Relationships {Homeschool Blog Hop}

This is the last day of the homeschool blog hop that some mom friends and I have done this month, and today's topic is one of our own choosing.

One of the greatest benefits of homeschooling my children has been the wonderful relationships we have with each other, and the way it has strengthened my marriage.

I do not want this to sound pollyanna or to discourage anyone, so let me clarify:

• My kids and my husband do get on my nerves. 
•  I yell at them sometimes. 
•  We don't stick to our routine like we should.  As I mentioned before, my husband's work schedule is irregular, so it is hard to get the ball rolling some days.

But, if I look at what I had with my mom and what I have with my kids, there is no comparison. And if you had told me where my marriage would be today, I would have laughed at you six years ago.

My relationship with my kids is one big way that God keeps me close to Him. When your kids are with you all the time, the weight of your responsibility to guide them into the truth and light of Jesus will crush you, if you are not spending time with Him for strength.

Homeschooling also helps my marriage. Although I regret some things I've done and said, I believe that my marriage is stronger now having gone through a fiery trial while my kids were watching us. They got to see that marriage isn't always fun, but a covenant made with God is something serious and worth working to preserve.

Any doubt that my kids were watching was erased when my youngest, Sara, asked if there were any kissing movies for kids (...wait, what?). The response from my oldest two was, "You can just watch Mom and Dad."

Of course, that resulted in the requisite "Eww..." from Sara. But I realized that the kids are watching us, and we are teaching them more than we realize by the way we live.

That is what a relationship is about—connecting with each other and learning from that interaction.

And being able to help my children to grow in their relationship with God is a privilege that I don't take lightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I hope you've enjoyed this blog hop!

Maybe you, or someone you know, has some questions about homeschooling that we didn't answer. Or maybe you'd just like to see what homeschoolers are like in person.

If so, and you live in the Fairmont, West Virginia area, please come to our Homeschool Q&A this Saturday, April 28th.

You can click here for details.

And be sure to check out what the moms below have to say:





Lorrie @ Life and Lessons Learned,
Selena (that's me) at Campbell Clan,
 Kathleen @ Positive Adoption,
 Audrey @ Everything Beautiful,
Charli @ WV Urban Hippies,
Tracey @ Building My House, and
Maria @ The Joyfully Frugal Home

(All of these moms (except me, of course) are in my blog list at the right.)