401 | Fake It 'Till You Make It (Sean Allen)
Show Notes:
Of all the opposition that we meet as homeschoolers, some of the worst comes from within. "Can I really do this? I'm just a mom! I don't have a teaching degree. What on earth am I doing?!" This is understandable. One look at the public school system with its university educated teachers, modern facilities and plethora of programs can have this effect on us. But what if you're measuring yourself up against the wrong standard? What if all that your homeschool lacks in comparison to the public school is what makes it superior in nearly every way?
About Sean
Sean Allen is the founder of The Well Ordered Homeschool, husband to his beautiful bride Caroline and a proud father of eight. He has a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design and is passionate about creating materials to assist parents in the incredibly challenging, yet surpassingly beautiful, work of schooling and training their children at home.
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Show Transcript:
Sean Allen Hello. Welcome to the Homeschool Solutions Show. My name is Sean Allen and I am one of the many hosts here on the podcast. Since you're listening to this, I'm guessing you already know that homeschooling is both incredibly challenging and incredibly beautiful. Every week we're here doing a little guidance, some helpful counsel, and a whole lot of encouragement your way as you navigate this busy, yet blessed journey of educating your children at home. Now, even though the show is called Homeschool Solutions, it should come as no surprise to you that we do not have the answer to every homeschool related question. But if you come away with nothing else, our hope is that today's episode will point you to Jesus Christ and that you will seek His counsel as you train your children in the way they should go.
Sean Allen Hello, everyone. How are you all doing today? I know I ask that every time. I know it seems silly, but I read it. I really do read it. How are you all doing? I hope you're doing well. I know I'm just talking to a microphone here. It's just me and my microphone, there's nobody else in this room. But I try to visualize I'm talking to somebody out there. And I don't know if it's two people or 500. I honestly do not know. But whoever is listening to this, I'm genuinely curious how you're doing and my genuine hope is that you're doing well. But I also know that there's a good chance you're not doing well. And that's okay because we all get there from time to time. Some of us get there quite often and it can get so discouraging. Life is discouraging. The news is ridiculously discouraging. And all of your responsibilities and everything else that you've got weighing on you, it's hard. It's hard. So that's why I always, even though it sounds silly, I always-- I just feel like saying this at the start of every podcast, "How are you doing?" Because I hope you're doing well. And I know of all people, homeschoolers, homeschooling parents in particular, it's so easy to get weighed down. And I don't want you to get weighed down. I want you to keep doing what you're doing. And so that's why I'm asking, as ridiculous as it seems to just beg that question to my microphone, who can give me no response. But I know what it's like, and I know what it's like to wake up and to feel like I need something. I need a word. I need a glimmer of hope, even if it is just to get me through this day. And you doubt yourself and you second guess yourself and you really don't know if you're doing this right. And there aren't too many people, if anybody, out there to tell you whether or not you're doing this right, because you're really just kind of flying it alone.
Sean Allen And even if you are surrounded by friends, nobody's doing it quite like you're doing it. Isn't that true? You're the only one doing it exactly the way you're doing it. And that's the beauty of homeschooling, and that's also one of the pitfalls of homeschooling, isn't it? Because there's really not a whole lot to measure yourself up against. And so you're constantly asking the question, "Am I doing this right?" And it's a good question. And it means you care when you ask that question. But it's also quite unsettling to be continually asking that, because it also indicates that you're not sure. And so I've said it many times before this podcast, I really feel like my role is to try to encourage you because I'm not good with the nuts and bolts like so many of the other podcasters are. I was just recently scrolling through some of the more recent episodes and I'm thinking, "Wow, that's a really interesting topic. And that's an interesting topic. And I wouldn't know what to say about that." But they do, and that's wonderful. And my wife could do that too. Which, that actually makes me think we need to have her out here again soon because she's good with the nuts and bolts of homeschooling. Let me tell you, of anybody that I know, she is-- If there was such a thing as a homeschooling expert, it'd be my wife. And I know there's others of you out there like that, but I really respect her for what she knows. And it's just-- There's certain topics that my wife is just-- She's got it down. And I don't want to mischaracterize her because-- And I don't want to mischaracterize homeschooling either because another thing I want to say to you on this episode is that--that's why it's entitled "Fake It Till You Make It"--is that you never really quite have it down completely. And that's the nature of the beast.
