I should have done this a long time ago!

A  from-the-bottom-of-my-heart thank you to those who took the time to take my survey!  After about a hundred responses, it is time to let you know a little about what you said you needed and wanted to read about on this blog.

But before I tell you that, it is obvious from many of your comments that a  number of you are in desperate need of a bit of  motivation and encouragement.

Let me give you some.

You are doing a very. hard. but. valuable. thing. in home schooling your children.

Home schooling is NOT easy, or painless, or without major self-sacrifice.

Please stop comparing yourself with other people who make it look easy.

You know who I’m talking about.

• The denim-jumpered ladies who grind their own wheat to make whole grain bread and make all their kids’ clothes.
• The ones you run into at Wal-Mart, wearing make-up, who have nine nicely dressed, perfectly quiet children walking in a line when yours don’t have clean underwear on because you haven’t been able to do laundry* and you have bribed them to behave with the promise of a treat later backed up by several nasty looks.
• The ones who not only have a neat colored-coded schedule for every day but who actually follow it for more than a day and a half.

*true story

And realize that the advice and coaching you get from this blog comes from what we have learned from doing things wrong as well as from doing things right.

I can tell you, though, that homeschooling has been a wonderful thing for my own spiritual growth as well as that of our children.  There is nothing like seeing yourself in your kids’ less than perfect behavior to give you a picture of what our Heavenly Father so often sees in us!  Ouch!

It has been an even more wonderful thing enjoying the fruit of God’s grace and our home schooling labors in seeing children who love the Lord and are working hard to walk in His footsteps.  Home schooling  is oh, so worth it.

I am also thankful for those of you who took the time to answer the last survey question about what you are struggling with the most. Some of you really poured your heart out, and I appreciated your candidness and your trust in me. I plan to address many of those issues in the weeks and months to follow.

Survey Results

Before I give you a peek at the results, let’s look at the basics of who replied (and I’m rounding):

• 12% of you have home schooled under a year

• 24% from one to three years

• 22%  from three to five years

• 42%  for over six years

I don’t know about you, but I am encouraged that so many of you have home schooled for that long, and I hope this blog will support your efforts and give you some practical tools to keep going!

First Things First

1.  Now the interesting and inspiring part of the survey. The single, most important thing to over half of you (51%) was to read about Christian parenting – how to disciple and mentor your children.  That is SUCH an encouragement to me, as this is what we are called to do, even before academics!  And if you have read this blog for a while you know that this is a topic close to my heart!  If you are new around here, you might be encouraged to read a few of these older posts that relate to Christian parenting:

• Six Tips to Start Second Semester begins with a personal inventory – the most important place to start before we ’start on’ our kids!
• Want to be Wise? is another post written from the perspective of getting yourself in the correct frame of mind first, beginning with prayer and listing specific scripture on my prayer list as I approached the second semester of this school year.
• Using Habits in Personal Training is listed under our Charlotte Mason posts, but it describes how children need to be taught, from the beginning (!), that they are not ‘their own,’ but live under a greater Authority – what a contrast from our current child-centered culture!
• Teaching Character through Poetry Part I and Part II are two of Beth’s posts with great ideas for  incorporating character training into poetry studies.
• Cultural Creeping warns that  we need to be constantly aware of how we and our children are bombarded by our culture’s non-Christian worldview and the need to combat it.

The Rest of the Very Important Stuff

2.  How to Teach Different Subjects (44%)

3.  Teaching High Schoolers (39%)

4.  Ideas for Lesson Plans (39%)

5. Charlotte Mason Methods (38%)

6. Teaching Middle Schoolers (33%)

What You Considered Important

1. Home Schooling Support and Encouragement (47%)

2. Description of Epi Kardia Curricula (46%)

3. Planning and organization (45%)

4. Hands on Learning (44%)

5. Ideas for Lesson Plans (39%)

Lesson Plan Ideas

Because so many of you considered lesson plan ideas important, before this post gets any longer I want to list some of our pertinent posts in one place for those of you who are newer readers:

