REAL Homeschooling and God's Will in our Work

This is a picture of our less-than-ideal math lesson this morning. Emily is learning about dimes, nickels, and pennies. Here was our reality at one point during the lesson:

My five year old bursts in the room to tell my six year old about the show she was watching during TV time in our home school morning routine.

My two year old invades by, well, you can see for yourself, laying on the table and reaching in our school coin jar and throwing coins all over the place.

A perfectly executed math lesson? Hardly. But, I believe, that's one thing that gives homeschooling a slight edge over other educational options. You are educating your children right in the thick of reality...and, we all know that reality is far cry from the ideal. My homeschool reality this year as I school one student is that I have three preschoolers who cause a lot of upheaval...bless their hearts!!!!

So, this math lesson became a lesson in gentleness and perseverance (for Mommy). And no, the lesson in gentleness and perseverance was not executed perfectly either.

And, I was reminded of what I had read last night.

"There were endless demands on Jesus' time. People pressed on Him with their needs so that He and His disciples had not leisure even to eat, and He would go away into the hills to pray and be alone....Still He was able to make that amazing claim, 'I have finished the work You gave me to do.'...He made no claim to have done what He wanted to do. The claim was that He had done what had been given. This is an important clue for us. The work of God is appointed. What was given to the Son to do was the will of the Father. What is given to us to do is also His will." (Elliot)

My will had been to have a calm math lesson. God's will was for me to learn (again) to be gentle with my children and continue to persevere through these little moments of interruption. It is hard to surrender these moments of frustration to Him, but I believe that is what He wants me to do. Surrender the mess to Him, and let His work of restoration come.