Sean Allen But if there was such a thing as a homeschooling expert, my wife would be one of them. And I just love that about her. And so when I get on here, there's a lot of holes. Alright. There's a big knowledge gap, and she can fill all of that in. It's just wonderful. But getting back to what I bring to the table, I'm here to encourage you. That's what I want to do, because I know it's hard. And especially when you're going it alone and you don't have a support group or much of a support group, it can get really discouraging. And I don't want you to quit because I'm so happy that you're doing what you're doing. And I think you've made an excellent choice, an excellent decision, to rear and raise and educate your children at home. I think it's wonderful. So don't give up. Hang in there. And that's really what I want to talk to you about today, is that you're never really going to know if you made it until you make it. And exactly when will that take place? That will take place when-- Oh, good gracious! It'll take place when you see your child grown mature and having taken his or her place in this great big grand world of ours, doing the things that he or she was intended to do. When you see that and you know that you had a hand in that, you played your role, you did what you were supposed to do and-- You weren't responsible for all of it because none of us ever are, but you played a very large role in the development of that young person. And when you see that and they've taken their place, that's when, I suppose you could say, "We made it. We made it!" You and your Heavenly Father hand-in-hand, working together for the success and the prosperity, and for the realization of the life's work of your children. That's when you know you've made it. But up until that time, you're not going to know it. You're going to have to fake it till you make it. That's homeschooling. Okay?
Sean Allen And I think one of the things that makes homeschooling so difficult is that--either you are doing this actively or other people are attempting to actively do this for you--you're measuring yourself up against the standards that exist, the standards that are out there. And what's the most obvious ones that were speaking of? We're talking about children going off to public school. We're talking about teachers with degrees and things like that. And all of the things that you see in the various media outlets of the world. And so those examples exist, and you know that the majority of children in this country are off to public school every single day. You know that exists. And so, of course, you're going to ask yourself the question, "Am I doing this right? Or are my children measuring up? I mean, they're not taking standardized tests. And I don't even necessarily know exactly what grade they're in right now." Because some of them might be a grade behind and some of them might be two grades ahead. And that's not as important to you, is it? To say, "Well, it's a third grader. It's a fourth grader." Your fourth grader might be an eighth grader, really, as far as in some subjects or even in maturity level at times measured up against their public school counterparts. So it's really hard to say. It's really hard to-- There is no firm line in the sand. Or there's no real clear plumb line that you can measure yourself up against. And so you've got to fake it till you make it.
Sean Allen And particularly for those of you out there who are just starting or who are one year or two years in, three years even. I mean, my wife still has uncertainty about things that she's doing. She's constantly asking me, "What do you think about this? And what do you think about that? Do you think this subject will take? Come over here and take a look at this subject, or this curriculum rather. And what do you think about it? And I'm struggling with this child and they don't really like this program. And should we switch over to this other? Well, we just dropped a hundred dollars on this, should we drop another hundred dollars on that?" Questions like that. And, you know, we've already graduated one child, we're about to graduate another in the spring, so she's been doing this for 20 years or thereabouts. And certainly she had her homeschooling experience growing up so you would think by now she's like, "I got this down. I know exactly what I'm doing." Well, no. No, she doesn't. And that's one of the downsides of homeschooling, but that's also what makes it beautiful. It's constantly changing. And if you don't like change, then that might make you uncomfortable. But it changes for good reason. It changes because the needs of your children, their growth and their development, their interests, their progress is constantly in flux. And so that being the case, you're constantly making decisions and changes on the fly. You know, if you're not doing that--.
