We are told that we deserve death because of our sin. (Romans 6:23) Aren’t you thankful that Jesus took your place?
Now we can love others because He loved us first. (1 John 4:19)
We can love others even when they hurt us. We can completely trust God, the only Righteous judge, the only one who is perfectly wise, perfectly good, and perfectly powerful.
A word for me today.
– TWIG
In 2001, I began my homeschooling journey. My oldest daughter was just starting kindergarten and my son was two. Since then God has blessed us with two more children and we’ve moved three times, but we’ve continued plugging along.
My heart goes out to those who suddenly find themselves with a whole family at home … all the time. This isn’t the regular reality of homeschooling. My regular homeschooling lifestyle has involved plenty of field trips and social time with others. Normally, you’d have time to plan out your school year and you’d be in charge (not your school district). This is harder. If you can do THIS, you can homeschool. (Hint. Hint.)
Here are a few tips to help you in your homeschooling journey, whether this is your first week, your first year or your tenth.
1-Make a loose schedule for the order of your day.
Plan out what to do first, second, third, etc … Intermingle your schedule with some breaks and switching up activities. If there’s plenty of screen time, then mix in some exercise. If there’s plenty of book work, add in some screen time. You don’t need to watch the clock, rather watch the order of things.
For example: First, we get up and get ready for the day. Then, we eat breakfast. Next, we sing a song together led by someone on YouTube, read a chapter of the Bible, work on memorizing scripture and pray for our day. Then, Mom does math with big sister, while little brother reads by himself. When Mom is done with math, then sister reads and book while little brother works on math with Mom. etc…
Write out this schedule on a piece of paper and each day have your child put a check next to it. If you have a laminator, laminate it so you can reuse it week after week. If you don’t, you could tape it on the back side of a glass door/window and cross it off with a dry erase marker. Or, you could write the whole list on a dry erase board glass surface and check it off as it goes.
2-Schedule the most important things first.
When you’re making your schedule, put what is most important first. We are committed to giving God His time first. Then, math and language arts. If that’s all you accomplish in a day, then … so be it. First things first.
3-Have some time together and some time apart.
We go back and forth between time together and time apart. We have Bible time together. We read aloud together. We eat lunch and play a board game together. We walk the dog together.But we also spend time apart. What that looks like has varied based on the ages of the kids – sometimes an older sibling takes some time with a younger one, sometimes the kids are alone in their rooms, sometimes there is one-on-one time with Mom, sometimes Mom needs some time to herself.
4-Use a timer.
I love timers. Timers help hard tasks to feel lighter, and easy tasks to done more diligently. “We will work on math for 30 minutes right now,” is easier to stomach than we will finish this whole lesson no matter how long it takes. “You need to clean up your bedroom for ten minutes,” is easier to manage than, “Don’t come out of your room until it’s spotless.” “You will stay in your room quietly for fifteen minutes,” can gradually be worked up to thirty minutes to sixty minutes. (This is how I taught my three year old to keep napping until he was six.)
5-Make the most of this time.
The days go by slowly, but the years go by quickly. Somehow my “Sunshine Girl” and my “Little Man” grew up and met those spouses we’d prayed for since they were little and got married.
Don’t lose sight of the great blessing it is to be home and to be together today.
Read a book or two or three. Play a board game. Learn a song. Memorize scripture.
Take pictures. Make a video. Clean something. Start a blog.
Discover a new hobby or learn a new skill. Better still, learn a new hobby or skill with your kids!
Have you considered keeping a family journal for this time? Write down (or have one of your children write it down) what you did each day. Make note of your prayer requests and praises. Write down what you read in the Bible and how God spoke to you through it.
Did you know you could read the whole New Testament in the next sixty days by reading one chapter in the morning, one at lunch, one at dinner and one at bedtime? Check out this 60-day reading plan on YouVersion.
I’d love to answer any questions you have.
How can I pray for you?
How are you using this time at home?
TWIG
Don’t have a dry erase board? Write on a glass door or window, or on a mirror.
I’d love to hear from you!
I used to think that faith in God was nothing more than a crutch for weak people.
Now I realize that we all need help, and we’re all looking for help somewhere.
Are we looking for help from our parents, our government, or our own strength?
What kind of idols are we pursuing?
Where are we looking in our time of need? Sugar? Social media? Stuff?
Let’s worship the Lord together, the only one WORTHY, the Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Sovereign Ruler over the affairs of men. HE is my helper, what can man do to me?
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 29:2-6 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.29.2-6.ESV
The Israelites had seen with their own eyes all that the Lord had done in Egypt, the trials and the signs and the wonders. They’d seen the ten plagues that God had sent on Egypt and they’d seen God open the Red Sea for them to escape.
Their eyes had seen it, but the Lord had not given them a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.
So, God led them through the wilderness, providing for them for 40 years, giving them food and water and preserving their clothing, so that they would know that He alone is the true Lord, their God.
God wants us to know Him. God wants us to know that He is the Lord and sometimes that means He has to lead us through the wilderness.
God wants us to see Him in the trials and in the wonders.
Do you know that He is the Lord? Do you trust Him today? If you don’t, will you start seeking Him today? He wants you to know Him.
For more on this, read Deuteronomy 3:21-22; Deuteronony 4:3,9; Deuteronomy 8
“Jesus is the only master that gives freedom to those who are bound to him. Being a slave to anything else simply leaves you tangled up.” – Wendy Speake, “The 40-Day Sugar Fast”
Over the 47 years of my life, I have been a slave to many things. I’ve been a slave to what people think of me. I’ve been a slave to sugar and Facebook and TV.
But the only good Master I’ve ever had calls me His own. He calls me beloved, daughter, friend, child, bride. He gave up His own riches and glory, so that I could partake of His riches and glory for eternity. He gave up His own life, so that I could have eternal life.
Why would I bow to anyone else?
Why would I let anything else sit on the throne of my heart?
Truly, no one can serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24)
Who is sitting on the throne of your heart?
#40daysugarfast #teachwhatisgood #evangelicalatheisttoevangelicalchristian
Please join me in praying for China.
