We just finished our 10th year of homeschooling this spring, and it was absolutely amazing! The best part was that it had absolutely nothing to do with my ability to homeschool, but 100% everything to do with the fact that God is faithful! 

Our homeschool has gone through some big transitions the last three years (there is a long story to tell that will have to wait for another day); and to sum it up after struggling through seven years of homeschooling in the past, God opened my eyes to see that we needed to change things up and switch curriculums, teaching styles, etc. Our oldest daughter even took a year off and attended the local Christian private school the year before this. 

Needless to say, starting off our tenth year of homeschooling in August was a big year for us. Our daughter was back at home for her sophmore year, our next son was entering the middle school years, we had two boys in elementary and our youngest was starting preschool! I had a lot on my plate! I was a little worried about juggling all the different levels, but mostly I was excitedly anticipating what God was going to do with our homeschool in the upcoming year now that I knew we were on the right path.

As I was praying over the year last August, God brought me to this promise in 1 Thessalonians 5:24, “The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.” I have always prayed over our homeschool in years past and sought His guidance over what co-ops to do, what each child needed etc, but this year was different. I knew God was going to be faithful; He had already proven His faithfulness throughout the year before, so this year I just surrendered it all to Him. 

For most of my previous years homeschooling I rode the daily ups and downs of emotions. There were good days and good moments and I celebrated them, but there were also a lot of bad ones and I would panic. With every little tantrum and problem I would throw up my hands and throw out the books and wonder what I was doing wrong and now what program should I try?

I’m grateful that the Lord has brought me to a point of maturity in my teaching where I am now able to take a step back from the moment and see the big picture before I panic. As we’ve come to the end of a decade of teaching our children at home, we are now seeing the fruits of our labors. We’re now seeing things that can only be proven by time and faithfulness. And it’s helped me to take a much calmer approach to schooling and even parenting as a whole! 

I’ve watched our children mature and grow in leaps and bounds over the past few years. Sometimes they’ve caught on quickly, but more often than not it has taken slow steady work. The faithful laying down of a foundation, brick after brick after brick.

This year I watched our independent daughter flourish as she was given the responsibility to be in charge of her own schedule and have the freedom to pursue her gifts and passions. As I prayed for her over the year God gave me new eyes to see and appreciate her amazing gifts and personality and give her the space to learn on her own, which is where she truly thrives. It’s been an incredible joy to watch her mature and see our relationship grow once I learned to step back and let God do His work.

I watched our thirteen year old son, who in the past was the hardest one to convince to take school seriously, step up and take charge of his responsibilities. With only a weekly schedule and very little guidance from me, he completely matured from the kid who only fooled around to getting all his work done on his own. The absolute best part was to watch how proud he was of himself and the immense confidence he gained from finishing entire books and textbooks on his own. On top of that, he spend hours daily honing his skill of woodcarving and has become quite the skilled craftsman. 

Our two elementary boys are as different as day and night. The older is a quiet observer and thinks very logically and mechanically. He thrives when he has the quiet space to explore how things work on his own and figures out mechanics like they’re a part of him. I gave him hands-on projects whenever I was able and learned that he needs a quiet environment to think and process things or he quickly becomes frustrated and shuts down. He is excellent at remembering details from what he reads, and flew through his reading list, especially loving the biographies of inventors and other people from early American history.

One of my biggest challenges was actually keeping the younger one occupied and giving the older one room to think. Our nine-year-old is exuberant and musical and learns best when he is moving around and singing or dancing. He absolutely loves math and responds to doing long division like a person would maybe respond to being handed a very large cookie. He was hilarious to teach and finding ways for his body to move while doing his work was very helpful. He was often found bouncing on a ball or jumping on a small trampoline.

And finally, this little guy is an absolute gift. Doing preschool with him was one of the funnest things I’ve ever done. His excitement about “doing school” wore off around halfway through the year, but thankfully I had learned by now not to freak out and just nonchalantly kept working with him but just stopped calling it “school.” He learned so much just by being around the other kids and sitting in with us as we all worked. 

I can’t finish this without thanking my incredible husband for his part in all of it. We started every single day by sharing coffee together and gathering in the living room as all the children woke up and had breakfast. Some days we would all quietly read together and sometimes we had lively conversations and discussions before he would go off to work in his home office. His steady support, provision, and wise discernment through everything is one of our major keys to success. I am so grateful for him!

God is so good. It was the very best year of school we have ever had and it wasn’t because it was free of problems, but every problem was laid at the feet of Jesus where it belongs. Ironically, it was one of the most difficult years we’ve ever faced, with lots of different challenges coming at us with work and health and finances, but because God is faithful He brought us through them all. 

I have been learning how to pray scripture over our family, and this was my prayer for the year, from Ephesians 3. And now that this year is over, I’m excitedly looking forward to the next one!

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.