Latest / Homeschool Insights - Biblical Home Education Inspiration in Under 10 Minutes! / How to Find Joy on a Homeschool Day That Feels Impossible - Whitney Newby
Transcript
- speaker-0: I had a lot of those thoughts of man, I have to do this. This is a lot on me and looking around and feeling a little bit bitter about my circumstances, even though these were children that I was so excited to nurture, children that I had longed for and prayed for. speaker-1: You just said something that I want to hit on about this this shift, this perspective shift of I have to to I get to. so what does that actually look like on a hard homeschool day where the joy doesn't come naturally? speaker-0: Yeah. ⁓ man, there are a lot of days that the joy doesn't really come naturally. And I've noticed in homeschool that so much of the hard part of homeschool is not the actual homeschooling, it's everything surrounding it. It's the making of the meals, it's the changing of the diapers, it's the other responsibilities that I'm still in charge of that I have to do while also, you know, having my children's education in as part of my responsibility. And so I I noticed early on when we first started homeschooling, I had our oldest who was six years old, and then we had a four-year-old, a two-year-old, a newborn, and I was also working at a local hospital part-time as a registered nurse. And so I would spend the mornings trying to keep us all alive and also go through a curriculum plan of some sort. And then in the afternoon I would head to work from about three PM to eleven PM. I would come home, I would nurse the baby through the night, I would wake up the next morning and start it all over again. And honestly, I had a lot of those thoughts of, man, I have to do this. This is a lot on me. And looking around and feeling a little bit bitter about my circumstances, even though these were children that I was so excited. To nurture children that I had longed for and prayed for. And this was a choice that I was making. I didn't have to home educate them, but this was, you know, zooming out, something that I really wanted for our family. And so when I thought about those those thoughts that would seep in, like I have to do this, one of the perspective shifts that I just had to intentionally make through prayer was from I have to to I get to do this. I get this incredible privilege of educating my children at home, of discipling them in a way that I see fit, of creating a home environment where the people that I love can rest and grow. And I I think when we acknowledge just the sacred privilege of caring for our families and even acknowledging that it is a short blip of time. You have a daughter who's about to graduate and you think. It's gonna be a very long season and it's just not. And so realizing wow, we get this very short but sacred privilege ⁓ to steward our time for our families, man, that is an incredible privilege. speaker-1: Is. And it's so it's so simple. Like you didn't have to do it's it's not a major thing that had to shift there. It was just a way of thinking. And when we can just change those little ways of thinking and take the thoughts captive, like the Bible says, that are not serving our family, but but instead align ourselves with what God says, right? Because God says motherhood is a ministry. It God says children are a gift, not a burden. And when we can just do that little mind shift, I just that's where it all starts is in the mind, right? And when we just do that little shift, it changes. Everything and I love that instead of I have to, I have to do laundry, right? I get to do laundry. speaker-2: This episode of Homeschool Insights is brought to you by Liberty HealthShare. Choosing to homeschool is about making intentional decisions for your family. Liberty HealthShare is another way families across the country are choosing a different path, one that offers a community-centered approach to health care cost sharing that can help you keep more of your hard-earned dollars while getting the medical care your family needs. Learn more at Liberty HealthShare.org. That's LibertyHealthShare.org.