Home school? How could you?! Part 1.

The short answer? By the grace of God!

Beautiful Lydford Forest, Devon.
This was taken before son number 3 came along.

      We have been homeschooling for little under a year, its a beautiful sometimes challenging pathway we are on and  have received wonderful encouragement, information and inspiration through reading other peoples blogs as they forge their way in the world of home educating.By starting this blog  I wanted to make our mark both in cyberspace and here in Devon, UK- to hopefully give a little back to the home educating blogging community, and to encourage others as we go on our way.

     Let me interject at this point - I am in no way suggesting I have all the answers or that our way is the only way, we are in the very early stages of this journey but I would like to share what we learn as we go, not just from a faith point of view but also practical activities, recipes, information etc. 

     I am especially hopeful to make a noise for those in England to hear, as I have found that the blogs I tend to read and enjoy the most, originate from America, which is wonderful but I am left wondering - why is it not so common over here? Maybe there are many Christian home educators here, but I feel we are a minority?  Any way - I have certainly found myself to be somewhat of an 'oddity' where I live in Devon, and even within the church.

      When the inevitable question is raised, "And where do your children go to school?", I take my breath, give my answer, "Actually, we home educate", and the general response is a look of surprise, and dare I say, horror even, as they take a step back and seem lost for words, "Oh." Then when they recover, "oh, well, I could never do that," "Doesn't it drive you mad?" "Why would you do such a thing?" "that's too much." (The common follow up question is "why?" and I will deal with that in another post, maybe it would make sense to do that first but hey, I'm new to blogging.)

To these people I would like to be able to say the following :

"Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it:......Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."  Psalm 127

There are 2 keys here for me. I will share one now and the next post will cover the second.
 The first is this:


1. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:

We are all individuals, and God deals with us as such. He has a perfect plan for you, and your loved ones. His plan for me will be different than his plan for you -regardless of whether we are both home educating or not. What does He want you to do? Two people may hear the same sermon, or bible passage but each will respond differently as the Holy Spirit ministers to each where they are. If you try to home educate in your own strength instead of by His leading, you will not be enough, you will be building in vain. But if you put your trust in Him with your whole heart and acknowledge Him in all your ways, He promises to direct your path (Proverbs 3:5-6). And if you're worried about your capabilities in obeying his leading bear this in mind,

"God's Spirit won't lead you where His  grace can't keep you" *

Because He promises us,

"My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in your weakness" 2 Cor 12:9

    Great is His faithfulness, His mercies are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-25). Just like the children of Israel  with manna in the desert (Exodus 16) - He supplies all our needs, of every sort,  for each day, as it arrives. And Jesus told us the Father knows what we need before we ask it, but we have not because we ask not. He is the good shepherd, He knows what He's doing, He merely asks us to trust and obey,

"He has shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." Micah 6:8

"and the life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God....." Galatians 2:20

"the just shall live by faith" Hebrews 10:38

Q. Home School! How could you?
A. By the grace of God, and the power of His spirit at work within me.

I pray God blesses you and leads you  as you seek Him  in the way He has for you.

Next time I will move on to point number 2.........

Grace and peace,
Jo x    


                                   

  * I have heard this quote at some point and it really spoke to me but i do not know who spoke it.