• Writing a Book Review – Writing a book review for the purpose of encouraging someone else to read a well-loved book is a lot more interesting to write than the traditional report.
• Make a Middle Ages Dictionary! will give you detailed instructions and resources to make a book, taken from our middle school lesson plans, that can be adapted for younger or older students studying this or another time period/subject.
• Make a Lapbook! Identifies the benefits of using graphic organizers and includes photos and MANY ideas and resources for making mini-books and lapbooks.
• Picture Study – Ever wondered how to incorporate the study of great art into your homeschooling? Read about this painless way to do so!
• Picture Study for Older Students -A continuation of the post above, this article contains additional ideas appropriate for your older children.
• The Question Box – This creative, hands on idea can be used to review or to incite interest in studying all kinds of topics.  The lesson example given in on the Middle Ages and can be used with students of all ages.

OK, this is WAY longer than I intended!  But I do want to assure you that I will respond to your preferences  as I plan and write this blog.  And for those of you who asked me to answer particular questions, I will address those very soon.

Many Blessings, Sisters!

P.S.  THANK YOU for some of your very encouraging comments!

January always brings a bit of a struggle for me.  The spiritual side of me wants to spend copious quantities of time in prayer and the scriptures, searching for God’s direction, asking Him to guide me and help me focus on His priorities for my life as we tackle our last school semester of the year.

But the spiritual side has to wrestle with the “practical” side that wants to DO SOMETHING. NOW.

I want to  PLAN everything myself,  make school bigger and better, add this over here and that over there, as well as insert another activity or two in an already busy schedule.

In other words, instead of seeking what God wants to do in and through my life, our family, our homeschool – I tend to want to make MY plans and just ask God to bless them.  How wise is that to act as if I know best?

I constantly have to remind myself that it isn’t about me, and rather than making ten New Year’s Resolutions, finding the perfect planner for 2010, or setting my personal and professional goals on my own, it would be a more profitable use of my time to seek more of HIS input first.  After all, He has the big picture!  He is already working in my life and that of our family’s, and it is my place to join Him in what He is doing rather than setting off in another direction.

Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise.

Many are the plans in a man’s heart,
but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 19:20-21

How puny my plans must be compared with the Maker of the Universe’s!

Here are some other verses I am praying over as I seek to know His plans for our family for the coming year:

I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills {his purpose} for me. Psalm 57:2

The plans of the diligent surely lead to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.  Proverbs 21:5

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. Psalm 33:11

Commit your works to the LORD and your plans will be established.  Proverbs 16:3

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.  Ephesians 3:19-21

Am I the only one who struggles with this?  What do you do to keep yourself on the wise path?

God’s blessings on your New Year!

I have recently noticed how often God speaks to me in my car. Or rather, should I say, how much I hear God in my car? I am sure God speaks to me more often that I hear, but car conversations seem to work because they are one of the few opportunities when I am actually alone! Recently, God shared a beautiful message with me in the car. It is a message of blessings and hope. I hope it encourages you as much as it does me!

God brought to mind many of the trials and tribulations that I have been through in this life. He did not bring them to mind for me to lament over or even to examine in detail, but moreso, He put them on my mind because they all had something in common. Actually two things: through all of them I never lost faith in God and through all of them I was home schooling! Now, the faith aspect is a subject for another day. Probably one that you cover in church regularly. But the home schooling idea surprised me. God revealed me to that day what a blessing home schooling has been in my life. It has been a constant when so many other things were failing around me. If you’ll bear with me, I’d like to share just a few examples:

1. While my beloved mother battled cancer – I was able to travel with my children from my home in Texas to her home in Florida. We used her tiny hometown library and spent most days schooling as I also tended to her. At the time, Ally was only 11 and John Paul was 5. The days were not always easy, but continuing to home school at my mom’s brought not only a measure of routine for the children and myself through a trying time, it also brought joy to my mom to watch her grandchildren grow in wisdom. I hold onto those times as some of my worst because my mother was one of the world’s true saints and as some of my best because if I had not home schooled, imagine what we would’ve missed out on during those days?

