Just for Fun

Today I let the kids each pick from a list of "prizes" as a reward for doing a job for me. Just for fun, I let James pick a prize also. His prize was "Pick a Special Snack." So I made him a special snack that was mostly healthy but also very fun.

Starting from the bottom left corner and going counter-clockwise, this is Todd, me, the Bean, Princess, and Austin :)

 

 

James wanted me to make one face for each person in our family. He is now sitting on my lap while I type this saying, "Make spiderman, make spiderman." I don't think he quite realizes that it's almost impossible to add fine details with peanut butter and chocolate syrup.

Fake smiles can be so cute!

Since I don't usually make creative snacks, I thought I'd post my work before it's gone forever...

 

 

The eyes are dried cranberries and the noses are sliced almonds.

Now James is sharing with the family...

In case you're wondering why the boys aren't wearing shirts... they take after Daddy.

Pleasing God by How You Remember

Remember the Alamo. Just six days ago I sat at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas and listened to a historical presentation on the story of the battle between the Texians and the army of Santa Anna. I toured what remains of the historic Alamo battle site. And sometime last Thursday, I got the phrase stuck in my head, “Remember the Alamo.” That phrase is still in my head. Remember the Alamo.

But that’s not the only phrase with the word remember that keeps coming into my thoughts. All this week, I’ve been thinking of multitudes of phrases with the word remember. Okay, maybe not multitudes. To be precise, there have been three.

The second is a phrase from Psalm 119. It says, “Remember the word to Your servant, in which You have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your word has revived me” (Psalm 119:49-50). In this case, the Psalmist is asking God to remember.

And the third time I saw the word remember repeated multiple times this week was in a Christian biography. The individual would think things like, “Remember how God was faithful when…?  Remember when God answered your prayer for…?” and so on.

So all these triggers with the word remember have made me think about the significance of remembering. 

Now before I go any farther, let me add, I’m fascinated by how people think. I don’t care about how most people think, actually. But, I’m interested in the specific thoughts of people who live godly lives that others can imitate.

I would love to roll back the curtain on the thoughts of someone like the apostle Paul and look at how he thought. What did he think when he was doing boring things? What about when he prepared his food? Did he preach to himself? Did he remind himself of things? What specific phrases did he use? How did he keep his mind focused on Scripture without wandering into some unedifying thought?

One of those things that I suppose godly men like Paul think is that they remember. Now, I know Paul said we are to forget what lies behind (Phil. 3:13), and forgetting is the opposite of remembering, but at other times he told us specific things to remember. For instance, in Ephesians 2, Paul tells us to remember how we were at one time separated from Christ—having no hope and without God in the world. He wants us to remember what it was like to not have Christ, knowing now that we are saved and have hope. We are to remember where we came from because these memories provoke us to gratitude and love and cause us to move forward.

Listen, we can’t use anything from the past as an excuse to not move forward with maximum effort. That’s why Paul tells us to forget what lies behind. But when we remember what God has done, the point is to stir us up to keep moving forward. Like in Revelation, Jesus tells the church at Ephesus, “Remember from where you have fallen” (Revelation 2:5). He wants the people to remember how they felt when they were first saved. He wants them to remember their excitement and love for God, because love for God is the compelling reason why they should keep pressing on to follow Christ.

To be specific, anything we remember must fit the criteria of Philippians 4:8. Which means it must be true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and praiseworthy.

God wants us to remember His faithfulness and to remember truths learned from the Bible. 1 Chronicles 16:12 sums it up perfectly: “Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.”

The Israelites put up large memorial stones to remember the miracles God did for them, so that even their children would ask, “Why are these stones here?” And the parents would remember to tell their children the miracles God did for them. We take communion at church to remember the death of Jesus for our sins on the cross. We memorize the Bible so we will remember it.

Our memories can serve us so that we remember God’s faithfulness and His Word, and grow by what we remember. Or our memories can be used to hinder our walk with God.

So here is my challenge: Every time you catch yourself remembering something that isn’t honorable, praiseworthy, pure, true, right and so forth, begin to speak in your mind, “Remember…” and then list the good things God has done for you. For me, I like to reflect on times God has answered my prayers. I’ve said to myself, “Remember how many nights of my life I have prayed for God to protect me, and He has always protected me? Remember how every time my kids were sick, I prayed for them to be healed, and God always healed them? Remember how when Todd (my husband) was out of work, and I cried to the Lord, and He heard me and gave Todd a job? Remember how I was driving on a long trip many years ago, and when the car in front of me stopped suddenly on the one lane highway at 70 MPH, it was by a miracle that I did not crash?” And I remember many more wonderful things God has done for me.

