A letter to you, homeschool mama, because I know what it is like.

I am no homeschool mama super star. But I want you to know I know what it’s like.

I know what it’s like to sit in front of a child that is struggling to learn to read and wonder, “Am I the best one to be teaching them?”

I know what it’s like to leave the dishes in the sink, step over the laundry piled high, and push aside the crumbs on the floor, day after day, to choose what’s most important in the moment, and wonder, “How am I going to get it all done?”

I know what it’s like to be surrounded by a plethora of homeschool curriculum choices and struggle to decide which of these needles in a hay stack will be the one for me to succeed in teaching, and the right one for the child to succeed in learning. “Why are there so many choices? I hope I choose right.”

I know what it’s like to feel embarrassed and judged because I’ve chosen to homeschool and feel like I have to make a 100 excuses as to why I do it. I know what it’s like to homeschool while trying to sell a house and have showings interrupt the days and the weeks and the months. To homeschool while building a new house. To homeschool while moving. To homeschool while pregnant in bed with morning sickness for months. To homeschool with an infant and a toddler. To homeschool 4 different grades spanning 12 years. To homeschool when Husband is burdened with business and the finances suffer because of the economic collapse. To homeschool when Nana had cancer and Husband spent days away taking care of her, then carry the grief of her passing.

I know what it’s like to homeschool weary and wonder, “Did God make a mistake in choosing me to home educate my children? Did I make a mistake? Surely this can’t be good for us.” I’ve thought many times.

But as the chaos settles, and quiet comes, I am reminded, and I remind you.

Our success is as sure as our obedience to God. If He’s asked us to homeschool our children, then He will lavish His love and grace to empower us to do what may seem impossible. It’s His strength that is available to us, when we cease from forging ahead in our own strength, and instead, trust and lean on Him.

And in those moments when joy and laughter fill the house. Those moments when my teen beauty sits on my lap because she wants to talk. Or when my 10 year old son, is crowning his 2 year old princess.  Those moments when toddler baby girl is learning right along with her older siblings. Those moments when we get to make the outdoors our classroom. Those moments when the children are schooled by real-life experience. Those precious moments make all the hard parts worth it.