Sean Allen Goodness, I know that this is not popular with some and this is not meant to criticize anything or anybody, but public schooling is almost exactly the opposite of that. See I know what my experience was. My experience was, "You come to this school because you live locally and that's your only option. And this is your teacher for this for the year. And these are the textbooks that you will be using. And oh, by the way, your neighbor and your friend down the street, and actually everybody in about a ten-mile radius, is coming to this same school and using this same teacher and using these same textbooks and going through this same curriculum." And so on and so forth. "Oh, you don't like that?" Or, "Oh, you're not well adapted to that? Well, that's too bad. You're all going to take this standardized test, that it's going to tell us exactly where...." And all these different things. It's so rigid and restricting. And some people flourish in it; it suits some people just fine. But you know what? There's a whole lot more young people out there who it does not suit and they just don't even know it. See that's all that they've ever known. That's all their parents do. That's all that they know, and that's all that the teachers who are in the school teaching and the people running the program, that's all that they've ever known. And so they think, "Well, this is the way to do it." It's not the only way. It's not the only way. And so it's true for your children, too.
Sean Allen And homeschooling moms know this. It's maybe one of the main reasons why they chose to homeschool, is that, "If something's not working I can change it." And so you thought that this particular math curriculum for the year was going to work just fine. "This is going to be great. It's colorful. It seems to be thorough. It's written by a math expert." (And I know that's probably not the term for someone who's a math expert. A renowned mathematician? How would you put that? I don't know.) And so you think all of these things put together and you're like, "Ah, this is the one." And you get a quarter into the year, halfway into the year, and you realize, "No, it's not the one." And so you've got to go find another one, but that's okay. Why do you do that? Why do you go find another curriculum? Because you actually want your child to succeed in math. You want them to succeed. You want them to learn about history. You wanted to do well in science, and all of these various things. And you want them to find their path. And that's why you're changing things up. And that's why you're-- That's the faking it part. You had the best intentions in the world. You probably went to some to some homeschool conferences last summer, or maybe you didn't. And if you didn't, you should. That's a good way to-- That's a more skillful way of faking it, if you want to put it that way. You go to these homeschool-- Oh, man! You see it all over their faces. There's just these ladies wandering the hall and they've just got this look on their face, like, "Where am I and what do I do? Where do I even begin?" And then there's other very skilled and well-seasoned moms who are just like-- I mean, they walk those aisles with determination and purpose and poise. They know exactly where they're going.
Sean Allen But I'll tell you what, I bet those moms--every one of those determined and purposeful moms marching their way up the various aisles--they've made their mistakes. Right? They've chosen curriculums that at the time they thought were absolutely the best thing for my child. And it turns out not to be the case, and they're out there looking for the next thing. And they know this dance. They've been here, done that. And so you learn as you go along, but all in all, it's faking it. Nobody's arrived just yet. Again, not even my wife who's been doing this for so many years, and a lot of other seasoned homeschool moms that I know. They're constantly sitting down and talking with each other, bouncing ideas off of each other: "Well, this didn't work. And how did this work for you?" And so on and so forth. And so they're faking it. Nobody really knows, but all that they do know is that they love their children. They know that with 100% certainty. And they also know that they want the very best for them. And so that sends them on the journey to search and to find. And this is one of the, I think, largest barriers to entrance into the homeschooling world is that there are so many people-- So many homeschooling parents, they look at what's being asked of them, and in their minds what they think is being asked of them is that, "You have to go up against the public school system." Okay? And so in their mind, there's a representative from the public school system, or maybe it's the public school system en mass, stepping before the court of their mind and making its case. And they're saying, "You really think you're going to be able to replace us? Us with our army of teachers, and our boatloads of money, and our modern facilities, and our sporting programs, and our afterschool programs, and everything else: our debate society, our chess club..." Or who knows? I don't know what else. On and on and on. "You really think that little old you is going to be able to replicate or replace us?" And that is incredibly daunting and discouraging.
