Learning in the midst of homeschooling

I just had a very life giving conversation with some friends today about homeschooling, mothering, teaching our kids and then I thought, maybe I could blog about this?

Honestly, I love homeschooling.

It's kind of like mothering for me. I didn't think I would like it, I thought I was too cool for it, that it wouldn't be "for me" but really, my heart is like, yes, this is incredible.


I want to boast in my weakness right now. I have the privilege of diving into the Word of God every day and using it to teach my kids character and it's just in the everyday, mundane stuff of life. I'm not really amazing or wise, I just get to be a student of the Word and God has given me the ability to recall just the right verses at the right time. It's truly the Holy Spirit who is working inside of me, I don't know how I come up with these scriptures except I just heard them once sometime in my past or heard a sermon about it or read a book about it. I don't even know.


Yesterday Levi, Aria and Simeon were unloading the dishwasher. I asked them to unload it while I went upstairs to lay Jethro down for his afternoon nap. I came down to Aria running upstairs and crying in her room and Levi and Simeon continuing to work. I asked what happened and Aria said Levi hurt her feelings. Levi said, "What? I just said she was lazy and not working very hard."

Immediately I thought of Ephesians 4:29 "Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up, that it may benefit all who listen." Were the things he was saying benefiting everyone who was listening? Was it building up Aria or tearing her down? We got to sit down and have a heart to heart talk about this. I also brought up Proverbs 19:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat it's fruit." Levi, were you speaking life or death over your sister? How can you encourage her to work harder without tearing her down?


Today was special. I mean, I honestly want to have a whole blog devoted to the antics of Paul. It's like I could write a book of his first three years. I love it and I hate it all at the same time. Paul has taught me to be strong. Thankfully, he's leaving the terrible twos and entering the wonderful threes. (At least that's how it is in our family, I know others say the threes are the worst, I totally get it, twos are our "year of deep dark sadness")

Okay, sorry, I felt like I needed to intro this story with that explanation.

So Paul was playing with one of Simeon's new matchbox car and carrying it around everywhere. I was doing school with the big kids and the littles were just playing around. Paul had to go to the bathroom and came out a little while later telling me proudly that he had pooped in the potty. I knew he hadn't wiped himself (he can't quite get himself clean yet) so I was like, okay, let's go back to the bathroom and clean you up. On the way he informed me that he had dropped his car in the toilet.

Oh dear.

I looked and from what I could guess he had pooped, flushed it and then afterwards somehow dropped this car into the "cleanish" toilet. I'm just glad it wasn't sitting in the poop nor was it clogging our toilet. You have to understand that as a mom of five who has cloth diapered and potty trained and pretty much nothing phases me. You single people without children are totally grossed out by now. It wasn't pleasurable and I washed the car and my hands thoroughly but I definitely reached in there and got it after wiping Paul. 

I hear outside the bathroom door, "Hey Simeon! Paul dropped your car in the toilet!" Thank you Levi, you didn't really need to broadcast that to the house.

Immediately the verse came to mind about love covering over sin. I was like, how does that one go again? Google can come in pretty handy with that stuff. I found it in Proverbs 17:9 "He who repeats a matter separates close friends but he who covers over and offense promotes love." I asked Levi, did Simeon really need to know this? Was it an accident that Paul dropped it in the toilet? (I'm not positive, but I'm giving Paul the benefit of the doubt on this one.)  We want to promote friendship between Paul and Simeon, it's already a tenuous relationship at times, does Simeon really need another reason to dislike Paul?

We talked about not lying or covering over legitimate sin. We talked about that if you see a kid doing something that is disobedient to go and tell an adult or that if someone does something to you to hurt you, you need to tell Mommy or Daddy.

These things are hard to teach.

I didn't find them in any textbook, they were just in my spirit.

Yes, we do reading, writing and arithmetic every day. These core subjects are important and I feel like they are like bricks that we are laying one day at a time, and then we will look back and see that we have built and entire house. But even more than these things, the atmosphere, the culture we are creating in our home is in these day to day, character building times and I truly, honestly love it.


I really love it.

Thank You Lord for this amazing gift that I didn't even know I wanted. Once again, You know me better than I know myself.

