Following God's Call to Homeschool

What if the path you never planned to take is actually the one you were meant to follow? Join me, Audrey McCracken, on Grace From A Home, as I share my unexpected journey into homeschooling—a decision made by faith, despite initial skepticism, including from my husband, a public high school  principal. Over the next four weeks, we'll discuss how homeschool can be a discipleship tool.  This episode opens the conversation by telling how our homeschool journey began.

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Chapters

• 1:13 Homeschooling as a Calling
• 15:52 Parenting and Faith
• 21:06 Walking in the Father's Will

Transcript

Audrey McCracken: 1:13

Hello friends, welcome back to Grace From A Home. I'm Audrey McCracken. Happy New Year. I'm so glad to be back with you again this week. Thank you for being patient and waiting on me. I had a brief two-week delay in getting back with you. We just had a lot of things we're trying to wrap up at the end of the year. My husband and I were able to get away for a few days and that was wonderful. We went to Wilmington, north Carolina, and spent two nights there and just had some time together. Then, when I got back, I recorded a podcast and when I went back and listened to it the audio was horrible, so I thought I can't put that out there. So here I am again doing the same podcast twice. So maybe I just needed to, maybe it just wasn't the right thing, maybe I just needed to switch it around a little bit, but I'm so glad to be back with you again this week and I really do hope that your new year has gotten off to a great start.

Audrey McCracken: 2:13

I want to start the year off with a four-week homeschool series, and I understand that some of you and probably many of you that listen are not homeschool families or do not homeschool, and that's fine. I know some of the principles that I'm going to share transcend homeschooling, and it's a walk of faith, and all of us walk by faith, or at least we're called to walk by faith and not by sight, and so I want to share with you some things that are on my heart, that I've been mulling around about the homeschool life, and I hope that they're encouraging to you. You know, I loved homeschooling. I loved it, which is surprising, because it's not something I ever thought I would do. Today, I'd like to talk with you about the calling of homeschooling.

Audrey McCracken: 3:05

I believe that I was called into homeschooling. I had never been around homeschoolers and so it was all new to me. It wasn't something that I, you know, burned in my heart that, oh, one day I want to homeschool my children. It really was not even on my radar, and so when I had children, I did want to be able you know, as the Lord provided to be able to stay home with them and raise them. I was not able to do that when they were very young, when we first had them, just because of financial reasons. I was a working mom, or working outside of the house, mom, I should say. And then, you know, as the years went on and we planned, I was able to put my career on hold, come home and get my children to school age. See, when they were very little, when I was still working, my church had a daycare and a school and my sister was the principal of that school and the people who worked in that school were all very close to me. Some of them, most of them, I went to church with and had known for years, and so it felt like a very safe place for my children and we were very blessed in that. But because of various reasons, that school shut down so I didn't have anywhere and you know how hard it is to get a child in daycare. Well, we worked it out. We had people watch the kids, but it was just in my heart that I want to be home with them and the Lord opened up a door for me to be able to do that. And it was not easy. It wasn't easy on us financially, but the Lord made a way and so we took it.

Audrey McCracken: 4:48

And then, as I was home with them, the more I was with them, the more I wanted to be with them, and the Lord started putting people in my path. That started talking with me about homeschooling, and I had never been exposed to that world. It wasn't something that, you know, my heart had ever desired to do, but I started seeing possibilities. I think, you know, growing up, the only homeschool family I had ever been around had ever been around. They just they seemed to not want anything to do with, you know, modern society and you know that was not the kind of life I wanted to live. So I had kind of a bad connotation of homeschooling and I know homeschooling has changed so much over the years. But that was kind of what was in my head is what a homeschool family looked like, and you know that wasn't something I wanted. But as I started seeing things and seeing ways that other people were homeschooling, I thought, oh wow, that's really cool the way, you know, they have that time with their children.

