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Plain Mary Jane Homeschool

Ann1 Comment

 

Do you ever scroll through social media looking for homeschool inspiration and end up feeling defeated?   Doesn’t it look like everyone else has the best resources, the latest educational technology,  the prettiest homeschool room, and kids that sit properly in chairs and write neatly the first time?  Then there’s you.   You’re doomed before you’ve even begun.  Your homeschool budget is microscopic,  you do school at the kitchen table (after you move the crumbs aside), and you don’t want to post a picture of your kids in their pjs at 1pm.  Ugh.

Deep breath, now.

 

I have been there.  I’ve fallen into the trap of becoming discontented with my homeschool because I saw something that appeared bigger and better.  I thought I had to change to suit what I saw going on around me.  Everyone else had a fabulous homeschool and mine was just blah.

Stop thinking you have to live another family’s life and homeschool.   Live your own.   Discontent will wear you down.

The biggest gift I’ve ever given myself as a homeschool mom is to accept what my OWN reality is, what my family circumstances are, and work with and appreciate the unique blessings that God has bestowed on my homeschool.  I’ve found contentment in this, and renewed energy to do the best I can for my children.

Please give yourself the same gift.  Work with what God has given you.  A positive attitude and daily connection with God will go farther towards creating a joyful, vibrant learning environment than the latest resources alone could ever accomplish.

Some families have a homeschool like a pair of sleek, custom-fitted Italian leather heels.  Or like a pair of heavy-duty motorcycle boots.  That’s great! My homeschool is more like a pair of plain mary jane style shoes.  Simple, comfortable and serviceable.  Gets us where we need to go.    Sometimes my homeschool gets a little scuffed and worn, so I take some time to polish it up.  Maybe add a new insole.  Then we go happily on our way.  Mary Janes aren’t for everyone, but they are perfect for my family.  Praise God.

 

 

 

 

 

Grow Where You are Planted

~MelissaLeave a comment

I recently shared this on my Instagram account. I decided to share it here because I think it is important to recognize those object lessons we find in the garden… or in this case… out of the garden.

Found by my back door…a Bok Choy plant which planted itself. It takes a beating, but I leave it there to remind me to grow where I am planted…despite the hard days I have.

Sometimes in life, we don’t feel we are where we should be. We seem to be getting beat up. We seem to be in the wrong place. But, I believe we sometimes walk these times in our lives because God wants us to grow despite our circumstances.

May we all grow where we are planted!

*If you have a garden object lesson you would like to share here, contact us at adventisthomeducator@gmail.com

Monday Bible Promise

AnnLeave a comment

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

John 15:10,11

O Day of Rest and Gladness

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O day of rest and gladness,
O day of joy and light,
O balm of care and sadness,
most beautiful, most bright;
on thee, the high and lowly,
who bend before throne,
sing, “Holy, holy, holy,”
to the Eternal One.

 


Thou art a port protected
from storms that round us rise;
a garden intersected
with streams of paradise;
thou art a cooling fountain
in life’s dry, dreary sand;
from thee, like Pisgah’s mountain,
we view our promised land.

A day of sweet reflection,
thou art a day of love,
A day to raise affection
from earth to things above.
New graces ever gaining
from this our day of rest,
We reach the rest remaining
in mansions of the blessed.

-Christopher Wordsworth

How Many Years?

Editor2 Comments

It has been a while since we polled our readers.   How long have you been homeschooling?  This includes you too, retired homeschoolers!

Motivation Monday

AnnLeave a comment

If the Christian thrives and progresses at all, he must do so amid strangers to God, amid scoffing, subject to ridicule. He must stand upright, like the palm-tree in the desert. The sky may be as brass, the desert sand may beat about the palm-tree’s roots, and pile itself in heaps about its trunk. Yet the tree lives as an evergreen, fresh and vigorous amid the burning desert sands. Remove the sand till you reach the rootlets of the palm tree, and you discover the secret of its life; it strikes down deep beneath the surface, to the secret waters hidden in the earth. Christians indeed may be fitly represented by the palm tree. They are like Enoch; although surrounded with corrupting influences their faith takes hold of the Unseen. They walk with God, deriving strength and grace from him to withstand the moral pollution surrounding them. Like Daniel in the courts of Babylon, they stand pure and uncontaminated; their life is hid with Christ in God. They are virtuous in spirit amid depravity; they are true and loyal, fervent and zealous, while surrounded by infidels, hypocritical professors, godless and worldly men. Their faith and life are hid with Christ in God. Jesus is in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Faith, like the rootlets of the palm-tree, penetrates beneath the things which are seen, drawing spiritual nourishment from the fountain of life.

 

The Review and Herald, January 2, 1897

What’s your plan?

~MelissaLeave a comment

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“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Hebrews 11:7

This is such a small statement, but it says so much!

  • Noah was warned of things to come and he acted in faith. We have been given much truth concerning our future here are earth. Do you believe it? Are you living like you believe it?
  • Noah didn’t see anything happening, yet, but he still proceeded with his plan. Are we working, now, to prepare our family for the days ahead? Or are we waiting for something bad to happen before we create an emergency plan? What is your emergency plan?
  • Noah did not procrastinate. As soon as he became aware of the warning, he acted right away to create a plan of action and began to work it out.
  • Noah’s example condemned the world. Are we living in such a way that others can see living truth in our lives?

BELIEFS. FAITH. WISE WITH TIME. DILIGENCE. LIVING EXAMPLE OF HIS FAITH.

Are you preparing an Ark of Protection so that your home might be saved? May God lead us in the days ahead to focus on His Word that we receive the warnings, so that we might by faith, prepare for the days ahead! May we has homeschooling parents not be so focused on just our day to day school work that we forget an important task that we have with our own children to prepare them (and ourselves) so we might be saved.

Please take time to share how your family is making preparations in this area. What specifically are you adding this coming school year to focus on an area of spiritual preparation for your family?