I must preface this entry by describing where we have been recently in our homeschool journey.  We have tried many different approaches to homeschooling trying to find the perfect fit for our children.  The last several months have been especially discouraging, as my oldest daughter's attitude towards anything that remotely resembles 'school-work' has been terrible.  There has been little enthusiasm for learning & excitement that I hear of other homeschooling families experiencing.

But God does not waste any situation in our lives, and I believe we have gone through this particular season in our homeschool journey, so that I would rely more fully upon Him to set the priorities, agenda & goals for our schooling.  As I've done more reading in the last few months about the purpose of education, why public schooling is not working, relying more upon the leading of the Holy Spirit in homeschooling decisions etc., I have felt the burden gradually being lifted & some life returning to our home.

I've been training my 2 oldest daughters in life skills --such as cooking, baking, managing a home etc. and we have been doing a family read-aloud time much more consistently.  I no longer feel pressured to overload my kids by doing every subject every single day (we only do the basics daily now), but have adjusted to a more manageable schedule.  We have even gotten out all of those educational games we never seemed to have time for, and they have been learning an amazing amount, but enjoying it much more.

However, the point of this entry is to record a surprising discovery that came this week as I taught my oldest daughter to crochet.  On Tuesday morning, I felt that God impressed upon me that I was to persevere with my daughter until she learned how to do her single & double crochet.  In fact, besides math & reading, that is how we actually spent a good portion of our school day.  The old me would have seen this as a lost day of school, but at the end I realized that a lot of true education comes in non-traditional ways. 

These are the things that we learned as we crocheted together:

1) the character qualities of patience & perseverence (both in her and in me)

2) spending this time w/ my daughter actually brought some healing to a relationship that has struggled in recent months.  She felt comfortable enough to confide in me some things that were really causing her to feel sad (which had been manifesting itself in anger & lashing out at me), and we were able to have a real heart-to-heart connection again.

3) short & long-term goal setting, as we planned together the 1st project that she would create, and set some timelines for accomplishing it

4)  the value of using our gifts & talents to serve & bless others -- she is excited about crocheting a baby afghan to donate to a local charity.  This takes her focus off of herself & onto how she can give to someone else.

All of this is an amazing answer to prayer.  I had been seeking God to know how to heal the relationship between my daughter & me, and also seeking Him for specifics on how to develop godly character in my children. His answer was way more effective than anything that I would have come up with from my own head!