And as I remember God’s faithfulness in my own life, I can’t help but be thankful and press on to follow Christ because of all He has already done for me.

“Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth” (1 Chronicles 16:12).

I Shall Not Want

Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Contentment

The blogs I’ve written the last few months have followed the theme of virtues. I didn’t really do it on purpose, but it’s been nice that it worked out that way.

In May I wrote on Humility. In June and July I talked on Faith. And now I am on Contentment. All of this is a result of what God has been doing in my heart. It’s interesting that it worked out to follow the theme of different moral qualities.

Each blog has reflected the work God was doing in my heart that month, and this blog is certainly fresh from my life.

I reading through Psalm 23 a few days ago, and I had just gotten through verse one when I thought: “Now, hmmm. Does this verse mean…
a) Since God is my shepherd, I won’t have needs that go unfilled.
Or…
b) Since God is my shepherd, I better not be covetous.

I’ve heard the first interpretation taught more than the second, but I didn’t think more on what it meant until a few days later…

I was getting ready for bed, standing next to my dresser, when I was struck with an urgent thought—the kind of urgent thought you have when, two minutes after leaving Wal-mart, you realize your youngest child is not buckled in his car seat (I’m not saying anything else about that.)—and you feel like, I better act on this RIGHT NOW.

Well, the thought was, “I’m supposed to be meditating day and night on God’s Word. I don’t have a verse in my head. Quick! Quick! Think of a verse!”

With relief, Psalm 23:1 came to mind: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”

I repeated this verse to myself a few times as the words “I shall not want” began to paint a picture in my mind of a someone who never wants things she doesn’t have. I began to think of the implications of what it might mean to say, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” in the context of “I better not be covetous.”

I already know God says not to covet. It’s the tenth commandment of the Ten Commandments. I first heard “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” by Ray Comfort back when it was still on cassette tape, over 15 years ago. If you haven’t heard this message, you should. (If it seems the first two sentences are totally unrelated to the second two sentences, the context is that Ray Comfort places a huge emphasis on the Ten Commandments—which I now know backwards and forwards, with much credit to his ministry.)

Anyway, I continued to think of the kind of woman who can say, “I shall not want.” She wouldn’t obsess over not owning a house or having a large backyard. After all, someone who says, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want” is someone who is content.

Greed. That was my next thought. Greed is the opposite of saying, “I shall not want.” Lack of contentment is greed.

The next day as I was telling my friend Nicole about my fascination with Psalm 23:1, another verse along the same lines came into my head: Hebrews 13:5.

I used to have this verse on the wall in my bedroom before I was married. If you’ve heard me speak in person or read much of what I’ve written, you probably know that I’m big on wall messages. I put random verses or phrases up on my walls, doors, cupboards, wherever, so I don’t forget things that I feel are super important. But I do try to keep it under control.

Back before I was married, it was not “under control.” Other than places on the ceiling, about every square inch of my bedroom walls were covered with verses I’d written on 8½ x 11 inch paper or 3 x 5 cards. And back when I was single, I had far more time to lie in bed and read each and every verse.

If I can remember correctly, Hebrews 13:5 was on my closet door. I guess next to clothes is a good place for a girl to put a verse about contentment. And here’s what Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

Have you seen the correlation? God is my shepherd. He takes care of me. And he will never leave me or forsake me. Therefore, I shall not want. I shall not covet.

If God is my Shepherd, if I trust that He is leading me to the pastures he wants me in, then I won’t feel sorry for myself for what I don’t have. 

I will not want. I will keep my life free from the love of money. I will be content with such things as I have.

And this is a message not just for July and August, but for all our lives. Many people spend their entire lives seeking to be rich. Some of them probably even think that if they we’re richer, they would be content with that. God tells us to be content now, with exactly what we have. And the reason? Because He is our Shepherd. And that is why we can say with David, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”

***Breaking News… I have a trivia question for you. What is the last thing you want to spill in your kitchen? Let me add some more details to this trivia question. It is something you spill:

• In the middle of summer

• In the middle of summer IN TEXAS—which could be called, “The land of the insects,” especially in summer.

• Something that tips over on your kitchen counter, runs down your drawers so that it covers the top of each draw and goes partially inside, and then lands on the floor?

