What does it look like to homeschool and parent from a place of grace?

We cannot give what we do not have. Are you living in a place of grace? Are you reminding yourself of Whose you are and what He has done for you? That's grace, Mama, and you did not deserve it. Neither do your kids, and now is your chance to show them Jesus. What an opportunity!

If you're just coming in on this series, you might want to start with What Does Homeschooling From a Place of Grace Look Like? Part One, and What Does Homeschooling From a Place of Grace Look Like? Part Two. In fact, I beg you to start there because it's foundational to what I'm going to say here.

She wrote more:

"I have myself fallen victim to the "sheltering" scheme in the homeschool world and am feeling so hopeless and lost right now (this goes back to your post this morn as well).
What you spoke of as far as grace being "scary" is so true for me! I've always been so fearful of extending grace to my children (and my husband . . . well, EVERYONE, really, truth be told!) for the very reason you stated: that they would take advantage of it. I can't seem to get my feeble head around the simple concept of grace and so I continually bang said feeble head against the wall a zillion times a day knowing deep inside that there is a better way, and that the Lord is calling me to it. My own fear (and I should insert here that I am incapable of extending any shred of grace to myself either!) has gotten the better of me for so long; in ways I'm sure I've not even uncovered yet. Hearing how you have seen any victory in this would sure encourage me"

Victory is a daily thing here, too. It's a reminder of the gospel, to myself, to Fletch, to my kids. It comes back around to all of us all day long - at the breakfast table when a little guy grabs something out of the other little guy's hand, at lunch when a teen is feeling sorry for herself, at dinner when we remind each other that we can't do anything on our own! That our identity is in what Jesus has already done for us.

You know what else? When our identity is in the right place, we are free to love others well and to pour grace out all over them, too, because we are so secure in the fierce love God has for us that we don't have any need to feel threatened by the choices others make or by how much better a job at homeschooling or parenting we think they're doing.

The homeschool community needs a gigantic lovin' spoonful of GRACE. Hey homeschooler! Your identity is in Jesus and what He's already done for you, not in the fact that you chose to homeschool, think you must homeschool, homeschool the right way, or have never sent your kids to school.

Finding our identity in any of that stuff is exactly what C.S. Lewis talked about when he likened us finding our value and worth in something other than the gospel to"an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Yes, we are.