Everyday Educator - What’s My Family’s Mission?
00:00:00.000 | (gentle music)
00:00:02.580 | - Welcome, friends, to this episode
00:00:06.360 | of the Everyday Educator Podcast.
00:00:09.160 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.920 | and I am excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:14.500 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:18.180 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:21.040 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:24.440 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:26.660 | this homeschooling possibility
00:00:28.760 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:32.760 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:36.880 | But don't forget,
00:00:38.400 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:41.840 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.840 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:52.160 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:57.000 | Well, listeners, I'm super excited to talk to you today
00:01:00.880 | about something that, frankly,
00:01:05.240 | I gave very little thought to as an early homeschooler.
00:01:10.100 | And I have a friend to talk with today.
00:01:14.560 | You get to listen in on our conversation.
00:01:16.720 | Kelly Wilt is joining me.
00:01:18.760 | Kelly is also a member of the Classical Conversations
00:01:23.080 | Multimedia Curriculum Development team.
00:01:26.800 | And we have lots of cool conversations.
00:01:28.900 | And I thought it'd be fun for you guys to listen in
00:01:33.080 | on this conversation about family mission statements.
00:01:38.020 | Kelly, how long have you been homeschooling?
00:01:41.720 | - Oh my goodness, Lisa.
00:01:43.120 | - Like forever.
00:01:44.960 | People ask me that and I think,
00:01:46.580 | well, longer than you have time to hear about.
00:01:48.760 | - Yes, it's hard to believe.
00:01:50.240 | It seems like hardly any time at all
00:01:53.240 | and forever all at once, 15 years this year, Lisa.
00:01:58.080 | - Oh my word.
00:02:00.040 | - So God has been so faithful
00:02:01.520 | because at the beginning of this journey,
00:02:04.360 | if I had thought about the length of it,
00:02:06.720 | I think I would have been intimidated,
00:02:08.240 | but God has been so faithful to us.
00:02:11.000 | - Yeah, I would have to say that too.
00:02:13.200 | Now I look back and I think,
00:02:15.300 | oh, wow, when you said 15 and I said,
00:02:17.840 | oh, wow, that's a long time.
00:02:19.000 | And then I thought that my oldest daughter
00:02:23.880 | will be 30 in a few months.
00:02:26.840 | So I must have been homeschooling for 25 years.
00:02:31.020 | But I still love it.
00:02:35.000 | I still do it.
00:02:36.200 | I still have a passion for it.
00:02:38.040 | God has placed homeschooling on my heart.
00:02:41.800 | And I think not just because I love my children
00:02:45.640 | and I love other people's children,
00:02:47.480 | I've been blessed to tutor many other families' children.
00:02:51.400 | It's not just that I love the children.
00:02:52.880 | I really am so committed to homeschooling
00:02:55.500 | because I love parents and I love encouraging parents.
00:03:00.280 | I love helping them to see that God has called them
00:03:04.040 | to do an absolutely scary but wonderful thing
00:03:09.040 | and that they can do it.
00:03:12.480 | And so that, y'all, is totally the reason
00:03:16.420 | I wanna talk about mission statements today
00:03:18.700 | because I was being completely honest.
00:03:20.680 | Our family, when we jumped into homeschooling,
00:03:24.960 | we jumped in with both feet and the full assurance
00:03:27.460 | that God was calling us to do it.
00:03:30.200 | But we had no clue about a mission statement.
00:03:33.520 | And so we, Kelly and I, are gonna together
00:03:36.240 | kind of deconstruct that whole idea
00:03:38.920 | of having a family mission statement while you guys listen.
00:03:42.520 | And hopefully, there'll be some takeaways for you.
00:03:46.180 | And I suspect that you may come to believe
00:03:50.320 | that a mission statement might just be the thing
00:03:53.880 | that your homeschool is missing
00:03:55.760 | that will give it life and purpose, but we'll see.
00:03:59.160 | Let me ask you, Kelly, does your family
00:04:02.400 | have a family mission statement?
00:04:05.480 | - Well, Lisa, let me say our family
00:04:07.960 | is very similar to yours in that,
00:04:11.640 | when we first began homeschooling so many years ago,
00:04:15.420 | mission statements were not in vogue.
00:04:17.560 | That was not a term that we were familiar with.
00:04:21.200 | And so in my mind's eye, I think I had a very unfocused view
00:04:26.200 | of what homeschooling would be to our family.
00:04:30.880 | And one of my sons is a photographer,
00:04:33.520 | and so often, he will hand me his camera,
00:04:37.000 | and I will look through the lens,
00:04:38.640 | and everything will be blurry.
00:04:40.380 | And he'll say, "Focus, Mom, focus!"
00:04:42.920 | And so I will turn that lens under his direction,
00:04:47.900 | and the picture will come into view.
00:04:50.720 | And at the beginning of our homeschooling,
00:04:53.400 | I think it was very similar in many ways to that process.
00:04:57.860 | I thought in my mind, I knew where I wanted us to end up,
00:05:02.860 | but I'll be honest and say that I was not certain
00:05:08.380 | at moments how we would get there.
00:05:12.180 | And so there was always this question in the back of my mind,
00:05:17.000 | am I doing the right things?
00:05:19.880 | Are we moving in the right direction?
00:05:23.020 | And classical conversations played a huge role
00:05:26.800 | in helping to establish that focus
00:05:29.480 | in our family for our journey.
