Gideon is Reading!

One of my biggest fears with homeschooling has been, "What am I going to do with Gideon?" Chloe is soo easy to teach. She sits and listens, and absorbs the information with very little work. Gideon, on the other hand jumps up and down every two seconds, and rolls on the ground when I try to tell him something. It's impossible to get him to listen to me for more than two secconds. I really didn't know if I was up to the challenge of teaching him, and was seriously considering sending the kids to school next year, when he starts kindergarten.

As I prayed about it, though, I felt like God was telling me to keep them home a little longer. More specifically, "I want you to be the one raising your children." Still, I fretted over how this could happen, and whether it was the best choice. Until God convicted me that I wasn't trusting him. After all, if He's calling me to do something, can't He do it? So I gave it up to God. And now I'm trusting him to teach my children, because we both know I can't do it. --And don't you think he'll be a better teacher anyway? :)

Within a couple days of making this decision, I was having Bible time with the kids, and we came to the story of Asa. Asa was a good king who trusted God, and led his people away from idol worship. When he was attacked by a huge army, he sought God's help, and He gave Judah the victory. Some time after that, Asa was facing problems with the king of Israel. And instead of seeking God, he sought the help of men. God sent a prophet to him to reprimand Asa for not trusting Him. He said, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." (II Chr. 16:9). The Children's Bible that we were reading simplified that verse it to say, "The Lord shows his power to those who trust him." Lord, I want to see your power, so I'm going to trust you with my children's education.

A couple days later, Gideon asked me to teach him to read. Normally, I might do a simple lesson with him, but not really try, because I just didn't think he had the capacity to learn something so complicated. His attention span just wasn't capable of working through an entire reading lesson. But, I decided to stick with it, and start teaching him. And guess what? He's doing AWESOME! And it's so easy! I don't have to struggle with him at all. I'm amazed at how quickly he can decode the words he reads. Thank you, God, for teaching Gideon for me. :) :)