I recently shared here how much I enjoy having the children home and the delight of spending the moments learning together. I am grateful to be their encourager, for the time to get to know them and they me, as well as the satisfaction it brings me to complete all the homeschool tasks of the day. I thrive on list-making and getting things done, so every subject for every child is that many more opportunities for me to cross something off my list : )

Although we can all admit that a job completed is rewarding, it is equally important to take a bit of time to evaluate how the days and weeks are going. As much as I love checking lessons, tests, and reviews off the list, it’s good for me to stop and see where I need to refocus. These are some questions that I found to be helpful*:

• Did I feed myself with the Bread of Life today?

• Did I discipline my children to love God with their heart, soul, mind, and strength?

• Did today’s homeschooling give my children a clearer picture of who God is, what He has done, how He sees them, and how He calls them to serve Him?

• Did I prioritize learning wisdom at the feet of Godly teachers over academic achievement today?

• Did I focus on character and help my children apply their learning to life?

• Did we worship God in the chemistry experiment (or the math class, etc.)?

*The complete chart is on generations.org.

I also wanted to share some of the verses that help me to refocus on my calling. We have these verses hanging with a magnet on our schoolroom whiteboard:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:36

With love, Damaris