Transcript Season

(Shared with the IAHE blog, too)

It's transcript season at our house, and I've been reminiscing.  One of my dear girls has started her last year of high school.  We have been through so much and learned so much together.  And most of it could never be reflected on a transcript.

Oh, yes, she has learned to balance chemical equations, to make bread and berry pie, to use imaginary numbers and subordinating conjunctions.  She can play the piano and tell you who Thaddeus Kosciuszko was.  But a transcript could never reflect who she has become.

In the progress of gathering up samples of her work for a portfolio, I came across a notebook wherein lay perhaps some of her most significant work.  It was work that went far deeper than history facts or geometry proofs.  It penetrated her heart and ignited something inside her.  This work hadn't been assigned for an official class.  It was what she had done during the time she devoted to God's Word at the beginning of the day during one of her school years.  The notebook contains the notes she made as she read through the Old Testament books of Joshua and Judges.

As I read through tears of joy, I saw that she had carefully catalogued, verse by verse, what was taking place, grouped the verses into logical divisions, and summarized the content.  She made observations on the overarching themes, and then applied them to her own life and the life of our nation with incredible insight.  God challenged her to align herself with His priorities, and she said, "Yes!"  He spoke, He revealed His faithfulness, and her faith grew.  And mine grew, too, as I read what the Lord had taught her.

Contrary to popular opinions of some, studying God's Word is no dry, meaningless, intellectual exercise; it has been a living and powerful shaping force in her life.  As I observe her attitudes today and hear her speak with passion, I know that the living God who revealed Himself in those passages has molded her faith with His own hand.

As we spend each passing day with our children, let's not forget that the most relevant things they will ever learn are the spiritual truths from God's Word that will anchor them long after they've left home and long after we have moved on to heaven ahead of them.

And more rewarding than anything that could be recorded on a transcript is knowing that our children's names are recorded in the Book Of Life.

". . . You know in all your hearts and in all your souls

that not one word of all the good words

which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed;

all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed."

Joshua 23:14b

Perspective

(In case you're not a regular reader of  the

IAHE (Indiana Association of Home Educators) blog,

I'll share this here, too.)

I do know a family or two who apparently stay totally on schedule for school, wrap it all up by Memorial Day, and take the entire summer off each year.  However, most of the homeschooling families that I know do not; they have subjects to finish up or lingering projects to complete over the summer.  And while outsiders looking in may find that appalling, it could just be that they are not familiar with all that a homeschooling mother must juggle.

When my husband and I went to Ukraine for 31 days for our adoption, my parents bravely undertook the care and home education of our other two children, who were eight and twelve at the time.  While we were gone, my mom made a chart of all the responsibilities I normally had to manage along with an estimate of how much time they each required.  What she found was that there isn’t enough time in the day to get it all done.

What I’m saying, moms, is that if your job feels huge, that’s because it is.  I have a tendency to let that get me down at times, and I know some of you do, too.

When you are tempted to be discouraged with what you didn’t get accomplished, remind yourself of what you did accomplish; stop to acknowledge the Lord’s faithfulness for the past, the present, and the future; and be thankful.  Actually, I was having one of those discouraged days recently, and one of my daughters helped me to put things in perspective.  It’s often the nature of homeschooling for some of the biggest leaps in learning to not be because of what was on the list at the outset of the school year, but instead they are a result of some unforeseen event or opportunity that God gave you the grace to make the most of.

At this time of year, especially, don’t succumb to the temptation to call yourself a failure just because your homeschooling schedule doesn’t look like somebody else’s.  And don’t forget that your Sovereign Father has even more invested in your children’s future than you do.

“For I am confident of this very thing,

that He who began a good work in you

will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:6

That They May Know Him

(Shared with the IAHE, too)

This time of year, as I look back on the year's learning and look ahead to all that is left to accomplish, I find in the words of Jesus, recorded in John 17:3, an important perspective.

"And this is eternal life,

that they may know You, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

While we, of course, still value the responsible completion of our assignments, when I consider Jesus' words, I am challenged to actively avoid being simply on auto-pilot, to avoid being so caught up in the routine of daily tasks that we would somehow overlook His call to relationship.  Our call, above all others, is to abide in Him, so that we would know him.  Do our children truly understand that eternal life, according to Jesus, is to know Him?

Oh, that each day would be rightly arranged to reflect this, both for us and for our children. . .  

Because, in the end, whether we know Him is all that will matter.

"More than that, I count all things to be loss

in view of the surpassing value

of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. . ."

Philippians 3:8