A Special Plan

We have just completed our fourth week into our homeschool year.  So far this is the smoothest year we have ever had.  I don't feel the urge to change anything.  I'm watching my daughters complete their work every day.  We are relaxed, with only minor obstacles.

Occasionally my youngest girl lets her age and maybe her ADD get her distracted.  I tend to have to remind her to focus.  We also have to spend a couple weeks reviewing some math, remembering and practicing some skills that weren't used over the summer.  But... Unlike when I began homeschooling, this no longer worries me or sends me into a panic. 

Over the years I have learned something that I probably heard and read repeatedly when I began this journey, but I didn't truly understood.  Homeschooling doesn't happen in a vacuum. 

What does that mean? It means that all of life is learning, not just the book work that happens during "school time."  Homeschooling may be partly about teaching children to read and write and know science and history, but a true education teaches children to think.  It teaches them to see the world through a different lens than just their own.  For me, as a Christian, homeschooling is discipleship.  I want them to see through the lens of Christ and eternity, and see themselves as God created them.

I was surprised when I was reviewing my youngest' science curriculum.  Mingled in with lessons on Salmon were lessons and reminders about how God works and how He desires His children to think.  Whether it is a reminder that God has a special plan, or a bigger explanation that helps train a child how to think in a Godly, positive way, I was pleased that there was more than just dry facts about fish. 

It is easy to be negative in this world.  Reading this as a child is so encouraging, and not what a child is normally taught in school.  I want my daughter to feel she is valuable.  What could be more affirming than reading that God has a special plan for her life? Even more, if she reads stuff like this throughout her school days, year after year, won't it be easier for her to feel close to the Lord and confident in Him? Won't casting down wrong thoughts be easier if she has had lots of practice thinking correct ones?

There are a lot of negative, judgmental people out there in the world.  Being a Christian is becoming more and more difficult in a world getting more and more hostile toward us.  What will my daughter be told about Christians by the world?  

I think what she has been told by her parents will matter.  I also think what she has read about herself will stay with her.  When she reads that God has a special plan for her, I believe she will believe that.

When her world feels hard and dark, she can know deep inside that He is still with her. 

Over the years I have read numerous Christian books designed to teach adult Christians how to think in a way that is life-giving and affirming. Some of these books are self-help books without much Biblical basis.  However, many are grounded in Scripture and encourage Christians to think in a way the Lord knows is beneficial. 

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

Philippians 4:8 NLT

I want my children to be excellent students.  I want them to do well.  However, more than knowledge, I want them to learn to think in the right way.  I want them to know who they are in Christ. I want them to their worth.  I want them to know Him.