Teach Them Diligently Opryland Homeschool Convention

I had the opportunity to go to the Teach Them Diligently Homeschool convention again this year in Nashville at Opryland.  My husband and I enjoy going and always come away encouraged.  This year we also brought our daughters and a friend.       If you homeschool and have not been to a convention, I highly recommend Teach Them Diligently!!!!

The highlight for me is always the exhibit hall.  There is nothing like the biggest room you've ever seen full of exciting books that interest you.  It makes my heart race a little just thinking about it. Perusing the books and curriculum is always great to get ideas from and make decisions for curriculum for the new school year.   

This year, I took time out to go to 3 sessions as well.  To give you an idea of what the convention is like....at any given moment you can choose from TWENTY possible sessions to attend that are going on simultaneously all over the Opryland Convention Center.  Every hour there are 20 NEW sessions.  Whew. 

This year, I went to a session by Kevin Sorbo, Hollywood actor (Hercules/God's Not Dead), director, producer.   His talk was called "Fame, Family and Faith." He talked about the costs of being vocal in his faith in the secular world of Hollywood.  He is a very outspoken Christian and homeschool dad of 3 as well. 

The next session was by Ann Dunagan titled, "Training Girls to be Mission-Minded Women."  She encouraged homescoolers to not just let their girls sit like pretty princesses but to be warriors for Christ....reaching a lost world and focusing on the women, children, orphans and other needs that women tend to have more of a heart for than men do.  Their family has visited 116 countries with the gospel...so they are living what she teaches.  She gave a lot of examples of how they have incorporated their entire family in missions/evangelism/church planting.   

The 3rd session was by Israel Wayne entitled, "How not to Educate (like a heathen)."  He explained the Biblical view of education vs the cultural view. He showed that we need a family mission statement.  His is, "Know, love and serve God and to love and serve others."  He says every area of our lives need to be focused on this one mission.  Education is no exception.   He described our life as a piece of pie.  As Christians, our spiritual life is the foundation of the whole pie.   When we "cut" into our life, pieces like education, money, friends, entertainment etc...should all point towards God and our mission as a Christian.  Just like a blueberry pie...every piece is full of blueberries, so every area of our lives should reflect Christ. 

He also talked about how far from Christian roots American education has moved.  He showed a Harvard College Mission statement from 1636.  Wow..has it changed a lot!!!

I wish I had time to go to more sessions. Every one impacted me in a new way!

Thankful for this time to be encouraged to press on, to re-align my goals again and to be excited for a new homeschool year coming up!  

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 

 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?"

You really CAN stop YELLING at your kids!

I recently posted about being a THANKFUL mother and a JOYFUL mother. Well, today, I want to talk about being a PEACEFUL mother to your children.   I was recently out shopping and saw a mother yell at her preschool aged child, belittle him, and speak hurtful words to him. I admit that the child was not being obedient, but that is the MOTHER'S fault for not properly training. (That is for another post.)    This always makes me feel so sad.  The children paying the consequences for their mother's lack of self control, joy, and lack of training.    If you have a habit of yelling at your kids and losing your temper, and you call yourself a Christ-follower, then this post is for you.  

This post will not apply if you haven't made a decision to follow Christ in your life and, by faith, live out  your Christianity by following God's Word. With that disclaimer, I want to look at a few verses of what it means to be a follower of Christ:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 

- James 1:19-20



Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise bring calm in the end.
- Proverbs 29:11



Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry,
For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

- Ecclesiastes 7:9



A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word
stirs up anger.

- Proverbs 15:1



Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.
- Proverbs 22:24-25

Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one 

who is quick-tempered displays folly.

- Proverbs 14:29

I think it's pretty clear that God doesn't want us to be full of anger, rage, and yelling. A few weeks ago, I shared Philippians 2 that tells us that "a servant of the Lord must not argue...but be gentle to all."

This is not just a bad habit, friend, this is a sin issue. The Bible is pretty clear.

I hear a lot of parents with lots of excuses. "I can't help it." "I probably need to work on that problem." etc. That is the bad news....you have something that needs to be fixed. But God doesn't just throw condemnation at us....He gives us EVERYTHING WE NEED to live a godly life. He doesn't just tell us "don't yell at your kids anymore," He gives us the tools we need to walk that out in real life. That is GOOD NEWS!!!!

