All the Good Christian Moms Are Homeschooling — Shouldn’t I Be Too?
a mother’s musing on her plans and God’s providence
(a note from Sarah: From time to time, you may see something here that isn’t part of one of my regular series. These pieces will be small reflections, encouragements, or lessons God is teaching me in real time. Think of them as little penciled notes beside the main story, tucked “in the margins” from my heart to yours 🩷.)
Sometimes I don’t feel like I am a “good Christian mom” because I don’t homeschool.
It’s my own insecurity speaking.
My oldest is in a great lottery based charter school that offers a classical education that I really align with, and a lot of our dearest family friends go there. She loves her teacher and her friends. And as someone whose love language is quality time, I miss her terribly during the day.
I’ve talked about how I’ve wanted to homeschool, and I do think it will happen at some point, but we haven’t heard the resounding yes from God yet. Because her school is not neighborhood based, it’s not as easy as just pulling her out and putting her back in. I’ve been constantly wrestling through whether to change things for her after she’s gotten so settled in her first year there, and what is truly best for her and our family versus just what my dream is.
In the midst of all of that, though, there have been so many wonderful silver linings.
Her school is on the way to and from my husband’s work. He has gotten to see so much more of her since she started school because he does drop off and pick up a lot. They’ve even started listening to The Chronicles of Narnia audiobooks together.
Simultaneously, the quality time I’ve had with my youngest has been unparalleled. Today we ate Chick-fil-A outside together. I had so much one on one time with my oldest when she was growing up, and I mourned the thought that I wouldn’t be able to give my youngest the same.
But in this season, I can.
I’ve also had more mental bandwidth to pursue writing and to instill more efficient rhythms in our home so that the time I do have with everyone individually and as a family unit is even more intentional and sweet.
As they say, when God closes one door, He opens another. Although the dream is for me to one day homeschool and be a part time working mom who writes, I am seeing God’s goodness and faithfulness in His plan versus my dream.
Not my will, but Yours, Lord. Thank you that Your way is better.
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A Gentle Prompt
Is there an area of your life where your plans and God’s providence don’t seem to match?
Where might He be working in ways you did not expect?
An Encouragement
You are not less faithful because your motherhood looks different than someone else’s.
Sometimes God’s goodness shows up in the very places we once questioned.
Scripture for This Season
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
Always do what’s best for your family! Everyone’s path looks different ❤️
Thank you for saying this and showing what it looks like to find the positives where you're at, even if you still think the future may hold homeschooling for you all. I can relate to that sensing/waiting for something to come, but not feeling like the Lord is bringing you to that season yet.
I'd love to stay full-time at home with my daughter (and eventually homeschool), but have needed to keep working for now. We also have personally felt that daycare wasn't the right option, so I've been navigating work from home with part-time in-home childcare. It can be a lot, and hard to sometimes see all the other moms at home and wish that was where we were at. But it's good for me to realize God has a purpose for this time too, even if it's not forever.