Homeschool Year 2 Day 3

We have just completed our final subject of the day. So far, so good. The children are really enjoying having daily assignments. They are enjoying Shakespeare even more than I hoped.

I am truly blessed to be a SAHM. God really granted me favor by allowing me to school my children at home. Through this endeavor I’ve learned how to patiently mother my children. I now speak softly and discipline consistently.

The first year I had many tearful nights, simply from the guilt of losing my temper with the children and resorting to yelling at them. Someone once said that “Anger is temporary insanity” and at times I definitely felt like I was losing my mind. Each time I lost it I tearfully went to the lord and confessed my weaknesses and he gave me His strength.

He led me to a book on discipline which I am currently reading. It is called The Mother At Home. One of the many passages that impressed itself upon my mind was this:

“Self control at all times, and under all circumstances is one of the most important and most difficult things to acquire…many parents have been unaccustomed to restraint, and they find a very great struggle to smother these feelings which sometimes rise almost involuntarily.”

I was floored because this was such an accurate description me. This book caused me to take an inventory, which led me to step up my parenting game.

The Mother At Home focuses on the characteristics of proper and improper discipline. The author superbly illustrates the affects of delayed discipline upon our children. He pointed out the ways in which children subtly begin to disregard the mother’s authority. This is caused whenever she is not consistent in her style of discipline.

Now that I’ve form a habit of consistent discipline, there is less yelling and rebellion. I no longer question whether or not I made the right decision to homeschool. For my family, each day is a growing process. Not just for the children but for me as well. Having my children around more often has caused me to adopt the character of meekness and humility. Knowing that much of what they see in me each day becomes a part of them, causes me to surrender my life to God.