CHM 153: Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Homeschooling (Power Boost Pt. 2)

Hey, Hey, my friends. Welcome to the Christian Homeschool Mom's podcast. And on this show, my goal is to keep you encouraged. It's homeschool mom as you're trying to homeschool your kids with joy during this very limited season of your life. So I want to help you apply practical homeschool tips that will help you in your everyday life as a mom of faith. I'm Demetria, your host. I'm a veteran homeschool mama of two wonderful daughters, one in college and one in high school. I'm a songwriter, a podcaster, and I very much love designing websites. And I'm also a child of the King and I'm super happy to be your host. This episode is sponsored by the Collide Media Group and the team of The Chosen, who has graciously offered to give away several tickets to my audience now. In case you haven't heard, The Chosen is a groundbreaking historical drama based on the life of Jesus and looks at his revolutionary life and teachings. Season four premieres in thea February first, and that is the day of this recording. It is one of the most watched shows in the world, consistently a top performer across streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix. It actually started as a crowdfunded project and it's now garnered over seven hundred and seventy million episode views and more than twelve million social media followers. Because this is coming to the theater, I totally want to support it, and I hope you do too, So be sure to check the show notes for information on how to enter a raffle contest that I'm providing for a chance to win a free ticket to see The Chosen in a theater near you. To find out more about what we're doing here at the homeschool blog and podcast, you can check out christianhomeschool moms dot com. So in my last episode, we were talking about some encouraging words, which I called a homeschool power boost for twenty twenty four. So this is the part two of that because I didn't get around to sharing all of my suggestions for you. So what we're doing on the last episode in this one is to give you a boost for the year. And as of this recording, we're in the month of February, and you know, some of us are already feeling that slump of homeschooling after the new year has started, and I just want to keep you encouraged, keep you going. So my first couple of tips for you in the last episode were to remember your purpose, why you're doing this, and to also add a lot of prayer and scripture into your daily routine and infuse faith into your teaching your kids, So integrating faith into your curriculum, creating a sacred learning space if possible. And so I share those tips on the last episode. On this one, we're going to pick up from there, and we're going to start with embracing flexibility in patience because I believe that when you are patient with yourself, it goes a long way. You can't be hard on yourself while homeschooling. Homeschooling is not going to allow you to be a stickler for everything working out just right because you're also parenting and parenting is hard. So embrace flexibility. Understand that homeschooling can be challenging. Everybody experiences challenges in homeschooling and there are going to be moments of frustration. So you have to cultivate patients. You have to be flexible and leaning on your spiritual beliefs that's in your faith to to help guide you through difficult times is going to help you so much. So remember you do have someone you can turn to in those hard times, and that's God. Practice self compassion. It's okay to forgive yourself when you don't do things the way you thought you should have. It's okay to forgive yourself when you think you've made a really bad mistake and when things don't go as planned, because all mistakes can be fixed, and nothing really is a mistake. Because when you're homeschooling, if something goes wrong with the choice of curriculum, or who you decided to drop your kids off with, which co op you signed up for, which situation didn't work work out right, Really nothing is perfect. Nothing is as we plan because nothing is pulled together and handed to us in a package. That's what homeschooling is. It's figuring things out along the way. When you've purchased a prepackaged curriculum, do not buy into the idea that you're buying a lifestyle for your family. The curriculum that looks so beautiful when beautifully packaged, the magazines that show everything being so perfect. Once that curriculum orright on your doorstep and you've ripped open the package and you've downloaded all the really cool materials that you think are going to help you. They might help you because they might be just what your children need, or they may prove to be not at all what your kids are going to need to help them learn that material and it may prove frustrating for you and your child. And you've paid all this money, and maybe it works and maybe it doesn't. You have to be flexible with how you integrate materials and tools into your life because you're not purchasing a lifestyle, you're purchasing a product, and marketers like myself have to market things a certain way so it looks good. I understand marketing, I understand SEO. I understand digital marketing and the aspects of it and what we have to do to make something appear the way it needs to in order to get the response that we're looking for in