Homescooling Retirement

-
 
A few days ago I was in Target.. and looking at all the school supplies for sale.. I got excited for moment.. and then .. I got even more excited..

This year I am retiring.. yep.. for the last 28 years I've bought school supplies, curriculum, made plans, and organized the education of my 8 children... but .. I AM DONE!! Thank you God for seeing me through the last 28 years..

I do not regret one single day!!! If I had it to do all over again.. I would do exactly the same thing.. I would homeschool each of them all over again.. there were great years, there were good years, there were difficult years... BUT.. I never wavered from our conviction.. I stayed true to what God called us to do.. and this year.. (with a bit of sadness) I walk by all those cute back to school supply sales (all those Minion school supplies had me wishing I had just one more kid to homeschool.. ).. and thanked the LORD.. I am DONE!! .

I've taken all 8 kids all the way through high school.. and now.. my job is to support my children as they homeschool their children.. and take a break.. and sit back.. and enjoy my retirement..
 


To all you mama's homeschooling your sweet children, do not lose hope, do not waver from your convictions. Life will send you curve balls, life will not always go as you want it to. There will be days you will question what you are doing, wonder if you can handle it, wonder if you are doing the best for your children. Pressure from the outside will make you doubt what you are doing. It will make you wonder if you are doing what you should for your children or if you are doing enough.

As I sit at the end of this long journey all I can say is this, every day spent with your children is worth the time and energy. It is worth the stress. It is worth fighting against the pressures you may feel. It is worth EVERY single moment. Your children will be just fine, they will remember an amazing childhood filled with a life that was a total devotion by their mama. Hang in there, and enjoy the journey.. the good, the difficult, and all that homeschooling entails.
 


When you cross the finish line, the joy will be beyond anything you could have imagined and all those hard days, dirty house moments, mac and cheese for dinner (or hey cereal because that is all you could handle for that day!), and those amazing days when your child “gets it”, and those days you spent doing nothing but reading and having a picnic in the living room.. will have been worth everything. You will not regret one single day. Your children are worth every single moment of time you have invested in them.

 
 

Comments

  1. SharonRAugust 13, 2015 at 6:53 AM

    Precious memories. So great you've seen it all the way through. I wish we had.

    ReplyDelete
  2. aimeeAugust 13, 2015 at 7:28 PM

    I totally applaud your dedication to homeschooling all your kids!!! You did the right thing:):)
    Blessings, Aimee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalAugust 31, 2015 at 7:55 PM

      Thank you Aimee... it has been a journey.. but one well worth walking..

      Delete
  3. .August 25, 2015 at 9:17 PM

    I am always loved your blog.
    Thank you for the encouragement! I needed to read this at this very moment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownAugust 30, 2015 at 2:46 PM

    Thank you so much for this post. With my 4 - ages 7, 6, 3, 2 not to mention goats, chickens, etc - I truly feel overwhelmed. But whenever I think of entrusting the care and instruction of my precious little ones to someone else, I know that all the stressful days, moments of internal struggle and mountains of prayers are all worth it. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom and experience with the rest of us who are just in mile 1 of the marathon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CrystalAugust 31, 2015 at 7:58 PM

      Hollie Bear... you can do this!! Your children are worth it all... I don't regret one single day.. not one... today my adult children and I have amazing relationships... there are just so many blessings to homeschooling... Hang in there mama!!

      Delete

Post a Comment

All messages are moderated. After approval your message will be posted. Thank you for your comments!! Crystal :)

Popular posts from this blog

Canning Chicken Noodle-less Soup

-
Image
Today was one of those busy days that it seemed I was moving from the time my feet hit the floor until this evening.. But, I got so much done and that is a great feeling! :) One of my accomplishments today was canning 14 jars of chicken noodle-less soup. I call it “noodle-less” because you can’t can noodles. They end up falling apart. So I canned the chicken, veggies and broth. When I go to use the soup I will bring it to a boil and then add a handful of noodles (any type of pasta will work) and cook it until the noodles are done. Because I plan to add the pasta after the fact I wanted to make sure there was enough chicken broth to do this. So I only filled my jars about half to two thirds with chicken and veggies and then filled with chicken broth. Here is how I did this…. I started off with 2 chickens that were a total weight of about 10lbs. I put them in my 14 quart stock pot… I then added 2 gallons of water.. And 3 tablespoons salt.. I brought this
Read more

Canning Cabbage

-
Image
I had 4 large heads of cabbage that weighted about 25 pounds. We had some really hot days and I figured I better get the last of them picked soon. My daughter Sierra and I ended up processing 3 of them yesterday and I have one left for a meal on my menu this week. I made pickled cabbage and then canned up the last of the cabbage. Here is the recipe for the pickled cabbage (according to how I made it)… 8 pounds cabbage 1 large onion 1 ½ red peppers 1 lb carrots ¾ cup salt 9 cups water 12 cups white vinegar 10 cups sugar 1t mustard seed 1t celery seed Slice cabbage thinly. Slice onion and peppers. Grate carrots. Mix all veggies together in a very large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and mix in well. Let sit for 2 hours to soften veggies. Rinse veggies well.  In a large stock pot (mine was 14 quarts) combine water, vinegar, sugar, spices. Bring to a boil. Add cabbage/veggies. Bring to a boil. Fill hot pint jars with veggies using a slotted spoon. Fill jar with brine to
Read more

Canning Beef Stew

-
Image
In my last blog post I shared that I had bought 10 pounds of beef roast. I cut it all up and used 4 pounds in 2 crockpot freezer meals ( http://homesteadinghomemaker.blogspot.com/2012/02/two-more-crockpot-meals-for-freezer.html ) . I used the other 6 pounds of meat along with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to can beef stew. Here were the general proportions I used in canning 7 quarts of beef stew.. 6# beef 2# potatoes 2# carrots 1# onions 1# celery After I cut up the meat and got the freezer meals done I moved to the beef stew. I peeled and cut up the potatoes and carrots. I chopped up the onions and sliced the celery. I pulled out 3 quarts of veggie stock from my freezer to use for liquid in the stew. You can use beef or chicken stock or you can use water. I did not add anything to thicken the liquid as usually thickeners don’t hold up in canning. You can thicken the broth after it is opened if you would like. I added 1 teaspoon salt to each of my
Read more