Audrey McCracken: 5:52

And as I prayed and it just felt like the Lord kept popping people into my life that you know, would tell me about this and that, and I think, oh, wow, I'd really love that. And so I started praying and saying, lord, is this what you want me to do? And I felt very strongly that the Lord did, you know. And and I kept praying and I kept saying, lord, are you sure this is? This is more than a couple of years commitment. You know this is, this is a big commitment because my thought was I will quit my job for a few years. Even my boss told me that I was welcome to come back and that I'll start my career again after they're in kindergarten, after after the last one is in kindergarten. But homeschooling, that was a huge commitment. That would be years of my life and I would have to learn something that I had no idea how to do.

Audrey McCracken: 6:46

But as I prayed and I continued to pray, I felt very strongly this is what the Lord wanted me to do. And so I went to my husband and I shared this with him. Well, he was not as enthusiastic as I was, my husband at the time. He was a high school assistant principal at our local high school and I went to him and I told him I would like to homeschool our children and, like I said, he was not enthusiastic. You know his first thought was no. He asked me do you know what I do for a living? And I said I do. But I feel very strongly that the Lord has put this on my heart and that this is how I am to disciple our children. And he really did not. He didn't see it. He did not see that and I asked him would you pray? Would you pray that you know, if this is the Lord's will for our family, that he would show you? And he told me he would pray.

Audrey McCracken: 7:47

And several weeks got come back later and said have you prayed, what do you think? And he said well, I've prayed, but I still I don't see it and I'm thinking he's really not praying. That's what I thought. I thought, okay, he's just thrown it up. You know, he's thrown up a prayer, but his heart's not in it and he's not listening. And so, you know, I went back to the Lord and I said Lord, you know, you have to tell Michael, you have to talk, you have to speak to my husband, and you know, and I'd come back a few weeks later. You know, what did you know? Have you heard from the Lord? Have you prayed about that? Yes, I've prayed, but I don't think that's what we need to do. And I just felt like I was stuck and I prayed that way. I said Lord, here I am. You know, my heart is to obey you. I feel like you've put this on my heart. But you know my children, they have two parents. They don't it's not just me. They have a mother and a father and I, you know, I wanted the Lord to speak to both of us.

Audrey McCracken: 8:49

The word division? It's made up of die and vision Die meaning to and vision meaning to see forward into the future. And if you have two visions in the same household, then you're not walking together. You know, you're going separate places, and I didn't want that. You know I don't want division in my home. I want us to have the same vision and I want that to be the vision that God gives us. And so my prayer was Lord, give us the same vision. But it wasn't going anywhere. It seemed like he wasn't on board and I felt even more strongly every time I prayed. And so, finally, I went to the Lord and I said here I am. If this is what you've asked of me, this is what I want to do, I give my life to this. If this is what you'd have me do, I'm here, but you have to speak to my husband. And I remember reading in the Bible about Mary and Joseph, and God called Mary to a very high calling. He asked a lot of her. She took on the responsibility of raising God's son huge responsibility. And God had to speak to Joseph to let him know this is what I've asked of Mary. And I said, lord, the same God who spoke to Mary spoke to Joseph. Now, if you're speaking to me, you must speak to my husband, because we've got to do this together in unity Amen.

Audrey McCracken: 10:19

I could have manipulated, I could have pressured him, I could have gotten angry, but see, none of those things bring the fruit that I wanted. I wanted unity. I wanted us to know that we're doing what God asked of us, and I didn't want to live that kind of life. I wanted God to speak and so I decided to fast. I did a 40-day coffee fast. And you may think, well, that's not a fast. Well, I love coffee. I'm running a coffee shop. It was important to me, it was a sacrifice to me. So I knew it would be important to the Lord. You know anything you give up for the Lord, that is important to you, it's important to him. And so for 40 days I prayed and fasted coffee and I just asked him to speak. I said I need you to speak to Michael or me, and I did not pray, lord, change Michael's mind. I prayed, lord, show us the way, shine your light on us that we can walk in unity. And I lay this at your feet If I'm wrong, if I'm hearing wrong, please speak to me. If Michael is not hearing you, please speak to him. But let us be, let us walk together in unity so there's peace in our home.