00:05:32.260 | So I would say at the very beginning, no.
00:05:34.720 | Now over time, as our vision as a family
00:05:40.880 | has sharpened for what homeschooling
00:05:43.200 | actually is for our family,
00:05:47.140 | we have come across some phrases and some words
00:05:50.820 | and sentiments by studying God's Word,
00:05:54.580 | or even through our reading,
00:05:56.240 | our common reading that we do together as a family
00:06:00.220 | that I think have given us more clarity as a family
00:06:04.840 | to what homeschooling is and what it can be for our family,
00:06:10.180 | not only in the years past, but in the years to come.
00:06:13.740 | - I really like that.
00:06:14.980 | I like the analogy that you made
00:06:17.780 | to looking through the lens of a camera.
00:06:19.980 | And yeah, you can see things,
00:06:22.380 | but it's not as sharply focused
00:06:24.780 | as you thought it was gonna be.
00:06:26.820 | You know that when you look through that
00:06:28.500 | at something beautiful, this always happens to me.
00:06:31.140 | We will drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway in the fall
00:06:35.100 | to look at the leaves,
00:06:36.220 | and they are just so stunningly beautiful.
00:06:40.620 | And I take a picture, but when I come home,
00:06:43.860 | the picture is never, I never feel like exactly,
00:06:47.860 | that it's exactly what I was looking at.
00:06:50.560 | And so somehow I'm not capturing
00:06:54.660 | the full beauty that is there.
00:06:57.420 | And so I really appreciate what you said.
00:07:00.820 | Sometimes looking, focusing, adjusting the focus
00:07:05.580 | a little bit can bring things into sharper relief.
00:07:09.640 | Okay, so you said you didn't have one when you started,
00:07:16.880 | but you eventually saw the light, so to speak,
00:07:21.500 | and realized that a family mission statement
00:07:24.620 | might be a good thing.
00:07:25.880 | And as you grew in your understanding
00:07:27.940 | alongside your family of what it could be,
00:07:30.920 | that that seemed like a desirable thing.
00:07:33.680 | What I was thinking when I realized
00:07:37.460 | that we really needed to address this,
00:07:40.420 | I started trying to think,
00:07:41.980 | why might a family want a family mission statement?
00:07:46.980 | And I want you to help me think through that.
00:07:50.900 | I came up with a couple of things.
00:07:53.160 | A family mission statement
00:07:57.900 | gives us as a family an identity.
00:08:01.700 | It's something that stamps all of us
00:08:06.640 | as belonging together in purpose.
00:08:11.240 | And that's the other thing that a family mission statement
00:08:14.340 | can give your family.
00:08:16.540 | It can very clearly state what you all see
00:08:21.540 | as the purpose of your home, not just your homeschooling,
00:08:28.260 | but what is God's purpose for you as a family unit
00:08:33.180 | in the world?
00:08:34.380 | Why did God ordain from the foundation of the world
00:08:38.420 | that you be part of this family?
00:08:42.480 | I think that having a family mission statement
00:08:48.840 | acquaints every member of your family with the mission.
00:08:54.900 | What is God calling you, not just to be,
00:08:59.220 | 'cause that's your identity,
00:09:01.060 | but what is God calling your family to do together?
00:09:06.060 | What are you thinking?
00:09:07.580 | Why might a family want a family mission statement?
00:09:12.580 | - Well, I feel like a driver
00:09:15.340 | who is looking through the rear view mirror with a car
00:09:17.940 | in reverse just a little bit, hindsight is 20/20.
00:09:21.300 | But I think now looking back to when we first began
00:09:26.100 | homeschooling, a mission statement would have been so helpful
00:09:29.900 | because I think you're right.
00:09:32.340 | I think that it gives a family a shared meaning.
00:09:36.180 | It gives you a shared purpose,
00:09:38.340 | but I think it also establishes a family culture.
00:09:42.100 | We have some things that we say as a family and jokingly,
00:09:48.020 | when our boys were younger, now they're young men,
00:09:51.780 | but we, my husband and I determined
00:09:54.580 | we wanted them to be hardworking.
00:09:57.200 | And so very flippantly, we would say,
00:10:00.820 | wilts don't whine, we do things.
00:10:03.500 | - Oh, I love it.
00:10:04.700 | - It began as this refocusing tool that we would use
00:10:09.700 | where, oh, they would be in the middle of putting together
00:10:13.180 | an any chart for a book maybe they didn't enjoy as much,
00:10:18.180 | or they would be working on an outline
00:10:20.440 | or working on a difficult assignment
00:10:22.120 | or committing something to memory.
00:10:23.860 | Obviously something that would take time
00:10:26.940 | and energy and effort.
00:10:28.900 | - Right, and determination, yeah.
00:10:31.540 | - That's right, we would start to notice
00:10:33.540 | that the attitudes would take a turn south.
00:10:36.500 | - Oh yeah, yeah.
00:10:38.260 | - So my husband would look at me and he would say,
00:10:40.720 | wilts don't whine, and I would say, we do things.
00:10:43.920 | And it was so funny over the years,
00:10:46.600 | it has become a catchphrase in our family
00:10:49.160 | to the point that when we're in community,
00:10:51.500 | I've heard my child say, our youngest say to herself,
00:10:55.840 | wilts don't whine, they do things.
