When I first was introduced to the concept of schooling my children at home, it brought along with it wrong thinking.
I didn’t know but maybe three women who were stay-at-home mothers, and it became the permission I needed to learn how to teach my own children from our kitchen table. But there were fears that crept in because I was taught that I needed a degree, and be certified to be able to teach.
My first year was filled with thoughts of worry, anxiousness, and lose of sleep. I didn’t believe I knew how to teach anyone to read, problem solve in math, and then there’s high school to navigate. I knew nothing of what schooling at home looked like.
The first year was my hardest… not because teaching was hard, but because of my lack of confidence. The doubts I had were overwhelming. The self-condemnation that I wasn’t enough was clearly a burden I was carrying, and I was convinced I was going to mess it up.
But I came across a truth in that first year that is so clear to me today, 20+ years later.
I am a vessel in their lives. God already put the desire in my children’s hearts to learn, and He allows me to be the vessel to help facilitate the days at home, providing an environment for learning new skills, and to be an encouragement to them. I learned that we could problem solve together. God was essentially teaching two generations here.
I didn’t have to be the smartest, the best, or the most intelligent to teach my children at home. That was a lack of confidence that I had. God was showing me that this life is a calling, a privilege, and an honor.
My 20-year-old self didn’t know then that being at home with my children and doing life with my family would be so fulfilling. It was my heart to be at home. I just needed my confidence level to catch up.
Today, when I teach, walk beside, and have those sweet conversations, God has taught me more through this process of being their mother than I alone will ever teach them from any workbook.
God will do the same for them. I’m just a willing vessel to be used for a greater purpose in their lives.
Schooling at home is a privilege.
Walking with Jesus is sanctifying.
And being their mother is the joy of my life.
Natalie