Our family has a seven-year-old dachshund named Louis, who is a source of both joy and frustration on a daily basis. He has beautiful, shiny, black hair with tan paws, eyebrows, and snout. He loves to go for walks, so a week or so ago I took him for a little adventure down the street to sniff out whatever seemed interesting to him. While he was sniffing at something, I looked over and saw a little twig with two acorn cups still attached. The acorns were gone, but the cups remained.



My mind is constantly turning over blog ideas, so I started thinking about encouraging homeschool parents to get their kids outdoors and explore. Suddenly I had a flashback to my own childhood. I grew up in New Jersey. When I was a very young child, I lived in a town where riots were becoming more and more prevalent (it was the mid-sixties, in case some of you are wondering). My parents were very young Christians and had little training in parenting or rearing their children to walk with God, but they had strong ideals for their family. One of those was to raise us in a safe, nurturing environment. So, at the age of eight, I moved out to Central Jersey which was much more rural than our previous neighborhood. There were cornfields and cows nearby, but all the trappings of city life were just miles away.

My parents purchased five acres of land and built a house. Not bad for a couple in their 20's, self-employed, with three children. We had acres to play on, and we loved it. We had gooseberry and currant bushes to snack from, a big garden to help weed, a sandbox, a tree fort, a swing set, and a creek to play in. I remember one day out of the blue my dad asked us to guess what he got for us, and it was a pony! He was a terrible animal. I can’t count how many times he bucked us off his back. But boy, do we have some hilarious stories to tell about our interactions with Snowball! We spent countless hours playing outside with nature and having so much fun.



Back to my walk with Louis. That little acorn cup twig took me way back to my childhood. I realized that my parents gave me the things I was hoping to encourage homeschool parents to give their kids, and it overwhelmed me with gratitude. It also caused me to realize that I needed to thank my parents. I know kids don’t think about thanking their parents for things like acreage and a safe environment in which to play and live, but why not? They made conscious choices to provide those things for me as God allowed. When my husband and I purchased our home, we had similar thoughts. We wanted to have room for this thing or that thing so our children could enjoy or reap the benefits of activities we provided for them. So do you. You homeschool. You are providing a place for your children to live and learn. You provide a certain environment for them. How you use those resources and what they glean from them is significant.

I called my dad the other day and thanked him for the things he and mom provided for us, things we enjoyed, and that benefitted us. It was funny because he laughed and said, "Honey, you don’t need to thank me for that.” I know how he feels. My husband and I didn't make choices for our kids so they would be grateful later; we made them because we believed God wanted us to provide that kind of environment for them.

But I have to say that at age 50, I finally realized that my parents should have a thank-you. I appreciate their decisions to care for us the best way they knew how with God’s help. It was a much-belated thank-you, but it was genuine. I realize as a parent what those decisions mean and how they affect children when they are young and when they grow up. I also took a moment to thank my Heavenly Father for His many provisions and care for me and our family.

So, as you are homeschooling today, thank God for His leadership in your family's life. Consult Him about the choices you make, and trust Him to lead you. Pray for your spouse in his or her walk with God. You may or may not get a thank-you from your children when they are grown, but you will reap the results in multiple ways throughout their lifetime, and that’s really all a parent wants anyway—to see your children content and walking with God.

On behalf of the HomeWorks team,
Sharon Fisher

Sharon Fisher | Manager | Curriculum Specialist, Speaker Coordinator, Social Media
HomeWorks by Precept