Please welcome my friend Jennifer from Texas to the Catholic Homeschooling Mama Showcase. I'm so excited to introduce you to her today. Jen is the daughter of a good friend of mine and she's an amazing mama to six kids. She's been married for 13 years and has been homeschooling for five of those. In addition to all of that, she's an amazing seamstress and works part-time from home. I love following her on Instagram and seeing the incredible clothing she makes for her kids! In this installment, you'll learn about her prayer life and her homeschooling adventure. Part II about meal planning, chores and date night can be found here.
More...
This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on the link and purchasing items, it costs you nothing, but I receive a small stipend that helps me run this website. Thanks so much for your support!
Prayer
In Jen's words, "My prayer life is far from where I’d like it to be (one of my goals this school year). I pray daily, but oftentimes, my prayer is just a quick “thank you, Jesus; You are GREAT; please help me get through this day!” When I don’t have a rough night of sleep, I will get up and sing a hymn, pray some morning prayers, and read something faith-related, before my kids all wake. And I try to pray a short prayer at night before I fall asleep. Most prayers happen in my bed or on my couch."
Are you satisfied with your individual prayer life? If not, what would you like to change?
It’s far from where I’d like it to be. I’d love to wake up early each morning before my kids get up and have some quiet prayer time with Jesus. My goal is to also start doing an examination of conscience every night before bed. So, more structure. I’d love to be able to go to Adoration regularly, too, which is a family goal of ours this year.
Family Prayer Life
"We try to pray at the beginning of our school day and then grace before meals. When we are together in the evenings, we often will pray a family rosary. I pray with the little kids when I tuck them into bed. We try to go to Confession semi-regularly – once a month ideally, sometimes it’s a handful of times a year.
As a family, we would like to be more consistent. I would love to go to daily Mass, but honestly, until my youngest stops screaming every single Sunday, I’m not sure I’m up for the battle. I know I probably should just be brave and try anyway, so maybe my goal this year would be to go once a week."
Obstacles and Advice
Jen's biggest obstacles to prayer are, "Lack of a routine and laziness". Her best advice to other mamas about praying is, "Just do it – it doesn’t have to be perfect and your kids don’t have to be perfect either. Lead by example. I’ve found that when my own prayer life is going well, my kids in turn have stronger prayer lives."
Homeschooling
Jen has been homeschooling for the past five years and puts together her own curriculum. She states, "I started with Seton and then as my kids got older, I felt more comfortable branching out. Having multiple kids with different temperaments and learning styles forced me to start looking at other options as well."
Her biggest homeschooling challenge is "sticking to a routine. I am a phlegmatic sanguine, so I am easily distracted and have difficulty sticking to doing the same thing every day. It makes for chaotic days and I feel mostly lost a good portion of the year. I wonder how we get things done sometimes."
I asked her if she uses a schedule and she told me, "I always begin with a schedule and usually throw it out after the first week and we just go with the flow. School always is done best in the mornings, so that part I keep consistent."
"You Don't Have to do Everything"
Homeschooling advice is abundant on social media; sometimes to the point of distraction! That being said, there is usually some tidbit of wisdom that sticks with most people. Here's what has stuck with Jen.
"You don’t have to do everything – your kids will still learn even if you don’t have 15 subjects and they aren’t doing Latin, Spanish, German, painting, creative writing, playing 5 instruments, know all the countries’ capitals, and can recite Lord of the Rings by heart. Let go and let God. And that our primary purpose is to get our kids to heaven. Also, read Teaching from Rest!
I’ve learned to roll with the punches, that homeschooling will look different for each family, and that there’s no one way that’s the right way. I’ve learned recently that I need to focus on what works for my family and not compare or worry."
So much wisdom here! I hope you've enjoyed getting to know Jen so far. Leave a comment and let her know what has resonated with you! Next up are her thoughts on organization and self-care!
If you'd like to be part of the Catholic Homeschooling Mama Showcase, contact me!