Convention conviction

A little while ago, I had the privilege of attending the CHEA convention in Pasadena with my husband and two of our children. I usually come away with renewed spirit and a few shiny new books and ideas for our homeschool. If you haven't been to a CHEA convention before, make your plans to attend next year. They offer a variety of speakers covering everything from choosing books to preparing for college, and the marketplace is guaranteed to make your head spin. I may hear the Hallelujah Chorus in my head when I walk in there. I'm not telling.

As expected, I came home uplifted, renewed, and with some new resources for our books shelves and cabinets. Know what else I can home with?

A convicted heart.

As I perused the grid of offered sessions, one titled "The Discipling Mom (The Character Conscious Mom)" by Megan Schebner caught my eye. I must admit that my mind didn't seem to catch the "discipling" part of the title. All my mind told me was, "Your kids need to work on their character! Go to that one!"

So while my husband went to a different session, I sat with over 200 other homeschooling moms, ready to learn how to impart more character into the young souls God entrusted us with. While she did cover that, what I came away with was a reminder of something that I had somehow pushed under the proverbial rug.

I needed to pour into the lives of others.

Of course the excuses came into my mind quickly. You know the ones about time, and a never ending to do list, and a large family.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

They even sounded weak in my own mind. For you see, I had spent many years pouring into the lives of others in the local homeschool community by serving in various ways. Then, my husband was deployed, and the Lord called me to serve the families of his unit.

After I resigned as the Unit Family Readiness Group Leader, I stopped pouring. That was good (actually needed) for a time, but that stretched on longer than I'd ever intended.

Now the Lord seems to be telling me to begin again, so I decided to start right here. This blog was already up, and my record keeping system was already in place. I have even spoken on it a few times the local conventions and seminars. In fact, just a few weeks ago, I gave a talk locally and came away feeling good for having been able to help a couple of dozen moms tackle the daunting task of record keeping.

Guess the Lord has been knocking on this particular door of mine for a while.


So while I may not be in a place to pour directly into someone the way Megan does, I will be pouring out myself here, sharing an area that I am proficient at. I hope it will bless and encourage a few.

I will be sharing, step by step, how I plan my school year. I will also be adding more forms that I use, from simple PDFs to complex Excel files. I plan to add some old forms that I used when different books and approaches filled our school days.

So check back once a week, and use what you can.

~Dawn