Sean Allen And the answer in many cases is, "No, I don't think I can do that. I really don't. That actually seems silly to me. That seems ridiculous. What would make me think that I could take all of that on myself?" And so many people, they kind of fall off of the cart because they don't think they can sufficiently answer that question. And how could you blame them? Because the question is being framed improperly in their minds. And that is not the question that you're trying to answer. You're not trying to replicate the public school system. You're not trying to replace the public school system. In all actuality, the public school system's trying to replace you. They're trying to take you out of the picture, and in many cases they have. They've done that, whether intentionally or not, they've taken you out of the picture. And certainly as your children grow older, you're out of the picture because you're not with them hardly at all. You're not with them as much as you should be. And so when your children are off 8 hours...10 hours a day--I don't know how long it is--6 to 10 hours. I've heard of some young people who they're up early and they've got activities before school that they've got to do, of course they've got the bulk of the school day, and then afterwards they've got sporting events and they got traveling to sports and different activities and competitions and things, and they're not home till 10:00 at night! Okay, so I don't know how many hours that is, but it's a lot! If they do that two or three nights a week, or maybe they do it five nights a week, and then Saturdays there's things and even Sundays sometimes there's activities--
Sean Allen Okay, the gist of it is that they're away from you most of the time. They get home and they see you for an hour or two or three, is it any wonder? You're being replaced. But nevertheless, so you're a new time homeschooling parent and you're asking yourself, "Can I really?" Yes, you can! Because you have something that they don't. Or if they do have it, they have it in a lot more limited supply than what you do, and that is love and concern for your child. You've got way more of that than what they do. And that's not to criticize or to demean them. I mean, for crying out loud, you're their mother, you're their father. How could it be otherwise? And they are your flesh and blood. You know them better than they do. I'm sorry. Even though they spend more time with your child than what you do on the whole-- I'm not talking about one particular teacher unless we're talking about elementary school, but certainly your high schoolers couldn't lay claim to this. You know them better; you know them way better. Good grief! So you can look at them and you can see there's something wrong, there's something off. And of course you're going to have more of a desire and a more vested interest in wanting to correct whatever it is that's wrong in their spirit, then what the public school system would.
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Sean Allen And so it's okay to fake it until you make it. Right? And you don't have to be solid from day one. Let me just tell you something, you will not be solid from day one. You won't. You're going to make all kinds of mistakes and you're probably, number one, you're going to overdo it. When you're starting out fresh, you're going to overdo it. I know we did. And we thought we knew what we were doing. My wife was coming from a homeschooling perspective in her formative years. I knew nothing about it, so I was just taking cues from her. We talked a lot about it, and we thought that we were one heart and one mind on the matter. And we thought, "Well, we probably know more than a lot of people out here." But we overdid it. We overdid it. And you overdo it with your first child, with your first born. You know, you way overdo it. And the second one, and the third one, and then it's not even an option anymore, you can't overdo it. It becomes less of an option. But you're going to overdo it and you're going to realize, "You know what? I didn't have to get that serious about it." Or, "We didn't have to do all of that." Or, "Now I have four children and I can't even do all of that." And so you're constantly adjusting and you're making things up as you go. And that's not the end of the world.
Sean Allen I'm just going to-- I want to tell you this: It's not the end of the world. You're not failing your child because you're constantly changing things, or you're making decisions on the fly, or you wake up one day and you realize, "You know what this is not working. Let's take the week off and I'm going to try to regroup and we're going to retool our homeschool. Oh my goodness, we're only two months into the homeschool and we're crashing. What's wrong with us?" Nothing's wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. You're homeschooling. That's kind of how homeschooling is. And you'll have years like that where it's just crash and put the pieces back together, and get back on the road again and crash again, and put the pieces back together and get back on the road again. And then you have years where you're just coasting, where you have like, "This was a wonderful year." You can have all kinds of different years like that. But when you look at the totality of your homeschooling experience, what you want to be able to see is that you consistently loved your children. That's what makes it beautiful. Not that you have all of your curriculum in order, and not that you have this perfect pristine schedule of every jot and tittle of every little thing that you're going to do throughout the day, lined out and scheduled in 15-minute or 30-minute or even hour-long blocks of time. Or that you're able to take this set of standardized tests and your children are keeping pace with the rest of the country in math or science or reading. Or the fact that your child's eight and he can't read yet. You know, none of those things. None of those things make it beautiful.