00:10:57.840 | (laughing)
00:10:58.960 | - What a great mantra though.
00:11:01.000 | And what an important way to teach little children
00:11:06.000 | a great spiritual and character truth
00:11:10.320 | in a fun way, but that makes you all part of the same team.
00:11:14.700 | Because it wasn't that you were saying,
00:11:16.920 | Jonathan, stop whining, or Libby, you know better than that.
00:11:21.400 | It's, this identifies us all.
00:11:24.040 | I'm part of this family that doesn't whine, it does things.
00:11:27.980 | How lovely, I like that.
00:11:29.960 | - Well, and you know, thinking about this,
00:11:31.840 | I think way back at the beginning
00:11:33.600 | of our homeschool journey, having a mission statement
00:11:36.660 | would have also helped us to determine our why.
00:11:40.420 | Why were we doing this?
00:11:42.700 | Because you know, I just was jokingly talking
00:11:45.060 | about my children doing difficult things.
00:11:46.960 | Well, Lisa, you and I both know,
00:11:48.820 | homeschooling itself on most days is a difficult thing.
00:11:53.820 | And so having that statement would have helped me
00:11:58.300 | to focus my mind and my heart,
00:12:00.900 | just like I tried to do with my children,
00:12:03.820 | so that I could stay the course.
00:12:05.800 | Because you know, looking back, one thing I know for certain
00:12:09.380 | is that God called us to this path.
00:12:11.960 | And to stay committed to something that is difficult
00:12:15.860 | takes fortitude, it takes perseverance,
00:12:18.820 | it takes determination on the most difficult of days
00:12:23.560 | to stay the course and to continue to move forward
00:12:28.100 | so that God can complete the work that He's called you to do.
00:12:32.320 | And so having that focused statement,
00:12:36.160 | I think would have done for me and my homeschool momma heart
00:12:39.940 | the same thing that saying, "Wilts don't whine,
00:12:43.000 | we do things for my children."
00:12:46.040 | - I love that, I love that.
00:12:49.340 | Another thing that having a family mission statement can do
00:12:55.300 | is help us form goals, help us formulate goals
00:13:00.220 | for our family.
00:13:02.600 | What kind of impact are we gonna have on the world?
00:13:06.200 | If a world impact is part of your mission statement,
00:13:10.100 | then what will you do?
00:13:12.620 | It actually helps to flesh out
00:13:16.440 | or to give you something to flesh out.
00:13:19.400 | Not just the whys, but the whats,
00:13:24.800 | and then the hows of what your family is going to do.
00:13:29.800 | As you move through.
00:13:33.880 | So we've talked a lot about why a family might want
00:13:37.480 | a family mission statement, okay.
00:13:39.580 | But really, I want us to get super practical
00:13:42.920 | because I can remember Kelly as a new homeschooling mom
00:13:47.920 | and I had a five year old who was itching
00:13:54.360 | to learn everything and thought that she already knew
00:13:57.920 | most of it.
00:13:59.120 | And then a two and a half year old that just wanted
00:14:02.400 | to be with us wherever we were and whatever we were doing.
00:14:06.880 | And I remember thinking, "Oh glory, I've got to teach
00:14:11.440 | "this little soul how to read and all about numbers
00:14:16.440 | "and I want her to be curious about the world.
00:14:19.920 | "I want both of them to be healthy and happy
00:14:23.480 | "and I want them to know about God and I want them
00:14:26.840 | "to learn how to live in a family."
00:14:29.120 | Oh, I was so overwhelmed some days.
00:14:31.640 | I mean, isn't coming up with a family mission statement
00:14:35.440 | just a bridge too far?
00:14:37.240 | Isn't that just too much for families starting out?
00:14:41.520 | - You know, I remember those days where my husband
00:14:45.400 | would come home from work and I would hand him a baby
00:14:49.600 | while I was stirring spaghetti sauce on the stove
00:14:52.360 | and I would say, "We made it, we're all still alive."
00:14:55.080 | And that was the goal of the day.
00:14:58.560 | You know, I think that as I have learned more
00:15:03.120 | and as our family has grown, I've realized that
00:15:05.600 | as our family grows, so has our mission.
00:15:08.560 | Our understanding of our mission has grown,
00:15:12.880 | our understanding of what it can and should be has grown
00:15:17.120 | just as my children have.
00:15:19.800 | And so when my boys were super little, I would say,
00:15:23.680 | because I had two very distinct personalities.
00:15:27.600 | I had a first born perfectionist who would build
00:15:30.240 | elaborate block towers and then I had my second born
00:15:34.120 | who delighted in knocking every single one of them over.
00:15:38.040 | And so there was always just an underlying conflict
00:15:42.080 | going on between the two boys.
00:15:45.120 | And so I would say to them, love God, love each other,
00:15:50.600 | daddy, mama, sister, brother.
00:15:53.960 | And we would say that because at that point
00:15:57.860 | in our homeschool journey, those were the goals.
00:16:00.880 | I wanted my boys, and this was before their sister
00:16:04.680 | even came along, so they were ready for her
00:16:07.240 | whenever she came.
00:16:09.280 | But I wanted them, first of all, to love God.
00:16:12.040 | I knew that was a goal from the beginning.
00:16:14.720 | That was a distinctive that I wanted for our family.
00:16:18.280 | And I wanted them to love each other well.
