The weather is getting warmer, summer is almost here. It’s the last leg of the school year and I’m ready to throw in the towel and give up!  This is our 18th year of homeschooling and it happens every year:  the exciting days of fall, when I had high hopes of all that we would accomplish,  have been buried under hopelessness.   Reality is a harsh task master and it’s reminding me that we simply are NOT going to get it all done.

You would think that by now I would be immune to this annual event.  I’m not.  It has faded some, but still seems to rear its ugly head.  Are you feeling the same way?   Let’s  take a minute, really think about this, and consider some things:

First of all, do you remember WHY you started to home school in the first place? For us, it was because we felt like we could give our kids a love for learning by letting them school more naturally, according to their giftings and interests. We wanted to protect them from influences that did not instill the values in them that we held important. We wanted to spend more time together as a family. We wanted flexibility. We wanted to prepare our kids for real life by living real life with them. Most of all we wanted our children to come into ownership of their own walks with God.

Are any of these your reasons? Did you notice that NONE of them had any direct correlation to curriculum? And yet, at the end of the day, it’s SO hard not to measure our homeschooling in terms of pages finished and projects completed.

God works in a very different economy. It’s hard to remember that.  But He really does.  His greatest concern is for our hearts, and as moms, that should be our greatest concern for OUR children. Are you seeing growth in your children’s souls? Are they learning HOW to think, rather than WHAT to think? Do they still love learning? Are the relationships within your family, for the most part, peaceful and healthy?

And how about you, Mom?  Do you think YOU need to change to become what your children need or do you believe that you are uniquely qualified for this job? That you were made, by God’s design, to be these children’s mother and, they, to be YOUR children? Do you think that you need to figure everything out or that there is a perfect plan already in place? Do you believe that the results must measure up to expectations or that the results are on HIS shoulders? That you are responsible for everything, or that you are part of a team?

God loves our kids more than we do. Our job is to trust Him and do the next thing. He truly is good and faithful. So let’s take some time to breathe a prayer of thanks, rest in Him and enjoy our kids!