Depending on God’s Sufficiency in Homeschooling

I got this comment in my email today…

I'm thinking of the scripture that says that God's strength is sufficient and the other one that tells that Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light.  When I'm commiserating about how hard homeschooling/life is, I think of that verse and wonder if I'm trying to do too much instead of "enough" and letting God fill in the rest.  I also have a hard time with the balance of what is enough and what is good enough.  I'm afraid I fall into the "good enough" area too much.  "Enough" would require an added effort on my part to accomplish but God promises it won't be too hard.  Anyway...just wondered what everyone else thought of this…

Great discussion!

In the recent past, when we started homeschooling, or better yet when we started having kids, thoughts of sufficiency plagued us. Were we good enough parents? Did we love the kids enough?

I think I am comparing myself too much with the rest of the world, or better yet, with the standards of our own culture when I have those thoughts. Who dictates what is good enough education? Who says it is enough for a child to learn this or that? I often think about the job my parents did and it is becoming clearer and clearer that I am providing way more in the areas that matter for my children than my parents did for me. They did what they thought best but they didn’t know the Lord so they provided what they thought was enough according to their own standard derived from their culture and generation. I think they did an awesome job and I thank God for their love and support throughout the years even until today.

My kids show incredible potential. Sometimes I forget their age and demand more. I have to then remember what I knew and how my parents dealt with me at that age. I am reminded that I don’t need to be in a hurry to get anywhere. I already am where God wants me to be – in His kingdom! He is providing for me everything I need as I provide my kids what they need: love, support, transparency and dependency on God. This is why we chose a very simple curriculum for our kids. One that we can supplement when we think it is appropriate and one that we know we can master and understand thoroughly. One that is not a burden on us for then it will be a burden on our kids.

When I looked at other curriculums I was a bit intimidated by the amount of work and truthfully, I couldn’t wrap my head around some of them. I immediately dismissed those and opted for a scripture-centered, Jesus-centered one, where Bible was the most important, and all the rest kind of went after that.

I know that for me, learning how to read at an early age and developing a love for reading made a huge difference between me and my friends throughout the years. It prepared me for the person I am today and what I can do in God's kingdom. Clary and I thought this was the most important thing to develop in our kids. A love for reading – starting with the Good Book!

All else – information – can be easily accessed whenever you want. Basic skills, like reading and writing and math – that’s important to teach. History, government and stuff you can easily access by reading or looking it up, I don’t bother with that too much. Those things we read about and that’s that. I don’t even test them for those things. What’s the point? You can look it up. Life is an open book test isn’t it – open Bible test!

Einstein never bothered to memorize what he could look up. Instead, commit to mind and heart the things that can influence you towards the Lord.

We have opted to not even grade our children. They either did something right, or need to be corrected so that it can be right. That’s it. No A, B C D. That’s not how life works.

The fruit that I see so far in our 6 year old satisfies me. Although he was born deaf and with a cochlear implant is considered hard of hearing, he knows three languages, two as well as any other 7 or 8 year old. Loves to read, at a 10 year old level, and loves the Bible. That’s it! Anything else over that is too much for a 6 year old! Yes, we are studying the states and math and all that, oh , I forgot, he does 2^nd grade math quite well.

Our 4 year old is reading, but definitely not at the level our 6 year old was reading when he was 4. Are we concerned? No! Not too many 4 year olds read at all! Besides, each child is a universe of beauty waiting to be discovered and trained in the way they should go…

In the future, I am preparing my child to learn at his pace. That is the responsibility God has given me:

Pro 22:6 ESV Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Train up… is the Hebrew chanak, meaning “to narrow”; figuratively to initiate or discipline: - dedicate, train up.

…in the way he should go… - not the way he would go or the way you would want him to go. It’s not about giving him a career of your choice or of their choice, but giving him the skills and the discipline he will need to find (discover) his own way; suitable to his character, talents and capabilities – the way God has set for him. It is up to the parent, having the most experience, to be able to instruct (train up, initiate) his child in this way.

Transliterated: “Initiate the child at the opening (the mouth) of his path.” When he comes to the opening of the way of life, being able to walk alone, and to choose; stop at this entrance, and begin a series of instructions, how he is to conduct himself in every step he takes.

Curriculums are too narrow, honestly, for this job. They are a good guide, but even the state of New York cannot provide a defined curriculum for K-8. Look it up on the web and see if you define it! Government is certainly not responsible for training our kids. That’s why we take ownership of our children’s education as well as their health. It doesn’t matter if you send your kids to school or homeschool them – you, the parent, are responsible for showing them their way!

So, I think we should concentrate on showing them, teaching them the how to, the basic skills they will need so they can find the path and we can encourage them in it. Don’t waste your precious and valuable time in trying to get them to do something that is pointless or unneeded or that they can read in a book or look up later on in life when they might need it. Not everyone is cut out for academics, I know that. Not everyone is cut out for university. Some of our kids will do one thing and others another. Just train them in that way – a good, honest, God glorifying way where they will meet souls and teach them the truth about Jesus.

My 2 ¢

¿Qué significa seguir a Jesús?

Respuesta: Seguir a Jesús significa haber muerto con El al ser sepultado en agua mediante el bautismo, así sepultando el viejo hombre, y naciendo de nueva a nueva vida tal y como Jesús resucitó de entre los muertos.

Romanos 6:3-4 NVI ¿Acaso no saben ustedes que todos los que fuimos bautizados para unirnos con Cristo Jesús, en realidad fuimos bautizados para participar en su muerte? 4 Por tanto, mediante el bautismo fuimos sepultados con él en su muerte, a fin de que, así como Cristo resucitó por el poder del Padre, también nosotros llevemos una vida nueva.

Este bautismo es como nacemos de nuevo y es el primer paso a seguir a Jesús, efectivamente haciéndote Su discípulo.

Después de haberte bautizado debes seguir caminando en la luz como dice Juan.

1 Juan 1:7-9 NVI Pero si vivimos en la luz, así como él está en la luz, tenemos comunión unos con otros, y la sangre de su Hijo Jesucristo nos limpia de todo pecado. 8 Si afirmamos que no tenemos pecado, nos engañamos a nosotros mismos y no tenemos la verdad. 9 Si confesamos nuestros pecados, Dios, que es fiel y justo, nos los perdonará y nos limpiará de toda maldad.

Caminar en la luz significa dar muerte a tu viejo hombre a diario, cargando tu cruz como lo hizo Jesús.

Lucas 9:23-24 NVI Dirigiéndose a todos, declaró: --Si alguien quiere ser mi discípulo, que se niegue a sí mismo, lleve su cruz cada día y me siga. 24 Porque el que quiera salvar su vida, la perderá; pero el que pierda su vida por mi causa, la salvará.

Al caminar en la luz la sangre de Jesús continua su poder efectivo, limpiando todo pecado. El que camina en la luz vive una vida penitente, confesando sus pecados y negándose a sí mismo para así cumplir con la voluntad de Dios en su vida.

El que sigue a Cristo conocerá la verdad y es liberado del pecado. Últimamente el que de veras sigue a Cristo vive con gozo esperando Su retorno al final de la edad.

Juan 8:31-32 NVI Jesús se dirigió entonces a los judíos que habían creído en él, y les dijo: --Si se mantienen fieles a mis enseñanzas, serán realmente mis discípulos; 32 y conocerán la verdad, y la verdad los hará libres.