Audrey McCracken: 11:38

After the 40 days, after my 40 day fast, nothing changed. He still didn't see it. And so I said, lord, I'm going to go with him, I'm going to. I believe you've spoken to me, but this, these are not just my children, they're our children and I believe you to speak and I will be very honest with Michael. But I'm not going to push this. I'm going to submit this to you and to him. And so I went to Michael and I told him. I said I trust you to make the right decision. I feel very strongly in my heart this is what God has asked of me. But these are not just my children, they're our children and I submit this desire in my heart to homeschool them and I just want you to know that I'm willing to do this. But you have to hear from the Lord, and if you're not hearing that, then I'm going to go with what you think God is asking us to do with our children. And what I did was I laid the weight on him and I said it's your decision to make, but I am willing and that was it.

Audrey McCracken: 12:48

Well, time came for me to register my oldest in the kindergarten. I went and got the paperwork to register him for kindergarten and then I told my husband I've got to go to the pediatrician and get his immunization record for the school. And he said, no, I don't want you to do that. And I said well, why not? I mean, I need it. If I'm going to register him for school, I've got to go get that. And he said, no, I think you need to homeschool him. And I was just. I was blown away because that's the first time he'd ever said anything like that. And I said well, are you sure? And he said yes, he said I was praying the other day and I really felt like the Lord said this is what I've asked Audrey to do. And I was so thankful because there was no manipulation, there was no argument, there was no tension. There was no tension, it was just this is what God has asked you to do.

Audrey McCracken: 13:48

But he did give me a couple of stipulations. He said, you know, as you know, he was at this time he was an assistant principal and he said I want us to try it year by year and see how it goes. And he said I want to be able to have a voice in this and if at any time I feel like they're not getting what they need, I will reserve the right to say I think they need to go to public school. And I agreed to that. And he said I want them to go through standardized testing. I want them to be tested on the same schedule as public school so we can judge where they are, where they lay in, you know, in their grade level. And I said yes, I will do that. So that's how we started and I did not know anything. I just kind of dipped my toe in it and just started going that way.

Audrey McCracken: 14:51

You know, there are so many reasons to homeschool, just as many reasons to homeschool as there are families that homeschool. You know, everybody who homeschools has it has a different reason or a different story. That's just a little bit of our story, but for me it was more of a calling than a reason. I really felt like this is what the Lord asked of me. Now I want to tell you that I have friends who have children in the public school system and I believe that's where God spoke for their family, and I think that's wonderful and I know their children, their children love Jesus, and I think that's wonderful and I know their children. Their children love Jesus, their children love the Lord, and they've done a great job of teaching their children how to love Jesus and to maneuver in the world. Parents who will tell you out and out that it is always God's will to homeschool, and I so don't believe that.

Audrey McCracken: 15:52

I believe homeschooling is a calling. He has a unique plan and puzzle for every family and we have to figure out. What are you calling us to do, lord? And it's not always what people around you are doing, and we have to be able to have ears to hear what is God saying and have to have the courage to step up and do it. And for you, that might be sending your kids to public school when it's everybody around you homeschools, or might be, like me, deciding to homeschool when everybody around you is in public school and they're doing fine, they're doing great.

Audrey McCracken: 16:29

But the point is, what is God calling you to do? What is God calling us to do as a family? And that applies in so many different areas. We are in the world, we're not of the world, and when I remember, as a young mom, learning how to homeschool, trying to figure out you know how, does God want me to do this? One of the things that he impressed on my heart is I want you to do this by faith.

