Teach Them Diligently

Teach them diligently. These three words mean so much more to me now. I've always wanted what's best for my children. Always. I've always thought that "the best" meant me working to help my husband to provide for their every need (and basically every want) while someone else spent 8+ hours with them and taught them. I'm so glad that a year ago the Lord showed me this calling of homeschool and that I had friends not let me run from it! (because believe me I tried... still do sometimes! 😜)

I've learned that being diligent, being active and attentive in my children's education can be soooo painstakingly laborious and yet, it has been the most rewarding few months of my life. After Christmas, in January,  I came so very close to ending it all with MG! I believe I said in my previous post that I was as close as driving to the school and enrolling her!

I have to show just a snip of ONE of the many trials!! 🤦‍♀️

I talked with my friend and she said  if that's what I thought ok. but pray about it. I did. After praying I got online and searched the many blogs I've read about homeschooling and scanned for "quitting homeschool" and the usual "so hard" posts. They are PLENTIFUL! This homeschooling deal is NO JOKE! I came to the conclusion that my child needed me. She didn't need to be sent back to a class of 25-30 other kids who would over shadow her and her needs while I sat at home and worked with her brothers. How dare I?! Oh, but her attitude... and oh we are still working on that as well!
As always when I look back I see that God had a plan, because about this time a friend invited me to a homeschool conference and while I couldn't attend the one she was talking about she informed me of one in Nashville called Teach Them Diligently. I called up Jessica and we decided to make a weekend of it! I was able to go Thur-Sat to the conference (I actually was away from Wed-Sun!!) without the kids!!!! This was the revitalization that I needed!!

My beautiful friend, Jessica. 

I learned more than I could of imagined and not just about homeschool. Three days LOADED with sessions every hour and each session brought the Truth, brought empowerment and confidence!
I went to more parenting and marriage sessions than I did homeschool ones to be honest! (here's some that I attended)

I needed to hear that I wasn't the only one who had pushed my husband to the back burner when I decided to stay home rather than work. I needed to hear that I HAD to put my husband in front of my kids. Our relationship matters more! I had to hear (again) that if Christ was in our home in the first place position then the rest would all fall into it's appropriate order of husband and then children. This I struggle with being a mom of three and all so young and so incredibly needy! (which is another factor I have to teach them- independence!!)  Ok, I'm starting to ramble on and not in the direction I was wanting to take! This always happens when I start typing away without any interruptions for a few minutes. It's like a stream of consciousness ... are you following mine?!

SO, I brought home boatloads of information piled in my head (and I took quite a bit of notes!) and I am determined to focus on what matters most. Do you know what that is? Is it their ability to write an amazing compare and contrast essay? Let's hope not because G is too lazy to do it to my standards so I know that he isn't to the world's standards yet! Is it the ability to add without using fingers or counting in her head? Again, I hope not because we have been working on additions facts the whole year and STILL do not have most memorized!! The most important thing is that they know Jesus Christ. They know that Jesus loves them. They've sang it from preschool on. They know that Jesus died on the cross for their sins. They've had the Easter and Christmas stories told to them more than once or even twice a year, EVERY year of their lives. But, the most important thing is for them to really KNOW Jesus as THEIR Lord and Savior. I get to sit and study His Word with them every day and not in a rushed manner. I can answer any of their questions and they are comfortable enough to ask them.

After we start our day (after we've slept in!) with the Bible study (right now we are doing "Because I said so" a study on biblical obedience from Not Consumed that I found at the conference) then we dig into school. I really think that the kids are seeing a difference in how I am approaching school now too. I am still making a list of everything that we need to do in the week, but I'm not stressing as bad about each subject. Just this week I let MG do all of her spelling while she did hand stands! I didn't have to fight her one time! She happily spelled the words and if she got it wrong the world didn't stop spinning for once! She listened to the correct way to spell it and said it made sense and we kept going! Game changer!!! Math. We've played card games and then did worksheets. Again, not one time have I had a complaint. Reading... Yes, we had some complaints, but not the screaming and crying. I read a paragraph and she reads one. I also set a timer rather than trying to get through a chapter like I was trying to do. We can do anything for 15 minutes at a time!

I wrote all this to say that I've had a change of heart. Yes, I'm all about schooling my children and I still want them to have the absolute best of me and out of life. I am going to teach them diligently. I am going to do this when I am weary because I know that God will give me the strength I need to get through one day- and that's all I need - one day at a time. I am going to try to live to show them that I  know that God chose me to be their mother. He believes I am the perfect one for them. I know that God wants me to also be their teacher - in all things, not just schooling. Pressure on!!