2. While living in hotels – My children’s father was a hotel manager for many years and we followed him from state to state often living in hotels for months at a time. Home schooling again brought the continuity that we needed to feel normal in abnormal surroundings.

3. While writing Epi Kardia – now please don’t think that I consider writing Epi Kardia a trial (okay…maybe occasionally. LOL). However, I know that many home school families begin a business while home schooling. Needless to say, there have been days when I felt that I had to choose between the two, but being reminded of the whole reason I started Epi Kardia (I wanted a certain curriculum for my own children!) grounds me when I get too sidetracked.

There are so many more times I could mention, but I think you have the idea. I know many moms who homeschool when it’s amazing that they just get up in the morning. I specifically know those who have lost children, lost spouses, lost all income and I praise God that in all of those cases, they never lost faith! I am not trying to romanticize home schooling or even promote it as any sort of saving grace. But God has used it my life and in my children’s life to allow us to grow closer to one another and to Him, even in life’s worst times.

I’d love to hear from you about a time that you have home schooled through a challenge. If you live in the South, you’ve probably homeschooled through hurricanes! If you live in the North, maybe the snowstorms are your adventure. May you always see your homeschool experience overall as a blessing and not a burden.

God bless each of you as you homeschool through all times, as you have committed yourself to the Godly training of your children and as you continue to seek His face in the process.

In Him,

Anyone who reads the paper or hears the news knows that home schooled students have excelled in terms of their public performance in the National Spelling and Geography Bees.  Yet school administrators, teachers and much of the general public seem to persist in feeling that these exemplary students are the exception rather than the rule.  We continue to hear and read* that homeschooling is a poor choice for students in terms of academic excellence and social education.  In order to negate those negative attitudes with up to date research, HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) commissioned Dr. Brian Ray, an imminent home school authority, to do a 2007-2008 study to piggyback upon prior results of 1998 research conducted by University of Maryland’s Dr. Lawrence Rudner.

And the results?  Surprise!!  Now that the homeschool movement has about 25 years of research behind it, home schooled students still consistently outperform public schooled students! What is especially fascinating is that factors such as the level of education of the parents, the amount of money spent annually on students’ education, the amount of government regulation of homeschooling and whether or not either parent were previously certified teachers did not significantly influence students’ performance on the three indicators used to assess students’ prowess: the Stanford Achievement Test, The Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the California Achievement Test.

Fascinatingly, the research also suggests that homeschooling narrows the gaps between the rich and the poor, between male and female students and from those with white and blue color backgrounds – something our public educational system just hasn’t been able to effectively accomplish.

So there you have it!  It works!  And at a minute fraction of the cost of public school.

Now I know I am preaching to the choir here, but if you are considering homeschooling or new to homeschooling, I want you to hear what I am saying:

You can do this.

Yes, there is a learning curve, and yes, you will feel more on top of things the longer you homeschool.  Look for help and support in a group of like-minded people and realize you will. never. learn. it. all. and that is OK! So be encouraged -  if you are worried that you are ruining your kids, you probably aren’t. LOL  Even if you always feel behind, compare your homeschool to others’ and always feel you are lacking, or are more unorganized than you would like, it appears that you have a pretty good chance of not only meeting, but perhaps even vastly exceeding the public school system.  Even if you are just an amateur.*

With hope in Him,

For more encouragement, please read this.

To read the complete study referred to above, read here.

To read the HSLDA article about the study, read here.

Hello All!

Just wanted to send you a quick note to thank those of you who prayed for my daughter’s mission trip!  She is now back safely from the Amazon.  We have been enthralled with her stories and pictures and are thrilled to have her home again for a few days, at least, until she leaves for college on Friday.

