remember watching my son, who had struggled with dyslexia and reading for years, suddenly become motivated to read because he was exploring a topic that had engaged his curiosity and a desire to debate. It wasn’t just that he was learning the subject at hand; this lesson went far beyond that. It was engaging his heart and his mind.

I’m sure you have experienced something similar. Maybe it happened during a history lesson when your child asked why people would make such a choice. Maybe it happened in literature when a character’s choices opened the door for conversation about courage, selfishness, forgiveness, or truth. Perhaps it occurred during science, when the miracle of creation and the wonder it inspires turned an ordinary school day into a moment of awe and worship.

Homeschooling for any length of time reveals that academics have a way of becoming much more than just academics. Math lessons reveal perseverance. Writing assignments uncover a fear of failure. Discussions in history expose untrue assumptions about truth, justice, and human nature. Scientific experiences invite wonder.

 really applies here too, but in a different way. Now that we’re homeschooling in Florida I have learned all about the funding homeschoolers receive here. In my opinion, it is a blessing that people who choose to educate their kids at home can receive reimbursement for all sorts of educational needs from storage for your schoolroom to music lessons and so on.

It does present another problem that I’ve noticed though. The problem of too much. This is a good problem to have I suppose. There is so much opportunity that one must really consider what is best. As homeschoolers, we have more time with our kids than most people do and we get to decide how to spend it. What can start to happen, though, is that we think more is better. More curriculum, more classes, more outings, etc.

Wisdom is asking God what the right thing is for our families at this current time. We can’t do everything. We can’t prepare our kids for every possible circumstance they will face. We need to discern what this season should look like for each child and for us as a family.

or many, the phrase “a mile wide and an inch deep” comes to mind. It’s no wonder! There was a lot to cover, and limited class time, so our education relied on textbooks for information and tests for evaluation. And yet, how much do we remember now? More importantly, how much do we understand about history? What wisdom did we gain?

ne of the many jobs we have as parents is to prepare our children for not needing us. I am laughing as I type this because I regularly still get calls from my adult children asking me how to do something, and I sometimes find myself questioning what I actually taught them during their years at home. Those early years seem to be so busy just teaching them to walk, talk, and use the potty that we can forget about the day-to-day things that will help them as they become adults.

It is important to teach them how to make their bed, clean up after themselves, and wipe the sink after they spit their toothpaste all over the place. How do we do this in a developmentally appropriate way that is fun for them and less stressful for you? The answer is simpler than you might think, but it requires us to lay down our drill sergeant hats and dive into our playful spirit. If we want our preschoolers to learn how to manage a home, we have to stop treating household chores like a sentence to be served. Instead, we need to treat them as the ultimate play-based curriculum.

Have you ever noticed what happens to your child’s body when you use a firm, demanding voice to say, “Go clean up your room right now”? Their shoulders tense, their face drops, and they suddenly become the slowest-moving creature on the face of the earth. In some cases, a power struggle erupts, complete with tears and foot-stomping.

was one of those afternoons. Everyone was tired, the day had run long, and something small set me off, and I raised my voice before I even realized what was happening. My son went quiet. I felt terrible, and I sat with that feeling for the rest of the evening—not just about the moment itself but about the bigger question underneath it: why does this keep happening? I had good intentions, but here I was again.

I think a lot of us know that feeling. The one that comes after we blow it. And what I’ve learned is that what we do next is where resilience lives.

ave you ever looked at a bright green leaf and wondered how it suddenly becomes brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red each fall?

Chlorophyll captures energy from sunlight, allowing the tree to make its own food through a process called photosynthesis. Without chlorophyll, forests wouldn’t be green, and we wouldn’t have the oxygen we breathe!