00:16:20.680 | Now that looked very different when I had a six year old
00:16:24.400 | and a three year old, than it does now as I have young men
00:16:28.920 | who are approaching manhood to live independently
00:16:33.260 | of our family, which seems so bizarre to say
00:16:37.280 | because those block knocking over days
00:16:41.520 | just seemed like yesterday.
00:16:43.580 | But now I see the relationship they have.
00:16:48.160 | They do love the Lord.
00:16:49.600 | They do love each other.
00:16:51.000 | And when I walk past our son who is still at home's bedroom,
00:16:56.000 | and I hear him in conversation with his brother,
00:16:59.760 | I see that God used that little saying to cement a value
00:17:04.760 | in their hearts and minds to love God
00:17:07.800 | and to love each other well.
00:17:09.480 | And so even though at that stage in the game
00:17:11.520 | when they were small, we did not have
00:17:13.640 | a formal mission statement.
00:17:15.100 | The sentiment, the values definitely were there
00:17:19.920 | and took root and were ingrained
00:17:22.220 | even when they were little guys.
00:17:24.160 | And now I get to enjoy the fruit of that
00:17:26.340 | as I see their near adult relationship with each other.
00:17:30.180 | What a gift.
00:17:31.940 | - Man, I love that.
00:17:34.360 | I love that.
00:17:35.780 | Love God, love each other.
00:17:37.780 | I love that.
00:17:39.260 | I love that because we had little sayings
00:17:43.960 | in our family too that we grew up in.
00:17:46.460 | Some days it was just a one-off that you just said
00:17:51.880 | and it developed a life of its own.
00:17:54.660 | Maybe it had a rhythm or a cadence
00:17:57.340 | or in a lighthearted way spoke a deep truth
00:18:00.760 | that you guys tended to live out.
00:18:03.200 | And so those are so, so fun to hold on to.
00:18:07.740 | And I bet your kids still remember those things.
00:18:11.920 | This is what I want to say about families
00:18:15.860 | who might feel like, oh, now I have to come up
00:18:18.180 | with a mission statement and do all this stuff.
00:18:21.100 | Here's what I want to tell you.
00:18:23.620 | A mission statement, I believe,
00:18:28.860 | is worth the quote-unquote trouble for three reasons.
00:18:33.860 | Okay, I know I sound like a loss of tools of writing paper.
00:18:39.260 | Okay, for three reasons, at least three reasons.
00:18:43.100 | Here's one thing.
00:18:44.180 | A family mission statement can help you get started right.
00:18:49.180 | It can help you distill the things
00:18:55.000 | that are truly important to you,
00:18:57.480 | that God has laid on your heart.
00:19:00.060 | It will help you articulate, like Kelly said, your why.
00:19:04.100 | Why has God called me to this?
00:19:07.720 | But it will help you get started right
00:19:10.900 | so that in the middle of a really bad day,
00:19:15.540 | you will be able to go back to your mission statement
00:19:18.580 | and say, but what our family is about is loving God
00:19:23.580 | and learning how to love others and filling in those blank.
00:19:31.300 | And that brings me to the second reason
00:19:33.300 | that a mission statement is a really good thing.
00:19:36.620 | It will continually bring you back to home base.
00:19:41.340 | Those of you listeners who've been homeschooling
00:19:44.020 | for a long time know that even though
00:19:48.640 | we're everyday educators and we are learning
00:19:51.000 | alongside our children, we are still sometimes
00:19:53.920 | led astray by the eye candy of what other families are doing
00:19:58.920 | or what seems like a really great gimmick.
00:20:02.100 | It's flashy or colorful or fun.
00:20:05.360 | And we get spread thin or pulled
00:20:07.660 | in too many different directions.
00:20:09.860 | A family mission statement will always bring you back
00:20:14.300 | to home base, will always bring you back
00:20:17.040 | to the foundations of why am I doing this?
00:20:20.460 | What am I called to do in my home
00:20:23.540 | with my children and in the world?
00:20:26.600 | And here's another thing.
00:20:28.820 | The third reason I think a family mission statement
00:20:32.120 | is so wonderful is that it will calm you.
00:20:37.120 | It will give calmness to your homeschooling
00:20:42.380 | and to your family life because your family mission
00:20:45.440 | statement will actually help refine your choices.
00:20:50.440 | There are some things, you cannot,
00:20:53.800 | have you ever been to a homeschool book fair?
00:20:57.060 | Oh my gosh, for people who love books,
00:21:00.060 | it is just like I sometimes go in
00:21:02.900 | and just sort of spin in a circle.
00:21:04.600 | I'm just like, I don't know what's a good thing
00:21:06.340 | to look at first.
00:21:08.180 | There's so many good things and there's so many choices
00:21:11.120 | and there's so many good choices.
00:21:14.120 | But too much of a good thing is not too good.
00:21:18.020 | It is still just too much.
00:21:20.340 | And so you gotta have something that will help you
00:21:24.300 | refine your choices and find the things,
00:21:28.540 | the activities, the emphasis, the books,
00:21:33.140 | the avenues of study that really further
00:21:37.340 | your family's mission as God has led your family to see it.
00:21:42.340 | And that's why I think a mission statement is so important.
00:21:47.680 | I can't, I really do think it's awesome to have one.
00:21:56.460 | Let's talk a little more practicality.
00:21:59.660 | Who should write this?
