CWC321: Treasuring Memories While Training for the Future

0:00Well good morning everyone. It is chatin with Chap and I am your host Ginger Wade. I'm so glad you're with me today. We have some really fun stuff happening here at Chap. So it's the end of September. That is totally crazy. So are you in the groove yet? We're kind of trying to stop and go for us. But this coming weekend we have some really amazing events coming up for you all. So here we are at the end of September. But guess what this weekend is like the second, third and fourth of October already. Can you believe it? I can't. I can't even believe it. But we have to really great events happening on the exact same day on opposite ends of the state. So do not miss it. If you do not know about them, go to ChapOnLine.com slash events and check out what is happening. We have an event happening with Zantyler who is the woman of homeschool freedom out in Pittsburgh with Alicia Hunt who you guys will now and remember from the chat booth and from our legislative team.

1:14And that is happening out there in Pittsburgh and we are also having a women's retreat about Montrose Bible with Jim. You might remember Jim from the chat booth. He and his wife Becky worked there. And I will be there. I'm a speaker up there at the women's retreat that is happening October 2nd, third and fourth. So if you have not registered, you need to do so. You need to reach out. You need to make sure that you are planning to be at one of these events because they will be a blessing to you for sure. So again, go to ChapOnLine.com slash events to find out more. Okay. So today's episode is really sweet. So it is a little intro that Sarah and I did for our friend Melissa who is a homeschool mentor extraordinaire out in the out tuna state college area. And every year she hosts a happy home educators conference. And since we are always away at leadership conference, Sarah and I have not been able to speak there yet, but we are dying to do so and hoping to really soon.

2:22But she did have us record this little video and it went along with their theme this year, which was to treasure memories and build for the teacher trainer children for the future. So Sarah and I put this together and it was so sweet and so good that I just felt I needed to share it with all of you. So maybe some of you were at them a happy event this past weekend. So this might be a repeat for you. But it is so good to hear. It's good to hear again. And I just really felt like our broader homeschool audience would really benefit from hearing about this. So we really shared some great and fun things. And it was a lot packed into a very short section of time, but it's really good food for thought. So really what it all boils down to everyone is that education is discipleship. Being with your children all the time disciples are with their teachers all the time. It is discipleship. And this homeschool journey is one that is really going to affect not just the kids because they're being taught, but you also as parents.

3:32It affects everyone and it is a blessing to everyone and our homeschool journeys have an amazing possibility of drawing us so near to our father and walking in step with him not only just us as individuals, but as families. And that is beautiful. That is beautiful. So enjoy this message. And we hope to see you either in Pittsburgh this weekend or up at Montrose this weekend at one of chaps to really great events that are coming. So enjoy this message and I will be back to you soon. Bye now. Welcome everyone. I am ginger and you are I am Sarah. We volunteer with chap the Christian homeschool association of Pennsylvania. And as ginger and I kind of talked through what are some of the memories that we have had both of us have six children each and we have been homeschooling them since the beginning.

4:37And so there's a lot of memories to that come up, but one thing in particular that I that came to mind for me is and this could be daunting if you're just getting started, but teaching your children to read is in my opinion, one of the greatest gifts of homeschooling because they're learning to read right there in your lap. And it's such a relational thing when you are reading stories together. And so each one of my kids sat right in my lap and I read them stories right from birth and they began to read all on their own and then I look. And you're sitting on the line and we're sitting around a campfire and everyone of my kids has a book in their lap, something that they're excited about reading. And I just soaked that moment in because that is that's the goal. And I wanted to create lifelong learners, people who love to read and love to learn. And I've modeled that for them because that's both my husband and I, we love that as well. And so it was just one of those wow, God moments that I just looked around that campfire at each one of my kiddos and it was just such a wonderful experience that we were able to have because we were pouring into them day to day.

6:05You're not going to be this summer. My kids are all sitting around reading my guys like you. It's okay. I love that they're reading, but it really cracked me up and they're all just sitting there reading for hours. But yeah, definitely happens in my house. And then they take the hammock out and all that other kind of stuff, which is really, really fun. They're hanging in the tree reading books. One of the things that I was going to share and I won't share specifics, but you know, we pour into our kids, we train them. We do Bible study with them. We worship alongside of them. We show them service, how to serve in the different ways and different places. And there was one day I was having a challenging day and just not, you know, even there, you don't feel good about yourself, you can whatever I just, you know, don't understand why I do this or whatever. And my girls ministered to me.

7:06Out of how we trained them. And it was beautiful because they had not been through some of the hurt that I have been through. And therefore they could speak to me from a, I don't know, a firm footing in the Lord in their understanding of who they were in the Lord and they can minister to me in some of the things that I still work through. And it was just amazing to me that my children, you know, they're from me and they're, they're learning from me and yet they could teach me and remind me of my position as a daughter of a king. So that was, it was humbling in a way, but it was also just beautiful because, because they are in a place that I've always wanted them to be in one of the reasons why I homeschooled so they didn't have to fight through this. That's what I've had to fight through, right? So, yeah, that's a beautiful memory for me. I just love seeing the fruit of how Jesus is working. That's the best part. That is the best part.

