My weekend at Homeschool Conference, Todd Wilson and the "what kind of bird are you quiz" + three beautiful things
Prefer to listen? I’ve recorded it for you! An impromptu prayer is included at the end of the recording.
Hello mamas,
I hope you’re having a great last week of February! I had the privilege of being at our provincial home education conference this past weekend and I came away so encouraged! (When I began this post it was Monday, but here we are at Thursday and I’m still trying to get it finished up!)
I hugged so many dear friends and had many of those deep face to face, heart to heart conversations that fuel me deep down. Some dear people who I was close with in high school are now home educating and came to the conference and reconnecting with them was nothing short of wonderful. Then I had friends from different communities we’ve lived and pastored in and of course their were the beautiful people I currently do life with.
It was so invigorating to be in a large group of people who are all choosing the same hard things and can all remind me that we are called to this job. How it plays out in each household is different and unique but the shared value is the same.
The speaker was Todd Wilson and he was absolutely hilarious! My husband put it best when he said that Todd could take us from laughing to crying in a moment.
He has recently developed a homeschool mom personality quiz which is both kind of funny and insightful while also imparting some good advice for each style of homeschooler.
If you’re a home educating mama you can take the quiz here:
https://thesmilinghomeschooler.com/homeschooler-quiz/
As Todd was speaking about the types of mom’s I knew I was an owl, but did the quiz just to see. And yes, I was an owl, but also had some unexpected strong swan tendency’s too!
I’m going to be honest, I could not find a picture of an owl that didn’t kind of scare me. I hope that isn’t saying something about how my kids see their mama!
Hit reply or leave a comment to let me know what kind of homeschool mama bird you are!
Find Todd Wilson’s podcast here. I’m looking forward to listening to his latest episode: Distinguishing Between Your Child’s Learning Hurdles and Laziness.
One of the biggest take away from the whole weekend was the reminder that we may not be the best moms in the whole world, but we are the best moms for our kids. God didn’t make a mistake when he placed them with us, and we are fully anointed and equipped for this job through Christ Jesus!
I talk about this all the time, and I believe it, but wow, I needed that reminder AGAIN, especially from someone who has graduated 6 kids from their homeschool! This also invigorates me to keep reminding you too.
I have been feeling challenged in my heart by Proverbs 15 to focus on what is good, true and beautiful because there is great joy and health to be found for me there.
“A cheerful heart puts a smile on your face, but a broken heart leads to depression.”
Proverbs 15:13 TPT
“Everything seems to go wrong when you feel weak and depressed. But when you choose to be cheerful, every day will bring you more and more joy and fullness.”
Proverbs 15:15 TPT
“Eyes that focus on what is beautiful bring joy to the heart, and hearing a good report refreshes and strengthens the inner being.”
Proverbs 15:30 TPT
Hands up if you have the ability to name all the things that are going wrong at the drop of a hat! Me too. It’s a lot harder to come up with the good things. Even when things are going well I feel nervous that something is going to suddenly fall apart or catch me off guard.
Here are a few beautiful things from the last few days that I want to pause and focus on:
A long hug between my two littles (before Miss E booted her brother off for too many kisses).
I had a couple of early morning devotion times with the Lord all by myself. This used to be a daily thing for me, but my 18 month old does not sleep well and I sometimes can’t get up if she’s finally sleeping, or she’s already up with me and then of course devotions look much different and include a lot of scribbling all over mama’s journal. When this works out I’m really thankful. (One day I’ll do it everyday again!)
Hearing my big kids say that read alouds are STILL their favourite part of our homeschool day.
I trust you can think of three beautiful things from the last week. Feel free to share them with me! Pondering them will strengthen you for tomorrow!
I’ll leave you with one of my life verses:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Galatian 6:9 NIV
Take breaks, but don’t give up mama! The harvest is coming!
Love,
Monica
P.S. You can listen to the recording for an impromptu prayer!