Encouraging Moms Who Homeschool

Bit of a touchy topic here on the blog today.

But I'm not really one to mince words, so I suppose I'd best just cut to the chase...

You ready for it?

Okay, here goes...but don't say I never warned you that this might be a touchy subject!


Please, oh pretty please, beware that coddling your children will not result in any long-term or lasting good. It won't! It can't!

DEFINITION OF THE WORD "CODDLE":  treat in an indulgent way; to treat with extreme or excessive care of kindness; to tend indulgently   SYNONYM = "mollycoddle"





Ever meet someone, anyone, whether a child or full-grown adult, who had been overindulged at some point in their life? who did not know how to live in the real world (which is not exactly an easy place to live, mind you)?
It's tragic to see, isn't it?

And yet as homeschoolers who love our children & desperately work to train them up with a deep & abiding sense of security & protection, it is easier to coddl…

Hey there, fellow homeschooler!

How are you doing?
No, I mean really...how are YOU doing?

Please take a moment to answer this question for real, on a personal & honest level.

It may be the first time in weeks that someone has asked you this question. It may even be the first time in months that you've considered answering beyond the two very overused words: "I'm fine."

So, how are you?


Whether you are homeschooling due to the impact a global pandemic has had on your community or are a life-time home education proponent (I did this gig for 25 solid years, so I guess I'm in that camp), this is a rough season for a lot of people.

Even for me, an extreme introvert, there are days when I think I may go flat bonkers.

Don't expect to get through this time totally unscathed. That's probably not very realistic.

Do expect to be blessed by the Lord during this time - that's totally Biblical & therefore totally realistic.

God's perfect at caring for H…

In Mark 13:28 - 29 we find Jesus speaking about His future return to this world. He offers the example of the fig tree beginning to bud.


The NLT says this:

"Now, learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its buds become tender and its leaves begin to sprout, you know without being told that summer is near. Just so, when you see the events I've described beginning to happen, you can be sure that his return is very near, right at the door." 


I love that this translation (the New Living Translation, or NLT) tells us to "learn a lesson". 

That is pretty much the work we homeschoolers are trying to do all day, all week, all year, is it not?!? 

We are imparting lessons to our children. 








Listen, folks, the buds are sprouting everywhere around us. 

And while we can know that the Lord will soon return, we can also know that waste is not a part of God's economy. The Lord has not set us here in this manner at this moment in time for nothing, for no good reason. 

We are here on …

Okay, so I just got wind of this new thing going around the inter-webs.

(It's for sure not a new idea or concept, but this group of homeschoolers doing this is a new thing & it's pretty awesome!)

A monthly rotation of "deals" just for the homeschool community...how fun is that?!?

I so wish this had been a thing when I was in the thick of home educating my five children because wow would I ever have looked forward to a cup of coffee & 10 minutes to check out whatever each month's new "deals & special offers" were being made available to me, the homeschooling mama in the thick of it all.

So I am thinking I will be sharing about these offers on my social media platforms & with my email list for one reason: I would have wanted to know about this kind of thing!



Here are some details (with the links and coupon codes for the deals & discounts) and if you are interested in future info & would like to be on my email list for homeschooler…

So homeschool moms tend to do all the things...


~ Wife things
~ Mom things
~ Education/homeschool things
~ Feeding the fam things
~ Money things
~ Growing in faith things
~ and every single other thing...

I've been there, believe me you. 25 years of homeschooling plus all the other things of life (health issues, military deployments, financial strains, teaching multiple grade levels, and now empty nesting...)


I remember how much a good dose of encouragement did for me - to help keep me moving forward, grew my faith and just gave me a little something just - for - me...

The New Year, New Beginnings 2020 Conference for Moms is right around the corner. It kicks of January 6th & is entirely online (with lifetime access to 50 speakers on all sorts of subject matter that relates to all things mom-related & $500 worth of freebies + giveaways)

Tickets are just $15 until January 6th (then they bump up to $25, which is still a great deal!)
And for my page followers, I have …

Homeschoolers get a ton of questions from people who don't walk the path of home education.

We're used to it...I didn't say that we like being grilled on the regular, mind you. I just stated the hard truth that we are USED TO IT...(as in, it happens a lot & your question that seems so profound is probably one we've answered a couple dozen times.)




We aren't easy shocked by people's questions, are we?

But there was always one that I answered to varying degrees depending on just who it was doing the asking.

Say it's a nosy next door neighbor who isn't really interested in homeschooling, but is interested in everything going on inside every other house on the block and who always has questions locked & loaded...the answer I give her isn't the same as the answer I give to a mom of littles who is trying to figure out how to navigate the brand-new-to-her world of homeschooling.

But what, exactly, is the question I answer in varying ways??

It's …

Not a super-duper long post today.

Just sharing a Facebook Live that I did recently.





I hope it blesses you and reminds you of something amazingly good...like how much the Lord has planned for you :)


And be sure to find me on Facebook if you'd like to see more stuff like this ~~

All Things Homeschool

AND

JanLBurt.com

instagram @janlburt

my podcast on iTunes/Apple Podcasts
or Spotify "The Burt (Not Ernie) Show"




Lord bless you today as you lean in big time to the promises of God for you!

Have you been homeschooling for a while?

Or are you relatively new to the homeschooling world?

However you answer those questions, this blog post is for you. And let it be known that even if you have only been homeschooling for a week, that still counts as “a while” in the homeschool community!

You may have noticed that there is a TON of reading material aimed at encouraging new homeschoolers, but those resources sort of seem to dwindle away for those who have been at it for a decade or so. I think that is because those of us who are “veterans” work hard to encourage the new homeschooling families… But the truth is, we long-term, older homeschooling mothers need a hefty dose of encouragement on a regular basis as well!

That’s just one reason The Old Schoolhouse Magazine’s Homeschooling with Heart blog is so wonderful! It gives homeschoolers of all ages and stages the encouragement so desperately needed! One of my life goals is to encourage homeschoolers. This lifestyle m…

Take a deep breath…


Now slowly exhale.


Ready or not, homeschooling mother, it… is… APRIL…


For many of us who are homeschooling, April is truly our make or break month.




You can, with one quick glance at your homeschool bookcase, determine exactly which subjects are on the verge of completion for the year…and which ones are on the verge of imploding.
Whatever curriculum you are mostly done with will most likely be completed by the year’s end. It is basically a done deal, and all your hard work these last months is about to pay off. The celebratory shout as you close the cover one last time on that book you have been opening nearly every day, since last August… Oh, that’s a feeling only homeschoolers truly get to revel in!


(Let me pause here and briefly share a tidbit of information to encourage you, my dear fellow homeschooler: Interestingly enough, while public schools typically consider a textbook or a course “complete” once they have worked through 80% of the material, most…