Scripture the Lord gave me which sustained
me through this uncertain pregnancy:
“I will go before thee, and make the
crooked places straight . . . And I will
give thee the treasures of darkness, and
hidden riches of secret places, that thou
mayest know that I, the LORD, which
call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel” (Isaiah 45: 2, 3).
In dark times we know that hopelessness
is not the right response. Why? Because
God is Good, and He goes before us and
purposes to give us treasures in those dark
places, and these come when we cry out to
Him with all our heart.
Even if our way is not the way we chose,
even if we can’t see the outcome, we can adjust our view and see hope in every situation. And when we carry Christ into every
situation, we carry hope.
All of this makes our homeschool hopelessness pale, doesn’t it? What’s the big deal
about doing our best to teach our children
to love God and love others and learn academics along the way? We can do this, even
through the rough patches. We have the
God of Hope on our side and in our heart.
Seek Him and you will find hope for everything from homeschooling to home births
to home tragedies. He has treasures for us
in all of it if we seek Him in those hopeless
places.
Hope comes because we know we can
always trust Him. We know His character
and His Name and we know that He doesn’t
ever abandon us. So much hope!
“And they that know thy name will put
their trust in thee: for thou, LORD,
hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”
(Psalm 9: 10).
A Hopeful Homeschool
Now, let’s bring some hope back into that
crazy homeschool of yours. What is both-
ering you most? What is taking your hope
away of ever getting this thing done right?
Clutter? Laundry? Piles of books? A bet-
ter schedule? A different curriculum plan?
Maybe it’s a painful event that you just can’t
see hope in, so you are paralyzed in your
homeschooling. Let’s brainstorm some
hope into your school day:
• Take an inventory and tackle something
one day at a time, one task at a time, and
one 20 minute segment at a time.
• Take a couple days off to get things back
in order. Have all the children lend a
hand and clean up before you begin
school again. Put lots of small tasks on
slips of paper in a jar and let the kids
choose two each.
• Create a flexible schedule for each child that
is basic and easily doable and something
they can check off. It could have schoolwork and chores listed, and they check each
item off every day. This makes them feel
like they accomplished something as they
work towards a goal of free time. It also
means they don’t have to ask you what’s
next or wait for you for anything. It’s all on
What’s the big deal about doing our best to teach our children to love God
and love others and learn academics along the way? We can do this.
