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We are about ready for #StephensAcademy 2020-2021. Even though we’ve done this for over a decade now, every year is a bit different with different ages and challenges and opportunities. This year, we will gather around our “morning time” table with a high schooler, middle schooler, elementary schooler, and preschooler. How do we do that?, people ask. At the center of this room stands a table that NP and I bought used to furnish our first apartment. A lot of meals have been eaten around that table. It’s been a gathering place for years and years. It seems fitting to have our old kitchen table in the schoolroom now, because education is a lot less like an assembly line and a lot more like spreading a feast. No one asks me how we possibly provide food for a family of six. The bigger the family, the more prep might be involved, it might take more time, some might need things cut up smaller or dietary needs taken into consideration. Not everyone likes the same foods to the same extent. But ...

It’s time for a homeschool peptalk. I see you, feeling all the stress of 2020 somehow piling up and making planning for the new school year feel extra daunting. I see you, fielding questions from friends considering crisis homeschooling for the coming year, feeling excited for them, or fearful of legal ramifications, or conflicted about whether it’s even a good idea for them to homeschool in the first place. Maybe you haven’t been inside your church for four months. Maybe yo u haven’t left your house in two. Maybe your schedule is somehow returning to pre-COVID levels but with extra stress heaped up and a face mask strapped on top. God has not changed. The mission has not changed. We have been given the privilege of raising our kids with a wider view of the world and a deeper appreciation for what is true and good and beautiful. It is a worthwhile calling. We cannot control tomorrow. We cannot control how this next school year will go. What we CAN do is be faithful. Right now. Today. W...

Grateful for our hymn this month focusing our hearts on God being our mighty fortress. Martin Luther's words ring just as true for us as they did in 1529 in the midst of the great reformation.  This hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 46, an oft quoted psalm with portions frequently emblazoned on tote bags and travel mugs and inspirational posters.  You know what always strikes me about it? In the midst of the "earth giving way," "mountains being moved into the heart of the sea," "the nations raging," the Psalmist THEN reminds us that the Lord of Hosts is with us. What should we do? Be still. Know He is God.  Being still and knowing isn't just something we do looking over a peaceful landscape or a seashore. We are commanded to be still when the whole earth and the nations seem to be crumbling apart and "threatening to undo us," as Luther stated.  Now. Right now. We need to be still and know. He is our refuge and strength, a v...

Many times when people comment to me that they could never do homeschooling, the comment is being made on the heels of an unexpected break from school (extreme cold snap, multiple snow days... a pandemic) when the students are sent home with packets of work to complete at home. I don't know how to fully explain how much  not  like homeschooling that is. I think there is a general misunderstanding of our homeschool life that I would love to clarify. And when I say "homeschool," I'm going to limit my comments to our  experience of homeschooling here at Stephens Academy. Every single family is different, kids are different, there are about a million different curriculum options and methods and variables. But here are some things I wish people knew about us. Homeschooling is not doing "school at home." We don't do worksheets. Ever. Math is the closest you will get to finding my kids working out of a textbook. If you had a live feed into our home, on ...

Planning for the fall homeschool term. Feeling the same feelings I do every year and maybe I’m not the only one who needs a peptalk. You’re looking at this list and feeling overwhelmed. You’re thinking about how your plans never seem as pretty or picturesque or complete as those other moms. You’re wondering if you can do it. And you know what? You can’t. You cannot do this on your own. And the good news is that you don’t have to. God has given you everything you need to do what He has called you to do. You aren’t called to be that family on Instagram. You are called to be you- you, just obeying, empowered by the Holy Spirit, getting up every day and drinking all the coffee and doing the next thing and finding Him faithful. There is no perfect mom. No perfect education. But we have such a good and perfect God and He has not changed. So stop listening to the lies. He has entrusted you to mother and teach these kids in this season in this way. Trust Him. And do it. ...