A Yagua Family

It was amazing that this student team was able to live and work beside a people who had only seen Americans one time  previous to this team’s arrival.  It was even more amazing that they ate the local food and swam in a river with piranhas with no illnesses or injuries!  If you would like to hear details about how God worked on her trip and see  more pictures please read her prayer blog.

Thank you again for your prayers!

In His Grace,

As many of us are beginning the new school year in the days and weeks to come, let us commit to being aware of our thoughts and to reframe them as necessary to help us be calm, patient and positive teacher-mentors to our kids.

Is the glass half empty or is it half full? It seems that everyone has a natural bent to view circumstances in life one way or the other. Although we don’t often take the time to think about it, we know that our thoughts influence our attitudes and our attitudes, our behavior. Those of us who have had difficult or even tragic circumstances during childhood have more baggage to deal with and often have more of a set predisposition toward the negative. Many times in these situations, psychological and spiritual intervention may be necessary to deal with the pain and move on to a more balanced outlook.

For the rest of us, though, keeping a handle on our thoughts is, or should be, a daily discipline. The first step is often the awareness of what we are thinking and how it influences us. If you aren’t sure how this works, remember the last time a loved one came home after having a difficult day at work or elsewhere and chewed on you a little bit?

–What did you think?

• “He/she doesn’t have the right to treat me that way!”
• “If I was a better wife/mother, she wouldn’t talk to me like that!”
• “He/she doesn’t love me!”

–What did you do? Get depressed? Chew back? Cry? Kick the dog? Swallow your words but then find yourself being overly critical with your kids or others?

Frequently we don’t even need an antagonist to hijack our attitudes – we do it all by ourselves! For example, perhaps you can remember a time, especially when you were beginning homeschooling, when you thought something like; “I don’t know what I am doing.” If you dwelt on that thought, it was probably followed by,

• “I am not going to be a very good teacher.”
• “My relatives/in-laws/neighbors/friends are right, I have no business trying to home school.”
• “My kids are not going to learn anything.”

You know what I mean. If left to our own devices, those thoughts tend to spiral downward, and so do our attitudes and behavior! 

Maybe this year you are starting to feel a little overwhelmed at school beginning. It would be a great time to get out of the house, perhaps with your spouse, and talk through what worked last year and what didn’t work. For the things that didn’t work so well, brainstorm ways to approach things differently. Try to take areas one at a time. Maybe more than one session of this nature is necessary. Don’t rush back into school until you are ready.

When negative thoughts occur, stop and think through to what the root is of the thought is instead of allowing the ‘downward spiral.’ Alternatively, try to reframe the thought into a positive action.

For example:

Instead of thinking: I have so much to do planning six subjects!

Reframe that thought into: How can I break this planning up into smaller pieces? I think I will spend a few hours a day on one class/subject at a time.

Instead of dwelling on: Once school starts I’m going to be so overwhelmed!

Reframe that thought into: How can I be better this year with taking regular time for myself? I could get up 15 minutes earlier to have a quiet time. I could trade off child watching with a neighbor and take an afternoon walk a few times a week. I could plan in a quarterly teacher work-day and get someone to watch the kids elsewhere so I can stay home and get organized. I can meet a friend for breakfast Saturday mornings when my husband can watch the kids.

Instead of dwelling on: I get so mad at my student when s/he doesn’t finish his work! I dread battling over writing again this year!

Reframe that thought into: It is normal to loose my temper sometimes, but what can I do to keep in control? I could walk away until I calmed down. I can sit down when I am not angry and calmly but firmly talk over the situation with my child. Instead of fighting over writing, I’m going to ask my friend Sally to teach my son writing and maybe I can teach hers math.

You get the idea.

A familiar Biblical example of reframing our thinking is found in the book of James. In verse two of chapter one, James exhorts us to ²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James is saying that even though our natural reaction to trials is to be upset, worried, fearful, etc., he wants us to choose to be joyful. If we can focus on the thought that trials will be of benefit to us, it is easier to walk through them with a better attitude.

