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  • Start
    • Homeschooling 101: What to Teach and When to Teach It
    • 10 ways you’re making your homeschool day harder than it needs to be
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What They Don’t Tell You About Reaching the Finish Line of Homeschooling

March 29, 2022 //  by Jamie C. Martin

Reaching the Finish Line of Homeschooling

What They Don’t Tell You About Reaching the Finish Line of Homeschooling ~
Written by Jamie C. Martin of Simple Homeschool and Introverted Moms

Prefer to listen instead? Just have a tissue ready xo:

Our homeschooling days are numbered. He still leans his head against me on the sofa while we watch tv, but not for much longer. Now he talks about packing up, heading out, starting life.

He tells me in detail about the latest lighting design software, words I can’t always grasp but attempt to appreciate. I nod supportively, even when I don’t understand.

Back in the day after finishing a good book, he’d rush in to give me an unassigned book report. I’d look up as he described every character and plot twist from a Happy Hollister or Boxcar Children, his head bobbing up and down with eager delight.

I’m beyond grateful for the moments I paused and listened. I didn’t realize that those days were numbered, too. They seemed to stretch out before us for eternity.

At the time, I worried I was failing him. Isn’t that always the way? I was giving him the childhood I’d always longed for, but how was I to know it was the one he would choose?

We get one shot at raising our babes, and spend the rest of our lives praying that it was enough.

When a tsunami of worry looms overhead, threatening to crash and swallow me whole, I take my concerns, inadequacies, and failures to God. He patiently reminds me, yet again, that his grace plus my weakness is enough. I try to believe him.

I used to think homeschooling success looked a certain way. It involved proving to myself and others that this method of education worked, impressing an unknown someone with my ability to get this right.

But now I believe success in homeschooling looks less like crossing a finish line and more like spending a decade crafting a lighthouse on the shore, creating the solid foundation, noticing the cracks, going back to repair them, starting again. 

We might not have impressed anyone, but we have built a steady navigation system that will always point the way home. I couldn’t ask for more.

Reaching the Finish Line of Homeschooling

What’s Your Homeschool Mom Personality? Take Jamie’s quiz now and receive a free personality report to help you organize your homeschool based on what your personality type needs most!

Category: inspirationTag: jamie

About Jamie C. Martin

Jamie is an introverted mom of three, who loves books, tea, and people (not always in that order), and avoids answering the phone when possible. She co-founded SimpleHomeschool.net in 2010 and began IntrovertedMoms.com in 2020.

Jamie is the author of four books, including Give Your Child the World (reached #9 on Amazon's Top 100 Best Sellers list), and her latest release, Introverted Mom (an ECPA bestseller). Her work has been featured by LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow, the Washington Post, Parents, Today Parenting, and Psychology Today.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shawna Wingert

    March 29, 2022 at 10:24 am

    I love the lighthouse metaphor. It’s a perfect summary of how it all turns out with our kids. Beautiful.

    • Jamie C. Martin

      March 29, 2022 at 2:53 pm

      Thank you, Shawna! xo

  2. Sharon

    February 24, 2024 at 10:21 am

    I totally agree with Shawna. Great analogy. The phone calls home to tell about the day, an exciting thing that happened or a tough event that happened fill my heart every time. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to spend so much time with my children, and I love to watch them come back together when they are home.

  3. Julie Pringle

    February 27, 2024 at 7:24 pm

    As a mother of seven homeschooled children, we too are coming to the “finish line” with the youngest! Your lighthouse is a great way to describe the process! I read long ago that we were building cathedrals. Both metaphors demonstrate the painstaking sacrifices and the slow process of developing resilient moral characters entrusted to us. I’m grateful for the once in a lifetime opportunity!

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