This is the exciting part!!!! This one tidbit can transform so many aspects of your life!!! Being a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us! That is the first and most important bit of good news. But unless you understand how exciting that is, it won't matter in your life. BECAUSE He lives inside of us, we have HIS fruit at our disposal. It is OURS too! Galatians 5:22-23 says:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."

Isn't that awesome fruit? Let's read this in light of yelling at your kids. Yelling is not loving, joyful, long-suffering. It's not kind, good, gentle and it surely doesn't show self-control! But when we parent on our own strength and flesh... that is the result we get. But when we parent with the Holy Spirit's power...we CAN have self-control... and be loving, joyful and gentle. You just need to, by faith, choose to parent in the Spirit's power and not your flesh. You really CAN stop yelling. You can choose to parent in God's strength... and stop yelling from now on! Isn't that exciting? You aren't powerless. In your own strength, yes you are, but you have God living IN YOU. And that is awesome news!!!!!

My "Self-Cleaning" Kitchen. Well, sorta.

Having a large family takes a bit of organization.  I have many aspects of our home that I still haven't figured out how to run smoothly, unfortunately.  It flows...just not always as seamlessly as I'd like.
I DO feel that our kitchen system works well, so I thought I'd share that with you.   This system would work with any sized family....you would just need to tweak it for the jobs and number of children that you'd like to be involved in the process.


Here are some facts about the Konsavage Kitchen clean-up crew:

• All ages help out, but they are typically included in chore rotation at 6 years old. A 6 year old is capable of most chores in our kitchen.  
• We currently have 6 kids in kitchen rotation with 6 different jobs for 6 days of the week.
• Each kid does one job one day per week all day. 

You might feel that a 6 year old is not capable of washing dishes, putting away dishes, or putting away leftovers.  Let me assure you, with training, they are wonderful at these jobs!!

Our 6 kitchen chores/jobs include:

             washing dishes & loading dishwasher    
                 

emptying dishwasher and dish drainer/drying wet dishes

sweeping floor

  

wiping down table and 

putting napkins in dirty napkin bucket

clean counters and put away leftovers

cook/or help mom to cook

😊😊😊😊

Here is a picture of our kitchen chore schedule.  Notice it is written in pencil because sometimes an older brother is at college or working away from home and a younger sibling will take his place.  When they are home from college/work, they assist the smallest helper who was their replacement.

So that sums it up!  There are many ways to run a kitchen. This is just ONE way. It works for us.

Are you a THANKFUL Mother of children?

A few weeks ago, when we talked about the subject of being bored, I touched on the importance of teaching our children to not complain.  I wanted to expound on that a bit more because this ONE concept, if you really work on it in your family, will transform the whole environment of your home! 

A verse that is one of my favorites and one I have repeated often is found in Philippians 2:14:

"Do ALL THINGS without complaining and disputing..."

She's complaining about SOMETHING.
 I just don't know what. 

Did you catch that?  ALL THINGS!   That doesn't leave a lot of room open for griping does it?   WHEW. This is a tough one.  A number of years ago, this was the theme that God was working on in our family.   Focusing on complaining....and beginning to notice it....in myself as much as the kids, it really started to be a "thing" that I realized we needed to work on.     As a family we really tried to catch it and focus more on thankfulness.   With practice we got better!   We are by no means complain-free.  In fact, I still catch myself often thinking or saying something and immediately catching myself, but when you become aware of your complaining, you can start to change not only the words that come out of your mouth, but also the thoughts that float through your brain.  Because, EVERYTHING we say, starts in our brain!!!

This passage is SO COOL though.  Let's keep reading verses 14-16:

Do all things without complaining and disputing,  that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,  holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Mini sermon time...it says that by being people who don't complain, we actually "shine as lights in the world" in a "crooked and perverse generation."  What an impact and a difference we can make as Christians by simply "doing all things without complaining."   That is profound!!!

So, when you catch yourself (or your kids) complaining:

"I hate winter; I can't wait until spring!"

"I thought this was supposed to be FAST food...they are taking FOREVER."

"The music was too loud/too soft at church."

"So and so drives me crazy!" 

"This food is nasty!"

"I'm so sick of doing laundry."

I challenge you to catch yourself.  Bite your tongue and instead think of something you can be thankful for in this situation! Eventually, you will develop a habit of not complaining and instead being more thankful.   I encourage you to talk to your kids about it.  Make it into a game of "catching" complaints and pointing them out to each other...or seeing who can be the most thankful instead.    

