Our home education ethos can be summed up with the phrase, ‘Raising children to embrace their place in the Body of Christ’. In fact this is the topic we will be sharing about at the ‘Chess’ home education conference, at the end of the month.

So how does this play out in our day to day life? Education begins the moment our children are born. In many ways I wouldn’t call it education, more facilitation, for my job is not merely to impart knowledge upon these new creations, it is to reveal their hidden characters and then foster the skills God has graciously imparted upon them. For none of us really ‘teach’ our children to feed, walk or talk, but we live alongside our children, demonstrating how to eat, encouraging their efforts to step forward and embedding them in a world of conversation, including them before they can reply. Is that education? I think so, but not in the traditional sense. And so begins the journey of raising and educating our children, without sudden interruption at 4 years old, the age of formal schooling, but an organic process where they lead the way into the next stage they are ready for.

So how do I help them uncover their God-given gifts? It is in the silence of those moments, the ones when they don’t know you’re watching them, that you can see the early formation of their personality. The activity that draws and holds them, consumes their unplanned time, that is the beginning of seeing the unwrapped present hidden within each child.

Here’s a real life example. When our eldest was about 7 months old he started crawling and from that moment on I couldn’t keep him away from the tech equipment. Once, when he was 9 months old, we had a 5 hour car journey and I knew I needed to keep our wriggly boy still and quiet for a long time. The week before we left I popped into the jumble sale and bought an old Walkman, with headphones to push in and pull out, a tape to put in and out, a travel plug and adapter to put together and separate, an old calculator and a remote control with no batteries in it. It was so obvious at this stage what he was ‘into’ and baby toys were just not going to cut it. Moving forwards ten years and he was setting up the hifi amps and rigging torches to the ceiling lights for the sound and lighting for our family ‘shows’, which the children used to put on daily.

Moving forward to present day and he has recently spent a week organising the sound and lighting for our Christian home education holiday for 400 plus people.

Our other adult son is Jonathan, who is now 18. When he was 3 he was junk modelling buildings, colouring immaculately and doing huge puzzles upside down. I remember saying to Phil that he might have the skills to be an architect. He spent much of his childhood building go carts, treehouses and models. This term he has started his Degree apprenticeship in Architecture.

Not every child has such easily discernible gifts, but every child is gifted at something. I see it as my job to help our children unwrap their gift and then help them to develop it.

Each child we home educate will have a basic grounding in the 3 Rs, but they will also have many free hours to pursue their individual interests.

Coming forward to look at our current home educated children and again I can see particular interests on display. Matthew, Hannah and Stephen have been making costumes for their battle re-enactments. They were inspired by a reenactment we recently attended at a nearby castle and since then all things historical and battle-worthy have consumed their free hours. They learn so much more when they lead than they could ever learn when I ‘feed’ them information. Home education is often described as lighting a fire rather than filling a bucket.

One of the most fun parts of parenthood is when I get to see the creativity of God in each unique person he’s created. What a privilege it is to have a part in watching him ‘sculpt’ one of his masterpieces.

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Sending blessings to you all, Vicki

We’re currently away on a Christian home education holiday. There are hundreds of us here, all forging our own paths in a world going in the opposite direction. I’ve been speaking to many new home educating mums this week and their questions often remind me of questions I asked many years ago, when we began this journey.

I thought I’d answer these questions on the blog, so that the answers are here for me to point anyone to, should they ask. I’ve started at the beginning…

What led you to home educate?

First and foremost it was a God led decision. I was always somewhat alternative in my thinking and having trained at Norland I could see that play was indeed the very best way for young children to learn. I passionately believe that children don’t need to start formal education until around 6, which is when they start in many European countries, with excellent long term results. I also feel that children are all unique and their education should ideally reflect this.

With all these high ideals in mind I posed the home education question to Phil. He cut me down at the first hurdle, telling me, in no uncertain terms, to leave the subject alone. So I committed to not speaking about home education to Phil, but praying fervently for God to put us on the same page.

