Labels: Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, Train Up a Child

The May edition of The Heart of the Matter homeschool magazine has been published! You can catch me over there today! Stop by, read, and leave some comments! Have a terrific Thursday.

Main Page

Direct Link to my article on schedules.

Labels: Family, Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, organization

Today I am posting on two other sites. Stop by and check them out. Leave me a comment so I know you were there; it is always great when others add to the discussion!

The Heart of the Matter Homeschool Magazine March issue is up and running. There are a lot of wonderful homeschooling articles. This month in my column Ducks in a Row, I write about five ways to make school run more smoothly.

Come on by and see how we organize our homeschool....HERE...






Over at The Well Drained Mind I write about struggling with the "perfect homeschooler syndrome" and how the Lord gives us little glimpses to encourage us as we teach our children.

Head on over and read about my Boggle Blessing.

Labels: Blogging, Encouragement, Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, Learning Disabilities, Well Drained Mind

Labels: Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, Quiverfull

I remember the very first day that I started homeschooling twelve and a half years ago. I was so excited! I had my curriculum picked out and all of the supplies I needed gathered and set out on the table the night before. Things went perfectly! After all, I had read and reread the lessons like twenty times already. I was going to be the perfect homeschool mom and things were always going to be sunshine and rainbows. What I didn't allow to enter my mind was the fact that in order to have a rainbow, there has to be rain! My perfect homeschool experience lasted three whole days and when day four hit I became, what I thought, was a total failure! I have grown a lot since then and realize that having unattainable goals will always leave me feeling like a failure. Why set myself up for that? Here is one thing that I have learned along the way and tried to apply to my life.

BE FLEXIBLE! Planning is a good thing, be prepared, but be flexible! Babies will cry, children will get sick, mom will get sick with 102 degree temperature, the dog will get sick, the bird will break free from its cage and the cats will go nuts! All of this will happen when hubby is out of town. Oh, did I mention mom is due in 3 weeks and always delivers early(can we say stress & fear?)?

YES, this is an actual week of my life. Guess what, no one can have a perfect school day when this is your week! Be flexible and remember things do not always go as planned. Remember your reason for being: to bring glory to God. Sometimes our plan is not His plan. During this week (several years ago), we did not get through our ABC's but we learned a much more valuable lesson, to lean upon the Lord. If we learn to lean upon the Lord we will find things flow more smoothly even as we ride along all the bumps in the road.

Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Labels: Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, newsletter

Today is the launching of the new The Heart of the Matter online homeschooling magazine. I have a monthly column there entitled, "Ducks in a Row." Below is a brief excerpt of this months column.

For me, keeping in mind why I am doing what I am doing is a necessity. Why do I keep my children at home to school them? This may seem simplistic but I believe it is a necessary question to ask ourselves. There are many different reasons people decide to homeschool their children. What is yours? When we are fully aware of our reasons it propels us forward and it gives us purpose.

I believe that as a Christian parent it is part of my duty as a mother. Parents are responsible for their children and their training. Christian parents are to raise them in the training and admonition of the Lord.

Click to Read More..............

Pop on over and check out the new magazine and my column, please come back and let me know what you think or to recommend it to others! May you be blessed by this new venture all of us at The Heart of the Matter have undertaken.

Labels: Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling

Teaching to the heart is something that my husband and I have learned along the way in our parenting adventure. When we were newly married and raising our first child. I was 19 and hubby was 22 when our first child was born. We married at 18 & 21. We really had not talked about how we would raise a child. We simply followed examples around us and did what was expected. As we have grown as parents and in our relationships with the Lord, a lot of things have changed.

I truly believe that some of the difficulties we have faced, and not too many, were because we focused more on the outer behavior than on the heart. Especially with our first child. Outward obedience was the main goal. Please do not misunderstand, outward obedience is extremely important but should not be the main or ultimate goal.
Have you ever seen an obedient child full of resentment and disrespect for the parent or any authority figure for that matter? It also leads to a "it is okay as long as I don't get caught attitude". Right and wrong is determined by the outward viewing of behavior. So if no one sees then it is okay.

This scripture hit me in a completely different way one day...

1 Samuel 16:7b
for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

If God looks at the heart then maybe as a parent I should look to the heart as well and not just the outward appearance. I began to look at disciplining my children in a whole new light. I began to look at the root of the problem. Why did my child behave that way? Yes, we would discipline for the actually hitting of his sister but we would ask questions.
"Why did you hit your sister?"
The replies might be: I was angry, I want that toy, she was bugging me.
We would in turn respond with:
Anger: Ephesians 4:26a Be angry and yet do not sin. Or Proverbs 14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
I want: Romans 15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. Or Galatians 6:10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.
She was bugging me: Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

When we began to teach to the heart for things such as: selfishness, self-control, anger, pride, envy, disrespect, and so on. Tackling those "hidden" sins and using scripture to address them we found that most all of the outward behavioral sins were fewer and fewer. Most of the outward is an overflow of the inward. If we take care of the weed's root then the weed cannot grow, but just picking a dandelion does not keep it from returning. You must get the root!

Psalm 51:10 says Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

This is a prayer that as a parent I pray over and over again and I also pray this for my children. As I teach then, at the heart of their sin and use the Word of God to address it, I pray for the Lord to create a clean heart within them, and the rewards are immeasurable and far out way a child that is simply outwardly obedient with a hardened heart.

I encourage you to search the scriptures and to re-evaluate how you are teaching and training your children. All Christian parents, myself included, are not perfect, we need the grace of God to accomplish the great task which He has given to us!

Labels: Christianity, Heart of the Matter, Homeschooling, Quiverfull, Train Up a Child