Words of Truth: When Homeschooling Gets Hard

The other day, the big yellow bus drove by jam-packed with pint-sized, scholastic hopefuls on their way to school.  THIS particular day, I glanced out the window for only a second before eagerly diving into a great book with one or two kids huddled by my side.  But, I must admit, there have been a few days…OK, more than a few…that I have sat transfixed at that same window with longing in my eyes…longing for the big bus to stop at my front stoop and carry my kiddos off so that someone else can teach them. On THOSE DAYS…those “nothing seems to be going right and I’m seriously questioning whether I can do this thing called H.O.M.E.S.C.H.O.O.L” kind of days…I take a deep breath, square my shoulders, and cling to the few Words that bolstered me last week…and the week before that…and the week before that!  I cling to these Words of TRUTH because they were given to me at the beginning of the school year by El Roi, the God who sees.

God, in His tender watch-care for me, sees me approach each school year with hopeful anticipation.  He sees my investment of time and energy.  He sees my excitement.  He sees my passion.  BUT, He also sees my anxiety.  My fear.  My doubt…hidden deep under the surface.  He sees.

But, El Roi, the God who sees, is not a god who watches idly from the sidelines.  He is a God that meets me right at my need…even the needs that haven’t come yet…those disastrous, “I need a do-over” homeschooling days that are inevitable when you pair up an imperfect mother with imperfect children in an imperfect world.  He sees that while I LOVE homeschooling, I don’t always LIKE it.

Every year, before the school year begins, I pray and ask God to show me a verse in His Scriptures that I can claim for my school year.  I do this NOT because I am some super spiritual, “have it all together” homeschooling momma, but because I am a desperate one.  I am desperate to continue on my course.  I am desperate to be present in the “good work” that He is doing in and through my children.  I am desperate to be willingly, not just obligated, to fully obey His calling in my life.  I am desperate!   And in my desperation, I cling to Truth…His Truth.

So, I pray.  I pray for a verse.

Seven years and MANY verses later, He still continues to provide Truth that affirms my call to homeschool.

This year, in the quiet hours of one August morning, my eyes fell on James 1:27 which reads,

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, and TO KEEP ONESELF FROM BEING POLLUTED BY THE WORLD.” NIV (emphasis mine)

Until He calls otherwise, God asks me to keep my kids “from being polluted by the world” while they are too young to do that for themselves. HOW to do that might look different from household to household. But, in my house, part of that “keeping” is HOMESCHOOLING.

God gave me these Words THEN, knowing that I would need them NOW…a month or so into the school year when the “honeymoon stage” has come to an end.  He gave me these words to keep me on my course on those days when the big yellow bus seems so tempting.

I don’t know how your school year started.  Maybe it was a complete success.  But, on the other hand, maybe it was a total flop.  Either way, I’d encourage you to claim some Truth for your school year.  Pray and ask God to show you ONE verse…one verse you can cling to on those difficult days…because if they haven’t already, THOSE days will come.  Don’t let a few bad homeschool days define your school year.

El Roi, the God who sees, sees YOU.  He sees your needs…the ones you have today and the ones you will have tomorrow.  Psalm 142:3a reminds us,

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path.” NKJV

He knows your path.  And if that path includes homeschooling, allow Him (who KNOWS your path) to uphold your spirit with His Truth.  Claim a homeschool verse today!

More verses of Truth El Roi has given me.