Now that you are nearing the end of the school year, may I give you a suggestion?  Try to set aside some time to do a pretty simple, but yet thought provoking exercise.  You may know that I have written a book entitled:  Beginning With The End In Mind.  One of the best things my mom ever did for me was to teach me to NEVER begin a project or a process without considering what outcome I wanted at the end of the project.  In other words, I was told to always begin a project with the end in mind.  Homeschooling is no different than any other project. When homeschooling through high school, “beginning with the end in mind, becomes even more important. 

                I can remember when one of the boys was just beginning to walk.  Of course, like all children, he was always drawn towards the staircase.  As I came around the corner of the living room one day, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, my toddler son standing at the TOP of the staircase doing that very unsteady “toddler sway.” I knew at any moment he was going to tumble head first down the stairs.  Strangely enough, (ha) I didn’t take the time to stop and think about how many stairs there were to climb to get to him; how sore I was from exercising the day before; how many times I had told my son not to go up the stairs; or even how many times I had rescued him from other calamities that very same day….NO….I didn’t stop to think about anything except getting to my son before he fell down the stairs. I knew where I was headed and I was focused on my son at the top of the stairs.

                The same is true of homeschooling through high school.  When we have a clear picture of where we want to end up, what we want to accomplish, and the vision that God has given us, we won’t find ourselves spending time thinking about how many times we have had to repeat something to our child, how many hours we are devoting to the upbringing of our student, how mentally and emotionally tired we are, and we won’t spend much time floundering around for direction. Instead, we will be focused on our desired end result.  This focus will enable us to handle our daily responsibilities because we know where we are headed and what we need to accomplish.  Have you heard the saying, “A leader cannot lead until he knows where he is going?”  We can’t expect our high school students to know what direction to go, and what they need to accomplish, if we find ourselves floundering with an unclear picture of God’s vision for our family and for our children.

                SO…..if we need to know where we are going….where do we start?  For the next several weeks, we are going to go through one step each week and strive to determine what God has for each of our children as we homeschool them through high school.  I hope that by the time we end the series of “steps” we will have a much clearer picture of what God intends for us to accomplish during this journey of homeschooling through high school.   Simply put:  we are going to homeschool through high school…….with the “end in mind.” 

                For the first step and during this first week of this series, spend some time away from curriculum selections, away from scheduling, away from homeschool catalogs etc., and instead, turn your attention toward God himself. Ask Him to reveal to you the vision that HE has for each of your individual children.  Spend time in Scripture. Pray for each child individually.  Pray about their strengths, their interests, their character, their spiritual lives, their activities and also pray about their weaknesses and shortcomings.  Pray scripture and God’s promises for your children and ask HIM to reveal HIS plan for the coming year.  Journal your thoughts and any scripture that God impresses upon you and share them with your spouse and together, pray about your children.

                I want to be sure and reiterate to you that it is very important to clear your mental and emotional plate at the beginning of this process so that we hear HIS still small voice.  So, don’t forget, no homeschooling books this week, no more articles, no catalogs, no planning sessions, etc.etc.etc.  Just spend time seeking HIS face and His direction.  For some of us, this will take some real self-discipline because our minds are always rushing ahead and we may think that we need to research something.  Yes…the time for “researching” will come, but for this week, our only focus is on God and on seeking HIS face and HIS direction.  Agreed?  Great!

                Over the next few weeks, this will be a process and a journey on which I hope you will join me. I hope that you will let me know some of what God may reveal to you over the next few weeks.  It would be a great encouragement to me to hear from you.  You can leave a comment here on the blog or you can email me directly at llane@theendinmind.net

Faith and Courage,

Lori Lane               

Lori is married to the love of her life John and together they have four sons ranging in age from 22 down to 10.  The two oldest boys have graduated from home school and successfully entered college and/or internship positions!  (YEAH!) She is the author of “Beginning With The End In Mind”, a frequent speaker on home education, family and the arts, as well as the founder and Executive Director of Artios Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts where she has worked with hundreds of homeschooled high school students.  You can see some of the pictures of their home in the central Colorado Rockies by visiting Lori’s website at www.theendinmind.net where you will receive encouragement for the journey.