If you guessed watered-down honey, then you are CORRECT. (I’m making the game show “Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.” sound in my head right now.)

Which is what happened to me right after I finished typing the last line on the subject of contentment. :)

I got up to make another cup of tea after I finished typing. This was my second cup of tea today. I was in between honey bottles, so I put some water in the last honey bottle so I’d be sure to get all of it. Yes, I’m extremely frugal.

As I went to pick up the honey bottle, I hit it over instead and it splashed over my counter, down my drawers, and onto the fridge and floor. So now you know, I’m not only frugal, but I’m also a klutz.

Love, Katie

Believing God When You Pray (part 2)

Now last month I talked about how to pray in faith, but I wanted to use even more Scripture to clarify this point, specifically Psalm 54. David, who wrote this Psalm, is certainly a man who believed God would answer his prayers. His prayers often include both his request and his confident declaration of God’s answer (before he actually sees God answer).

First off, what is David praying about in Psalm 54? He starts with the cry, “Save me, O God.” I am very familiar with this prayer, that cry of desperation. “Please God, please help me.”

Next, after asking God to save him by His power, David says, “Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.” These words reveal a fervency of spirit. An attitude that says, “You must hear me Lord, for what good is my prayer if you don’t?”

In verse three we learn the circumstances prompting David’s request for God to save and vindicate him. People are hunting David down to kill him. Yikes! And not enemies or people he has wronged, but strangers—violent men who want to kill David though he has done nothing wrong. These men were the spies of King Saul, who were seeking to kill David because of Saul’s jealousy.

Now that David has set forth his request, a plea for God to hear him, and his predicament, he moves on to believe God will answer: “Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness” (Psalm 54:4-5).

“In the fourth and fifth verses, [David] becomes his own prophet, promising himself victory.”  J. Dolben, in a Thanksgiving Sermon, 1665.

David was confident God had both the ability and the willingness to save him. He knows God will not only save him, but repay his enemies for what they have done.

By verse 6, David is already ready to sacrifice to the Lord and thank Him for answering his prayer. Remember, the answer hasn’t yet actually come. David just KNOWS it will. And so he is already thanking God.

Oh, this is how I want to my every prayer to be.

One reason for David’s confidence should be noted. David is certain he is on the Lord’s side. In vs. 3, David tells us about his enemies, saying that these men have not set God before them. In contrast, David praises the Lord, and in doing so, he is setting God before his mind, to sacrifice and thank him. He knew he was on God’s side and his enemies weren’t. And this made him all the more certain God would answer his prayer.

We can have the same confidence David had because God’s character DOES NOT CHANGE. He remains faithful and cannot deny Himself. Just like David, we know vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay. God is just, and He repays men on earth for their wickedness according to His justice. It would be unkind to those who suffer at the hands of the wicked to not punish the wicked.

By the end of the Psalm, David is no longer afraid of his enemies. He thinks of them with satisfaction as he is confident of God’s power to repay them for their wickedness. David remembered times God formerly delivered him, and he believed God would again answer his prayers.

David wasn’t rejoicing over his enemies because of personal revenge, but he rejoiced that justice was going to be done. The unfounded violence of his enemies would be stopped by God’s holy hand.

It is David’s familiarity with God’s character that led to his confidence. David knew God saves the righteous and defends them. He also punishes the wicked and wipes them away. Because David knew God, he realized God would answer the prayers that aligned with God’s character.

From this Psalm, we are given this model of prayer:

a)    First, ask for your request
b)    Second, explain the circumstances (this is probably for us—part of pouring out our hearts before the Lord)
c)    Third, be confident (certain, absolutely sure, convinced) that God will answer your request (making sure your prayer aligns with God’s character)
d)    Fourth, remember a time or times when God has answered a past prayer, and express your thankfulness for that. Now, thank God for this current situation.

This is a Scriptural model for praying in faith. It is so beautiful to me that God tells us what to do, but then He shows us how to do it. Thank you Lord.

Believing God When You Pray

This is such a crucial subject. Knowing how to pray with faith is essential if you will pray at all. While what we pray for is just as important (and I cover that briefly below), we must also know how to pray. And that is with faith in God. Without this, we can’t even come to God to pray! (Hebrews 11:6)

“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Mark 11:24

The more I meditate on this verse, the more powerful and amazing I realize it is. 

ALL THINGS… FOR WHICH YOU PRAY AND ASK… BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM…AND THEY WILL BE GRANTED TO YOU.

