Frazzled, Worried, and Weeping?

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Homeschooling is a scary prospect for many parents. Yet the world we live in today is making many, many of those parents timidly ask the question: Should we?

Ray and I were in that position in 1990. We answered the question with a yes, but that didn’t mean that those fears went away. This is the reason that once upon a time, I was a frazzled, worried, weeping homeschooling mama — so frazzled and worried and weeping that we did what would be unthinkable to me now. We quit homeschooling — for two whole years. I regret it. I grieve the loss of those two years. We would never make that decision again, but in my frazzled, worried, weeping state, we made it.

When we quit, I only remember one homeschooling mother talking to me about our decision. I didn’t feel encouraged after that conversation; I felt guilty. While I regret missing out on those two years, I am grateful now that I understand how frazzled, worried, weeping homeschooling mamas feel. This is one reason this blog is so very important to me and why I praise God for the opportunity to encourage you. I don’t want any of you ever to feel as alone, discouraged, and helpless as I did.

When we came out of our wilderness into our second homeschooling beginning, we made pretty much a 180º turn-around. Gone was the pressure. Gone was the need to conform to my ideas of what school was. Gone was the need to look just right to the people who might be judging us.

In our hearts we decided: This is for God. This is for eternity. This is for everything that really matters.

Thank you for homeschooling your children — even when you are frazzled, worried, and weeping.

Not that I have already obtained it
or have already become perfect,
but I press on so that I may lay hold of that
for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself
as having laid hold of it yet;
but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind
and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14

Yesterday I stumbled upon three short videos that our daughter Mary Evelyn created a few years ago. One is a trailer for her book Katy, another is a trailer for its sequel, Katy’s Box, and the About the Author video is about her life as a homeschool graduate turned homeschool mama. You long-time readers know that I rarely directly encourage a purchase in this blog, but I do hope you will watch these videos and perhaps read Katy and Katy’s Box aloud to your children.  Both are available on our website. (By the way, as you can see on that web page, we recommend Katy as one of the books that supplement Our Star-Spangled Story and Katy’s Box as one of the literature titles that supplement America the Beautiful.)

I believe that Mary Evelyn’s About the Author video tells a powerful story from the perspective of a current homeschooling mama who remembers her own frazzled, worried, weeping homeschooling mama. I am sorry that I didn’t have a book like this when I was frazzled, worried, and weeping. It just might have given me those two years I lost. It is my prayer that Katy’s Box helps many a mama to keep on keeping on while laying aside the guilt and fear and help them reach forward in peace, tranquility, and joy.

You might wish to share these books and the videos with a mama you know who is struggling to keep going or with a mama you know who would love to homeschool if only she believed she could.

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