Here is a fun song to watch with your kids. Steve Green's "Without Complaining."  

  

Are you a "JOYFUL Mother of children"?

I recently came across this verse again from Psalm 113:9:

He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

It got me thinking about the phrase "joyful mother."  What a wonderful thing!  Doesn't it just make you think of a happy housewife running around her home with a smile and smiling children all around... a clean kitchen... no toys on the floor... and the aroma of fresh baked delicacies?  I admit, that's my first thought.  But when I think more about it...of course, that's not reality.  Maybe in "Leave it to Beaver," but not in the real world.

Putting that verse in the real world...my real world, I totally understand what it means and what God is trying to show us.

God has not created the institute of family and motherhood to be full of anxiety, frustration, burdens and shackles.  He created us to be a JOYFUL mother of children!!  (And if any dads are reading this too, just insert "Joyful father of children!")

What exactly does it mean to be "joyful?"  It's not jumping up and down with excitement and having feelings of ecstasy all day long.  Cause, let's face it, last week when TWELVE of us got stomach bug (and let me remind you that there are only 13 stomachs residing in our whole house and one of them is my pet fish named George--and even HE looked queasy last week) I wasn't feeling like jumping up and down cause I loved motherhood so much.  😳   

To me, being joyful as a mother is being content and having a peace in my heart that I am exactly where I need to be, doing the most important job in the universe: caring and loving children that God has given me as gifts.  It is KNOWING who you are as a mother... that your job matters... that you are changing lives and making a difference in the world as you raise future leaders and world-changers who will go out and bless and impact the world for Christ. 

That, ladies, is our job description as mothers.  Pretty cool huh?

Our culture will tell you that "just staying home" is not impressive at all. That you are "just a housewife."  Isn't that sad?  I have to remind you that our culture does not value what God values.  And if you are a working mom, don't let them tell you that that job is more important than being a mom to your children. Some women need to work, but don't believe for one minute that your mom job is not as important.  It is one billion times more important!!!  Nobody can love and be a joyful mother to YOUR children the way you can.  There is no substitute!!!

So, if your first thought of motherhood is just feeling overwhelmed with laundry, cooking, snotty noses, crying and tantrums (you and the kids), spit up on your clothes and dirty diapers, then I encourage you to view motherhood through God's eyes. The Bible is TRUTH, and anything else you might feel or believe different are lies... so listen to the voice of truth! (You'll be glad you did.)
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.  It can only come from God.  Sure you might feel moments of being happy without God, but you won't know true JOY unless the Holy Spirit of God lives in you.   So that is the first step.

2 Peter 1:3 tells us that God has given us EVERYTHING we need to live a godly life.   A godly life includes joy!!!  So if you are mothering in your own strength, barely surviving....trying your best to put on a fake smile and not yell... it won't work.  At least not for long.  You need to by faith, read what the Bible says about motherhood, children and joy and begin to walk in it with the joy of the Lord as your strength... not coffee... or "me" time... or escaping to social media...

You, my friend, can find amazing joy in the midst of dishes, laundry, crying, and cooking because of WHO lives in you and is helping you to do everything that He has called you to do.  With Him, you CAN be a joyful mother of children!!!!

I truly LOVE my job.   I gave up a pretty good paycheck and career 23 years ago for my current job.  I admit, at first it was a VERY hard adjustment for me.  But God has taught me what a privilege and honor it is to do the job He has given me to do--caring and raising and loving 10 beautiful souls for His glory!!   I can't imagine a job that would bring me more joy and contentment.

If you would like that in your life, whether you are a stay at home mom or a working mom, pray and ask God to give you a vision for how He views children and motherhood. When you catch a glimpse that the King of Kings thinks that your job is super important and that you are the absolutely most qualified person for the job of raising your kids, you will have to smile at the prestigious position you have been given.

It won't always be fun.  It won't (for sure!) be easy. But it will make an impact for eternity and affect generations to come.  I give you permission to tell culture to take a hike.  YOU can be a JOYFUL mother of your children.  You can smile and enjoy your kids. You can LOVE being a mom even if at the moment you don't like the current task at hand.  You can have that inward contentment and peace in your heart that only God can give... so go on!

Be JOYFUL!!!!!!