When Homeschooling Isn’t What You Envisioned

When Homeschooling Isn't What You Envisioned

I will admit I was pretty naive when we first started our homeschooling journey.

I remember envisioning nice, orderly days where my daughters would happily sit at their cute little desks in our perfectly organized {spotless} house while I stood at the white board and taught them lessons that they mastered on their first try. We all would get along and would enjoy every second of every day.

Are you ready to throw something at me?

Seriously, what was I thinking?

Fast forward three years. Peek into our home during any day and you are likely to see the house in a mess. One child might be doing lessons at the kitchen table, while the other sits in her room complaining about doing her math and painting when I’m not looking. Our whiteboard is rarely used and sometimes I explain a concept 20 times and they still don’t grasp it.

But you know what? It is okay.

Because while my vision of homeschooling sounded nice from my very limited earthly perspective, God’s plan for our homeschool was so much better.

However, it took me almost two years of homeschooling before I finally stopped trying to fit our homeschool into this mold {or idol} that I created.

Finally, one day I had enough. I was tired. Tired of trying to be someone I wasn’t. Tired of forcing my children to be something they weren’t. Tired of trying to live up to my own standards and not seeking the Way of the One who put me on this path.

I couldn’t do it anymore. I gave up, and gave it to God, because He could.

From that day on, God began to change my heart and our homeschool.

He showed me what was already there, what I was too blind to see: that even though school didn’t always happen at a desk, and sometimes it took 20 tries to get a math problem correct, my girls were learning.

They were learning academics,but they were also learning more.

They were learning to love one another and learning how to receive God’s grace with open hands.

Which is far more than I could ever envision for our homeschool.

So, is homeschooling what I envisioned it would be? No, absolutely not, and I am so thankful for that.

Is homeschooling what you thought it would be? I pray that it is more. Let go of your expectations, sweet mamas. God’s plan is better.

Heavenly Father,
I come to you today humbled, broken and in awe of what you are doing in homeschools throughout the world. I thank you for leading us down this path and for never once leaving my side. Being a homeschool mother is hard, but it is You: your love and grace that gets us through each day. Lord, I lift up every worn out mom reading these words, fill her with peace and let her find rest in You. In Jesus’ sweet name I pray, Amen.

 

Heather Bowen is a wife, homeschooling mother and follower of Jesus. In 2012, after 5 years of being a nurse, she traded in her scrubs to embrace the calling of being a full time work from home mother (writer, speaker, and virtual assistant). Heather blogs about all things faith, family and homeschooling at Upside Down Homeschooling. She is a Teach Them Diligently blogger and a monthly contributor to The Homeschool Village, The Curriculum Choice, Free Homeschool Deals, So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler?, and a member of iHomeschoool Network.