By Jen Hogan
THE SINGLE BEST THING I’VE DONE AS A HOMESCHOOLING MOM IS GIVE UP. Not give up as in QUIT, but give up as in stop being in control and responsible for Every. Little. Detail.
Our best homeschooling years are the ones where, this time of year, I slip away for an hour and go to my church. I get some funny looks, but I take with me my milk crate full of curricula, lesson plans, and high hopes. I plunk that crate down in the sanctuary, and give over everything that’s in it – including my plans, my new-school-year-resolutions, my textbook choices, my weaknesses, all of it.
Slowly during that hour, my homeschooling plans are gradually transformed into an offering: “This is the best I know how to do for my children this year, Lord. I offer it to you not just asking that you rubber-stamp my plans with Your blessing. I offer it all to you so that it can be Yours – clay in the Potter’s hands.”
And during that hour I settle in to pray for each of my children. Some years I am blessed with a God’s-eye view of that child. The Lord graces me with a glimpse of my role in his far bigger, far better plan for her. Other years I am simply reminded that He does have a plan, a beautiful, rich plan, for each of my children. And His plan can be fulfilled even through my imperfect homeschooling.