Hey Mama Monday: Let’s Choose Curriculum, Mama

Have you ever purchased curriculum because it claimed to have all you needed for your baby up through your high school student? Then, you find out that it’s just too complicated or that you still need something more. Frustrating, isn’t it? But we choose to believe the “perfect curriculum” idea just in case it’s really true this time.  

Instead of feeling like you’re grabbing whatever sounds good at the time, let me give you some wise counsel I have gained.

Pray

I’m a broken record, aren’t I!? The need for prayer, especially in relation to raising God’s children, is imperative. God hears us. I have prayed for my kids for a love of reading or to stop struggling in math or for help in writing. I have prayed for the Lord to open doors of opportunity for them to hone or use their giftings. He has been faithful to provide as I have been faithful to pray specifically and earnestly and remain open to His direction. That is where we find peace.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV)

Prepare

Find out what is essential and teach those things well. The kids may excel in Greek history, but if they don’t know their times tables or cannot write a decent letter, it’s time to go back to the basics.  

If you look at military basic training, you see that they cram into a few weeks everything they deem essential in becoming a good soldier. They require and reinforce unquestioned obedience, and they prepare them mentally and physically for possible future combat. Specialized fields come later. Ever thought of that in relation to your goals for homeschooling? I want my children to unquestioningly obey God’s commands and mine. I want to prepare them for whatever their future holds.  

Peace comes in trusting the Lord. If we teach our children to be grounded in truth and prepared for the future, then even when the heat comes, they will not be anxious.

Sometimes we feel like we don’t have the right curriculum or enough subjects or enough experience teaching. The cool part about all of this is that no matter what the teaching method or what kind of curriculum, God rewards our obedience, and home-educated children excel across the board. (www.nheri.org)*

Pray, talk to your spouse, and ask for God’s guidance and provision as you keep the kids Home Where They Belong.

Deborah Wuehler is the Senior Editor and Director of Production here at The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine. She would say she is a very ordinary homeschool mom–with one exception: she has an extra-ordinary God Who provides all she needs for life and homeschooling. She has eight children aged 11 to 29. Deborah’s mission is this: to point other homeschoolers to the Lord in all they do, think, and feel—and to confirm that they, too, can find everything they need for life, godliness–and homeschooling–in their knowledge of Him (2 Peter 1:3, 4).