I didn't expect that.

This is going to be a piggy-back off of my previous post, so if you missed that feel free to click over and read.

Today was a day that Alexander could have called a "terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." Absolutely nothing went as planned, and actually many of the plans I had made were completely ruined - much to the distress of my children.

This situation allows me, as the mother, to teach my children how to properly handle the unexpected.

This is part of what being a parent, called to train my children in the way they should go, is all about.

Today, God allowed me to teach by good example - He gave me the grace to help show what good can come of a terrible, horrible, no good situation. I was allowed to talk my emotional pre-teen through the disappointment of not being able to do all the fun we had planned and still see that God is good. I was able to be calm in having to find new childcare, missing lunch, and finding the grocery store closed, all within 30 minutes. 

Homeschooling, I have found, is primarily non-academic. Truly.

Let me encourage all my mom friends: homeschooling or not,  from little babies all the way up to adult-age children. Life is non-academic. What is most important is non-academic.

We often face the unexpected. Our children need to learn how to face the unexpected. Will we teach them to react to the unexpected like Alexander, in frustration? Or will we teach them to face the unexpected with a reliance in God.

Our God is never caught off guard. What is unexpected to us is just part of how He is going to move in our lives. He created everything, knew my frame before I was formed in my mother's womb, and knew this day before time began.

We can trust Him. We NEED to trust in Him.

We need to teach our children to trust in Him.

I am praying for you. I am praying for grace and peace through the expected and the unexpected.

When Home Education is Not Academic

We are taking a break from school in May.

At least, that's what I tell people. My children are fairly convinced this is a fact also, simply because we aren't doing math worksheets nor getting out the science book.

Yet, truly, most of our days are spent the same way they are always spent.

We read the Bible - the girls and I are going through the history books of the Old Testament.

We create things - they wanted to build a house for some cat figurines out of pop-cycle sticks. 

We wrestle with our hearts and attitudes towards each other.

 

Most of the education I give my children is non-academic. Yes, math, history, spelling, science, all that is good - but if I fail to teach my children what it means to follow Christ, to be godly women... if I don't teach them diligently to love the Lord God first and then to love others as themselves, then what am I teaching them? 

You have to decide what God has called you to focus on as a homeschool mom. I'm learning that the journey is way more than academics. Even when we are "doing school", the majority of my day is focused on teaching my children nonacademic lessons.

Life lessons that will impact every aspect of their life.

Some verses that influence our journey:

Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing to the Lord (Colossians 3:20)

Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32)

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

God bless.

Imperfection

 We made our first batch of strawberry jam for the year this past Saturday. 

I love making jam. Fresh, local fruit preserved in sugary goodness. We've been "jamming" and processing fruits for over a decade now, I think, and we've only had one batch that went bad due to the lids popping open after they were sealed and stored (had to be a manufacturer's defect).

I say that because that shows how practiced my girls and I have become. We have learned much. Even so, we still are prone to imperfections.

This weekend, the imperfection was caused by my attempt to use fewer dishes and impatience. I used the immersion blender to puree the fruit (not a time saver, but fewer dishes) then became impatient when it was time to skim the bubbles/froth off the top.

The results? Three beautiful jars full of jam, and one jar that's obviously imperfect. Will the jam still set and taste good? Most likely. But, I now have a jar that I cannot give away.

Now, I could take pictures of the jars at the perfect angles and brag on how wonderfully everything went. I could beat myself up over the mistake and become frustrated.

What I should do it be thankful that I have three good jars and simply enjoy the ugly one with my family.

Because, imperfect does not mean trash.

Imperfect isn't unusable.

God created humans perfect in the beginning, but since we sinned, we became imperfect.

God still uses us. He still finds it a pleasure to fellowship with us.

God still loves us. Better yet, God loved us and showed His great love when we were as unusable as a piece of trash. Romans 5:8

So we also have a choice. We are imperfect. Do we wallow in our imperfections, our struggles, or do we purpose in our hearts and minds to do our best to follow Jesus Christ.

 Romans 6:12-18

 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
  13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
  14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
  15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
  16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
  17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
  18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

God bless, my friends. Fight the good fight, keep looking toward the end goal, the prize of Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. When we keep our eyes on Him, He will show us the way - for He is the Way.

🍓🍓🍓