“They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”" (Exodus 14:11)

We like the other part of the story.  Moses raises his staff, the Red Sea parts, the chosen ones cross on dry land and the enemies are snuffed out in the triumphant glory of God’s justice.

But on the eve of this great event, was there a spirit of heightened expectation?  A furor among a people preparing for deliverance?  No.  In fact, all seemed lost.  The mood was blacker than the cloud which hid them.  Like some group-think Stockholm Syndrome, the people actually yearned for their oppression.

Seems ridiculous in hindsight, doesn’t it?  But we don’t live every day with the benefit of hindsight as it relates to our circumstances, do we?  We go through our daily motions often feeling like there’s no straw to be found for the bricks we’re supposed to be building in our lives, our families, our schooling or our work.  We want to be delivered.  I know, because I’ve been there too.  We all have.

But often when deliverance comes, it doesn’t take the form that we think it should.  Exodus teaches us a valuable lesson.  Sometimes our deliverance feels like a dead-end.

Take heart.  While our perspective is like tunnel vision, God’s is not.  Exodus 2 tells us that God heard the groans of his people and took notice.  Isn’t that an encouraging thought?  Just because nothing seems to be happening, or perhaps your circumstances seem to be getting worse, doesn’t mean the world is ending.

We know the end of the story.  “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today… The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Are you willing to be silent and wait on the Lord?

Ran across this article (it’s a PDF that you can also get from this website) recently from my mom, who teaches kids in public schools to read.  Marc Prensky makes some excellent points that I think are as applicable for homeschool families as they are for public school teachers.  We think it’s worth a read.

The basic premise is that those of us who are teaching our kids have generally grown up in the pre-digital age and although we have adopted and embraced many of the “customs” of the digital age, we’re still digital immigrants as opposed to our children who have never known life without the internet.

Even our readers and followers who are “tweeners,” considering themselves in the digital age but of it, know that their experience and perspective on technology is different from their children’s and are often surprised at their acumen with digital technology even though they may have placed some substantial limits on it.

The point is that teaching digital natives, his term for those who have grown up in a digital world, has to take on a fundamentally different structure and methodology from the experience that we had growing up and being taught.  As I’ve mentioned many times before, we as homeschoolers often bring our own educational paradigm to bear on our children, a paradigm that was often shaped by our own experience in public school.  That paradigm has been rendered obsolete because the world has changed, but curriculum (both homeschool and public school) has been slow to change with it.

We find this very interesting as we’re rolling out our own attempt at a technology curriculum, which we’re developing as a means of teaching our own children (and one that we hope will be helpful to you).

The digital revolution is impacting us all, but as homeschoolers, we’re in a position to be more flexible, adaptable and creative in how and what we teach.  Our challenge is to not only understanding how the “delivery” of education is evolving, but in the midst of it to be guides and shepherds of our children’s hearts and minds.

As a marathoner, one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten was, “Run your own race.”  In such a test of endurance, if you try to keep up with someone who’s faster than you or if you simply go out too fast and don’t run at a sustainable pace, not only will you fail to meet your own goals, but you risk the dreaded DNF… Did Not Finish.

We’ve all heard sayings similar to, “life’s a marathon, not a sprint.”  I believe that applies to homeschooling as well (not to mention marriage, raising a family and building a career!).  Like a fingerprint or a snowflake, each family has a culture of strengths and passions and skills and personality that are uniquely it’s own.  When we’re too focused on trying to run someone else’s race, to be like that “perfect family,” we accomplish nothing.  We wear ourselves down, miss our blessings and lose our soul.

I have a lot of respect for runners who are stronger and faster than I am.  I can learn a lot from them (whether I like them or agree with them or not!), maybe train with them from time to time, but when the day of the marathon gets here, I can’t run their race.  Envying them won’t make me any faster or stronger.  Let me encourage you to run your own race.  Know your pace and stick to it.  Pursue your own goals and finish well.