books set in or near oceans overflow library bookshelves. Our Text itself gurgles with Scriptures on the topic for us to study for reading and composition lessons.

• Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12, KJV)
• Who has scooped up the ocean in his two hands, or measured the sky between his thumb and

  

  little finger? Who has put all the earth’s dirt in one of his baskets, weighed each mountain and hill? (Isaiah 40:12, MSG)

  • What translation of our Text have you chosen for this school year? I have no required translation selection; instead, I want you to choose the one which resonates with you the most.
  • However, when considering reading assignments in your Textbook, the translation you’ve chosen may word sections quite differently. I suggest you read passages in multiple translations to get the complete message the Author intended.
  • Along the same lines, when we study the composition (or writing) of the many passages, you will find the writing styles change the feeling of the message. For example, the two translations of Isaiah 40:12 above. When you read them aloud it paints quite a different picture.
    • To me, the King James text seems almost lyrical in its style, like the waves on a calm sea. Word choices often affect the cadence of sentences; hence, they can affect our interpretation and how we feel it applies to us.
    • Again, in my opinion The Message text, though accurate in description, gives us a more down to earth picture. The words chosen more closely match a seaside swimming area with children splashing each other. (Disclaimer: I often use The Message in my studies to garner another facet to certain Scriptures.)
  • Considering your Text translation before doing your assignments should bring you smooth sailing.

Continuing Education – History

As mentioned in our first science lesson, Genesis tells of God’s creation of the oceans at the beginning of time. Our Text this semester is literally HIS STORY! In Proverbs 8, we will learn about something that came even before then, something we must add to our knowledge to graduate. Knowledge that we can then apply in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in. This is WISDOM. (Note: The Author of Proverbs refers to wisdom in the first person.)

• I was born before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth their waters. (v. 24, NLT)
• I was there when he established the heavens, when he drew the horizon on the oceans. (v. 27)

  

• I was there when he set the limits of the seas, so they would not spread beyond their boundaries. (v. 29)
  • In the first chapter of our Text, Genesis, we wade into creation with God.
    • Verse 1: God creates the heavens and the earth.
    • Verse 2: He introduces the waters.
    • Verse 9: Oceans receive their boundaries.
  • Wisdom ebbed and flowed through all of creation.

Continuing Education – Bible

To round out this semester’s lessons, we must sink into what the prophet Habukkuk added to our Text concerning the oceans and our knowledge of the One Who made them and us and all things on and around our great planet.

• For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord (Habakkuk 2:14).
  • Throughout this lesson, I suggest you immerse yourself in the over fifty Scriptures in which the mention of oceans, seas, and waters trickle. Check out a concordance for a list.
  • Choose one verse each week to anchor yourself in an awareness of the life-changing deluge of His glory.

Thank You, Our Father, for the oceans of Your love!

May you surf those oceans this year at the Inspire a Fire Academy!