00:22:01.460 | Kelly, when you guys started coming up
00:22:03.520 | with more of a statement, did you and Kim,
00:22:07.620 | your husband write it together?
00:22:09.460 | Did you write it and get him to pass off on it?
00:22:12.100 | Or did you involve the whole family?
00:22:15.000 | Well, I involved our whole family and let me tell you why.
00:22:19.000 | Because I wanted this to be a focus for all of us,
00:22:24.660 | not just something that mom had imposed on our family.
00:22:28.860 | I wanted them to feel that they were a part
00:22:32.560 | of our family culture because they are.
00:22:35.020 | Each person in your family is unique
00:22:37.540 | and uniquely given to you to fulfill God's purpose
00:22:41.740 | for your family in this world.
00:22:43.580 | And so involving each of them, to me,
00:22:46.580 | was the right path to take.
00:22:48.900 | And I would encourage young families
00:22:52.080 | who are listening to this podcast,
00:22:54.060 | you may be in the age right now where you have
00:22:59.060 | a mixture of ages, maybe even a three-year-old
00:23:03.140 | and our two-year-old who just likes to blurt out things
00:23:06.380 | like I love pizza, frogs are gross.
00:23:08.560 | You just never know what things they're going to observe
00:23:12.780 | and want to make known.
00:23:14.180 | I would encourage you to sit down
00:23:16.620 | even with those little list of babies
00:23:18.780 | and really listen to everyone's contributions
00:23:23.020 | for your family statement.
00:23:24.780 | Because behind that I love pizza statement,
00:23:28.900 | there may be a little one who is actually saying,
00:23:32.980 | I love pizza because our family spends time together
00:23:35.940 | around the table.
00:23:37.500 | I love pizza because it's something that we make together
00:23:40.820 | in the kitchen that's fun.
00:23:43.900 | There may be an underlying why or a how
00:23:50.660 | that's just under the surface.
00:23:52.980 | And so allowing each member of the family to contribute
00:23:56.980 | validates each member of your family as part of a whole.
00:24:01.220 | And I think in that sense,
00:24:03.900 | the process to get to a mission statement is as valuable
00:24:08.740 | if not more valuable than the product, the end result.
00:24:13.100 | Because you were in conversation with those people
00:24:17.060 | who sit at the very center of your heart
00:24:20.620 | talking about what sets you apart in this world?
00:24:25.340 | What is your family's role in this world?
00:24:28.340 | And how do you want your family to grow
00:24:31.820 | in this world that God has made?
00:24:34.020 | And those are definitely valuable things
00:24:36.700 | that even the smallest members of your family
00:24:39.940 | should hear you speak aloud because it gives them weight
00:24:44.860 | and it gives them meaning and it helps them
00:24:47.260 | even from those youngest days to have understanding
00:24:50.620 | about what is valuable to your family
00:24:54.540 | and how God has uniquely created you to come together
00:24:59.260 | and to serve him in this world.
00:25:01.300 | - That's cool.
00:25:02.180 | And realizing that God has put you all together
00:25:07.180 | in a specific family for a specific purpose
00:25:13.580 | is kind of awe-inspiring.
00:25:16.420 | And even for little children to think God chose us
00:25:21.420 | to be together on purpose so that we could learn
00:25:26.900 | to know him more and love him more and love one another.
00:25:32.140 | But he may have given your family
00:25:35.540 | something unique to do in the world.
00:25:40.180 | And so pulling your family together to sit down
00:25:43.980 | and have a conversation about, okay, guys,
00:25:47.220 | what is ours to do?
00:25:50.940 | What is ours to do in our little community
00:25:56.780 | that maybe if we don't take up the task, nobody will do it?
00:26:01.860 | What is ours to, and it gives me chills
00:26:06.060 | to think about that because what a lovely thing
00:26:10.060 | for your children to realize from an early age
00:26:12.980 | is that God has intentionally planned good works
00:26:16.060 | for them to do.
00:26:17.660 | And he planted them first in a family
00:26:20.980 | so that they could know and learn and grow to know him
00:26:25.980 | and love him and be prepared for the good works
00:26:29.900 | that he has for them to do.
00:26:32.060 | So what if our listeners are thinking now,
00:26:39.060 | 'cause I'm here to tell y'all,
00:26:40.540 | if you've been homeschooling five or six years and think,
00:26:43.380 | well, I just missed that boat.
00:26:44.900 | I mean, I've just been messing around for five or six years.
00:26:47.980 | I don't know what I'm gonna do now.
00:26:49.180 | It's never too late.
00:26:51.100 | And you know what, guys, if you've been at this for a while,
00:26:55.060 | you might have a better idea than ever before
00:26:59.460 | what your family's mission statement could be
00:27:03.540 | and maybe should be given what you now know
00:27:06.180 | about your family.
00:27:07.740 | But I suspect there's some people who are listening
00:27:10.300 | that think, well, I never thought about having
00:27:11.860 | a family mission statement.
00:27:13.620 | Or if I thought about it at all,
00:27:15.140 | I thought that's not for me.
00:27:16.300 | But now I think it might be for me.
00:27:19.900 | It might be for us.
00:27:22.260 | Where do we get ideas?
00:27:23.900 | Where do we get ideas for cultivating
00:27:28.220 | or writing a family mission statement?
00:27:30.940 | How do we know what ought to be included?
