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Jesus Didn't Come for the Righteous

. . .He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”(Matthew 9:11-13) The above statements by Yeshua (Jesus) were made shortly after He called a man named Matthew to follow Him. Because Matthew was both Jewish and a tax collector employed by…

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Homeschool Advice Part 7 | Read Aloud and Read a Lot

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury If you do nothing else in your homeschool, teach your children to read. Basic math is also a must, and thinking critically about what they read is equal in importance, but reading itself is an incredible skill that cannot be overstated. Since reading the Bible should be the foundation and…

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Homeschool Advice: Part 6 | Failure

In the early years of homeschooling, I began to re-evaluate the role of failure in life. I’d spent a good portion of my adult years berating myself for stupid mistakes, wasted time, and the like – to the ironic point of wasting more time stupidly dwelling on past mistakes. It changed when I noticed my ungodly habit rubbing off my kids and recognized the absolute desolation of refusing to learn…

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A Theology Built on Suffering

My walk with the Living God is not your typical Southern I-was-raised-in-church story. Although I did attend church with my family as a child, I didn’t “get it.” Nothing in my childhood Sunday school classes penetrated to the core of my will and reason, and so I was unprepared for the inevitable hardships of life in a sin-wrecked world. I had no theology for suffering. As a teen and young adult,…

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Service With a Smile

At our community group tonight (note to any readers not from our church: you may read “community group” as “small group,” “Bible study group,” “bunch-of-Jesus-freaks-who-hang-out-eat-and-pray-together group,” or whatever you are most comfortable with), we were discussing service. Interestingly, and very likely not coincidentally, God has been dealing with me in this area recently. Specifically,…

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Homeschool Advice: Part 5 | Keep the End Game in Mind

Today’s topic is part parenting, part homeschooling, and applicable to both: keeping an eye on the end game. What I mean is this: as you parent and teach, remember the job is to prepare your children to grow into adults who are willing to follow God at all costs; to stand firm on truth even in world hostile to truth and to be able to function long after you have been called home. Parenting for…

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Family Legacy: Ephraim and Manasseh

Today I shall take a break from homeschool topics and explore an idea my Tuesday night group teased out at our meeting last week. We are going through Lois Tverberg’s fine book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus and had come to the seventh chapter about reading the Bible as a collective “we.” As we talked through the ramifications of historic concepts of family legacy, some fascinating ideas…

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Homeschool Advice Part 4 | Practical Prioritizing

Now that I’ve emphasized the importance of prioritizing school, I thought it best to offer some practical advice on how to do this. Once you’ve reminded yourself that you are the parent and the teacher, it’s time to implement the actual “doing school” part. I promise this one will be much shorter. 🙂 Basic Prioritizing When my kids were young, we kept roughly the same school schedule as our…

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Homeschool Advice Part 3 | Getting Started

Besides three myth-busting posts (1, 2 & 3), I’ve also offered two other posts’ worth of advice just prior to this one. However, before we go much further, I want to offer encouragement to the possibly nervous prospective homeschooler. Let’s face it: taking your kids’ education into your own hands can be daunting. If you’re like me, you may tend to drown yourself in what-ifs or start worrying…

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Homeschool Advice Part 2 | Prioritize Scripture & Prayer

The single most important item you will teach your children is to know and love both God’s Word and its Author. Because all we have comes ultimately from Him, start with prayer. And start with you – learn to spend daily time reading your Bible and talking with God about what He is showing you, even if at first you do it only because you feel you must. Ask Him to open the Word and help you love…

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Homeschool Advice Part 1 | Self-reliance

Now that I’ve covered three of the most prominent myths of homeschooling (here, here, and here), it’s time to dive into what I’ve learned from my own homeschool experience. The next several homeschool posts will be advice I’d give to myself if I could have a do-over, including rejecting the lie of self-reliance. But before I continue, note two important facts. First, I am offering homeschool…

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Spammity Spam

Fun fact: the term spam as it is used to describe junk email (among other internet delights) has its origins in a 1970s British television show. Monty Python’s Flying Circus was an oddball sketch comedy series featuring sometimes bizarre animations, entirely random and quirky subject matter, and often men badly dressed as women. Indeed, the sketch titled “SPAM” features a man and woman lowered…

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Homeschool Myth #3: Socialization

I’ve already covered two other prevailing myths (here and here) about homeschooling, and I plan this to be the final myth-busting post.. at least for now. After today, the focus will shift to sharing what I’ve learned – both triumphs and failures – in hopes that others can glean wisdom from both. But now, time to tackle the most pervasive myth I’ve encountered: the myth that homeschoolers lack…

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Homeschool Myth #2: You Need a Degree to Teach

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation(Psalms 119:97-99). Though homeschooling is even more mainstream than it was in my time, the decision to homeschool will always bring with it a barrage of well-meaning concern from…

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Staying the Course

During my youngest daughter’s high school cross country career, I quickly learned it was no sissy sport. On the best days – cool and lovely ones – the team seemed exuberant, almost giddy after practice and I enjoyed their high spirits, gaining insight on the term runner’s high by watching them interact. But on brutal race days in the late-summer Tennessee heat, my cross country kiddos told me the…

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Homeschool Myth #1: You Need Limitless Patience

Do you need patience to homeschool? Let's talk about it.

I don’t Have the Patience “I could never homeschool. I don’t have the patience for it!” Thus goes the most common refrain I heard from other parents when they first learned I homeschooled – back in the day, of course (my kids are all now in college). My reply never varied. “Neither do I!” I would exclaim. Homeschooling has been called “parenting on steroids,” and it’s true. A homeschool mom or…

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4 More Reasons to Homeschool

Merely having an open mind is nothing. The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid. G. K. Chesterton In the previous homeschool post, I discussed the #1 reason to go for it if you sense the Lord leading you to educate your own children. Today I want to look at four more solid reasons to homeschool. After this post, I’ll begin diving into more…