Audrey McCracken: 16:58

I don't want you to homeschool out of fear, and I have met families who I believe that fear is their driving force to homeschool, because they're afraid of the world, they're afraid to let their kids out there, and so they're going to homeschool them to keep them from all the bad things. But see, that keeps us in that mentality that you know we are less than, or we are weaker than the world. And it's not true. I homeschooled my children out of faith. That you know, at home I will be able to disciple them, I'll be able to teach them, I'll be able to pour into them so that I can release them into the world. And they're prepared, they're ready. You know, we're not afraid of the world. We're in the world. We're not of the world, but we're not afraid of the world, because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And so I saw possibilities and I'm so glad that I took that road. You know, I know it was the Lord. I know where he guides, he provides, he always gives us enough grace, and he always did.

Audrey McCracken: 18:05

And now you know, and I will tell you, another big transition was when they decided to go to high school, because we had always told them, you know, we want you to make decisions. We wanted to teach them early to start making decisions for their life, because we didn't want to be the ones always making the major decisions, and so, you know, appropriate decisions. We tried to give them an opportunity to say what they wanted to do, and one of the biggest for all three of them was do you want to go to high school or do you want to continue to homeschool? And they had a. And I understand we have a unique situation. My husband is now the principal at our local high school, where they attend, and all three of them decided at our local high school where they attend, and all three of them decided to go to high school. Now I can't tell you I love that decision.

Audrey McCracken: 18:55

There's a part of me that was just like high school would be so cool to homeschool. Because you know, now you're old enough to have big discussions and conversations. And you know and I was just I had all these books that I would love to have read with them in high school. But they made the decision to go to public school and I see them growing and flourishing there and it brings peace to my heart and it reminds me. You know, I had them for the little years and now they are with their father in public school and they are seeing things through a new light. They're seeing different things and we can't control it. We just have to do our part. We have to do what God's asked us to do and we have to release them and trust Him that he is speaking to them, that he is working in their hearts, that he's working in our hearts and that he knows what's best. That's why I believe that homeschooling is calling and I'm very thankful for the opportunity, for the grace, to homeschool my children.

Audrey McCracken: 20:08

It was a wonderful time and I was able to put things in their hearts and I was able to spend that time with them and build relationship with them. That has given me a voice. You know, I have a voice into their hearts when they have important decisions to make. Now they come to me not to say what should I do. But, you know, can you pray with me? And, yeah, sometimes they'll ask me what should you, what should I do in this situation? But usually my answer is I can't tell you that. But I can pray with you that God would show you the right path to take. But they know that me and their dad want what's best for them and that both of us are willing to submit and say, not our will, but what the Lord wants. And because he did that when they were young and I've had to do that when they've gone, when they've entered high school.

Audrey McCracken: 21:07

And you know, it's not about us, it's not about how great we are or how wonderful of parents we are. It's about how good our God is, how good the Father is, and I hope that this has been encouraging for you. You know, and, like I said, I think it applies in many, many areas. It's not, you know, I want my way, I want to do it my way. It's Lord, what do you have for us as a couple, as a husband and wife, as a family? You know, show us your plan so we can walk in it, and I believe that is a prayer that he delights in answering.

Audrey McCracken: 21:47

I want to remind you that you can still purchase my book Covered in Prayer 31 Prayers to Cover you and your Children in God's Grace. You can find that on Amazon and I'll put the link in the show notes, and I'm working on some new things. So this new year I'm excited about, you know, some new projects, that I'm working on some books and other things, and in the coming weeks I hope to be able to release some of those things and share some more of those things with you. And I just want to say thank you. I really appreciate you coming each week and listening. You can probably tell I have a little cold today, but that's okay. We'll press through and keep us in your prayers because we're just like you.

Audrey McCracken: 22:30

We're trying to find the Father's will and grow in grace, and I want to pray for you before I let you go today, father. I pray for these precious women who just want to hear from you, who just want to be obedient and do what you've put them here on earth to do. And I ask you, father, to shine your light on us that we could walk in the truth. And I pray, god, that you would work in our hearts, that we would be more and more like Jesus. And God, I ask you to give us ears to hear that Lord, when you're calling us in a particular direction, that we would be sensitive to that. And, lord, we just thank you. We thank you that your grace is more than enough. In Jesus name, amen.