Here are four things to know about how to pray:

First off, whatever THINGS you want—things are definite objects, specific requests, precise desires.

Are you asking God for specific requests? For a long time, whenever I would be offended by my husband, I would pray, “Please God, please convict my husband’s heart.” Then one day I realized, I needed to ask God to change Todd’s heart, and then ask for the  precise change I wanted!

Second, we must pray with strong desire. We must be serious about what we ask. We must strongly desire our requests and pray with fervency.  James 5:16 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Third, we must pray according to God’s will. What does this mean? We know that God’s will is revealed in the Bible. If we pray for things that the Bible forbids, God will not answer those prayers.

•    “If you abide in Me [Jesus], and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
•    “Whatever you ask in My name [Jesus], that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13
•    “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments [obey what the Bible says] and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:21-22
•    “This is the confidence which we have before Him [God], that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1 John 5:14-15.

Fourth, we must believe without any doubt that God will answer our prayer. We must believe God hears us and really will give us what we’ve asked.

And the proof we believe that God will answer is in our response. After you pray, do you live as if  you believe the answer is on the way? Not only on the way, but already answered and done? Do you act as if the answer had already come? The Bible says, “believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”

Do you continue to worry about those things you’ve prayed for? Or do you live with complete confidence that God will give you what you’ve asked? Do you consider yourself as one blessed with the answers for which you’ve asked even before they’ve come? Do you give thanks and believe that these blessings are already on their way?

To say yes is faith in God. To say no is to not believe God when you pray. Now, have you begun to understand why these words are so mind-blowing?: “ALL THINGS… FOR WHICH YOU PRAY AND ASK… BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM…AND THEY WILL BE GRANTED TO YOU.”

We must live as though we already have those things for which we have asked. Have you asked God to make your husband a patient man? Then treat him as if he is already a patient man. Have you asked God to make your husband love you more? Then treat your husband as if he already were madly in love with you! Believe in God to answer what you ask!

Consider what C.H. Spurgeon said about prayer: “There is nothing, I repeat it, there is no force so tremendous, no energy so marvellous, as the energy with which God has endowed every man, who like Jacob can wrestle, like Israel can prevail with him in prayer. But we must have faith in this; we must believe prayer to be what it is, or else it is not what it should be. Unless I believe my prayer to be effectual it will not be, for on my faith will it to a great extent depend.”


It is amazing to realize that God’s answer to your prayer will depend a great deal on the extent of YOUR FAITH. I know that many times I’ve asked God to change something in my life—but it the back of my mind, I really didn’t believe the situation would change. And guess what? It didn’t change. I didn’t believe God when I prayed. I didn’t expect change to come. And change didn’t come.

And yet, there have been times when I was truly convinced that God heard my prayer, and that the answer to my prayer was already on the way. And it was done for me “just as [I] believed it would” (Matthew 8:13).

Aiming for Humility

Let me first begin by saying that I’m not writing about humility as if I were an expert on the subject. Rather, I desperately want to be humble because pride comes so easy. My desire in writing this article is that we can grow together toward the goal of being humble women.

Here are the three questions I hope to adequately address in this article.
1. What is humility?
2. Why should we pursue humility?
3. How can we be humble?


What is Humility?

1.    A humble person is not looking to be considered a Christian celebrity or be exalted in Christian circles.
Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 12:6, “For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.” In other words, though he had much to boast about, he didn’t want anyone to think more highly of him than what they saw firsthand.

2.    Humility doesn’t mean a lack of drive or determination, but that the ambition a humble person has is a genuine desire to serve others and glorify God, not a secret desire to become famous so they are glorified.

3.    A humble person wants to see God glorified, people saved, Christians becoming more like Jesus—even if nobody knows they are the cause of that success. A humble person would say something like, “These results weren’t because of me, but God’s grace working and accomplishing His will and the amazing people who have worked on this project. I was just blessed to even be a part of it.”

4.    Humble people want to move the glory away from themselves and toward God and others.

5.    Humility is being concerned with what God thinks. And what draws God’s notice is that same humility that longs for His attention.

Since pride is the opposite of humility, let’s see what pride is to give us a clearer definition of humility.

1.    Pride is boastful. (1 Cor. 13:4 says love is never boastful.)

2.    Pride is when we are inclined to think highly of ourselves—like the Pharisee who prayed, “Thank you God that I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11). It is when we are deceived into thinking we are at a level in our spirituality that we are not.

3.    Prideful people want to pull the glory toward themselves. C.J. Mahaney says is his book “Humility: True Greatness”: “Pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end: self-glorification.”

