I want to share a little motivation for the homeschooling parent who is combating what I like to call the Februaries.
Did you know that February homeschool burn out is a real thing? In fact, if you google “homeschool burnout” and “February” and you will find countless articles.
It makes sense in a lot of ways:
We are weary.
We are in the middle of the year and the end of the race (May) seems a long way off.
Everyone is enrolling in schools and programs for next year: charter school lotteries, tuition payments are due for next year programs, letters of intent to return, etc.
The pressure is on.
The timing is very unfortunate, because asking a homeschool parent to make schooling decisions in February is a bad idea. It is like asking a marathon runner at mile 18 if they’d like to sign up for another marathon. “Stop by the water table at mile 19 and pay your dues for the next race.” A runner would look at you like you were crazy.
Likewise, would you ask a hiker attempting to summit Everest, in the last stretch, where the oxygen is sparse, if he would like to sign up to hike Kilimanjaro? No! He doesn’t want a registration form. He just wants an oxygen mask.
You don’t ask someone in the thick of HARD if they love homeschooling and want to continue for the years ahead. We too just want the oxygen mask.
So, I want to offer us a little oxygen. Yes, I said us because I am preaching to my own heart this time of year.
Let’s take it back to the basics. If you are a homeschool parent, God has placed a unique calling on your life. News flash, not everyone is signing up to do this job! God asked you to start a unique race and this year you are doing it, in fact, you are in the thick of it.
When in the middle of a race and it gets hard, do you quit? Do you mentally check out? Start imagining yourself on an island somewhere, where your feet aren’t hitting the pavement at mile 19? No! You focus on your race. Your breathing. Your pace. Your distance. You press in to the details to help you get to the finish line. In the same way, we too cannot give up on our race. We cannot check out and start dreaming of the end. We need to bring our focus back on today. The here and now.
Hebrews 12:1b-2 says, “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross… consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
If you have made it to February as a homeschool parent, you know by now that this homeschooling gig is about way more than just education. It is about discipling our children day by day. We have hours to pour into them the word of God, talk about His beauty, and train them to be followers of Jesus.
This race God has called us to is HARD and HOLY work. The hardest. The holiest.
Corrie Ten Boom said, “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit and trust the engineer.” Maybe we need to realign ourselves with the engineer. Sit back? Trust him? After all, it is easy to teach a math lesson, but so hard to shape a soul. We can shape souls only with the power of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
We need to tap into HIM during these months when the race gets long, and every yellow school bus seems to promise a home of peace and the quiet we long for. But, let us remember that when we tap into Jesus, we do have peace. We have true, everlasting peace in the midst of chaos (John 14:27). We have the promises of God that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He goes before us. (Deuteronomy 31:8). We have the promise that if we are faithful to the end, God will bless our efforts. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Let us be faithful and be encouraged. Whether HE has called you to this for a year, a few years, or forever, we may not always know. But, what we do know is that today, we are in the race and called to finish strong. To sit at our school or kitchen tables and to teach the precious souls that have been entrusted to us, that there is a bigger story than math, science, and geography. Let us tell them about the one who has written the greatest story of all. JESUS.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 “Love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Let us not be so weary, that we take our eyes off of Him. We need Jesus. Oh, how we need him. Do you recall what happened to Peter when his eyes were taken off Jesus during the storm?
They saw him walking on the lake, and Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you, “Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come, “he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:26-31
Why did you doubt? Are you focusing on the wind? Let us put our eyes back on Jesus and run this race until He calls us off the track.
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. “ Isaiah 40:31
Through Him, we can run this race to the finish line in victory. In fact, let’s run right past those Februaries, and remember that the one who called us is still the one sustaining us!