Parenting is tough these days.
Parenting school-age children has many challenges today - so many pressures to get it right. And if you are a parent of school-age children and haven't been homeschooling yet - you may be either seriously considering it now... or be forced into it.
I am praying for you parents as you make these big decisions. This may sound a little off, but you have been given a gift by the Lord to make some decisions that can greatly bless your kids for their lives.
I know Angela and I crossed a similar road about 10 years ago with our kids. Rachel was in middle school and Josiah was in 4th grade. And, quite frankly, the public school that our kids had grown up in was no longer working for us/them. So we prayerfully made a very scary decision mid-year - we pulled our kids from the public school to school them from home. (Later, Rachel would attend Nevada State High School before going onto UNLV while Josiah stayed in home schooling until he went into the Coast Guard.)
It doesn't take much for me to bring to mind all the fears we had in moving our kids to home schooling.
Would they have "social issues"?
Do we even have a clue what we are doing? (Answer to that one was clearly, "no".)
Will their degrees "count" for further education?
Will they fall behind?
How will we know?
Will we ruin our kids for life???? (Yes, that was a real fear!)
Will our kids learn to be able to "survive" the real world when they get out or will we simply just shelter them until they leave the nest?
What will others think?
What we felt clear on though, in spite of more questions than answers, was that God was at work, guiding us as we spent a considerable amount of time praying and crying out to God for direction. But it was still very scary - we had to trust the Lord in ways we hadn't before. Can you relate?
If you are in that place today, let me encourage you with three things:
1) Continue to cry out to the Lord. God is with you, He cares about your fears, your trials and all the unknowns you are trying to navigate through. Put Him first and trust that He will guide you and answer your needs. He knows you have these needs (Luke 12:30).
2) Accept the changes you have before you and intentionally put into your curriculum - your kids schedule - Bible study time. There is a ton of great Biblically-rich resources available for you - use one. [There is Summit Kids Lunch Club and the Explorer Discipleship Zone too!] Have them read in God's Word and learn to pray. (If you are going to home school, there is very good Biblically based curriculum available to help you.) This is your responsibility to take up - and the greatest task you have as a parent... to teach your children what it means to walk with Jesus and pointing them to Him. NOTHING will be more important for them to get!
SIDE NOTE: Engage in church as a family! Don't just "fit it in". You know what I mean by that... when you don't make it a priority and just turn it on and multitask while it's on in the background. Set the example for your kids that worshiping God is a priority, not something you fit in to your full schedule.
3) Be willing to be counter cultural. There is so much pressure today to get your kids set right for life, to make sure they speak three languages by 4th grade, and excel at each sport and be able to master an instrument by 6th grade. (So, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit - but not far. You feel the pressure parent!) But do what the Lord has directed. (Deuteronomy 6 is a good picture of that.) If you raise your children in a godward direction - that will be counter cultural. It will mean disciplining your kids. It will mean teaching them about submitting to authority. It will mean saying no to many things offered by the world. But encouraging them to have a hunger and thirst for the things of God will not be a loss for them - if anything it will be a great gift you will give them.
Bonus Point: One more thing I guess I would add in as a bonus... Be growing personally yourself. You aren't wanting to just pass along a religion, it is a genuine walk with Jesus. They see you struggle, pray, ask for forgiveness, offer forgiveness, struggle some more, and trust in the Lord even though it's hard.
If you would like to talk through some of those pressures your feeling/going through Angela and/or I would love to talk and pray with you. Feel free to reach out.
I am praying for you in these challenging times.
I am praying for you parents as you make these big decisions. This may sound a little off, but you have been given a gift by the Lord to make some decisions that can greatly bless your kids for their lives.
I know Angela and I crossed a similar road about 10 years ago with our kids. Rachel was in middle school and Josiah was in 4th grade. And, quite frankly, the public school that our kids had grown up in was no longer working for us/them. So we prayerfully made a very scary decision mid-year - we pulled our kids from the public school to school them from home. (Later, Rachel would attend Nevada State High School before going onto UNLV while Josiah stayed in home schooling until he went into the Coast Guard.)
It doesn't take much for me to bring to mind all the fears we had in moving our kids to home schooling.
Would they have "social issues"?
Do we even have a clue what we are doing? (Answer to that one was clearly, "no".)
Will their degrees "count" for further education?
Will they fall behind?
How will we know?
Will we ruin our kids for life???? (Yes, that was a real fear!)
Will our kids learn to be able to "survive" the real world when they get out or will we simply just shelter them until they leave the nest?
What will others think?
What we felt clear on though, in spite of more questions than answers, was that God was at work, guiding us as we spent a considerable amount of time praying and crying out to God for direction. But it was still very scary - we had to trust the Lord in ways we hadn't before. Can you relate?
If you are in that place today, let me encourage you with three things:
1) Continue to cry out to the Lord. God is with you, He cares about your fears, your trials and all the unknowns you are trying to navigate through. Put Him first and trust that He will guide you and answer your needs. He knows you have these needs (Luke 12:30).
2) Accept the changes you have before you and intentionally put into your curriculum - your kids schedule - Bible study time. There is a ton of great Biblically-rich resources available for you - use one. [There is Summit Kids Lunch Club and the Explorer Discipleship Zone too!] Have them read in God's Word and learn to pray. (If you are going to home school, there is very good Biblically based curriculum available to help you.) This is your responsibility to take up - and the greatest task you have as a parent... to teach your children what it means to walk with Jesus and pointing them to Him. NOTHING will be more important for them to get!
SIDE NOTE: Engage in church as a family! Don't just "fit it in". You know what I mean by that... when you don't make it a priority and just turn it on and multitask while it's on in the background. Set the example for your kids that worshiping God is a priority, not something you fit in to your full schedule.
3) Be willing to be counter cultural. There is so much pressure today to get your kids set right for life, to make sure they speak three languages by 4th grade, and excel at each sport and be able to master an instrument by 6th grade. (So, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit - but not far. You feel the pressure parent!) But do what the Lord has directed. (Deuteronomy 6 is a good picture of that.) If you raise your children in a godward direction - that will be counter cultural. It will mean disciplining your kids. It will mean teaching them about submitting to authority. It will mean saying no to many things offered by the world. But encouraging them to have a hunger and thirst for the things of God will not be a loss for them - if anything it will be a great gift you will give them.
Bonus Point: One more thing I guess I would add in as a bonus... Be growing personally yourself. You aren't wanting to just pass along a religion, it is a genuine walk with Jesus. They see you struggle, pray, ask for forgiveness, offer forgiveness, struggle some more, and trust in the Lord even though it's hard.
If you would like to talk through some of those pressures your feeling/going through Angela and/or I would love to talk and pray with you. Feel free to reach out.
I am praying for you in these challenging times.
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