As we start down the runway...

[Marcia]

I am not, for the first time in 22 years, starting school with K-12 this year. [sniff*]

However, I well remember almost every one of the 22 times that I did. I likened the week before to warming up the jets before lumbering down a LONG runway to finally take off and achieve lift-off into that smooth flow that generally characterized my homeschooling year.

Some years, that lumbering, straining, ramping-up to take-off speed lasted for WEEKS; other years, we were soaring after the first week or two. If it was the former, I certainly was tempted to stress out, get my eyes off of God, and attempt to get everyone INTO LINE via my own efforts. I easily relied on myself and lost sight of God, His purposes in me and my kids, and His grace for homeschooling. (Sad to say, the reverse was equally true: all too often, when we soared early, I gave myself a pat on the back AND the glory. http://tapestryofgrace.groupee.net/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif)

I wanted to say a few words to the TOG moms who are just starting with a brand new program. Please remember, as you approach the runway, that TOG is going to look different in all families because it's designed for many different KINDS of families to easily adapt it. That's what we mean when we attempt to warn new moms of the "four-week fog." You may feel that you are "missing it" or "aren't getting it" but try rather to think, "I am coming up to speed with a brand new skill."

Here's another helpful (I hope) analogy: it takes more time for a new bride to cook her first Thanksgiving dinner for all the relatives than it does for a mother of five who has been having the relatives over for 15 years, right? Why should learning a whole new system for teaching all kids simultaneously be any different? Give yourself grace and space and realize that this is a GREAT time to rely on the grace of God.

Let me take this opportunity to preach a little truth to all new TOG moms from a Titus 2 platform:
1. He is with you, and nothing you "drop" in your homeschooling journey will truly HARM you or your kids. If we are doing our level best, it just humbles us and should make us turn to Him to make it all ok.

2. He is NOT surprised at any obstacle you face. Obstacles test us to see if we will try to muddle through on our own, or turn to God in faith and trust and watch Him make our paths straight.

3. He loves it when we are weak, for then His strength is displayed and perfected in our weakness.

As I often remind moms in my teaching sessions, homeschool is as much about OUR sanctification and growth in God as it is about our kids'. Big Grin I pray for all of us in starting school this year that Satan will gain no foothold in the fertile soil of our self-sufficiency, but rather that we will ALL cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us! Here are some verses for us to all meditate on as we start our year:

Proverbs 3:5-8 (ESV)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
[6] In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
[7] Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
[8] It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.

Psalm 37:3-8 (ESV)
Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
[4] Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
[5] Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
[6] He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
[7] Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
[8] Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

2 Cor. 11:30 (ESV)
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2 Cor. 12:9-10 (ESV)
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [10] For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Cor. 13:4 (ESV)
For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

James 4:6 (ESV)
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

James 4:10 (ESV)
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (ESV)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.


*I DO however have two girls starting fresh at two different college campuses! http://tapestryofgrace.groupee.net/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Shelbelle8]

Marcia, thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us. This is my 3rd year with TOG and I feel like I'm learning more and able to teach and handle more in each new year. I am especially grateful that you included His strength in my weaknesses. That just hits home with me so much right now.

I wish I could give you a great big hug. I want to thank you so deeply for the tremendous effort that you have put forth to produce TOG. It is such an incredible blessing in my family's life. Your godliness and wisdom, your humility and graciousness shine throughout your work. Your example to the rest of us moms is as bright and shining as the morning dawning in the east. Thank you for loving Jesus so deeply and living the depth of that love. Thank you for loving the rest of us moms and mentoring us along our way. Thank you for having such a gentle spirit and tender heart. I am inspired by you to aspire to all those things and I pray that my actions will also inspire my own dear children to live lives more and more in step with Jesus.

[Tawdra Kandle]

Thank you for sharing this. This year we are starting brand-new with TOG (Y-2 redesigned), we are also adding several other new curriculums (science and language arts), we are living in a new state with different homeschool guidelines, and we are still trying to unpack from our move (I can just now see the floor in the school room). I needed to hear these words today, when I am feeling more than a little overwhelmed by the task before me.

[Julie T/MI]

Thank you, Marcia, for the encouragement and reminder! Even as a "veteran" homeschooler (starting our 15th year and 7th with Tapestry), I am more keenly aware now of my daily need for Him and His grace and strength in our lives. The scriptures you posted are some of my favorite Words from the Lord - the first one a daily prayer. He is faithful!

Blessings, Julie T/MI

[niamom3]

Marcia - Thank you for that encouragement! Just this past weekend, I wrote down several bible verses and put them in the front of my quiet time notebook, so I can look at them every day. I will be adding these verses to my list also.

