Why are you homeschooling? Do you have a goal in mind? Maybe your child was created with a drive to get a full scholarship from Harvard, but I hope that’s not your goal for them. Those kinds of goals need to be driven by the child, something they take on and achieve with you cheering them on, not something that you drive them to do. We shouldn’t be choosing career paths for our children. They were made for a purpose, and we should want that for them, not our own aspirations.
Let me get back to the idea of goals. What is your big goal for your kids? What is your goal for homeschooling? What’s your “why?”
Let me suggest one for you: that your kids would love the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength, and with all their mind, and that they would love their neighbors as themselves.
If your child got the full scholarship to Harvard, it would sure feel good. It would feel good telling others about Harvard. It would feel good telling those family members who were always questioning whether your kids were missing out by being homeschooled. But, we’re not in this for ourselves. We’re not doing this every day in pursuit of validation for ourselves. The end game isn’t to prove to anyone else what a great job we did homeschooling. We’re not out to prove our kids are just as smart as the kids who went to school.
We have a bigger purpose in mind. I hope you have a bigger purpose in mind.
I know some of you homeschool out of fear. I hope you can redirect that into love. Pour love into your kids, not fear of what’s out there. Some of you homeschool because of busy schedules. I hope you keep school as an important part of the day and don’t neglect it in pursuit of other things. Some of you homeschool because you want your child to have the best academics and know homeschooling can be better than school. I hope you take the time to enjoy being together in your freedom and not just pursue accelerating your child’s education.
And some of you want more than anything that your child would love God and love others, but sometimes forget that’s the goal and get sidetracked looking at all those pursuing other goals. Yes, we want our kids to be educated. This is God’s world and we want them to know about it. We want them to not just be able to read, but to be able to study the Bible. We want them to be able to make smart decisions with their money and understand the numbers of credit and interest. We want them to marvel at how God designed the world to work, and to learn from history’s mistakes to avoid them in the future. But it’s all got a focus. This is God’s world we live in. He put us each here on purpose for a purpose.
If you ever wondered what God’s will is, I’ll fill you in. Love God. Love others. Teach your kids their purpose in life. If they are doing that, He’ll make sure the rest falls into place.
Thank you for sharing this.
Amen, Amen, Amen!!
Thank you, Lee! It’s certainly a different time from when we parents were children and finding our way. And, I feel the hardest part is finding balance as they mature–knowing when to keep shepherding and knowing when to let them learn life’s lessons their own way. If we can give them a firm foundation they will likely have the confidence and faith to figure out and pursue their individual callings. Best to you and your family.
That’s why we need the Lord’s wisdom! Two of my children are adults now, so I’m certainly learning those things.
Amen! Thank your for the reminder and encouragement. God bless you and your family, and the work of your hands.
Thanks 🙂
I heard someone say “I’d rather know my children are accepted into the kingdom over Harvard.” That has been my motto ever since. Im infinitely grateful for this opportunity to teach them bc they are smart, kingdom-minded kids.
How do we share this on Instagram too? ❤️
Can you share the link? I don’t use instagram. Sorry. I don’t know much about those things.
It’s good to be reminded of this (all of this) from time to time. Thank you 🙂
That was beautifully stated. Thank you.
Thank you for a great reminder of what is most important!
My favorite part of homeschooling is getting to spend (mostly) uninterrupted time with my boy. Watching him learn the academics is great but teaching him about God makes it all worth it! He was laying down for bed the other night and he told me that he was so thankful for everything, his house, his food, his mom and dad, his schoolwork and effort! Then he said, he was pleased with his effort that he put into his schoolwork that day. It was very satisfying to hear my son say thanks to God for all these things in his life.
Thank you for the encouraging reminder! And thank you for your amazing Easy Peasy!
Thank you for this! This season in life really needed me to read this post. I’m grateful.