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Greetings!

Deborah Wuehler  and family

Our family went on a bike ride this weekend. We felt like the Von Trapp family as eight of us cycled down the road and onto the bike path. We sang and laughed and enjoyed God's creation. The feeling of content that we have when the whole family is together is like no other. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Let me tell you the rest of the story  

. . .

It took three hours to work on all of the bikes to get them in working condition. Three hours of sweaty children asking, "Is it time to go yet?" (It's already hot here in sunny California!) Three hours of tired attitudes to contend with as inner tubes were patched and chains repaired and the general maintenance that eight bikes requires.

This was our 4-year-old's second day of riding without training wheels. And we decided to pick this day to have a family bike ride--very interesting parenting choice, indeed.  I spent most of the time walking my bike next to him and encouraging him along as the others raced ahead. There were lots of tears shed because he was either afraid of going too fast or falling down or was too tired. But we pushed through to the end, and amazingly, he was so happy, he wanted to ride again within an hour of getting home.

As I contemplated the afternoon, I saw several parallels to the homeschooling journey.

It takes a lot of preparation and often some hard work to go on a big journey. Homeschooling is a big journey. The preparation and hard work will pay off--but we have to make an intentional decision to set other things aside and get ready to go. It is a daily choice to put aside something else and do the hard stuff. We must put aside procrastination, comparisons, distractions, and weariness, and get down to the hard work of finding out the problem areas with our children, and working with them towards solutions.

Bad attitudes will arise, whether in your children or yourself, and can be caused by minor irritations or daily frustrations. Look up from those for a minute and look forward to the race set before you. You must fight that enemy of selfish ambition, and look toward that contented moment of being in stride with your family right where God wants you to be.

The kids were right next to their dad learning how to repair their bikes so that they could do it themselves the next time. It was sometimes tedious and not always easy, but they pushed through, and now they have an idea of how to help themselves in the future.

This is our goal of education; having our children learn right alongside us so that they grow in independence. It's going from riding with training wheels to riding with ease, but in between we will all have some wobbling times and falls with scrapes and bruises. But we teach our kids to get up and keep going; especially when they see us press through the hard times in prayer and confidence in God ourselves.

If we prepare and start well and hang on during the rough times and the tears--if we cling tightly to the LORD, we will enjoy a beautiful contentedness of finishing the race well. You can do this. You can keep your children Home Where They Belong.

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-22

~Deborah

TOS Senior Editor

 SeniorEditor@TheHomeschoolMagazine.com    

P.S. If you've hit a bump in the road, and you don't know what to do, the May digital editorial should give you some encouragement: www.TOSMagazine.com It is aptly titled, "I Don't Know What to Do!"  

Diana Waring

Relational Homeschooling

www.DianaWaring.com 

Dear Friends,

Finishing the homeschool race well means finishing.

Now, this does not mean that you have to finish every book or every conversation or every subject or every project. We all have lots of unfinished projects and business and books in our lives.

Finishing implies, though, that we prepare our hearts and minds to let our children go. When the moment arrives, let them walk out the door.

I've thought a lot about this, because I've had to let all three of my children go to live their own lives, to fulfill their own dreams, and to walk the paths the Lord has set out for them.

And, I tell you the truth, it's not easy. Once you get to the point that they are young adults, when the conversations are fascinating and in-depth, when they have become such a vital part of your home (and workforce!), it is incredibly wrenching to let them go.

But, here's the deal. Though God gave you the precious privilege of being a steward of these children for a few short years, at the end of the day, they do not belong to you. They are HIS creation, HIS children . . . and He has a plan and a purpose for them that is beyond your comprehension.

And, in order for them to step out onto that path, they need to step out the door--and keep going.

To finish well, one word of advice: Imagine your little children as fully functioning adults, living outside of your home. What you say to them today--and how you say it--will impact the relationship you have with them as adults. I want to encourage you to enjoy them, to like them, and to delight in them now. It pays HUGE dividends when they are grown!!

Remember, stay relational.

Diana

P.S. I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma! If you are at OCHEC, come say "Hi!" I'd love to meet you!!

Hal & Melanie Young

Raising Real Men

www.RaisingRealMen.com  

Paul often speaks of the Christian life as a race. "One thing I do," he said, "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ." (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV) And we shouldn't obsess over things which can't be changed or fixed. We've seen God make up for our mistakes and deficiencies or change the importance of things we once thought were crucial, but later discovered were no longer necessary.

But the successful runner had to do one other thing to reach the goal--he had to know what the goal was so that he could run the race with endurance, and according to the rules. (Hebrews 12:1 and 1 Corinthians 9:24)

We homeschoolers can easily be distracted by the worthwhile things which we find along the track. They may be good things, and worthy of striving for, but are they the most critical things? Can we pursue them and still not let go of the most important part of our homeschooling race? Why did we start this race to begin with; and if our aims have changed, did they change on purpose after prayerful consideration or did we somehow drift into a different track?

We're about to graduate our third son this month, and after many years of homeschooling quite successfully by most measures, we've realized the true goal was not a comprehensive classical education, or admission to a prestigious college, or awards and recognitions for academic excellence. All that is fine in its place. But what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? "To do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8 NKJV)

Ultimately our homeschooling effort is about discipleship--have we prepared our sons and daughters to be in a right relationship with God and the communities around them? Part of that is academic, certainly, but so much more is about practical life in the home, the church, and God's broader kingdom. Don't lose sight of that fact!

Yours in the Battle,

Hal and Melanie

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