Sean Allen Okay, I'm not trying to detract you from reaching towards those goals because we all have educational or academic goals that we want our children to reach. But if they're not reaching it on the same timeline that their public school counterparts are, or other homeschool children in your circle or your sphere of influence, that doesn't mean that it's not beautiful. That just means that that's where you all are. Homeschooling families are as varied and as different as the number of homeschooling families that there are out there. And that's the beauty of homeschooling. And you know in your heart of hearts what is best. And it might be nebulous, it might be a little unclear. You're trying to peer through the hazy, dusky darkness and trying to discern, "What is it that the Lord has in store for us? What is it that He's wanting us to do?" And you're constantly-- And that's by design, by the way, folks. And so you'll get on your knees and you'll ask Him, because you don't know but he does. You know, if we knew, we wouldn't ask Him, would we? We wouldn't go to Him if we knew everything. And we don't know everything. We know so very little. And so naturally, that leads us downward onto a position of kneeling and of humility and of neediness in going to our Heavenly Father and asking Him, "What is it that You're...." Even with the smallest questions. "Should we do chores before we start school or should we do school first and then do chores later in the day?" Ask Him. "My daughter is really struggling with this highly recommended math curriculum, and most of my friends are using it to good effect and they're just raving about it, but I cannot make it work. Should we stick with this? I really feel I need to move on to something else, but I feel silly in doing that." Ask Him. That and everything else, everything in between, asking Him those questions. And He wants to talk to you about it, He really does. Because you think you're concerned about your children, you think you love them, and you go to the One who made them and you'll find love and concern like you just cannot believe. We cannot imagine. So He wants to talk to you about that.
Sean Allen And so I think--again, I don't want to overgeneralize things, but this is just my perspective on it--I think one of the things that makes homeschooling so different then public schooling, is the way in which it presents itself, or the way in which it should present itself. Now again, because from the beginning, the question has come and it still comes to this day is: "How in the world do you think you're going to replace all this? One singular, uneducated, undocumented, unlettered mother in a home, raising four, five, however many children, all different grade levels at the same time, how is she going to replace what we have over here? We have years and years, decades and decades of experience. We have the world's best minds who have brought their expertise to bear on this subject--the subject of educating children. We have these wonderful facilities. We have all of these things. And how in the world do you think you're going to replace that?" And that's the question that has been persistently presenting itself to us since the beginning. And it's the wrong question to ask. And so because we're struggling with this question, we're giving all the wrong answers. You don't understand, public school has to present itself in this way, alright. And I don't know that you necessarily can fault it for this, because they need money and they need a lot of it. A lot of money! Don't give me into that.
Sean Allen So if they're presenting themselves to the various municipalities and the state boards and federal boards and what have you, and they need money, do you think that they want to come and say, "You know what, we don't really know what we're doing." Is that the way that they're going to frame that? No, absolutely not. Of course, they're going to come across as if, "We know exactly what we're doing. And there's no better place for a child to be reared and to be educated than right here. And here are all the statistics and here are all the experts and here is all the reasons why." You know what, homeschooling is the opposite of that. And I think-- I don't know that it ever will do this, but I think it's high time for it to own up to it and to admit it like, "No, we don't really know what we're doing. All we really know is that we love our children more than anybody else. And we also know that there's nobody else out there that gave birth to these children than us. They were conceived and birthed and they were fearfully and wonderfully made by the hand of God. And it's such a beautiful miracle. God saw fit to send them to Earth through us. And they are ours. They have our blood coursing through their veins, they're flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, and so all that being said, there is something mysterious and something unspeakably wonderful about that. And so who better than us to raise, and yes, even to educate them?" And that's the drop the mic moment, folks, because nobody else can lay claim to those privileges. Nobody else in this world. I don't care how many letters they have after their name. I do not care.