4.    Pride is being concerned with what people think.


Why Should We Pursue Humility?
1.    Before honor is humility. Before destruction is pride. (Prov. 15:33, Prov. 18:12) God honors those who are humble. Matthew 23:12 says, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

2.    God knows who is humble and who is not. He looks for those who are humble, that he might show them grace and favor. And when He finds those who are proud, He strongly opposes them, that He might bring destruction on them. James 4:6 says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

3.    God looks at the humble person. His attention and favor is on those who are humble. Isaiah 66:2b says, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Simply reading the Bible each morning doesn’t draw God’s favor. But trembling while you read the Bible each morning does draw God’s favor.


How Can We Be Humble?

1.    Admit your wrongs—quickly and easily. Here is a common story of how my pride is displayed. My husband walks into the house and the kitchen is messy. He calls me to find out why. I tell him, “Yes, the kitchen is messy. But I had homeschool group today and then church afterward. So I’ve been gone all day. And when we were leaving this morning I had to change James’ clothes twice, so I was running late and I didn’t have time to do the dishes. (And the unsaid words: So that is why the kitchen is messy. And, like I explained, it’s not my fault.)”
Instead of excuses, humility says simply, “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I should have woken up earlier to make sure everything was done before I left for homeschool group. Will you please forgive me for not planning better?” 
A humble person is not offended when someone questions them about their failures. Instead, they are saddened by their own failures. A humble person looks at himself when things go wrong, not at others. A prideful person looks to others or to excuses when things go wrong.

2.    We exercise humility when we are not reliant on ourselves, but aware that we can do nothing apart from Christ. Humble people believe the words Jesus spoke in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Humble people don’t trust in themselves or their own abilities but depend on God’s strength.

3.    A humble person thinks of others more highly than they think of themselves. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”

4.    A humble person wants to serve others, not be served. Jesus even said, “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 20:26)


Now, we’ve seen that humility brings God’s favor toward us, while pride brings destruction. The good news is God’s mercies are new every morning. We can turn from our pride right now and seek God’s mercy, humbling ourselves before God every day and desiring for Him to be glorified—never us.

Tips for Homeschooling and Motherhood

These tips are things I’ve learned from four years of homeschooling—the advice I would give to anyone who is just starting to homeschool or who would like to learn more. My son is currently in third grade and my daughter is in kindergarten. I’ve never actually bought a full-fledged curriculum. Instead, I’ve just used what I had and what I could. If you have internet access, there are lots of free resources for homeschoolers, which I will tell you about in this blog.

Here’s my advice to you…

·    Ambleside Online (www.amblesideonline.com) and Librivox (www.librivox.org) are great FREE resources. Ambleside provides a curriculum outline that can be used for the entire schooling process (Kindergarten through High School). In addition, they use primarily books in the public domain, which means you can read most of the schoolbooks for free on your computer. Ambleside uses the Charlotte Mason Philosophy of teaching, which involves a lot of learning from real books and reading, and narrating or writing the summary.

Librivox is an online audio library of hundreds of books. For some of the books I am teaching this year, I found the audio books on Librivox, and downloaded them to CD. If you use Librivox CD’s one or two hours a day during downtime, you will find you fly through books.

·    Set your goals at the beginning of the year based on what is important to you. Each year I sit down and think about what I really want my children to learn. I want to cover all the core curriculums taught in school, but I also want my children to learn things beyond the basics.
Some of the things on the list this year include 10 Spanish core words a week, my oldest to read through the Bible, diagram 150 parts of the human body and explain what they do (lungs, veins, heart, etc.), and a few other things like that.

·    Trust that the important things will get done—basically if your children just learn only what you know (if you graduated from public school) then they will have only learned as much at school. I don’t stress out too much over homeschooling.

The best way to insure your children wont miss out is to teach them the basics (how to read well and understand what they read, math, science, etc.) and then teach them how to teach themselves. Although I was mostly public schooled, with a couple years of private school, my parents did an excellent job of teaching me how to teach myself. My dad would do science projects with me on the weekends that he would make up and things like that.

Now, to this day, I am an avid learner. I read non-fiction books with a passion. If I can just teach my kids how to teach themselves, and love doing it, they will always have the tools to learn anything and everything they need to learn.

·    Find resources that cut out busy work. This is probably more just my strong personal preference, but I’m not a fan of busywork. I like things that get to the point and teach the material quickly and well. For that reason, I love Hooked on Phonics.

