Romans 15:4-6,14 -- "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God Who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ...I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another."
As homeschool parents, not only has God called us to educate our children in the godly environment of our homes; He has called us together as a homeschool community. Whether by belonging to support groups, HSLDA, being magazine subscribers or regularly reading information posted on your favorite websites or blogs, God has allowed technology to bring us together as a community and has enabled us to spur one another on.
If we look into these verses we find that God has given us His Word as the foundation for our homeschools: "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (vs. 4)
God's goodness, mercy and order are evident all around us. In using Christian curriculum and our Bibles, we can help our students see and understand that our God has woven science and art together in so many ways. Is there anything more amazing than the beauty of God's creation and how He has caused it all to work so perfectly together? He shows us that "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecc.1:9) and that the Bible is the ONLY true account of world history. Then as we study our health books we learn that we truly are "fearfully and wonderfully made." (Ps. 139:14) And as we learn the dynamics of music and maybe learn to play an instrument or develop our voices that we can write our own Psalms of praise and worship, or simply participate in Sunday worship with the saints.
"May the God Who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (vs. 5)
In our local support group we are a body of believers meeting together with like-minds. By signing our membership form we say to each other that we agree with the basic doctrines of the Bible listed in our policy section and agree to help each other uphold them. In the Name of Jesus Christ we have told each other that "if you leave your child in my care during a field trip or during a class or club meeting I might host in my home, that you can trust me to instruct and guide your children in a godly manner...and I can trust you to do the same."
"I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another." (vs. 14)
I hope that you will look upon the HWTB blog (and my own blog) as your support group via the web. I don't know your circumstances...you may live in a very rural area and do not have access to a support group or you may be unaware of a group in your area or, maybe, you choose to be independent of a group setting. You are always welcome here. Our "cyber support group" is here to help and encourage each other to persevere in the journey of homeschooling because, as homeschool parents, we are "competent to instruct one another." When you are starting out, especially if you have started homeschooling from the very beginning, the road looks so long and scary. We experienced (I don't want to say "old") homeschool moms are here for you. This is our Titus 2 duty: "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God." (Titus 2:4 & 5)
In these short sections of Romans and Titus, Paul has shown us 1) what we are expected, as women, to do (as not all women grow up with godly examples) and 2) that we ARE complete, competent and fully capable of doing it!!
If God has called us to this lifestyle and has told us in His Word that He trusts us with the responsibility, we should be all the more encouraged as our school year progresses.
Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><
TOS Items of Interest
Nov. 7, 2007
