Help! Our Homeschool Doesn't Measure Up!

Hello, my friends. Welcome to the Schoolhouse Review Crew 5 Days of Homeschool 101 Blog Hop. Today the topic is Encouragement. If you have missed my post on making your curriculum work for you, read on over here. You can also check out my post on Planning. And don't forget to read my post on Home Management and Homeschool Traditions.

We've been faithfully watching the Olympics this week.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

I am not, or have ever been, an athlete.

In fact, I was one of those little scrawny girls who always got picked last when we played team sports on the playground.

My sport was daydreaming and daisy picking.

You can imagine that sports, in general, have no appeal for me. Sometimes I just don't get it.

The Olympics, however. Now that's something different.

I would love to feel how it would be to have such power and control in my body.

Almost 20 years ago, I had a devastating car wreck. It left me broken.

I still struggle. I won't go into all my issues, but let's just say that I won't be running any races in my lifetime.

What I have learned is that I can still do something. Just because it's hard doesn't mean it's not worthwhile. It took me years and years before I could walk a mile without great difficulty.

Sistah! I can't even begin to tell you what that little walk did for me. I felt victorious!

It wasn't a marathon. Or even a 3K. But for me it was the Olympics.

Let's apply this principle to our homeschool.

There might be goals and expectations you will never meet. You might never finish that rain forest diorama. You might never get through Great Expectations. There might never been Greek or Latin in  your curriculum.

It doesn't mean that what you are accomplishing isn't worthwhile! 

It is easy for us to look at all the shiny and exceptionally efficient homeschoolers online. They seem to be superhuman. And everything looks like so much fun! Of course, we don't everything that happens behind the scenes.

We have to STOP measuring ourselves against pictures on a screen, words written from 1000 miles away or even against those homeschoolers just down the street.

We've all had great expectations for our homeschool. We want our kids to be learners for life. We want them to embrace challenges and never give up.

I've learned that I need to model those things for my son. I need to show him the priorities in my life.
He needs to see a consistent prayer life, a faithful marriage and a character without reproach.

If our days are filled with time together, beautiful art, music and words, if we face each challenge with a cool head and calm heart, if we take our struggles to the Lord, if we love....those are things worthwhile.


I want to leave you with a verse.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. –Galatians 6:9 (NIV)

Have faith, my friends. Keep the faith. You are doing beautifully.

You can read more encouraging posts by clicking below or heading on over to the Schoolhouse Review Crew Blog. I wrote the intro post!