Why we homeschool

During my last seven years of homeschooling I have been fortunate enough not to encounter any major discouragement from non-homeschoolers. Most people are interested when they find out, and many ask questions out of genuine curiosity. I always enjoy talking about homeschooling, and it doesn't at all offend me when people want to know why or how we do it.

Ninjaschool homeschool

Savoring the season

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Lately I've realized that I'm in a pretty great season. 

There are many seasons in a person's life, and I'm currently in a season of motherhood that's really, well, nice. I'm a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom, which is not easy but is also completely wonderful. I have my boys with me all day, every day. And at this point in their lives, they still really, really like me.

The Promise Walk

This morning I woke up to clouds and rain. I set my alarm to wake up early - too early for a Saturday - so that I could make the 40-minute drive across town to participate in The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia this morning, a fundraiser for The Preeclampsia Foundation.

I did not feel like going.

Not only was the weather dreary, but I was tired from the previous week's daily early morning activities. I just wanted to stay in my pajamas and make some hot tea. It's Saturday. It didn't help that the Promise Walk was quite a drive away and in unfamiliar territory. But I packed up the car with the baby and all the stuff that must always travel with him and went anyway.

I'm so glad I did.

Mother's Day #6

Sunday marked the 6th Mother's Day I've celebrated as a mother myself.

In a way, it seems hard to believe it's only my sixth Mother's Day. Six years doesn't sound like a very long time, and still I feel like I've been a mother forever. I can hardly remember myself before mommyhood. And I don't mean that as a bad thing - I just mean once you reach parenthood, you never go back to your pre-parenthood frame of mind again.

And I wouldn't want to anyway.

Am I trying to be Super Mom or an Abiding Mom?

I recently came upon this comparison chart in a homeschooling magazine and found it encouraging as well as convicting. I clipped it out and it now hangs on my refrigerator door to remind me of God's truths every time I walk past.

Priorities

I've been reading a really great book by Elizabeth George, one of my favorite Christian writers. It's called A Woman After God's Own Heart, and boy, have I been convicted of many things while reading it. The biggest thing was the lack of a regular quiet time in my life. Sure, I always had my Sunday school lesson prepared, and I kept my Bible by my bed and opened it maybe twice a week, but that was it. And despite my involvement at church, my own studying, and my regular fellowship with other Christians, I realized something - I was hungry.

So, I began making it my priority to schedule quiet time in my day. Ideally I would like to get up an hour earlier in the morning to do my Bible reading, but that just doesn't work for me. I would genuinely love for this to happen, but it simply doesn't - and the result is I go all day without having my QT at all if I miss it first thing in the morning.

Instead, I schedule it mid-afternoon. Asher goes into his room for his Alone Time, and I have my own Alone Time with God. It lasts usually about an hour, though it varies depending on the amount of passages I'm reading that day. I'm using a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year type of guide, and it's really helpful. Lately I've been doing one OT reading and then one NT reading. I read the blurb in the guide book, then read my study Bible with the commentary. I write down notes in a notebook about anything that jumps out at me, and I highlight meaningful passages. I can't believe how much I've gotten out of what I've read so far - stories I've known since childhood and yet every time I read them, something new jumps out at me. I love this. God's Word is truly eternal.

The difference in my life since making QT a regular thing is practically measurable. I look forward to this time alone with God. By that time of the day, I'm tired from the morning and early-afternoon activities. Reading my Bible and praying are refreshing. And they help get me through the rest of the day.

Another reason I enjoy my QT during the day is that I know Asher is aware of it. I want him to see me make time for God, to see it's a priority in our house. I want him to know God is real not only at Sunday school, but in Mommy's life. Some days he'll stick his head out his door and call out, "Mommy, are you and God done yet?"

Conversely, it's really easy to get out of this habit. When I miss one day, I struggle to get back into my Bible-reading routine again. But when I make time for it each day, I feel different. I am at peace. I'm more patient. I'm happier. I'm content. Why have I been neglecting this integral part of my life all this time when the benefits are so great? I just pray I can continue this way.