Sean Allen They may be very expert and very well versed on how to teach the latest mathematical-- See, here I am. I'm not a math guy, not at all. I shouldn't be talking about this. Let me try to think of another subject. We could talk about Language Arts, maybe. Maybe that would be good. Or maybe art. But nevertheless, just because you went to college for four, or eight, or twelve, or however many years you went to, does not necessarily mean that you were the best individual to teach a particular subject to my child. Because you have one way of teaching it, and you think that "this method in this manner is precisely the way that children learn, and they'll all learn just the same way, and so therefore, set them at my feet and I will teach them." It's not necessarily true. And you may not even have the wherewithal or the care or the concern to be able to pick up on that. Maybe they're not learning and there's something that needs to be adjusted. Well, a mother is going to pick up on that in a heartbeat. And she will take the pains to make the necessary adjustments. And she's going to readily admit to you-- Well, maybe not. But I think that she should. She's going to readily admit to, "No, I don't know exactly what I'm doing, but by the grace of God, I will find a way. And no, I do not have a lot of formal education. I do not have a lot of letters after my name. I do not have a knowledge of the latest educational philosophies or training techniques or anything like that. I don't know much of anything about that, if anything at all. But I'll tell you what I do have, I do have an unfailing love for my child. And I have an open conduit of communication between myself and the One who created my son or my daughter. And I happen to know that He is very concerned about them and loves them very much, and that He has told me that He is willing to help me to raise them up in the way that they should go. And so armed with this knowledge and with this confidence, I know I'll succeed. And I know that this is the surest form of education that the world has ever seen, ever known, and ever will know.".
Sean Allen The only thing that you could possibly compare it to is if there were ever a group of people that banded together who all possessed the selfsame love for other people's children that they possess for their own children. And do I think that's possible? Yes, I do. I do think that other people could be possessed of the same love, because it's the love of Jesus Christ. And do I think that you can love someone else's child just like you could love your own? Yes, I do. But that is remarkably rare. And indeed, it's supernatural, you could say. Not impossible, but supernatural. And, well, I just won't go into that very much. But outside of that, there's nothing better. And so you've got to fake it till you make it, folks. Don't sit there and tell-- Just don't buy into these lies anymore. Don't listen to that stuff, alright. And so you've got one curriculum and it didn't work, you're not a failure. Okay, so you misread something. You thought this was the way forward and you find out now it's the way backwards, turn around and head back the other way. It's okay. You're going to make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. Every single year. You're going to read something one way, and it turned out not to be quite true or entirely untrue, or you got bad advice from somebody, or the advice works for them and it doesn't quite work for you, and it's okay. They're not wrong. You're not wrong. It's just you're all making this up as you go. That's the part of making your way. That's the part of taking the uncharted course. There's nobody out there that can hand you a roadmap for this endeavor that you're on for this journey that you're on. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could, and somebody would make lots of money if that was possible. But it's not possible.
Sean Allen I couldn't write out a roadmap for you and just hand it to you and say, "Hey, this is how you all should go about this homeschooling thing." Because it would be all wrong for you. And likewise, if you did the same for me, it'd be all wrong for us. Some things might work and other things might not. It's okay to get together and to talk and to bounce ideas off of each other, and we do learn things, and we can save time and we can avoid mistakes by counseling and conferring with one another. That's wonderful. But no one experience is going to fit with the other. And let me say again, that's okay. And if your homeschooling journey Year 1 looks remarkably different from homeschooling journey in Year 18, that's okay too. That's all right. And you don't have to come off as having it all together. The confidence that comes from loving your child and being a student of your child and constantly observing and watching and making the necessary corrections based on what you see, the confidence that comes from that is sufficient. That's what gives you a seat at the table, and more than that...more so. And as a matter of fact, there's only two seats at the table and it's you and your husband or you and your wife, depending on who's listening to this. There's two seats at the board meeting. And you can invite-- Maybe I'm one of those voices. Maybe you invite me every now and then to sit at the table and to say what I think. But you listen to that, and some of it appeals to you and some of it doesn't. You take what appeals and you leave what doesn't. You know, "Thank you for your contribution to today, Sean, and we'll take into consideration what you have to say, and then the rest of this is a closed meeting between my husband and I and we'll decide what we're going to do. And no, we don't have to get back with you." Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful?
