Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

  I am so thankful to be this week's guest host on the amazing podcast "The Practically Speaking MOM" with Val Harrison. Val is a pillar within the homeschool community, and her podcast has encouraged hundreds of moms & homeschoolers (and so has her blog, her books & resources, & her speaking engagements!) I'd be so blessed if my words could encourage any of my mom friends this December and I hope you feel free to share the podcast with anyone and everyone who might be blessed by it.  Click HERE to listen to the Christmas devotional! Have a very Merry Christmas, and my prayer is for you to have a ridiculously blessed & exceptionally happy New Year!! ~ Jan   JanLBurt.com The Burt (Not Ernie) Show Podcast  - winner of the 2021 Spark Media Award for Best Solo Podcaster author of  The Homeschooling Mother's Bible Study  & All Things Homeschool Devotions for Moms eBooks Volumes 1 & 2  & The Power of God's Will - 40 Days of God's Pro

 My friend, you are doing a good work.  Raising your children, focusing on the Lord's will, giving of yourself day in and day out for your family. You are doing a very, very good work. Can I pray for you today?          Lord, for every mama who reads these words, I ask this of You on their behalf: May they daily have ample energy for every need of their family and for all the rigors that come with a lifestyle of home education. Grant them rest each night and renew their strength each morning. Give them creativity when they need it, wisdom and favor and knowledge and understanding, and an abundance of peace that surrounds them all day, every day. May these dear mothers know how precious they are to You, Lord, and may they sense Your eyes upon them as they go about their daily work. Protect them, encourage them, bless them and keep them as the apple of Your eye.       You are for them - You love them dearly - You are watching over them carefully - and You see the deepest things in th

 Well hey there & hello again!  Today I wanted to take a few moments to encourage you in your journey as a mom & to share a really wonderful new resource I was blessed to learn about. I am, and likely always will be, a bookworm. While apps & the internet & all the things are great (I mean, I host an award-winning podcast, so of course I love the ways technology has allowed writers & speakers to reach people for the Lord) my mainstay is an actual, printed, hold-it-in-my-hands book.  And for the busy mom, this book I am sharing about today is really top notch. The book is "Joyful, Patient, Faithful - A 90-Day Devotional Book for Moms" & was written by Jenifer Metzger. (find her on instagram @jenifermetzger). I'm going to share the link to the book on Amazon HERE & at the bottom of this post ~ Joyful, Patient, Faithful ~  Note this is not an affiliate link. I'm sharing for the sole purpose of blessing every mama that I possibly can with info

 Spring has sprung & in the homeschool world, that can mean a couple of things. #1 - You've almost finished the school year. #2 - You haven't almost finished the school year, but the school year has nearly finished you ... #3 - It's graduation season. It's different process in every state, city, community & homeschool family, to be sure, but the completion of homeschooling your child throughout high school is really something of an accomplishment.  It's actually a very big deal. For the student, for sure.  Also for the homeschooling parent (who often times is primarily the mom in the family).  You may be able to participate in a group graduation (in our community all five of our children participated in a very professionally done ceremony with other local homeschoolers via a homeschool organization). Or you may do your own thing with just friends or family (which happened a lot due to COVID... isn't it interesting how so many things that were "weird

 Welcome to spring of 2021!!! Anybody else feel a bit like you've made a climb up Mount Everest and now that you're back to normal altitude you're beginning to catch your breath again? And what usually follows a catching-my-breath season is a getting-a-fresh-burst-of-energy season. That kind of sums up how I'm feeling this spring. Looking back to one year ago, I am refreshed instead of nervous; excited about the future rather than feeling pensive; remarkably well rested and hoping to continue to live at a slower-than-pre-COVID pace even as I reenter the world after the year that was 2020.  I hope you are feeling some of those same things! Now, sure, my children have all flown the coop and I'm no longer actively homeschooling (but I have spoken at several homeschool conferences and summits over the last few years, so I don't feel as if I am completely disconnected from homeschooling). But my feeling of joyfulness when winter finally gives way to spring has not le

 Today's blog post is pretty short & sweet - just some info about an upcoming online event that has a 100% free option. I mean, as a homeschool mom to five kiddos, there have been many times that the only way I could participate in an event was via the free option. So I really do try and promote valuable content that is affordable for homeschoolers. Fair warning: I will likely blog again to mention this conference (& not just because I am a speaker!).       The host is partnering with the organization Unbound in their fight against human trafficking. Seriously - the main reason I will be sharing about this event is because of the host's decision to use the event as a way to raise knowledge about human trafficking & to raise some $$$ to donate to Unbound. (Which obviously means there is a "not free" option for the event, right?) The host, Kerry Beck, is donating 5% of her proceeds directly to Unbound. So am I. And she will meet my 5% and double it

 Okay, so there is this friend of mine from the wide world of everything-homeschool who has a Facebook group for homeschoolers & each month she hosts online "parties". Basically, lots of encouragement, she gives away free stuff (like, quite a bit of free stuff geared just for homeschooling families) and answers questions & if she doesn't have the answer someone needs for their particular homeschool question - well, she tries her best to find someone who does have the answer.  In a nutshell, she just serves and serves the homeschool community. And I had this thought - why have I not been sharing about her monthly events with my blog readers?  So, yeah, not my finest moment... How could I not connect those two dots and share free stuff, encouragement and support right here and right now? I feel pretty foolish that I didn't think of this sooner.     Without further adieu, here is a link to the Facebook party hosted by the founder of the "How to Homeschool My

 Today I wanted to share a little excerpt from a devotional I wrote for homeschoolers. I hope it encourages you, blesses you, and spurs you in your work as a homeschooling mother.  This is very, very good work that you are doing.  And you are doing a very, very good job. Don't worry if it seems as if your "Happily Ever After" will never arrive.  It will! Every single thing God has promised comes to pass, exactly according to His perfect timing.  Sometimes living in the right-now means accepting that your "Happily Ever After" hasn't yet come to pass, but that living a joy-filled life involves deriving our joy (which is far, far better than happiness) from the Lord, even while waiting for His promised "Happily Ever After" to arrive.    (The entire devotional eBook is available for $5 at JanLBurt.com   & while you're there, you can grab a free pdf download of "The Next 7 Days - A Weekly Prayer Journal" Lord bless you today!  ~ Jan L.