I am starting TOG for the first time this fall and really feel that it's going to be a great blessing to us. But I'm also feeling overwhelmed sometimes as I work on putting together our "game plan" for the first few weeks. Your words have already helped me to feel less overwhelmed and not worry about what we may miss or mess up! Thank you . . .

Oh, Marcia, thank you so much!

I have had as my goal for weeks to make today our first day of school. Various circumstances intervened to make the first three days of this week the busiest I've had in months, and by 11:30 this morning we had still done no school. After lunch my second-grader finally grabbed her reader and sat down at her desk to read it, and I had to drop everything else and help her for an hour or so.

In the end we sat down with our Tapestry material about 2:30 this afternoon to do our first "Monday meeting," put together our notebooks, and so on. Suffice it to say this was not exactly my plan for our first day of school.

In the meantime, I've been so busy I have had no time to log on to the TOG forums for days; tonight is the first time since your message was posted Monday. And yet your words are exactly what I needed to hear tonight.

I am amazed at the way the Lord works things together to give us just what we need at the exact moment we need to hear it. And I am so thankful - I can't express how thankful - that you were faithful to His guidance to write just what you did.

Today may not have gone according to my plan; it did go according to His plan. I needed the reminder that His strength is made perfect in my weakness. I've copied your post to my files so I can look at it whenever I need it.

"Thank you" seems inadequate. I pray He will bless you beyond measure for your faithfulness to His calling.

[deannatoby]

Thanks for your comments about our weaknesses...so true. I just today wrote another post about being refined by fire instead of cotton balls. Perhaps our weaknesses are part of our refining as well, and weaknesses and refining keep us mindful of things beyond us. A long time ago I read a post on some forum (aren't there hundreds of HS forums?!) about the writer being told HSers were "holier than thou." What followed was many posts by other HSers about how we're not "htt," but just desire to teach our children to serve the Lord, love the Lord, love learning. But, as I began to think about it, I realized that most HSers I meet could go on for hours talking about how awful public school was/is, such-and-such happened when I was in school, last year the paper said this-and-that about our schools, I never learned anything till I went to college, everybody was on drugs, they caught kids having group sex at the country club (actually, I'm the one that said that one...so sad), in junior high they're doing yadda-yadda now, etc.

It occurred to me that so many of us HSers think that HS is ALMOST a guaranteed ticket to having godly children. If you ask us, we'll all say it is the Lord's doing, and by his grace, and a gift from him. But, if you look deep in our hearts, you'll find that many of us honestly see our HSing as a "get out of heathenism" free card, like it's going to ensure that our kids love God. There will be many public school students whose sole desire is to serve the Lord, and many HS kids who turn away from God. We truly are weak. We can never accomplish the Holy Spirit's job. We truly must pray earnestly, as if our children were on the battlefield of The Public School, and not think that our home will shelter them from Satan's attacks. God is our defense, He is our hope, He does the work, we are to pray, obey, love, and serve.

For me, the reminders of our weaknesses draw me back to that point, and I always need to be drawn back to realizing my weakness. I am weak, I am human, I am a sinner. I desire for my children to love the Lord. What is worse, terrible peers at school or a stressed out Mom who tries to do everything, and her attitude and temperament speak to that? What hope is there if I do not trust in God?

I visited the Library of Congress this summer. Wow, what a beautiful building for our country to showcase. All throughout were mosaics and painting reminding us of the value of knowledge, how it inspires us and elevates us, makes us better people. I also read "John Adams" by David McCullough (sp?). He and other Founding Fathers espoused the wonders that knowledge would do. If we could just educate the masses, the world would be a better place. I read once that at the turn of the century (I mean 1899!) people felt that education would end all wars, etc. Today we are the most educated than ever before in the history of mankind...and our century has been filled with wars, strife, heresy, mass killings, relevance, the loss of right/wrong, the killing of the innocent.

In this regard, I think the Founding Fathers had it wrong. Make me dumb and stupid, ignorant and provincial, before God is shoved to second place. Knowledge will not save. Tomorrow when I start school, I will, as usual, pursue knowledge, according to my plans, schedules, manipulatives, exercises, etc. Will I pursue godliness? In my weakness, Lord, direct my pursuits to the ones that REALLY matter. I certainly will not be able to do that on my own. I am way too weak! Lord, help me.

Thanks again for the blessings, and thanks to everybody for the posts on this forum,
Deanna

[Marcia]

BEAUTIFULLY put, Deanna!

Thanks be to God, Who always leads us in HIS victory train!

May He TRULY get all the glory! And may we rest confidently in Him as we teach our children to His glory!