This is the first part of my outline on homeschooling and loving it.

Where is God during your day? 

I used to sit down to make out my schedule and I would write down all the things I needed to do, places I needed to go, school that I needed to teach and on and on with my daily activities.   And then I would squeeze God in there somewhere, I mean surely I could fit HIM right?  Actually no I couldn't ,usually he was pushed aside and many days would go by and I hadn't even prayed until my head hit the pillow where I usually fell asleep!  Where was the joy in my day, why was things not going right?  So many times we say Loving God is number one in our lives, our top priority, but we don't act like we do. We make excuses- we have small children, we are just so busy, we have a larger family then most, we homeschool, and on and on we go but we have a hard time understanding why things are not going well, why we don't seem to have joy?  Until finally it hits us-we need God in our day.

God is our spiritual food, without it we feel depleted and empty.  When we wake up in the morning and we try to go about our day without any breakfast, its not too long and we feel tired, sick, and we just can't seem to stay the course, its the same without God in our day-we just can't go on and on and not have HIM for nourishment of our spirits.  He is the one to get us through the fussy babies, strong willed toddlers, a student that isn't getting a subject, housecleaning and all the up and downs of our day.  We can't do it in our own strength, we get weak and we fail.  When you make out that schedule start with your Savior and then feel the rest in, your day will improve drastically.  It doesn't have to be first thing in the morning though, it can be anytime.  Some moms like to have some prayer time during their shower, while they are doing their daily load of laundry, while they are running errands and driving in the car, some do get up early in the morning before the house wakes up.  It’s up to you but make sure your getting the time in.  Every stage of life brings different times, you may have to have prayer time while nursing a child, later when kids are older you may get a specific quiet time.  A great thing to do is incorporate independent Bible and Prayer time for all the family members (of course the exception is the babies) Even toddlers can go and get their picture Bibles and look through them for 10 minutes a day.  This is a great way to get your children loving their time in the Word from the time they are small.  Like anything they will have to be trained in this area, at first it won't be easy but it won't be long and they will be looking forward to it.  I have heard of moms doing this and they have teens loving their time with God.  What a gift?  What mom wouldn't want that?   Sing praise songs and hymns throughout your day, play gospel CD’s.  There is nothing that lifts the spirits like Praising God! Make sure your making time for God, without that you will never have joy in your homeschool day.        Next week I will be talking about praying for a love of homeschooling!

Angela