8:08And I think that's why this being is so great because the memories that we cling to the most that stand out the most are the ones that have proven that the time spent with our kids is training them for their future. Nothing can replace that time. And I know ginger has already graduated three three out of her homeschool. I have graduated two and the one thing that has stood out to me because my two graduations were just this year and the year before. So it's very fresh is I can't imagine. If I hadn't homeschooled how much time would have been stolen from us and we never get that back. And that is what trains our kids. It's them seeing us struggle day to day. Seeing us live out our own faith right in front of them. We can't send them off to school and then have our breakdown. We're breaking down right in front of them and then showing them how we have to go back to the Lord for new strength each morning.

9:14So that there's just no replacement for the time we spend together side by side, figuring out what it is that God wants for us in our own lives and helping them do the same for their lives so that their faith is their own and not just their parents faith. Yeah, absolutely. So that training for the future parents, whether you like it or not, it's your example. It's your example is what's going to be training them for their future. So the the trials that you go through and how you handle them and how you seek the Lord and things and how you work together with your spouse in it. Or with your kids through it. That is going to be the biggest teacher for them. Sure, you can do the budgeting course, the stewardship course. And you can go and volunteer and they can go work or they could learn life skills and choices are all wonderful is that things and they should do those things. But I think learning from your example is really going to have the biggest impact on that.

10:18And definitely you living out your faith in front of them is going to have the biggest impact in training them for the future. And we're going to see that it's real. And that, oh, my parents actually do use this, you know, belief in Jesus to help them through things and pray to him for guidance and things like that. Like what is that you are doing through your everyday stuff? That is really what's. That's going to be the biggest effect on them. What do you think Sarah? Is there other things that maybe. Well, right alongside that not being afraid to fail in front of your kids. Oh, because I mean, that's when we learned that's when we learn our greatest lessons is when we have fallen flat on our face. And then how we react to that failure. So yeah, yeah, right alongside everything that you're saying. And it's okay when you fail in front of them. It's actually a good thing because you're showing them that, you know, we are all fallen.

11:19But we have a perfect savior who we can go to every time we fall. Yeah, that is a huge lesson. I'm so glad you brought that up because our definition of failure and success is actually not the same as the Lord's definition of those things. But we feel we have failed can actually be a raving success depending on how we handle that mistake. And could really, really impress upon the kids how to live a life with Jesus. So, yeah, just don't be afraid of that. Don't be afraid of messing up one of the biggest impacts on your kids. So, what I've done there so many times is when you go to them and say, I handled that poorly. It was not the way I should have handled it. I am sorry. Can you forgive me? And even even though they might have a part in the situation. When you admit their your fault in the situation, that has a great huge impact on them.

12:21And again, they see your face being real. They see the effects of truly believing and living out what you read in scripture and what you train them in all the time. Right? We're constantly training our children and it is we should do it. We should give them consequences and we should give them requirements and we should give them standards. But just all this living it out and making it real to them is huge. That's huge. Yeah, because when it all comes down to it and we've said this many times, I'm sure that you and the audience have heard this before education is discipleship. And everything we're doing. And if you're sending your children to someone else for education, they're being discipled by those people. So, it is such a daunting responsibility as parents that we have been given that we get to be the ones who disciple our children.

13:21And whether we're doing it intentionally or not, we are discipling them. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Someone's discipling them. Right? If they're not with you, they're being discipled by someone else. But we are created to worship. We are created to be discipled really. And that's just what relationship and life is is being together. You're being discipled by the people that you're right. That's why it's so important. Like scripture says, bad company crops good morals. You know, it's the same idea. So, yeah, education is discipleship. So what you are doing as parents in educating your children, you are discipling them in good habits and correct beliefs in skills that they can use to be successful adults who are following hard after the Lord. Again, thank you so much for being here. We are so glad that you have taken time to come to this event, which I know is going to fill you amazingly safe.

14:24Thanks to Melissa and her team, because I have no doubt that they have done a bang up job and it is awesome. But thank you for participating in this. It is a great service to your family that you have chosen to take the time to do this. Anything else Sarah, you want to share? I just want to reiterate that we are so thankful that each one of you have decided to make it a priority to grow your homeschool by going to conferences. And that's why CHAP also gives opportunities for you to do that as well, because we model for our kiddos that we're still learning. And there's still things that God can be showing us and training us. And that's just another way that we are modeling this whole lifestyle of continual learning and being disciples for Jesus Christ. Yeah, life is learning. Life is learning. We are constantly, constantly learning. So, all right, enjoy the rest of your day. I know it's going to be amazing.

15:27And thank Jesus for it. Right? He made it all happen. So we're very grateful. We're thankful to have been here with you guys. So hopefully we will see you at some CHAP events or other things in the future. So take care everyone. Bye now. Bye.