00:27:38.740 | I have, I wanna share with you
00:27:41.940 | that writing a family mission statement
00:27:46.940 | is actually one of the things
00:27:50.580 | that our brand new piece of material,
00:27:55.380 | Scribblers at Home, Recipes from Lifelong Learners,
00:27:59.340 | writing a family mission statement
00:28:00.920 | is one of the very first activities
00:28:04.060 | that is advocated for families and scribblers.
00:28:08.620 | And so some of you, if you have
00:28:10.700 | the Scribblers resource already,
00:28:13.380 | if you look on pages two and three,
00:28:17.020 | that's where we talk about a family mission statement.
00:28:20.060 | There's some questions that we know
00:28:24.660 | that families might want to begin thinking.
00:28:28.100 | And new families, I understand that you might be overwhelmed.
00:28:32.940 | Your big question right now might be,
00:28:35.600 | but what do I want my children to know?
00:28:38.340 | I'm not sure, what should I want my children to know?
00:28:40.460 | But there's some things, there's some other questions
00:28:43.700 | that I would advocate you asking first.
00:28:48.180 | Questions that might lead you gently toward
00:28:53.020 | what you want to enjoy with your family.
00:28:55.720 | And like I said, this is in Scribblers on page two,
00:29:01.140 | but I'm just gonna mention these questions really quickly.
00:29:05.500 | They will give you something to think about
00:29:08.020 | if you are beginning to work on a family mission statement.
00:29:12.380 | What is your family's purpose?
00:29:16.500 | Now maybe you've never thought about that before.
00:29:18.620 | Spend some time seeking the Lord
00:29:21.900 | and talking with the people in your family
00:29:24.860 | and really try to figure out what is it?
00:29:28.380 | What is our purpose?
00:29:29.540 | Why are we together?
00:29:31.640 | What are your family's priorities?
00:29:34.440 | What are your family's priorities?
00:29:37.460 | I suspect that most of us would say that knowing God
00:29:41.660 | and bringing our children into relationship
00:29:45.020 | with the Lord Jesus is one of our highest priorities.
00:29:48.060 | But for some families,
00:29:50.460 | physical fitness is a very high priority.
00:29:53.200 | For some families, spending time with extended family
00:29:56.740 | is a priority.
00:29:58.160 | For some families, it's learning how to plant a garden
00:30:02.580 | or fix a leaking faucet
00:30:05.740 | or work with your hands.
00:30:08.680 | What are your family's priorities?
00:30:10.780 | How does education fit into your purpose and priorities?
00:30:15.780 | That question will begin to help you
00:30:18.620 | make homeschooling decisions.
00:30:21.180 | But homeschooling decisions on purpose,
00:30:24.680 | not on accident or not on
00:30:27.820 | 'cause that's what everybody else was doing
00:30:29.740 | or because that's what I thought I was supposed to do.
00:30:33.860 | Number four, do you have a family mission statement
00:30:37.140 | which is a family purpose?
00:30:40.400 | What you could consider, what makes your family unique?
00:30:44.360 | How would you, what are your identifying characteristics?
00:30:50.340 | How will you identify yourself?
00:30:53.020 | When our family, when our oldest daughter was born,
00:30:56.300 | she wasn't, she was fairly precocious in speaking.
00:31:01.420 | So she was not too very old before we realized
00:31:04.620 | that she was picking up on our love of sarcasm.
00:31:09.100 | And so she, when her sister came along,
00:31:12.220 | she was cut from a different piece of cloth
00:31:14.620 | and we realized that that sarcasm
00:31:16.940 | did not come naturally to her.
00:31:18.400 | And if that was gonna stay a love language for our family,
00:31:22.120 | we had to initiate her into it.
00:31:24.460 | So what makes your family unique?
00:31:26.520 | But how, what's an identifying characteristic of your family?
00:31:31.480 | How will you love one another?
00:31:35.520 | Ooh, how will you each give and receive love?
00:31:39.880 | That's an important thing to know about your family.
00:31:42.240 | What traditions do you have now
00:31:44.640 | and what traditions would you like to begin?
00:31:48.720 | These are just some beginning questions
00:31:51.620 | that might help you narrow down your family mission statement.
00:31:56.620 | Kelly, I want some ideas from you too.
00:31:59.060 | Where do we get ideas of how to craft our statement?
00:32:02.300 | What kind of stuff are we supposed to put in there?
00:32:05.140 | - Well, that is a great question.
00:32:06.740 | And I think the questions that you've just listed
00:32:11.000 | are a great place to start because I think for me,
00:32:14.780 | at the beginning of this journey,
00:32:16.260 | I definitely would have needed inspiration,
00:32:20.260 | even begin thinking about the scope
00:32:22.880 | of what homeschooling would mean for our family.
00:32:26.860 | Like I said, those early days very much felt survival-based
00:32:31.080 | and really I wanted our family to thrive
00:32:35.940 | in their homeschooling journey.
00:32:37.560 | I did not want our days to feel thin and drawn.
00:32:42.220 | I wanted them to feel rich and full.
00:32:44.980 | And so at the beginning, I had to look past
00:32:48.960 | what our current place was.
