by Charity Silvers, CHEA Board Treasurer

Editor’s Note: Today’s blog is an excerpt from a speech Charity gave at one of her PSP’s parent meetings, as she was ending her homeschooling journey of 25 years. Her words ring true today, just as they did almost 10 years ago.

Right now we are at the midpoint of the current school year trying to get back into the daily homeschool routines after the Christmas holidays. I’m thinking that many of you have gone through this week so far feeling like you’re fighting an uphill battle, readjusting to schedules and school work, and trying to get back into some normalcy of life. And maybe it took all you had to just get the lesson plans done for today! Perhaps you are discouraged because things aren’t going the way you thought they would this school year. I can understand that as I was at this midpoint many times! Some years were better than others, but God got us through each one. 

It’s hard enough to get through life with all that we do in our homeschooling, so it becomes even more of a struggle to maintain our daily routines in the midst of the crises that come into our lives – things like serious health issues, deaths of loved ones, and other family struggles, things that some of our school families have experienced recently. When life takes what seems to be a turn for the worse, our journey in life looks very difficult when viewing it from a merely human perspective. Yet as we look back at the last year, we can see the many times that God brought us through the highs and the lows of our life experience. And this is where we need to keep our focus – looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 

I think that is the most crucial thing that any of us can do no matter what role we have – whether we are the one at home teaching our kids or the one out in the workforce providing for the family – we need to keep our focus on the Lord and strive to please Him with all that we do. In keeping our eyes on the Lord, we won’t have our eyes on the family we follow on social media or even the family next to us at park day, thinking they have it easier or better than us. That thought process of comparing ourselves to others will bring us down more than anything else. At the end of our lives each of us will have to answer to the Lord for what we ourselves did with what the Lord entrusted to us as His stewards. 

God will provide us with all that we need to raise the children He gives to us. While we hope that our children will grow up and follow the Lord, that’s not anything that WE can make happen. We need to simply do the best job we can, teaching and training our children and showing them the love of God in ways they can understand. And that’s probably one of the reasons why you chose to homeschool – to have more time with your children to be able to train them up in the way you believe God desired you to do.

I want to encourage you as you press on in your homeschooling endeavors, which can seem like they will never end when you’re in the thick of it! We have experienced God’s blessing in all our lives and especially during our homeschooling years. The 25 years we homeschooled are a true testament that God is able! Able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

See, we need to ask! Which leads to the importance of prayer – unceasing talking to God with all that is on your heart. And it is HIS power that works within us, not our own! 

I’m sure that many of us can attest to the fact that we are incompetent in teaching some of the subjects that our kids should be taught! We successfully graduated five children, and they all are doing well in their chosen vocations after having gotten at least one college degree. While you may think your child will never read or never spell or never know their times tables, they will progress, on the timetable that works for them.

Homeschooling today is very different than it was almost 35 years ago, when we first started. There is more freedom now than there was then. There is much more curriculum and many more classes available. But never lose sight of seeking after God and what He has for your family as you homeschool.