One verse that I find very helpful with stopping negative thinking is I Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Start out this school year with a positive frame of mind; take time to recognize and identify negative thoughts, disappointments, and discouragements from last year. Ask yourself:  What can be done differently or how can I approach this situation from a different mental viewpoint? Am I practicing applying a biblical perspective to this situation or circumstance? Do not settle for mentally wrestling about the same anxieties of last year. If you need help, call upon your husband or a trusted friend.

May God bless you as He continues to conform you to His image!

P.S.  If you are from South Carolina, don’t forget that this is Sales Tax Exempt weekend and we are offering SC residents an extra 15% off all purchases over $25!  For this special pricing contact us directly at dana@epikardia.com!

The air is warmer and filled with powdery, yellow pollen, the white fluffy blooms of  my neighbor’s Bradford Pears are viewable outside my front window, and the forerunning greenery of daffodils are finally poking through the ground.  Spring is here!  At least, in South Carolina.  If you are from the northern climes, I assure you, it is coming.

I have always loved this time of year, seeing the earth renew itself and reminding me that I am a new creation in Christ — the old  has passed away, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:17)   And in a few short weeks, Easter will be here!  For Christians, this is one of the most important times of the year.  This is the time we want to teach or remind our children of the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We often attend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter services in our churches, but we also want to take this opportunity in our homes to renew our understanding and appreciation of Christ’s sacrificial death and glorious resurrection on our behalf.

Recently I was thrilled to come across an e-book called Holy Week Family Devotions.  It was written by a dear homeschooling sister, Miiko Gibson, a very sweet cyber-friend who loves the Lord and desired to create “something that would capture the essence of the Holy Week”.  She wanted her children to be able to relive some of the last events in the earthly life of Jesus and reflect on how they were applicable to our lives today.  Miiko’s 28 page e-book devotional contains devotions for Holy Week, the seven days leading up to Easter Sunday.  Each day begins with reading scripture, singing an applicable hymn (it helps to have a hymnbook with this if you don’t know the words, but Miiko suggests you sing something else if that is simpler) and a key verse for that day.  That is followed by the short devotional portion, Looking at Jesus, written in simple language easily understood by younger children yet applicable to older ones as well.  Pertinent and engaging, the Looking into our Hearts section contains reflective discussion questions and applications and is followed by a prayer relating to the lesson.  Miiko includes additional notes for older children, as well as a hands on activity for each day’s devotion.  An additional family activity is also included to reinforce the lesson – we know those hands on activities make learning stick, especially for the younger ones.

I loved this devotional and wish it had been around when my children were younger!  Miiko is making Holy Week Family Devotions available for $6.95 and can be purchased on her website.  (Click here to visit Grace Journey Press website). She also has created a board game to go along with this devotion.While you are there, she also has additional free downloads.  I love her Ten Hints for Keeping Your Daughters Heart. Enjoy!

God’s blessings on you and your families this week,

Most of us wonder how homeschooling through high school will affect our children, especially if our children think they might like to join the rank and file in public high school instead of continuing to be schooled at home.  We often wish we could look ahead and see how it will turn out before we take that leap of faith. As a follow up to my recent post about what I loved about homeschooling, I would like to share a comment from a current college student who was homeschooled through high school (who just happens to be my daughter). LOL I hope it will prove to be as encouraging to you as it was to me! And thank you, Sweetie, for taking the time and effort to make the comment and for allowing us to post it!

So are you encouraged?!

May God bless your week!

 I have had this fascinating youtube video someone sent me rumbling around in my mind all week. It claims to demonstrate the effects of subliminal advertising, which seems to have mixed reviews in terms of research support (although it has been banned in the US since the mid 70s). If you have six minutes to view it, I think you will find it fascinating as well. (Bear with me, this is leading somewhere.)

The idea behind subliminal advertising and this video is that we are exposed to stimuli that effect our behavior without our conscience mind even being aware that we are affected. If this principle is true, and I suspect it is, then think of the implications! Whether we choose to be or not, we are exposed to all sorts of things, not of our choosing:   immodest dress, rampant materialism, and subtle and not-so-subtle pornography everywhere we go – from the magazine covers within view while standing in line at the grocery check out to television commercials we are bombarded with while sitting in our living rooms. 

