Why Homeschooling is Really for the Mama

If, as a Christian, you have been a mother for more than five minutes, you know that this work is hard. In fact, go back nine months to when you first fall pregnant, and you quickly learn – to varying degrees of unpleasantness – this work is hard. And, one day, if educating your children at home becomes one of the many responsibilities you take on in your motherhood, you also quickly learn, this work is hard.

My inward-self rebels against the hard, and I ask God to make it easier. But, truly I do know that – at least, in God’s spiritual currency – the hard is what makes this work good. In fact, this whole journey may be more about me than it is about my children.

Don’t get me wrong. Of course, this homeschooling thing is about educating my children and preparing them for the life God has called them to. It is full-blown Deuteronomy 6-style discipleship. And there is no cutting corners in raising children as part of a covenantal generation. Yet, it is always me that God is working through and, therefore, it is always me that God is working in.

I love what Mistie Winckler says in her book, The Convivial Homeschool:

“When God calls us to educate our children at home, He also equips us to do so. However, He does not equip us to do a perfect job. Instead, He promises to be with us, using the events of our days to convict us and sanctify us – and our children. We are equipped with God’s forgiveness, continually receiving it and giving it to others.”

And God has proven to me, again and again, that though I am weak – He is strong. And, though I am an imperfect mother, He is the perfect Father. And, though I drop the ball regularly on the schooling part of our days, He is the Sovereign Educator of my children. And, He is the Soveriegn Educator to me, too. God is perfecting me through being an imperfect mother – and homeschooling is the training ground that He uses to do that work.

We homeschool for many good reasons with many good goals, but God’s reason and goal for us is our sanctification. We must live – homeschooling or not – for His glory alone. – Mistie Winckler

In many ways, I am the key to making this homeschooling journey what He wants it to be – I need to turn up, be ready and active, and do the work of educating. So, of course, His focus is going to be on making me what I need to be, in order to get the children to be where He wants them to be. And that requires hard, painful heart work – again, and again, and again – through the daily grind of a family being together all the time, with messy floors that need to be tidied and division that needs to be understood.

So, though this might seem discouraging to the new or prospective homeschooling mother, this is the advice I give honestly when I am asked: this journey and career will primarily not be about your children, but it will be about you growing more and more into the likeness of Christ. Don’t give in to despair, keeping getting up each day and begin again, and eventually you will begin to see fruit – not only in your children, but also in yourself.

Homeschooling for God’s glory means that we must be willing to humbly offer our poor, weak efforts and trust that God is the One making something of them, of us, of our children. – Mistie Winckler

Articles to inspire and challenge on this topic:

I Am, I Can, I Ought, I Will, OR: Do the Work of Homeschooling @ AfterThoughts Blog

The Key to Homeschooling Consistently @ Simply Convivial