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The Homeschool Minute ~ What’s a co-op, and how do I start one?

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What’s a co-op, and how do I start one?
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is YOUR trade magazine for family education. Stay subscribed to this newsletter becausethis is the place where we give FREE education gifts on a regular basis. Read the magazine anytime, 24/7, atwww.TOSMagazine.com. It’s the Family Education Magazine!

Gena Suarez

Hey Mama,

If you’re wondering whether joining a co-op is the right thing for your family, read these articles:


To Co-op or Not to Co-Op-That is the Question


10 Essential Elements of a Successful Homeschool Co-op

Now here’s some encouragement as you make decisions about co-ops, curriculum, and other things.

You have freedom to love, freedom to make choices-good or bad-and freedom to pray. Freedom to read God’s word openly and as often as you want. Freedom to hide Bible verses in your heart (and your kids’ hearts). Freedom to discipline your children in love, to build their character, to mold them into lovers of God. To model Christ to them.

Freedom to pursue your interests, freedom to encourage your children to pursue … and to help them succeed. Freedom to laugh and dance and speak your mind. Freedom to cry, to mourn, to grieve. To fall on your knees and cry out to the King of kings. To bury your face in Him.

Daughter of the King, you are free. God has given you SO much, and tonight, His hand is on your head.

Your day may not have started out wonderfully, but it just ended with the right perspective. The God of the universe loves you and desires your children’s hearts. The Lord God who blesses over and over again (and you know this is true); He is a Father to the fatherless, THE lover of our very soul. Reach upwards; look up. Get your eyes on Him tonight. Life is good. Life is just fine. He’s in it and He IS it.

His hand is on your head tonight, Mama.

 
~ gena

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Diana Waring

Diana is busy preparing for the new school year! To read more from Diana, check out her website at
www.dianawaring.com.

Diana

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The Art of Reading

 


Adam Andrews

Walking Worthy of Your Calling

When you decide to homeschool your children, you announce to the world that, despite the presence of legions of trained professionals who will educate them for free, you will do it yourself, at your own expense. Of course, in making this announcement, you also imply that you can do it better, all by yourself. 

 
That’s a pretty bold thing to say, don’t you think? Do you ever wonder whether you promised more than you can deliver when you said it? What kind of expertise do you really have, after all? How will your limited resources of time, energy and money ever compete, much less outperform, those of the government school system?
 
If you’re a Christian, you may find strength by remembering that you’ve been called by God to this task, and that where He has called, he will also answer with strength and provision. All that is necessary for success is to continue faithfully where He leads, trusting Him to provide–or, in the words of Ephesians 4:1, to “walk worthy of the calling in which you were called.” 
 
I think this is a powerful reminder for homeschool parents that can really help us in our work, as long as we don’t misunderstand it. What is our calling, after all, and what does it mean to “walk worthy” of it?
 
First, we must realize that before God called us to homeschool our children, He called us to be
His children. God’s grace in the salvation of sinners, His complete provision for the needs of the weak, the helpless, the broken, and the dead, is the calling in which you were called. Though you will never offer Him anything He needs in return, He saved you in His infinite love.
 
So how can a homeschool parent “walk worthy” of this calling? What sorts of behaviors should we commit ourselves to in pursuit of it? 
 
If you think “worthy” means “deserving,” you probably have a long list of such behaviors, and they constantly remind you what a failure you are, in homeschooling and in life. After all, the only way to deserve the calling of God is to achieve perfection.
 
But can Ephesians really be admonishing us to “walk in such a way as to deserve the calling of God?” How can God demand that we perform for His approval, when the calling He offers is designed specifically for those who cannot perform? This would be the same as saying, “walk in such a way that you don’t need God’s free gift of grace for undeserving sinners.”
 
If you think “worthy” means “appropriate,” however, this Scriptural reminder has the power to encourage and inspire. This is because walking in a manner
appropriate to the calling of God is a much simpler task that trying to deserve it.
 
If God’s calling is His unmerited favor toward unworthy sinners, then being appropriate objects of His calling means
being unworthy sinners. “Walking worthy” of this calling means remaining as weak, helpless and human as we were on the day He first called us.  This passage reminds us that Christianity is a work of God, from beginning to end, and that He will provide everything necessary to accomplish it.
 
As a homeschooling Dad, I find great comfort in this reminder of my insufficiency and of God’s inexhaustible provision. Among other things, it reinforces a critical distinction:  saying that I will educate my kids myself is not the same thing as declaring that I have everything they need. I have precious little, as a matter of fact–but the God who calls us both has resources to spare, and He has made them available to me in a thousand ways.  Neighbors, friends, and family to encourage me and help me carry the load; books and materials to help me in the daily tasks of homeschooling; pastors and teachers to encourage and train me for the work.  
 
I can be comfortable with my own limitations because where God calls, He always answers. I rejoice that I am worthy of His calling, not because of my performance, but because of His love.

Adam

adam@centerforlit.com 

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