the world of marketing. But when it comes to homeschooling, you, as a parent, you have to be very very choosy about your lifestyle and what you're going to bring in and out of your life. So as you're choosing curriculum. I want you to be in prayer about it and not purchase something just because it looks good or because all your friends are using it, or you heard so many great reviews online. It's important that you don't allow only social proof to guide your decision making. So this way, you give yourself more flexibility and that you might even have the space in your life to choose something that nobody else would choose. But that works so perfectly for you and your family because you allowed yourself the opportunity to explore a little bit more beyond the marketing messages that you're getting in your social media feeds. So be a little bit patient about choosing what comes in and out of your life as a homeschool family. And that's going to keep you from burnout. It's also going to keep you from comparing yourself to others, and it's going to also promote and preserve your integrity, your self esteem, so that you can be compassionate with you, yourself, and your family as you trek through homeschooling your own way. The next step I want to give you is to connect with the homeschool community. Now, homeschool communities come and go, and they are all different shades and varieties all across this great big world, including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, all over the world. And I'm in the United States and I'm on the West Coast, and so it looks homeschool groups and communities look extremely different here in this part of the West Coast, in this part of California that I'm living in, as opposed to maybe southern California, where I don't live, where my daughter is now going to school for college. Life is very different there than it is here in the Bay Area. Life is very different for us here in California than homeschooling was for us in Alabama when we live there in twenty eleven. Life is very different for homeschoolers in Alabama than it is in Montana or Missouri or New York. So you're going to have a different flavor of homeschool groups depending on where you live geographically. It makes a huge difference where you live and what kind of resources and groups you have available to you. So you may or may not find the right group for you, is what I'm saying. And if you can't find a group that works for you in your community, then you need to go online and find people there, and there are loads of online communities that are available to us, and so I'm grateful for virtual homeschool groups. When all else fails, you have virtual but you should be building connections with like minded individuals that can provide support, encouragement, and shared experiences that strengthen your spiritual journey. For us, in our personal life, my daughter is now hybrid homeschooling, which means that she goes to a Christian private school part time, whereas she used to be a full time student for a few months, but now she's part time and she's at home with us part time, so she's homeschooling in that way. And because of that, we've been able to tap into a homeschool community through our private school that we're a part of, and these are people that we're able to now build connections with. So her new school has now become our new community, though it's very different and a typical homeschool community that we're used to, but this is what we love so far is what's working for us now. So again, find whatever community works for you. You need to find that, and you have to take time to search for it if that's important. To you, So more homeschool boosting for you. I want you to feel empowered for twenty twenty four. So another thing I'm going to ask you to do is to incorporate mindfulness practices. So mindfulness is a key buzzword in in the last couple of years, and it can be used in a number of ways. But when I talk about mindfulness, I'm talking about slowing down, having moments of reflection, having gratitude practices, taking nice long walks, and really just thinking about your life and integrating your faith with that, because it's not just about you and walking and emptying your mind and reflecting, but also integrating faith. So how can you bring in those moments of after you've reflected and after you feel peaceful, how can you begin then to meditate on things that are going to encourage you along your path, things that God would have you to meditate on so that you know what to do next so you're empowered for your next moves. And that many times comes in the moments of silence and asking God for his wisdom and just being quiet and waiting on Him to guide you. Sometimes he'll put something on your heart and you'll fill that and you might want to write it down. If you're taking a walk, you might just try to keep it in the back of your mind so that you can later refer to it and write it down. Being mindful is going to help you to determine your next steps. And sometimes those are the moments when we're having some silent times that we can figure out what to do with our kids. If something's not going right in the home. God will give us that next step and tell us what to do with our kids and what's the best thing to do in this situation that we're going through with them, Because it's not easy to parent and we all know that. So these practices I believe can help you to stay present and spiritually connected throughout your homeschooling day. So wherever you are, whether you're in the bathroom, locked away from your toddlers and younger kids and you just need some time alone and you're going to the bathroom and they're still you know, their fingers are under the bathroom door, and they're still calling out to you because they're still wanting you to be there, even though you're trying to have some time to yourself. Even in that in that time, talk to God, take some deep breaths and say God help me. And sometimes that's all you can say. When your kids are little and you're going through that phase of your life with them, there's a lot of times not much you can pray except God help. And God understands in those times, and He will meet you right where you are. But as you go into different stages of your life, you're going to have time to reflect in a different way. So be prepared for the new practices that you're going to embrace in your life as your phases in womanhood change with life and with time, and as your children change with time. Next, I want you to seek guidance and inspiration. In addition to that mindfulness practice, you are going to ask God for yourself what to do next, how to go about your day. So you also want to make sure that you're tapping into the power of your faith community. So these are your spiritual leaders. This is your church, this is your pastor, this is your Bible teacher, somebody right, these are mentors that can help you in guiding you and for inspiration. You want to share your homeschool experiences with people that understand what you're doing and can help to strengthen you, and you can draw that strength from the wisdom of other people who have walked a similar path or who just really know how to help you in that area. And sometimes finding a psychologist or a Christian psychologist or a family counselor that is willing to work with you can be really helpful as well. There are different ways to receive help, so there's no cap and there's no no one definition for the way you get help in your life. But everybody needs help. Everybody needs therapy. That could mean writing in your journal, that could mean talking with your husband, that could mean talking with a friend, or it could mean hiring someone to be there to walk you through those steps of knowing what to do next. And therapy can just be prayer. So how do you perceive therapy? Go get it because we all need it. My next step for you is to prioritize family time and bonding because when you dedicate that quality time to bonding with your kids, and I do mean outside of teaching your lessons, you're going to be a happier mama. Right. So when you're having fun together, then you have a better time together, You have better memories that you can bring into your future and so you want to have some bonding time. And not every day can be fun. Not every day is going to be a big party, but you want to be intentional about engaging in activities whenever you can that strengthen family connections and build a sense of unity. So it might be a family game night, it might be a movie night. But these moments of togetherness can be spiritually enriching for your kids too. So it's not just about reading the Word of God together, which I really stressed in the last episode when for the first part of our power Boost, So I really talked about the spiritual foundation. But you need that and you need some fun. So have fun with your kids. That's the big thing for me this year. It's the last couple of years actually, since my oldest went away to college, I have really felt the need to just have some fun. You know, it was very stressful that last year of homeschooling in twenty twenty when she went off to college. And you know, when you feel burned out at some point and you're just ready to throw in the towel, you have to figure out ways to decompress. And one of those ways for our family was to restructure our family because we went from a family of four to three and it kind of felt like we were missing a leg and so we kind of wobbled around a bit for at least six to eight months, not really knowing what to do with ourselves with just the three of us, because we had a different dynamic when my oldest daughter was home, and so learning to restructure that and to bring in a new type of fun for our family it was. It was a learning car for us, and so we figured out the new types of family bonding that we could do, and one of them was K dramas and that's what we do with my youngest and she loves it. She's sixteen. We've been watching K dramas with her since she was fourteen, and it has been a blast. I started off not liking them, and it took me a while to get into them. But after my first one I think I watched I think it was one of my first ones was Startup, and after that one, I was hooked. I loved Startup. I'll probably watch it again just because there's so much of it that's entrepreneurial and business and I love that kind of stuff. So she got me hooked from that one. Forward, and so find things that make you happy as a family and work together to achieve a sense of unity through bonding together. And lastly, I want to encourage you to celebrate your milestones and achievements. Remember that every milestone you achieve, whether academic or spiritual, should be celebrated. And I'm going to say that quite often this year. So just be ready to hear me repeat myself like a broken record. But you have to celebrate. I say it on this podcast. I say it on my Soul podcasting podcast, which is about helping women to learn how to podcast, and I talk about celebrating those milestones because once you've created your first episode, you just need to celebrate. And then on her Business Elevated, I talk about celebrating your milestones in business. And so I'm talking about the same thing here on this homeschool podcast because it's so important. It's that important in life that as women we learn how to celebrate ourselves. We have to celebrate what achievements we've made and take time to clap for yourself. Take time. It might feel a little bit weird, you might feel like you're being arrogant. You're not being arrogant. You need to pat yourself on the back once in a while. You're doing good, Mama, tell yourself that, because even if no one else tells you, you need to be reminded. And sometimes you have to remind yourself. Like the Word of God says, encourage yourself in the Lord. So if nobody else is encouraging you, you need to encourage yourself. And you are doing great somber to celebrate that, you might have some rituals. You might have some ceremonies that you do personally to mark significant achievements in your life. As a homeschool mom, what have you done in your homeschool journey from January through February? That's one month. Only celebrate your one month and then maybe the next month you decide to celebrate again. You made it another month, right, So maybe you don't need that much celebration. Maybe you just want to wait until the end of the school year and have a big party and just go out with your friends or stay in with your favorite food, maybe order in and watch Netflix. Whatever's a party for you. Celebrate that because you've done it and you did a good job. So remember to celebrate your milestones, not just your kids. I think That's one thing that we have to remember as moms that were not just celebrating our kids by giving them the parties and the celebrations because they've achieved the straight a's and they've achieved their rewards in their extracurriculars. Maybe they got a reward in karate, or they are celebrate for their hard work. And it's important to celebrate our kids and we know to do that, but how often do we celebrate ourselves. So give your self permission to celebrate yourself for being a great teacher and have a teacher appreciation day for yourself as a homeschool mom. So remember that your spiritual journey is unique, and finding a sense of spiritual fulfillment in homeschooling is a personal and an ongoing process, and there's a lot of different ways to go about finding that fulfillment and to be encouraged in your process. But part of that is regular self reflection and overall commitment to your values and nurturing your environment so that you can continue to feel spiritually equipped in your homeschooling endeavors. And I think that's pretty much all I have for you on this show. I'm excited about what's ahead. As I mentioned in the last episode, I always feel privileged to share with you guys what's going on in my world as a homeschool mom and my ups and downs and my identity shifts as I've gone back and forth and around the corner and back when it comes to homeschooling, and how it hasn't been a perfect straight A through Z journey for me. That I've taken a lot of twists and turns around the elementop and it's been everywhere in between. And so I'm not perfect. And as you watch me on Instagram or YouTube, you'll see that I'm not perfect, and you'll see that I don't have my stuff together. I'm doing a lot of things, and I have a lot of projects and a lot of passions. I'm passionate about a lot of things, and so that's what we call multi passionate and multi passionate people are often perfectionists that try to do a lot of things but want to do it well. So it can sometimes keep us from making progress as quickly as we could and because we're holding a high standard for ourselves. So a lot of times podcasters and bloggers are some of the worst when it comes to being super duper hard on ourselves, and we can be the most critical of our own work, even when others are saying great work and we loved it. But we can be super critical. So when I show up, I do it because I know it's making a difference in people's lives. And I do it knowing that I'm not where I could be or should be. I don't always think I'm where I need to be, but I realized that that's all in God's hands, and so I've learned how to relax into that and not pay attention to that and just do the work. Just show up and just do the work, and don't worry about the results, because the results will take care of themselves. If I just do what I'm called to do, then everything else will take care of itself. That's why it's so important to me on a project like this one where I'm reaching listeners like yourself who are really wanting some authentic encouragement for homeschooling. It's important that I come to you humbly because I don't want you to think that I think I know what I'm doing, because I don't, and the choices that I make from day to day with how I choose homeschooling or private school or public school or or whatever I'm choosing at the moment, or what curriculum we're doing or what we're not doing, and how we're going about doing things. It's so laced in imperfection, and I'm really just bumbling around like everybody else and trying to figure it out. The one thing that I do on this show is to let you know that I'm trying to figure it out like you. But I do have something that I can share, and it's experience. And even when I had very little experience back in two thousand and eleven, I still felt it necessary to begin something that would track my progress as I was raising my young kids and showing you what I was doing, opening up my world to you through my YouTube channel. I Mom's Est and so that's what I did, And here we are today, twelve years later, and I've done all of that, and the kids are growing up, and now I can't do all of that like I used to because they won't let me record them, and I don't blame them for not wanting to be on video anymore. So my channel has changed a lot because of that. But on this show My goal is to just encourage you, and I want to be careful about who I ask to participate on the show with me. I feel like it's important that I have the right voices, and if their voices you've never heard of, then I want you to hear about them. And there is no discrimination on my part regarding anybody. We're all here for the same reason for encouraging our kids, to raise them in the Lord and to educate our kids at home in a faith based environment. So I try to invite anybody who I think will add some value to the show, and you'll find a variety of voices here. That's why you don't have just one type of voice. That's why that you will find people here that you won't find on any other shows. Because I'm not attempting to find the most popular guests to interview within the homeschool circle. I'm not looking for popularity. I'm looking for homeschool moms who have advice, have some encouragement, have some wisdom, have some experience, and add value to the homeschool community in some way. And sometimes their homeschool moms, but sometimes they are entrepreneurs and business women who are parents and maybe they didn't homeschool their kids, but they know a thing or two about education and can share with us their perspectives. And so those are the kind of people I'm looking for. And I'm specially looking for women who love the Lord that will come on this show and encourage you in the Lord as a Christian woman in the art of raising your kids. So I'm not pushing any particular curriculum or any puts items. I just want that sense of encouragement to be part of this show so that whenever you listen in, you feel inspired. When you're done listening to that episode, you're ready to listen to another one because you feel good. So I want you to feel good when you hear this show. I don't want you to feel like you're imperfect and you have to buy yet another item to be a better homeschool mom. I don't want you feeling like you have to buy anything. Even though I will be promoting my products that I create over the years or that others create, I'm happy to promote them, but that is not the main focus here. So I hope that this show is an encouragement to you. Please stop buy Apple podcasts and leave a review. I would love a review from you five stars and leave a written review if possible. I would love for you to share in an Apple podcasts how this show has been helpful to you in your homeschool journey. And of course Apple podcast is going to rank the show a bit higher and show up more in the search results as we receive more reviews, because it just gives that credibility to the show. So if you feel that you've been encouraged, I'll ask you to do that, and that's one way you can support. Another way you can support the show is to purchase one of my courses, and I have one over at christianhomeschool Moms dot teachable dot com and that is the Homeschool Boss MoMA Goal Planner. I'd love for you to check that out when you get a moment and see if that's something you would like to add into your life. If so, that course is available to you as well. And I also want to add that I have begun a division of my podcast coaching to help clients with not only their podcasts, but to start a brand. So if you're thinking about getting a website, I keep vascalating back and forth between whether or not I wanted to continue website design or take it off the table, and this is something I really want to do, but it came back again. And every time I take it off the table, it comes right back to me because God just keeps bringing me more clients, and so it's back on the table. And so if that's something you're looking for, you need a website, then come ask about that as well. You can reach out to me christianhomeschool Moms dot com, slash contact and just get in touch. Just get in touch there and I will get back with you asap. If you're looking forward to build a new website for your project, whether it's business or ministry or hobby or whatever it is, let me know and I'll see how I can help you get that up and running for you. Until next time, my friends, I'm looking forward to our next couple of conversations, which I've already got mapped out. They are going to be a lot of fun and unless I have an interview scheduled in between, then I will have a conversation with you very soon about how my husband and I have been supporting our daughter from homeschool into private school, and we'll share more about that in an upcoming show. All right, thanks for listening, and until next time, happy homeschooling,