Phil put up several hurdles, which he only told me about months later, God knocked each and every one down. Hurdle one was about his working hours. He was very concerned that I wouldn’t have time to teach Maths adequately and he would want to have an input into this subject, as it’s his area of expertise. He therefore would want to work at home a couple of days a week. Within a few weeks of my prayer mission his boss asked him, out of the blue, if he would like to work part time from home!

Hurdle two was money. Phil was aware that resources for home education would come with a cost and he would need a pay rise to cover that. Again within a few weeks he had been given a very generous pay rise, and this occurred around the time of the 2008 financial crisis, another miracle.

Hurdle three was university. He wanted our children to have the opportunity to go to university, should they be academically inclined. Phil was, at the time travelling frequently to America, he happened on this occasion to be in Boston and met up with a friend who worked at Harvard. He posed a home education question to his friend, this question was about what universities thought of home educated students. The answer he received was not what he expected. He was told that the university loves home educators because they are self motivated thinkers who ask great questions. From his friend’s perspective the unique home based environment had better prepared these students for university than elitist schools! God was certainly on the move, not that I, as yet, knew anything about this.

I had asked God not only to change Phil’s heart, if home education was the right path for us, but I had also laid one more fleece. I was determined that this decision must be mutual, for we would come across difficulties and I never wanted to have Phil say, “this was your decision, you deal with it”. So I asked God to get Phil to ask me if we could home educate, then I would know for sure that this was God’s will.

Well….two months after our initial conversation, I experienced one of our first amazing answers to prayer. Phil sat me down and asked me if we could home educate the children, just like that! Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. I’d prayed with just a mustard seed of faith, but God had answered and had shown Phil his heart for us on this matter.

Now everyday that we have a struggle I can look back on that evening knowing that God chose this path for us and I can move forward without doubt, safe in the knowledge that this is God’s best plan for our children.

Long before the days of social media, and LGBTQ rights taught to infants, long before lockdowns were even a thought, God called us to home educate. Long before these challenges came along he protected our children, he knew what would be best for them. In many ways we were just following God, unsure of of the path ahead, but simply trusting that he promises good things for those who trust him. He hasn’t let us down. He has good plans for us and good plans for you. What’s he calling you to today?

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Sending blessings to you all, Vicki

Time, the gift I crave. Time to think, to process my thoughts. Time to sit in silence. Time to allow my mind to wander, to cogitate, to digest the day.

I’ve found my old friend Time, just a glimpse, the hours just after dawn whilst the house is sleeping. I took Timothy, now 6 months old, to bed as early as I dared, hoping to shift his body clock, in preparation for the clocks changing. He slept like a baby, as in waking frequently! I think he just needs his own room so that he can roll around as much as he wants without disturbing his light-sleeping mother. Phil, of course, sleeps deeply and hears nothing, not even the cries of an overtired baby, his ears close off to all outside noise as soon as his head touches the pillow. I’m really grateful Phil sleeps well because at least half of the team is fully rested and alert, rather than us both being beaten up by sleep deprivation. We are planning on Timothy getting his own room very soon, as we are finishing off the decoration on a new bedroom downstairs and then Jonathan will move down there and that will free up a room upstairs for Timothy.

I’ve had this blog post on my mind for weeks, waiting for a free hour in which to write it. God has been frequently drawing together a theme which he is using to give me daily encouragement and which I thought would be an encouragement to others as well.

God first dropped the idea into my mind during a church sermon many weeks ago. We were learning about Hudson Taylor, the missionary who served in China. His salvation was brought about during a time of intense prayer by his mother. She went away with the specific aim of not returning until she was assured of his salvation. It was indeed during this time of prayer that he came to know Christ as his Saviour. We also learnt of Hannah in the Bible who prayed for a son and was then blessed with Samuel, who served the Lord all his days.

