A Different Kind of Checklist

As we launch into a fresh new school year, are you feeling a bit overwhelmed by the look of your calendar? Are you dreading the busyness of the upcoming school year, wondering how you will manage it all? I want to encourage you to really pause and examine what you are doing this year.

Some of the suggestions below are based on my experience as a homeschooler, and a few I am still learning and working on. Although I know many of these, I still fall into the traps of forgetting the important and doing the unnecessary, such as judging myself, being self-reliant, and so on. So this post serves as a reminder for myself as well as an effort to encourage you! Here are a few points to consider as you prepare to proceed into the fall semester.

1. Be careful what you sign up for. You do not have to do everything. Really assess and discern what you need to be doing for your children. Bring it to the Lord and ask His guidance among your plans. Submit your plans to Him. And avoid spreading yourself (or your children) too thin. Flee from the exhausting trap of "doing" to please the world. The world is not your judge. And you are not a slacker!

   
   

2. Be okay with saying no. I have been working through Reform Wellness (link) and have learned, among many other beautiful truths, that "no" is a complete sentence. We do not need to say yes to every invitation or opportunity that comes along, and we do not need to give an explanation for the “no”. We ought to avoid comparing our lives and homeschool journey to others and feel the need to say yes simply because other homeschool moms are. (remember comparison is a thief!)

   
   

3. Check your "yes". Ask yourself honestly why you might say yes to multiple activities and volunteer opportunities. Just because something is good and worthy, does not mean it should be an immediate yes. Seek to understand where He is calling you to say yes, not where you think you should. If God is not asking it of you, it more than likely will be a drain on you, and thus impact your family. The lack of an authentic yes does not bring blessings, it brings stress and chaos. I unfortunately know this from experience. How do we best discern this? We have to come away from the chaos and noise so we can hear Him. (Matthew 6:6 tells us go to your interior room-which is your heart, and pray) This takes practice and we have to actually make time for it because as moms, especially homeschooling moms, life won't give it to us.

   
   

4. Assess the season of life you are in. Along the same line as checking your yes, ask yourself, does all you feel a need or desire to say yes to line up with the season you are in? For the mom who feels spread thin by being a homeschooling mom, who feels you “should be” volunteering more, running a group of some sort, or helping more in the community, be at peace. Your season to help more will come. It is more than okay to simply move through your season of life at a slower, healthy pace.

   
   

5. Guard your time and health. We are called to "aspire to live a tranquil life." (1 Thessalonians 4:11). The definition of tranquil is "peaceful, calm, free from disturbance". The Lord wants us to live from a place of rest, remembering the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42). We are not called to rush around, run ourselves ragged, and survive life. God wants us to thrive from that place of rest, not survive from a place of chaos. Our children need us to thrive not survive. They need us to be present and healthy (in mind, body, and soul).

   
   

6. Assess your goals. Are your goals God’s goals, your own goals, the worlds goals? Remember, the world‘s ways are foolishness to God (1 Corinthians 3:19).

   
   

7. Be God-reliant, not self-reliant. Our Lord never meant for us to do this without His help. Surrender your hopes, dreams, desires, goals, and plans to Him. Allow Him to be at the center and walk through this with you. Yoke yourself to Him, and allow Him to lead you.

   
   

8. Remember to do all for His glory, not our own. "...whatever you do, do everything for the

   glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

   
   

9. Enjoy your children! We are so very blessed to be able to have these extra hours, days, and years with our children. Soak it in, because it truly goes too fast.

   
   

10. Rest on the Sabbath! It is a commandment not a suggestion!

    
    

    “Let go of your plans. The first hour of your morning belongs to God. Tackle the day's work that He charges you with, and He will give you the power to accomplish it.” St. Edith Stein

    
    

    “Every Christian needs a half-hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy, then he needs an hour.” St. Francis de Sales

    
    

    I hope your year is blessed!

    Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam