Here Goes Nothing...

I don't like writing about homeschool on my blog. Sometimes I'd rather people just didn't know I homeschool. Some people are supportive, and other people bring up tired arguments against it that I'm weary of hearing, and still other people seem to get defensive--as if the mere fact that I homeschool means I look down my nose at them for not homeschooling. Let me set the record straight. I don't. I am not a die-hard homeschool mom. I am not in any way going to suggest that you don't love your kids as much as I do if you don't homeschool. Ever. So this is my effort to clarify why, exactly, I do homeschool.

1. I love flexibility. LOVE it. I love being able to have slow mornings when I need it, and work double time to get lots done on the days when I am very motivated. I love being able to visit my family in Columbus or go out of town when the mood and opportunity strikes, without being tied down to a school schedule. I love that all of us can spend the day together if Christian happens to get a day off work for some reason. I love that our schedule is what I make of it.

2. I need something to devote my time to. I know there are those of you who are extremely self-motivated. If given some free time you will use it to do something productive, important, and life-changing. If I have free time I will use it to....sit around. Having my children's education in my hands is very motivating. It gives me something to work at, to devote my energy to, to give the day meaning.

3. There are advantages to homeschooling. My kids' education is tailor-made to my and my husbands specifications. We go at their pace and we teach them our own values. This is where people can get defensive, but just hold on. If I didn't think there were advantages to a homeschool education I wouldn't do it. That doesn't mean there are not advantages to a formal school setting. There are disadvantages and advantages to every choice we make. All of us decide which advantages and disadvantages we want to deal with. Why do we feel we all have to make the same choices in life? Why do we seem to think that if we decide on a certain path and someone else takes a different one, that they are somehow saying we are wrong? The world is made up of public school students, private school students, homeschool students, unschooled students--all kinds of students. These differences are good. We have different perspectives, and when we rub shoulders with people who have taken different paths we bring something different to the table.

4. I am 100% certain that socialization is a non-issue. Unless we are talking about knowing which tennis shoes are the trendy new thing, parents and life in general socializes a child, not a formal school setting. Whether my kids go to school or not, my husband and I must teach them how to interact with those around them, and especially how to show God's love to those around them. Sure, there are those parents who value isolation from the world more highly than being salt and light in the world, and those parents will probably choose to homeschool. Don't allow them to speak for all homeschoolers, please. And I promise I will not point out the weirdest child in public school or private school and ask you if you are afraid your child will end up like them.

Okay, I think that's it for now. There are lots of other things I could say, but for now I have to end this. Thanks for listening.

Sovereign Hands

My husband and I were talking on the way home from church the other day after hearing yet another excellent sermon from our Pastor. I said I couldn't help but look back on my life and see a progression in the teaching I've received. Each step was difficult and painful, but such a blessing in the end. In my childhood I received a great foundation in the Bible. Between my church and my school, by the time I graduated I knew the Bible very well. And I believed it, too, although looking back I still don't think it was real to me.

I never would have chosen to leave the area I grew up in, but the choice wasn't mine. At the time I felt like I was yanked out and I remember crying and asking God why he was doing this? What possible good could come of it?

The church he brought me to, though, was just what I needed. You see, I had always thought of myself as a pretty good person. I would say salvation was all of grace, but deep down I don't think I had any concept that I, Jenny Parsons, did not deserve salvation. At my new church I learned about sin. I learned about depravity. I learned how far I had fallen. I learned how filthy my rags really were. I realized how hopeless my situation was. Needless to say, it was rough, but it was also necessary.

Once again, I did not choose to leave that place, and once again I was "yanked" out. I guess you could argue that it was my choice this time, but having to choose between the man you love and the home you love is not that simple. Once again I found myself in a new church.

I feel like I had a bag full of puzzle pieces when I came to this new church. I had all the pieces and I knew each piece well. I had collected them from teachers, parents, pastors, and leaders who had ministered to me in the past. Now it was time to put them together. Through the teaching at Bethesda I finally started to click those pieces together and see the greater picture. I'm realizing it's bigger than I ever imagined and it will take more than a lifetime to see the entire thing. But what I have managed to put together is amazing. At my previous church I learned how sinful I was--at Bethesda I started to realize how costly my salvation really was. I started to see what my purpose here really is. I am learning about courage, finishing the course, what it really means to persevere, to love others, to bear God's image. I've never been so excited about God's Word. It's impossible for me to look back at this point in my life and not see God's hand so clearly. It is also impossible for me to look ahead and not anticipate what's in store.

Realizing now what God was doing back then is such a comfort as I face the days ahead. I know that no matter what comes, God is in control of all of it, and he has only my good in mind.

"God Reigns in the Storm"

Steve and Vicki Cook

"There are sovereign hands

Holding all my days

Yes, I know God reigns in the storm.

Every trial and pain

Wisdom has ordained

Yes, I know God reigns in the storm."

Just a Short Note

Two Sundays in a row I left the service thinking "has my Pastor been reading my prayer journal?" I realize this was a ridiculous thought, and not just because I don't have a prayer journal. But it caused me to wonder why I even find it surprising when my deepest struggles are addressed from the pulpit. God has not only ordained Pastors to speak truth to His people, He has also ordained every one of my struggles. And while my egocentric tendencies tend to interpret it as "I had this struggle so the Holy Spirit directed my Pastor to speak about it," the truth is God is much bigger than that. He isn't reactionary. He gave me the struggle to begin with, and He led me to this church where this pastor would, at the right point in time, give a sermon that related directly to my struggle. And truth be told, I probably wasn't the only one in the congregation that needed that sermon on that day. I'm pretty sure God is efficient like that.