Confident and Grateful Graduates...

I loved my homeschool experience while I was in the midst of it, but my appreciation has only grown as I’ve moved in and out of the subsequent seasons in my life. I had the opportunity to share a bit about that this summer at the Arizona Homeschool Convention. It was fun to reflect on those benefits. Most of my friends who were homeschooled have shared similar stories and they are always inspiring to me, especially now that I'm in the trenches of teaching my boys.

So I was intrigued when a publisher contacted me and asked if I would be willing to review Tim Tebow's new autobiography. I must admit, I was a bit confused at first. Never in a million years did I ever imagine that someone would ask me to review a football book… It took me a minute to realize the homeschool connection.

Since I live in a football crazed house, I was intrigued to read his story. With three little boys, I’m always on the lookout for parents who have raised men who love the Lord and love their families. I’m blessed to know many such wonderful families and let me tell you, I’m watching closely and peppering them with questions…

The first half of Tebow’s book, Through My Eyes, did not disappoint. It was a delight to get a peek into some of the ways that his parents influenced him.  He was homeschooled from the get-go and it was interesting to see the values and priorities that his parents brought into raising him and his 4 siblings.  The book made me excited to see how God will use my boys competitive and energetic natures for His purposes.

I sure hope he is able to make a go at it in the NFL because I would love for my boys to be interested enough to read his book when they are older. He has a strong moral compass and a desire to lead. He is certainly the kind of guy I wouldn’t mind my boys emulating.

One of my favorite ‘homeschool’ related aspects of the book is when he approached his parents about a weird protein drink regime that he wanted to embark on and how his mom turned it into a research project. She challenged him to ‘prove’ to her the safety and nutritional benefits of this regime beyond its faddish appeal before she would let him proceed. He went on to do that very thing and won 1st place at a local science fair for his efforts. That is totally something my mom would have done.

To be honest, I didn’t find the last half of the book as interesting -due to my lack of football obsession most likely.  The details of how many of his college games played out simply didn't interest me.  But as a mother of 3 boys, I still found the book, overal,l well worth the read.

Homeschooling and parenting in general requires a level of dedication and diligence that can be enormous. And yet not only can we see fruit throughout our homeschool years as we prayerfully and faithfully raise our children the way God is leading each of us to, there is going to be long-term fruit that will keep coming in the years to come. I know this from experience, but it is always refreshing to hear someone else’s story too and remember that at some point in the future, our kids might just come back and thank us!