I was then reminded of St Augustine. He was a rebellious character but he said that his mother ‘was in greater labor to ensure my salvation than she had been at my birth’. There was the example of Jochebed, the mother of Moses, who saved her baby son from certain death at the hands of the Egyptians. John Newton, the writer of ‘Amazing Grace’ tells that his mother “stored my memory, which was then very retentive, with many valuable pieces, chapters and portions of scripture, catechisms, hymns, and poems.” We may may not have ‘Amazing Grace’ if it were not for a faithful mother. Another famous hymn writer and his brother, the founder of Methodism, were brought up by a Godly mother. John and Charles Wesley were home educated at the knee of their mother Susanna, who famously hid under her apron many times a day, using it as a tabernacle for prayer. I often feel her need, as she was, like me, a busy mum of many. I prefer to hide and pray in the store cupboard, with the chocolate!

There are many, many more mothers who had a huge influence on their children, perhaps Timothy in the Bible is worth a mention, as he is our baby son’s namesake. Timothy speaks of the faith of his mother and grandmother. The same can be said of King David, who writes, ‘because I serve you just as my mother did’, Psalm 86:16.

Mothers, we have such a quiet and yet enormous role in the lives of our children, our influence can last for generations. We can be so encouraged by these godly examples, encouraged to hold on when our teenagers are exhausting us with their petulant behaviour, when our toddlers are persisting with every kind of mischief or when our babies seem to have given up on sleeping. We can continue to be encouraged if our adult children go astray, for we must not ‘grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we faint not’, Galatians 6:9.

Hold on for the ride of parenthood, it’s sometimes eye-wateringly difficult, but like the harnesses on the wild rides at a theme park, if we trust in the One who is holding us, we can enjoy the ups and downs it brings. Our job is to teach, to pray, to love and trust the Lord with the rest.

Do you have a difficult boss? Do you work for yourself? Are you retired? Maybe like me you’re a full time parent. Whatever your situation, we all have the potential to be employed. Even those who can’t move from their beds can be workers. Even our children can work.

I may be starting to sound a little crazy, so what am I talking about? Those of us who are Christians have a boss who is above all earthly employers, one who we all work for whatever our daily circumstances. You see when we become Christians we are employed in the services of our Master to carry out his will here on earth. Each day he has a work day planned out for us. It’s not an onerous one, because he say, ‘my yoke is easy and my burden is light,’ Matthew 11:30.

So what are our responsibilities? There are some specific tasks, for specific people and some generalised tasks for each Christian. For example, all Christians are called to obey God, love each other and tell others about Jesus. As mother’s we have more specific instructions.

Women are told to, ‘love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.‘ Titus 2 3-5.

Does that mean we are to be chained to the kitchen sink? Not at all! It’s a joy to work for Jesus, he is a gentle leader, ‘He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.’ Isaiah 40:11.

I think the heart of the matter is our heart. ‘For where your treasure is, your heart will be also,’ Matthew 6:21. What is it we treasure? Do we treasure selfish pursuits, or servant pursuits? Do we want to please ourselves, or please our Master? What is most important to us? Some people work for money, some for prestige, some for job satisfaction, what motivates you? Some people are unable to go out to work due to ill health, does that mean they are useless to God? Absolutely not, some of God’s best workers are immobile elderly people who simply pray. If that’s God’s calling to you today then you will be a faithful worker if you just do that.

So how can we work faithfully for God? For me it begins when I wake. I ask him how I may serve him today and ask him to strengthen me for the tasks ahead. As a mother my day is full, but it needs the organisation the Lord brings to show me how to prioritise my tasks. So much to do each day and only 24 hours to do it in. I don’t think God asks us to to everything though, but to do everything we do for him, in his strength and for his glory.

So how does this practically work out? By working this way I have complete peace that God will give me enough hours to complete the essential tasks and that anything not done was not meant for today. With prayer, he will help me get round to it tomorrow. Some tasks he helps me do, some he asks me to ditch and some to delegate, but with his wisdom it all gets done.

I have written this post as much as a reminder to me as to anyone that, ‘whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,’. Colossians 3:23. Work is a gift, for even Adam and Eve worked before the fall, it’s our attitude to it that transforms it into something holy.

I pray that all of you can find joy in your work today, whatever it is God is calling you to do. Sending blessings to each and every one of you.