Well as the 2013 Teach Them Diligently Conference comes to an end, I find myself rather enlightened, more knowledgable and very tired! After two and a quarter days of listening, watching, taking notes, looking at vendors products and squeezing through crowds of other homeschooling people, I find myself glad that I came.
The facility was great again this year. The Restoration Church has for the past two years provided an excellent place to have such a venue for the vast homeschooling community. Again, the kids’ programs were wonderful. My kids were excited and ready to come this year to attend Battle for Truth. I think everyone that attended should send a letter to Restoration Church simply to say “Thank You!”
The speakers this year were absolutely phenomenal. From the keynote speaker Ken Ham to Hal & Melanie Young, Israel Wayne, Tom Blackaby, Mark Hamby and Stephen Kindrick they each brought their own struggles in homeschooling and life and how they overcame them.
As a husband and engineer,I find myself wanting answers. Not the long and lengthy answers, reasons for the answer or where it came from, but the simple, quick answer. This weekend I shut down that part of my manliness and listened to those who had gone on before me. I wanted the lengthy answer. I wanted to know how to be a better homeschooling dad and husband. I think I got it in a theme that was congruent in each class I attended “It’s not about the rules, it is about relationships”.
Husbands, if you are anything like me, I try to control everything and try to make sure everything goes smooth. Yet this weekend I learned that it is not about me or you, it is about our kids and the relationships we have with them. If we have the smartest kids ever but no relationship with them, what do we have? It reminds me of the relationship that God had with Jesus. You see, Jesus went against some of the rules according to the pharisees. He broke laws that man had established, and was looked down upon by many. But He had a relationship with God that led to submission and service to His Father! Wow! Are you willing to let others look at you weird, talk about you, call you that strange family? I am.
So husbands of homeschooling moms, what did you get out of this weekend? What was the moment that just stood out to you and made you go, “Ahhhhh…I get it now!”? We all had one, be it big or small. You’re a husband to a homeschooling mom or dad to a homeschooled kid and you care about them, otherwise you would have not been here. So let’s hear from you. You may give that last part that some other dad needs.
Grace & Peace,
Husband of a Homeschooling Mom