As believers and homeschooling parents, we know we have much higher standards than the world has. We know that we have to be careful of what we read, what we watch on television, what we view on the Internet.  But as I have considered this I’ve realized that we still are affected by choices others have made–and we had better recognize that we are! If we are not actively combatting these influences, they will take their toll on us and on our families.

My pastor (Rev. Conrad ‘Buster’ Brown) made three application statements recently that seemed tailor made for this conversation I have had in my head. (I love when God does that!) First he said that we needed to actively "plead for the empowerment and leadership of the Holy Spirit." We know our quest for holiness should not be static, it should be dynamic.  We are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Phil. 2:12.  Going beyond ‘not’ doing something, we are to earnestly seek godliness and holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, Pastor Brown urged us to "understand [our] culture," giving us two quotes that hit home:

"Keep in mind while few Americans possess a biblical worldview, most are immersed in daily exercises of covert, worldview training via the mass media, public law, public school education, the internet and conversations with peers. Only an intentional process designed to develop, integrate, and apply a biblical life lense can protect us from the savage mental and spiritual assault that occurs around us every day. The failure to grasp and live out a biblical worldview can only result in a lifestyle that contradicts God’s perfect and eternal moral and spiritual code that was desgined to foster our relationship with him, each other, and the world he entrusted to us."            

George Barna, Think Like Jesus

"I believe that the challenge of living with popular culture well may be as serious for modern Christians as persecution and plagues were for the saints of earlier centuries…enemies that come loudly and visibly are much easier to fight than those that are undetetectable."                                                                                                                                                               

Ken Myers, All God’s Children in Blue Suede Shoes

Those we and our children spend the most time with and consider our closest friends should be those with whom we have shared values. At home, dinner table conversations should include discussion of the ideas and events we come in contact with and observe in our daily lives and how those things align (or not) with what the Bible describes about how Christians are to live.  Moreover, dialogue often about what it means to be ‘in the world’ but not ‘of the world.’

Thirdly, we are to meditate upon scripture.  We should encourage –in ourselves and our children–regular scripture memorization.  How can we incorporate this into our lives and homeschooling?  One of the easiest ways we have found is to institute a scripture verse or passage to discuss, meditate upon, recite and memorize each week.  Especially when children are younger, fill their minds and hearts with scripture and you will see it bear fruit when they are older! 

Some significant verses to consider:

• For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food.  Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.    Job 34: 3-4

• A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.   Prov. 14: 15-16

• Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.    Phil. 4:8                                                                        

• Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.   Jer. 1:5

• My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.    James 1:19-21

• God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.      Heb. 6: 10-12

•  The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways,  but the folly of fools is deception.   Prov. 14: 8

   

  So let us remember to be aware of our surroundings and our culture, and to turn to the Holy Spirit and to the Word for help living the lives we are called to live as well as in training our children. From Phil 1: 9-11:  And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

   

  Amen! 

   Dana

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Anna Hawthorne posted a great idea on her blog today– 10 reasons why she loves to homeschool. These are my 10:

• They can run, but they can’t hide. Ha Ha
• I love to be able to mentor and coach my kids.
• Having them at home has allowed us all to be so much closer than we would have been  otherwise! I love our relationships, especially at the high-school-and-above ages.
• It has given us so many treasured memories over the years.
• They have had educations that suited their specific needs and learning styles.
• I have always been a life-long learner and have loved passing that perspective on to them.
• As Christian parents we are fullfiling our command to raise godly generations.
• Homeschooling has peeled away layers and layers of self-centered grunge from my soul. (Still have layers to go, it’s good I have a little longer….)
• It has enabled me to be in a coaching role for newer/younger h’school moms, which has been a blessing.
• Homeschooling keeps my priorities aligned as I strive to be a godly example to our kids.

How about your 10?