00:32:51.140 | Almost like I was saying before,
00:32:52.760 | when I would look through my son's camera
00:32:54.500 | and look at a far off place and draw focus,
00:32:57.880 | I think in those beginning days,
00:33:00.020 | I had to really, in my mind's eye,
00:33:02.620 | pray for God to reveal a future to me
00:33:05.820 | that was rich in wisdom and goodness and truth
00:33:10.820 | through my little people who were just
00:33:14.580 | at the very beginning stage, who wanted to sit in my lap,
00:33:17.780 | who wanted to hear stories,
00:33:20.060 | who wanted to go and dig in the dirt in the backyard
00:33:22.520 | and find worms and all of those things
00:33:24.820 | that make childhood so wonderful
00:33:27.220 | because there's discovery through play.
00:33:29.960 | As a mom, I had to think, be forward thinking
00:33:34.480 | about where that would lead them.
00:33:37.040 | What kind of people did I want them to be
00:33:40.480 | in this world for the Lord?
00:33:43.700 | What was, like you said, what were the tasks
00:33:48.020 | that would be given to them to do
00:33:50.900 | on this side of eternity to glorify God?
00:33:53.900 | And so I love that list of questions that you just shared
00:33:58.400 | because there is so much wisdom to be found
00:34:02.660 | in thinking deeply before you get to a place of expectation,
00:34:07.660 | thinking deeply in preparation
00:34:11.380 | because I think so often we can be very tempted
00:34:14.640 | to shoot an arrow and then draw the target
00:34:17.500 | and declare ourselves successful.
00:34:20.420 | And quite often, if we would just take time
00:34:25.220 | to prepare and to pray,
00:34:27.940 | actually I probably should reverse that,
00:34:29.520 | to pray and prepare to think how God
00:34:34.060 | will multiply our efforts because we've taken time
00:34:37.460 | to commit that process to Him.
00:34:40.220 | So I love that list of questions.
00:34:43.140 | And I love also in the Scribblers at Home book
00:34:47.660 | how there are also conversation starters
00:34:50.140 | on that very same page to think about
00:34:54.420 | not only what your family may need,
00:34:58.740 | but what do you want to do with your children?
00:35:02.260 | I knew when we began this journey
00:35:03.900 | that I wanted to escape the paradigm of education
00:35:08.380 | that I had been in my past.
00:35:10.780 | I knew I might not have known what homeschooling could be,
00:35:15.660 | but I had a pretty good idea of what I didn't want it to be.
00:35:18.980 | And so I had to pray and commit that to God and say,
00:35:23.120 | okay, Lord, help me not only to run from something,
00:35:26.940 | help me to run toward you and use this as a tool
00:35:31.300 | in my children's lives so that they could know Him.
00:35:34.780 | And as we say here in CC,
00:35:37.060 | to know Him and to make Him known in this world.
00:35:39.700 | So those questions that are at the bottom of page two also
00:35:44.660 | are really helpful.
00:35:46.380 | And particularly the final one at the bottom of that list,
00:35:50.580 | how can you cultivate teachable moments,
00:35:53.220 | was a turning point for me as a homeschool mom.
00:35:57.540 | Because in my former life, before I was a homeschooler,
00:36:00.540 | I was a classroom teacher.
00:36:02.540 | And so when we began our family,
00:36:04.780 | I was very wary of being my profession with my family.
00:36:09.780 | And so I think at first I shied away
00:36:14.660 | from those teachable moments
00:36:16.220 | because I wanted my children to have some rest.
00:36:18.460 | And the truth is what I needed to do was pray for God
00:36:21.860 | to reveal those moments to me
00:36:24.440 | so that I could show Him to them in those moments.
00:36:28.900 | So I really, I love the fact that these questions
00:36:31.860 | are included so that we think what is unique to our family?
00:36:36.860 | But not only what is unique to us,
00:36:40.140 | but what do we want to achieve through this process?
00:36:45.140 | So good, so that we're not shooting an arrow
00:36:48.580 | and drawing a target.
00:36:49.660 | We draw that target and then we're able to take aim
00:36:54.060 | because we know exactly where we're headed.
00:36:56.420 | And that is so valuable.
00:36:58.860 | - It really is.
00:37:00.220 | I love what you were saying about including your children
00:37:03.900 | and recognizing that your family mission statement
00:37:08.900 | is going to impact your children.
00:37:13.260 | And I got to thinking,
00:37:14.240 | it's not just impacting your children while they're little
00:37:18.880 | as you begin to homeschool them.
00:37:21.120 | It is going to impact your children as they grow up
00:37:26.120 | and as they leave your home.
00:37:29.180 | What is it that your children, that you want them to become?
00:37:34.180 | Like you said, let's consider what do we want them
00:37:38.460 | to grow to be lovers of God?
00:37:42.380 | But who are they and who has God made them to be?
00:37:46.700 | And I think that they can draw some identity
00:37:51.420 | from this family mission statement.
00:37:53.360 | I think that they can draw some direction
00:37:57.100 | from the family mission statement.
00:37:59.100 | I think that having a family mission statement
00:38:02.220 | provides our children a grounding in who they are in Christ,
00:38:07.220 | in who they are in the family
00:38:11.460 | and in who God is molding them to become.
00:38:15.620 | And what a great gift to give our children as they grow up.
00:38:20.620 | I love it.
00:38:24.160 | It impacts our children even as they grow up and leave home.
00:38:28.220 | - Kelly, you've been such, as always,
00:38:30.580 | such a good conversation partner
00:38:34.220 | as we've kind of wrestled through
00:38:36.860 | a family mission statement and how to repent
00:38:40.100 | from not having one and now maybe for the listeners,
00:38:44.380 | how to do as we wish we had done.
