HOMESCHOOLING BEGINS WITH HOME
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body, soul, and spirit— just as God the Holy Spirit relates to you. |
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Exercise Godly authority—not carnal control—over each child’s external behavior and environment as you bring them alongside you when they are young or come alongside them as they mature. Christ-in-you will become their model.
put in: |
and practice Godly principles. |
put on: |
Godly principles. |
physical body: |
until your children internalize and practice Godly principles. |
physical environment: |
until your children internalize and practice Godly principles. |
*My husband models physical fitness before our children and has included them in his exercise routine of weight-lifting, biking, and aerobics.
He also brings them alongside him in the garden upkeep and canning as well as the myriad of building projects he undertakes around our home.
I highly value and validate his important contributions to our homeschooling life. How can you validate your husband’s contributions, even if they are not academic ones?
Will, Intellect, Emotions |
When you are with your children, you are always influencing their whole persons—whether you intend to or not.
rather than relinquishing your authority over them to others,
you can purposefully influence and minister to their souls—
minds, wills, and emotions.
Perhaps you have been reading these homeschooling articles and wondering, When is Linda going to talk about academics—the real meat of what I’m looking for?
academics is only a small part
of the big picture.
When the mind/intellect becomes your emphasis while homeschooling and the Godly shaping of the will and emotions is trivialized or ignored, children become adults who walk in images because their souls are bound by self rather than released to love. For example:
- A bright child can begin to identify with his intellect and share his knowledge in a prideful way to serve himself. Knowledge puffs up; love edifies. Homeschooling provides moment-by-moment opportunities for mom to address knowledge-rooted pride.
- A willful child—one who is confident in “self”—becomes independent of others and of the Lord as she identifies with her abilities, including her strong ability to lead others; but in reality, she serves herself by being in the forefront. Homeschooling provides moment-by-moment opportunities for mom to address independence-from-the-Lord pride.
- An emotional child identifies with his wants (not necessarily his needs) and attempts—and sometimes succeeds—to manipulate others to fulfill them. When his desires are not met, he resorts to self-pity as he compares his circumstances with others’. Homeschooling provides moment-by-moment opportunities for mom to address emotional self-wallowing.
Pray that the Lord would help you to identify those areas where your child’s soul self-life rules so you can address them with love and Godly authority.
If you are bound in images, yield your heart to the Lord so that you can be released to love and walk with Him.
The tool He uses to change you? Your willingness and obedience.
you will become a channel of blessing to your children
as you purposefully:
- develop the tool of home and exercise Godly authority with resolve. As a homeschooling mom, you will be provided with many opportunities to address your child’s whole person—will, emotions, and finally the intellect—especially during choretimes, routines, and academic skills development.
- savor the intense crockpot environment of home—rather than the microwave lifestyle of frenetic activities—and use the home wisely. The home is efficient and sufficient to reveal hearts—both your children’s and your own.
In order to live together in harmony and with peace, your children—and you!—must establish healthy habits and personal, moral, and relational skills.
As the Lord child-trains you and you grow in healthy habits and personal, moral, and relational skills, you will child train your children in the same way, allowing His love to flow through you to them.
As these skills become internalized, your children will develop a love of learning—and eventually a love of study—and desire excellence as they apply the healthy habits they have formed and skills they have learned while young. If you allowed self-centered habits to develop, they will continue in those. But if you abide, the Spirit will supply the wisdom you need to lead your children in developing healthy habits which will serve them as they serve Him with excellence.
- maintain authority over your children’s souls. Academically, your time will be efficient because you will really know who your children are and will be able to weave in interdisciplinary subjects easily.
Family reading times at home, as well as the routines of everyday life at home, provide many opportunities for interdisciplinary weaving.
and even in mom’s life—
cannot be rushed
but can be crushed.
How?
- by ungodly performance expectations and
- by a lack of unconditional love for the child’s growth process.
My goal is not to have the perfect children or the perfect home or the perfect life. as much as possible in this life. As I have related genuinely to the Lord before my children and they have seen my failures, my sin, my mistakes, my successes, my work ethic, my stewardship, my trust in the Lord, my sometimes waivering faith, and my heart filled with His love for them, they have seen me grow. By faith, I have waited on the Lord and then watched each of them grow in small ways and sometimes big ways. |
Live the genuine Christian life before your children.
Pray.
You can only lead your children to Christ, and they will have to make their own decision about whether to follow Him.
As your children evaluate a genuine Christian life that they have witnessed through you at home, compared to a worldly life or a pseudo-Christian life (Matthew 15:8), what—or Whom—will they choose to follow?
As you steward their lives, let God renew your mind about these four aspects of your walk with Him:
- Become alive in Christ, not dead in religion.
- Discern between emotionality and spirituality.
- Develop the right perception of yourself and of God.
- Live the genuine Christian life so images don’t draw you.
Enjoy the process of living the genuine Christian life! Trust by faith that Christ-in-you will draw your children to Truth, and His Life will overflow in their lives just as His Life and love overflow in yours as you abide.
and Your Body, the Church.
May she press on in the fear of the Lord
and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit
while she relates to the whole person of each of her children
just as You relate to her.
just as I have loved you.
~John 15:12
Additional articles related to the theme of Relationship:
- Relate to the Lord
- Relate to Your Particular Child
- Relate to the Whole Person, Part 1
- Relate to Your Own Education (coming soon)
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