I started to teach reading with a book of 100 lessons. Some of my friends have used this book with all their kids and loved it. The book wasn't working as well for us, so I needed to find another option to teach reading. I next tried Hooked on Phonics and loved it. Costco was selling the entire Kindergarten through Second Grade set for $99, and I sometimes still see a similar deal when I go to Sam’s Club. When the second grade level was complete, we got the Hooked on Phonics Master Reader program, which Austin was able to complete quickly, mostly on his own.

The Hooked on Math program made by the same company as Hooked on Phonics quickly teaches kids the basics of math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This can supplement another math curriculum, and make math seem easy to your child, which helps create a love of math.

·    Set a basic daily school routine. Establishing a daily schedule of events keeps your house running even if you get an important phone call or other interruption. Your kids can start on penmanship, reading, or any other scheduled activity or assignments and not sit waiting for you. If they know what to do, they can keep doing it even when you can’t be there to help.

·    Teach your children during non-school times. Use every opportunity you have to teach. When your children are curious about something, use those opportunities to teach them all you can while they want to learn.

Also, you don’t have to homeschool on a strict 8-3 schedule. This really has more to do with personality than anything. Some moms flourish under a strict schedule. I admire those moms so much!

But in my own life, I’ve found that I do better when I teach more stressful subjects (such as beginning reading and blending sounds) when I am more relaxed, like at night. In the morning I want to get as much done as I can, while I have the energy to do it. But by nighttime I am drained. I can be the most patient person in the world when I’m tired--like sitting on the couch and explaining a concept repeatedly--since I know I wouldn’t be getting much else done anyway.

·    Have fun learning with your kids. I barely knew history when I started homeschooling, and though I’ve increased my knowledge, I still would love to know more. My favorite things to teach are the things I love to learn about. Those fun times of learning are also valuable times when you get to connect with your kids and build deeper relationships.

My very favorite thing to do with my kids is have a prayer meeting with just us. We will take turns sharing our prayer requests and then take turns praying for those requests. These times together give me the best glimpses into what is going on in my children’s minds and hearts.

·    Remember the point of homeschooling. This primary reason can be different for each person. When I first started homeschooling Austin in Kindergarten four years ago, I asked other homeschooling moms, “Why do you homeschool?” I wasn’t sure yet why I was really doing this. I knew I wanted to, I just didn’t know why I wanted to. After much thought and some reading, I’ve determined that the number one reason why I homeschool is to train character.

I am going to conclude this post with a long excerpt from my (currently unavailable due to revision) book, “In Pursuit of Praiseworthy Motherhood,” explaining why I homeschool…

“Studies have been done on children and adolescents, and they say that overall, by the time children are teenagers, peer influence is stronger than parental influence. That is why it is so important now to CONNECT with your child, ENCOURAGE your child, and SAFEGUARD your child from negative peer influence. I’m not for total isolation of kids or anything like that. But I do think it is wise to protect your children from kids who will negatively influence them.

And I have talked with a lot of moms who have said similar things. One lady told me that her 7 seven year old daughter has severe ADHD. But during Christmas break, she seemed to do much better. My the end of Christmas break she was much more respectful and polite toward her mom. But when she came home after just the first day of school, she started back-talking to her mom again. Just one day of peer influence changed her that drastically.

This is what the Bible also says. Proverbs 13:20 says “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (ESV) In the KJV this says, “a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” The New Living Translation says, “whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.” This seven year old daughter had suffered harm by her exposure to other kids who were unwise. She had picked up the disrespect of those kids who were disrespectful around her.

Understanding this verse has changed my approach to parenting! This is another one of those things I talked about at the beginning [of the book] that has really changed my life.

The Bible also says there are a group of people who are more likely to be foolish. Proverbs 22:15 says “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” So children have foolishness bound up in their hearts. Undisciplined kids are going to be foolish. And if you are not carefully safeguarding your kids, undisciplined kids can potentially become the foolish companions of your children.

We need to protect our children from harmful influences, which includes unsafe situations, untrustworthy people, even kids their own age sometimes when they are bad influences.

Even though I wanted to be naughty as a teenager, practically every bad thing I did as a teenager could have been prevented if I had no one to do those bad things with. It’s something to remember as your children grow older.”

In addition to keeping my kids from the possibility of having their character corrupted, I want to diligently train godly, upright character. That is my number one reason for homeschooling—to fulfill Malachi 2:15 and raise godly children.