00:38:47.560 | Just talking about the value of it
00:38:51.900 | and how it can be a tool that the Lord uses
00:38:54.740 | to refine us in our homeschool as we really do follow
00:38:58.980 | His path has been really good.
00:39:01.540 | I have one last question for you.
00:39:04.060 | I'm gonna ask you the question and give you a minute
00:39:07.200 | to think as I tell our listeners about some other
00:39:11.380 | really good thing that I want them to know.
00:39:13.900 | Here's my last question.
00:39:15.620 | How are you, Kelly Wilt, an everyday educator
00:39:20.820 | and will you always be one?
00:39:25.820 | You think about that.
00:39:27.100 | I'm gonna ask you.
00:39:28.140 | Listeners, I wanna tell you about a little more maybe
00:39:32.580 | about something that you've heard rumors of,
00:39:35.940 | a brand new foundations through challenge
00:39:39.660 | for math curriculum called the Math Map.
00:39:42.940 | Some of you may have heard that such a curriculum
00:39:46.360 | is being developed by Lee Bortons,
00:39:48.620 | the founder of Classical Conversations.
00:39:51.460 | It is specifically designed to teach homeschool parents
00:39:56.460 | the language of math.
00:39:58.660 | And once we learn the language of math,
00:40:01.600 | we're going to be able to share that language
00:40:04.380 | with our children.
00:40:05.760 | And now you might be saying, what does learning math
00:40:08.500 | have to do with learning a language?
00:40:11.420 | Well, here's the deal.
00:40:12.780 | Like a foreign language, math has very specific vocabulary
00:40:17.980 | and concepts and notations that are just as unfamiliar
00:40:22.100 | to us at first as a foreign language might be.
00:40:26.240 | With the Math Map, you can discover and become more familiar
00:40:31.240 | with this language of math.
00:40:34.620 | Right now, Classical Conversation members can access
00:40:38.460 | an exclusive sneak peek of the beta release
00:40:43.460 | of the Math Map, Naturals.
00:40:46.980 | And you can find this on CC Connected.
00:40:50.440 | As you walk through the lessons in Math Map, Naturals
00:40:53.980 | and become more familiar with the language of math,
00:40:56.460 | you're gonna be better equipped to teach your kids
00:40:59.220 | and have great conversations with your children about math.
00:41:03.400 | Now here's the deal, Math Map, Naturals will not stay
00:41:08.400 | on CC Connected forever.
00:41:11.140 | So you be sure to get on there and work through it
00:41:14.940 | while it's still available.
00:41:17.180 | To access Math Map, Naturals,
00:41:20.100 | log on to your CC Connected account,
00:41:24.220 | navigate to the Learning Center and search for the Math Map.
00:41:29.220 | I think that you're gonna love it, I really do.
00:41:33.740 | Now, Kelly, I'm back to you.
00:41:34.900 | I wanna know the answer to the question,
00:41:37.740 | are you an everyday, how are you an everyday educator?
00:41:41.840 | And will you always be one?
00:41:44.700 | - Oh, that's a really great question.
00:41:46.820 | So I will start by telling you
00:41:50.720 | our family's mission statement,
00:41:52.260 | our working mission statement at this point in the game.
00:41:55.060 | And I will say to people who are listening right now,
00:41:59.780 | at this point, we are 15 years into what will probably be
00:42:04.780 | almost a 20 year journey for our family.
00:42:08.620 | So we have homeschooled for quite some time.
00:42:12.800 | And so it's taken me to this point to sharpen our focus
00:42:17.800 | to the place where I have these thoughts.
00:42:20.100 | But this is our family's working mission statement.
00:42:23.420 | The purpose of our family is to know God
00:42:28.560 | and to make Him known, sound familiar?
00:42:30.620 | By seeking truth, promoting goodness and celebrating beauty
00:42:36.640 | in and through the world He's created.
00:42:41.800 | So I would answer your question, Lisa, with this.
00:42:44.460 | I am an everyday educator,
00:42:47.060 | and this is how I will continue to seek to be one.
00:42:50.720 | My prayer is that I will look for God in creation.
00:42:56.820 | Everywhere that I look, I see Him.
00:42:59.420 | And I will pray, like I mentioned before,
00:43:02.260 | for those teachable moments.
00:43:04.220 | Not only what I can teach my children,
00:43:08.420 | but what God can continue to teach me.
00:43:11.660 | Because we are all on an education journey,
00:43:14.580 | not only as homeschool families,
00:43:17.460 | but as brothers and sisters in Christ.
00:43:20.860 | And so as He continues to reveal Himself to us,
00:43:24.300 | we can know Him more deeply,
00:43:26.440 | and then we can reflect Him in this world.
00:43:29.140 | So yes, my goal is to be an everyday educator
00:43:32.380 | all the days that He gives me.
00:43:34.260 | - That's awesome, and I suspect did nothing less.
00:43:37.960 | Thank you for sharing today, Kelly.
00:43:40.580 | Listeners, thank you for joining us.
00:43:42.420 | I hope this has given you food for thought.
00:43:45.380 | And I encourage you, as always,
00:43:48.100 | to go forth and be an everyday educator.
00:43:52.260 | See you next week.
00:43:53.660 | (gentle music)
00:43:56.240 | you
00:43:58.300 | [BLANK_AUDIO]