A request for prayer

I am writing to just ask for prayers right now. Ben is having to decide between two very different jobs in these next few days, or it might be decided for him, we are still kind of in the waiting and I can't explain all the details… but if you could pray for wisdom for us, I would very much appreciate it.


Lord, You are our ultimate provider. We look to You for everything. Thank You for calling us to a life of faith. May we live it fully for You. I don't want all the treasures of this world, I want You and Your Holy Spirit and I want to do whatever I can to be more and more dependent on You. Ben and I are finding more and more that the things of this world are not satisfying and the only thing that will ever fill us to completion is You. We want to follow You wherever.

We need Your direction Lord! Open doors or close them, we are Your sheep, the people of Your pasture.

A Bodily Cleansing :) part 13

I prefer to learn from my mistakes... not make them again. Of course, pride comes before the fall.

As soon as I finished my post yesterday Levi woke up. It was a chaotic afternoon. I didn't want to think about anything, didn't want to put away the laundry, didn't want to fix something for him to eat, didn't want to change his diaper, didn't want to clean the house... You get the picture. Schedules for moms are like a backbone, a way that allows you to do what you need to do. For most new moms, life revolves around the nap time. If nap time ends early, life goes crazy.

All that to say, I ate a brownie. And a banana and some dried fruit and almonds... and a granola bar... I think it was in reverse order. I DIDN'T want to write about this. I thought, "whatever, people don't need to know this, they don't care, I'll just glaze on and go to my next topic on my blog..." But, I don't feel that would be honest. So I will be thankful for these things: eating one brownie doesn't cause someone to gain 10 pounds. (some people say it would cause them to, but that is not possible, a brownie doesn't even weigh 10 pounds). At least I didn't eat the whole rest of the pan of brownies. I will be thankful that the other food I ate was reasonably healthy. I am thankful for a husband who is quick to pick me up, brush me off and helps me to move on. I am thankful we had an enjoyable date that night and didn't even eat dessert (he is a kind man isn't he?). I am thankful that the Lord allows me to be humble.

Okay, with that aside, I just want to tell y'all that I am struggling. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm struggling. I hesitate to share it on here because I don't want pity or for people to feel sorry for me.

After running my errands I took Levi for a walk and was just talking to God today. "God, I don't want to do this. I don't want to go home. I don't want to call someone. I don't want to go see someone, I don't want anyone to come see me. I don't want to be stuck in my house all weekend, I don't want to have people over... " and on and on God just got to hear me complain. I asked God to help my friends. No, couldn't pray for them specifically because I didn't know what to say or how to say it. My speech wasn't eloquent I just asked for some help. Just some help God, You know. I'm tired. I don't want to do this. I kept going and crying out to Him and going and crying out and complaining. I don't know if anyone looked out their window and saw me talking to myself, I told God, I don't want to care about what people think of me. I'm tired. I started to tell Him about how messed up my family is, help my mom as she is helping my grandma and my pre-Alzheimer grandpa go home from Texas to Missouri. Lord, I want my grandpa to come to know you. Even though this is the sunset of his life, maybe he prayed a prayer long time ago, maybe he's saved, but he's not living for You God. My heart LONGS that he would be consumed with love for the Lord. Before his mind leaves him that his mind could be consumed with YOU God! ... Man, I was praying out loud, almost yelling (someone was running their leaf blower, so it didn't matter much).
I was going to the top of this hill and just claiming back my sleep, the sleep of my mom and aunt and cousin back from the enemy. I was sick of Satan stealing from us. I didn't want it for my children, I want to cast off these things!

I got to the top of the hill and saw the clouds and the sky. It was like my face was lifted up. My head was lifted up and all of the sudden it came over me.

"Thank You for being my friend."

Scripture says He is a friend to the down-trodden, to the weary and heavy laiden, to the broken and humble of heart. The thing is, He is a friend who can actually DO something. I have a lot of friends who would probably love to come help me do something about my family, help me straighten out my life, give me some strength, but they can't. He can. He put His Spirit inside of me and he can change hearts. If I ask something He will listen and He has the ability to do it.

He is the author and perfecter of our faith.

He is a loving father.

He is a friend who is more faithful than any friend on the planet.

He knows my sorrows, He has carried my pain, He has born my sins, He carried my iniquities.


And He is not through with me yet.