As a veteran homeschooling mother of 5, I’ve spent the past 21 years teaching my children how to love God and love learning. But just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, some kid comes along and attempts to take you back to square one. As frustrating as it can be to try and reinvent how you’ll educate this next prodigy, it can also be super exciting to be pulled out of your neatly drawn box in order to discover how God has created each mind different from another. It was a situation such as this that brought They Believed into existence.

At the time of this website’s creation, my fourth-born child is a cuddly, super intelligent, sarcastic, linear-thinking, extremely literal ten year old who also happens to have Autism. We made it this far into educating him and ran into a hiccup; he wasn’t all that sure that Christianity lined up too well with science. Somehow I hadn’t seen the signs that his brain was separating out those who THINK from those who BELIEVE.

I began to realize that all of those amazing YouTube channels teaching about the universe, the scientific method, and the big brains behind what we currently know, had also brought conflicting messages about how God comes into play with creating and sustaining all that we see (and don’t yet see). Their names are as known to the average elementary-schooler as the colors in the rainbow — Galileo, Newton, Pascal, Kelvin — but their work is most often removed from their faith. Something these men and women of science would shudder to know if they were alive now.

My husband and I would diligently pause videos as misinformation was presented, going through the now-routine mini-conversations where we reminded our son of what the Bible teaches and how science is growing and changing constantly, always getting nearer to what God has taught us all along; that He alone is responsible for our world, our galaxy, and the ever expanding universe. Only, with this particular child, that way of discussing the topic wasn’t cutting it. We needed something more tangible, something he could look at and come face to face with the scientist, his discoveries, and his God.

Thus began my quest for age-appropriate material that brought the faith of these believing scientists back into the forefront. I knew I didn’t want “boring” books, or out-dated videos. I needed something simple, eye-catching, and straight to the point. But try as I might, there wasn’t anything available that met the criteria. The few things that did highlight Christianity in relation to scientists were only hitting the “Top Ten” big names. I knew there were so many more who were being overlooked! It was becoming obvious that I was about to take on a project.

What does a homeschooling mom love almost as much as her laminating machine? Flash cards! Toss them on a key ring and you’ve got a traveling little mini-curriculum right in the palm of your hand. It’s the one thing that all of my kids have used (and continue to use – even in graduate school). The handy dandy cards are perfect for my “I hate to read books but I love to memorize facts” miniature genius. Surprisingly, they’re also great for my teen with dyslexia. She can get the main point in a quick format that doesn’t strain her brain or her eyes. It was a win/win!

But we don’t want to stop with scientists. Our plan is to create flash cards for many different categories of thinkers, artists, and athletes who also believe in God and trust His word as authoritative. If they’ve added anything of import to a field of study, a genre of art, or a feat of human achievement, we want to attach that accomplishment to the more important identifier of “Christian.” We want to teach our kids from the very start that these men and women who have made giant footprints in history, have done so with the knowledge that what they accomplish in life isn’t as impacting on their eternity as the fact that They Believed.