Sean Allen And so I'm not asking you to be proud about it. You should not be proud. You should not be going around lording this over people or just acting all haughty about this. It's a very humbling experience, and I think you see that in most homeschooling families. I know we see it in a lot of families that we meet from year to year. That's the beauty of homeschooling. One of the beauties of it is that you've got this mother and this father, and they're just thankful. They're not acting like they've got it all together, they're just thankful. "I'm glad we can do this!" And certainly with the young homeschooling parents, there's this fear on their face, there's gratitude as well, but there's also fear. And I think that fear stems from lack of experience. How could it not? There's nothing wrong with that. But the part that I want to correct, not the fear of the unknown, because there I think there's a healthy respect for not knowing exactly what you should be doing--and again, that's healthy in the sense that it turns us back to our Heavenly Father--but the thing that I want to correct is this notion that you're not qualified. Because that's a little bit more of the fear that I read on young homeschooling parents' faces, I think, is just that uncertainty as to whether or not this is proper.
Sean Allen It's improper to them in the sense that, again, they don't think that they can go toe to toe with the public school system, or they can't even convince their own family members that this is the path that they should have taken. And so that's a little bit of the fear, but I want to correct that. It's alright. It's alright. You're precisely where you need to be. Go to your knees. Ask the Lord for help. He will certainly give it to you, maybe not in that very moment. But just be patient and listen, just wait and watch, and He will provide you the information that you need. It might be through a podcast. It might be at a homeschool convention. It might be through one of your friends. It might even be through someone who's not even an advocate for homeschooling or doesn't even support what you do, but they'll say or do something that will just spark an idea in your mind, and it's like, "Aha!" You have that "aha" moment. The Lord has many, many different ways that He's able to get through to us. Isn't that wonderful? So I think that's another one of the best things about homeschooling is that it drives us to our knees, and what better place could we be? What better place could we be? It's the opposite portrait in the public school world. They're not asking those questions, certainly not publicly. I'm sure that they have many doubts behind the scenes and behind closed doors. They've got many questions. But they're not going to front those questions to the world. They're going to make it appear as if they have it all together. So we don't have to be like that. We don't have to try to model that system. It would be wrong for us to try to do so. Fake it till you make it. It's alright. You're doing great. Hang in there. Get to your knees. Talk to the Lord. Wait until He talks to you. It's all going to be great. So I hope this was helpful to you. Thank you for taking time and listening to just a few words of counsel. Take them for what they're worth. And I will look forward to talking again to you very, very soon. So have a good day. Bye bye.
Thank you for joining us this week on the Homeschool Solutions Show. You can find show notes and links to all the resources mentioned at Homeschooling.mom. Don't forget to check out my friends at Medi-Share because you deserve health care you can trust. To learn more about Medi-Share and why over 400,000 Christians have made the switch, go to GreatHomeschoolConventions.com/Medi-Share. That's GreatHomeschoolConventions.com/Medi-Share. If you haven't already, please subscribe to the podcast. And while you're there, leave us a review. Tell us what you love about the show. This will help other homeschooling parents like you get connected to our community. And finally, tag us on Instagram @homeschooling.mom to let us know what you thought of today's episode. Have you joined us at one of the Great Homeschool Conventions? The Great Homeschool Conventions are the Homeschooling events of the year offering outstanding speakers, hundreds of workshops covering today's top parenting and homeschooling topic, and the largest homeschool curriculum exhibit halls in the US. Find out more at GreatHomeschoolConventions.com. I'll be there. I hope to see you there too.
