Crisis Homeschooling

In the beginning of 2013, everything was perfect…well not perfect, but close. I have three boys and a wonderful husband. At the time, my boys were 6, 11 and 14. Dylan, my youngest became very ill and had to be removed from school. We were told his stomach was paralyzed but that he would get better. For school, he was put on Hospital/Homebound and educated from home. He was very sick but he improved. In the summer, he got better and I thought that our crisis had passed us. He went back to public school along with the other boys. Dylan was going into 2nd grade, Charley was going into 7th grade and Kyle was going into 10th grade. All was good, until a couple of weeks into the school year, Dylan became severely ill again. Thus began our relationship with homeschooling. Homeschooling was not something I wanted to do. I had been a school teacher for deaf and hard of hearing kids for several years before I had children. I loved teaching, but I wanted to be home for my kids. My husband and I started a business that really took off and I started working in the business, I loved working with the clients and our team members.

The way I saw it, my kid was supposed to go to school and I was supposed to go to work, but that was no possible anymore. It was so very hard.

I want you to know that if you are in a position that you do not want to be in, I understand you. I was angry, I was frustrated, I was confused. I was sad. It is really hard when life doesn’t go according to your plans. It is hard when things don’t work out like they are supposed to.

But, after many years of sitting and grieving the way things were “supposed to be,” I realized something.

We get so stuck on what was supposed to be, that we fail to realize the beauty of

what is and what Can Be.

We get so stuck looking at the circumstances that we fail to see any beauty in what is. We fail to honor the present. We fail to see the possibilities and we will never be able to pursue a future of what “can be” if we cannot see the right now that is in front of us. We have to take a step. A step to recognize today in a different way. We need to look in a way that we are no longer looking at the mess but looking at the possibility. What can we do with today? How can we make it joyful? How can we be happy in today? We have the power to look at today through new eyes. Once we can look at today with new eyes, we can hopefully allow ourselves to dream about what can be. What do we want the future to look like? How do we make it happen?

Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

In this chapter in Deuteronomy Moses goes out and tells Israel that he is no longer going to be their leader. He assures them that the Lord himself will go before them and that when they arrive in the new land, they are going to be fine. He encourages them to be strong and courageous. Then Moses summoned Joshua and told him in front of all the people that he too, must be strong and courageous and reaffirms these statements over Joshua.

How can we apply these scriptures to our lives? Many of you are headed over to a new land. A new place you have never gone, “homeschool land.” The scary land of the unknown, and you are like Joshua, not only are you going to the new land but you are charged with setting up the land and making it work for all the people. What if we took a moment, set our fear aside and picked up what God is offering us? What if we truly believed that God is going before us? If we believed that, do we really have anything to fear? If you believed that God was with you, does picking the right curriculum matter as much? What matters is our attitude.

We are the thermostats in our homes and sometimes, we can get stuck just being a thermometer. Do you know what I mean? A thermometer tells the temperature, a thermostat controls the temperature. Do you realize you have the ability to be a thermostat? Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking for perfection. I screw up all the time, but if we can keep our focus on the right things, our world moves better. Let’s read that verse again…

Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

It is an awesome verse. I want to focus on the word never for a moment. Never means not ever. I want you to know that you are not alone. Never. When you think you are going to pull your hair out, you are not alone. When you have switched math curriculums for the third time in three months, you are not alone. When you and all of your kids are crying, you are not alone. When your kids finally masters what you have been laying down, you are not alone. God is with you. He goes before you. We must only seek Him and His plan. Here’s something else I want you to know, no matter how much experience a homeschool parent, we still need God. We still need to remember that He goes before us and is with us. It is an amazing promise. Grab a hold of it today!