When God calls you to homeschool, He'll make sure you'll get the message :)

{Warning! Long post ahead! :) It's been over a month in the making though, so I hope you'd take the time to read it! :) Thanks!}


It's been a while since I said anything here on this blog about how God has been working in our lives and family lately. I've been on Truly Rich Mom a lot though, for the 50 Days of Amazing Grace posts, fabulous Amazing Grace giveaways and so much more! (And lest you think otherwise, YES, I have been working, too! LOL!)


I've been thinking about how to write this post for a while now. What pushed me to finally do it is the fact that there have been a number of fellow homeschool moms who have been asking me regarding our latest updates on our discernment. I remember, in my last update about it, I said:

..nevertheless {Lord}, not my will, but Yours, be done.'' 

(Luke 22:42) 

You see, our discernment whether to keep homeschooling also had a lot to do with another major prayer concern in our lives, i.e. whether we would move to Cubao — which is much nearer to my workplace, and hubby's, too — or not. 

Being the humanly human beings that we are, hubby and I prayed during our discernment, "Lord, if it is Your will for us to move to Cubao, then it is also your will for us to keep homeschooling. If not, we'll try enrolling Tim at Brainworks for one year." (The set-up at Brainworks is the closest to homeschooling that I've seen so far, and it has great programs like Singapore Math, and is reasonably affordable, even for our missionary family! Also, I LOVE their "no homework and yes to quality family time," "no heavy schoolbags," "no uniforms" and "no TV on schooldays" policies!)

So anyway, we prayed about it. And asked others to pray for us. (A lot of you even love us so much — you chose to comment on my blogs, send me e-mails, FB messages, etc. — Thank YOU! :) We're blessed by y'all!)

Source.

Susan Lemons, one of the best moms to go to for homeschool preschool support and guidance, said this to me (among many other great things! {Thanks, Susan}) in one of her comments to me on the Homepreschool and Beyond Facebook group:

If God is calling you to homeschool, He will show you a way to do it. If the Lord wants you to homeschool, HE will confirm in your lives--the Lord will "put homeschool in your face."

And you know what? That is just what He did. He put "homeschool in my face." Through the posts of the amazing people on our ROCKERs (our support group for Catholic homeschool moms in the Philippines) FB group page. Through HAPI and all the wonderful people behind it. Through fellow moms (complete strangers prior to our communications!) who emailed me or sent me FB messages asking about homeschooling (ironically, when we were thinking of not homeschooling! LOL!). Through my family. Through Mass and Scripture and oh-so-many-things-and-people-I-can't-enumerate-them-all-here.


So when we discovered that the move to Cubao would not be pushing through, mostly for financial reasons, I wept. I felt all sorts of emotions — relief mixed with fear, mostly. Relief that the "burden" and responsibility of teaching Tim to read, write and do arithmetic (religion would always be in our hands) off my shoulders. Fear, because I didn't think I was ready to let go of my firstborn baby yet.


However, when Tim said that he would try going to Brainworks, just for a year, I started feeling better. Even more so when we learned that his cousin, who will be in Grade 2 this school year, would be enrolling there, too. It made him happier, knowing that his Ate G would be there. I was also at ease with the school administrator and staff.


So the decision was made. We would scrounge up the money for Tim's downpayment at Brainworks (the decision came during the last week of enrollment) and he would be in Prep / Kinder 2 in June.


I still had my doubts though, especially when I attended Mass at the wake of the father of one of our wedding ninongs (godfathers). During the homily, I distinctly remember the priest saying, "Our children are God's greatest gift to us. It is our responsibility to raise them to love the Lord." Or something to that effect.


The first thing that came to my mind was, "That's why we homeschool."


And I stopped myself from entertaining more thoughts. Because I had started tearing up again and questioning our decision.


That night, though, I made peace with God. And I said, "Lord, I/we leave it all up to You."


Two days after, God showed us that He is, and always has been, in control of our lives, desires and dreams. 


He made a way for us to move to Cubao! (Details of HOW it happened here.)


On the exact day we were supposed to enroll Tim at Brainworks!


Coincidence? Nah. Divine intervention?! Definitely!


God, You're amazing!


Believe me, friends, whether you actually believe in Him or not, when God calls you (and wants you) to homeschool, He'll make sure you'll get the message. LOUD AND CLEAR.


He'll even turn all your plans upside down and inside out... just to prove His point.


HE IS GOD. we are not.


So now, it's time for another decision to pray about.


Curriculum. (Gasps! How does one choose when there are oodles of great choices?! Should we continue with CHC, independent of the DepEd curriculum, or enroll with a DepEd provider, or enroll in a foreign HS provider, or try interest-led learning, or go eclectic?!! Gaaahhh!)


I'm still doing my research and asking around. And praying.


But I know this for sure though: We're in for one, sweet, amazing, ride again! Thank You, Lord, for being with us every bump, twist and turn of the way! :) (And thank YOU, everyone, for being with us, too! You know who you are, people! Love and prayers to y'all!)


P.S. If you're wondering how it's possible to homeschool while working, here's an article I read recently that's really good. Or you can always hop on over to The Nanay Notebook! Mommy Blessie has some really good pieces on the topic! :)