Here’s a peek at the 20 homeschool grads that contributed to Thank You!:

Kevin Swanson – Generations with Vision
Amy Puetz – AmyPuetz.com
Rachel Starr Thomson – RachelStarrThomson.com
Candace Allgood – Sonbeams
John Notgrass – JohnNotgrass.com
Lea Ann Garfias – Whatever State
Jana Kornfeld – A Time 2 Write
Jonathan Lewis – Homeschool Enrichment
Katherine Loop – Christian Perspective
Rachel Ramey – Titus 2 Homemaker
Daniel Mills – Salem Ridge Press
Mary Evelyn McCurdy – Christian Musical Theatre
Matthew Lewis – Homeschool Enrichment
Abby Kelly
Natalie Wickham – Pajama School
Eleonore Kappenman – Kap and Pen
Samantha Jarrett – Sammer’s Stuff
Emily Topp – Homeschool CPA
Amanda Read – AmandaRead.com
Eric Novak - Cross-Eyed Blog

The e-book is priced at $7, but is available until the end of June as a free download, so grab it now while you can! After June, 2010, you can purchase it at AmyPuetz.com.

A Lasting Inheritance
by Amy Puetz

“When I go to school, I’m overwhelmed,” an outgoing high school girl said to me one Sunday. “Usually I’m okay, but sometimes it just hits me how much garbage I see and hear every day.” I looked at her sympathetically. This conversation took place after church, when I welcomed a young lady who was visiting. She looked at least twenty years old, so I was surprised when she told me she was a junior in high school. Within a few moments of talking, this sweet girl had tears in her eyes as she shared the story of what life was like at school. Words like battleground and attacks kept coming up as she explained how her faith was undermined by her peers. She and I hit it off immediately, and I tried to encourage her to keep the faith.

How many people, including adults, could go through 7-8 hours of brain washing everyday for 12 years and come out unscathed? Put on top of all that the influences of peers who shape a student’s perspective of the world and of themselves. How my heart aches for these precious children who are thrown into a battle that they are not equipped to fight.

Many parents have chosen to homeschool their children rather than send them into the halls of ungodly schools. The blessings of homeschooling are many. Unfortunately, the blessings do not come easily, and as homeschool parents will testify, it is hard work. Most homeschools are taught by the mom, and there are days when she will be overwhelmed, frustrated, and irritable. Hang in there! Mothers are probably the most overworked, under-appreciated people in the world. With love and kindness, they cook, clean, organize, run errands, teach, advise, supervise, and juggle a hundred different jobs.

As a single gal, I love to watch my friends move into the role of motherhood. Seeing my friends struggle with the feeling of being overwhelmed, I’ve realized for the first time how difficult being a mother is. I want to take a few minutes to say “thank you” to all the wonderful mothers out there. You may be running low on energy and feeling inadequate, but I want you to know that what you are doing is important, and someday your children will appreciate the sacrifices you are making. I am so grateful to my mother, for the love and time she invested in my life. Your children will have the same kind of gratitude towards you someday, too. Please know that even if you are not getting the pats on the back that a “career” woman might get, God sees what you are doing, and the way you are giving yourself to your family. He will reward you with greater gifts than any human accolade.

May God bless you, dear mothers! You are impacting the world in ways you may never know. Please do not grow faint hearted. As a homeschool graduate I want to say “keep pressing on!” I’m so glad my mom didn’t give up when my sisters and I were far from angelic. When Mom was really stressed, we always knew it because she would wear a T-shirt that had a picture of a frazzled smiley face with large eyes, and the word “stressed” written under it in big letters. Children cannot comprehend the huge responsibility of parenting. Someday they will understand, but for now, please keep up the good work. You are important, and are fulfilling a meaningful job.

Although you know you are doing valuable work, there will be days when you must feel overwhelmed. It would be silly for me to offer some practical advice about how to overcome the feeling of inadequacy. I’ve never been there, but I do know that relying on God to fill in our deficiencies is critical. “Where God guides, He provides” is an old saying that rings true. Since God has led you on the journey of homeschooling, He will provide the strength and wisdom to get you through.

There are many blessings that result from a family’s faithfulness in teaching their children the ways of the Lord at home. Strong family bonds would be at the top of my list. When my family began homeschooling I was in the 8th grade, and we immediately began to experience a closeness that we had never known before. It was amazing to spend time with my sisters and mom.

During this time I discovered that my mom could be fun! One time while we were preparing to do a history lesson, we gathered around Mom on the couch. My older sister asked, “Mom, what are we going to study today?”

“We are going to study about Napoleon and his defeat at Waterloo,” she replied. We could not stay on task, and began to talk with each other before the class even began. To get our attention, Mom lifted her feet in the air and said, “Napoleon faced de feet!” Laughing, my sisters and I settled down to begin our lesson.

Homeschooling also offers a flexibility that adapts to difficult situations. During my last years of high school, I began experiencing severe health problems, which made study difficult. At times I could not even comprehend simple math problems that had always been easy before. Since we homeschooled, I was able to work at my own pace and rest when I needed a break.

Another blessing is the spiritual growth that a family enjoys. A homeschool family does not have to deal with the negative influences that are so prevalent in traditional schools, and they are free to spend more time growing spiritually. Character development and Bible study can easily become part of the daily curriculum. This course of study will have a lasting impact on students and determine their path through life.

Homeschooling is hard, which is why I personally want to encourage you to stay the course. As a homeschool graduate, I’m so thankful that my parents taught me at home. The education I received at the feet of my parents has given me a stronger relationship with God and my family. It has also provided the foundation on which to build a meaningful life. Your experiences will be different from mine, but God will always be the same. When a family homeschools, they are making an investment that will be a lasting inheritance to their children–and, in a bigger scope, to the world.

© 2010 Amy Puetz, www.AmyPuetz.com

Amy Puetz (pronounced Pitts) is a homeschool graduate, a self-taught historian, and a servant of Jesus Christ. History has been a passion for her since childhood. Years of in-depth study (both in modern and old sources) have equipped her to write history-related books. Amy Puetz is the author of Uncover Exciting History: Revealing America’s Christian Heritage in Short, Easy-to-Read Nuggets and Countdown to Christmas: Memory Making Stories and Activities for Every Day from December 1st to the 25th. As a columnist for Home School Enrichment Magazine she shares stories about historical events from a Christian worldview. She especially loves to dig for little-known stories that show God’s providential hand. Because of a chronic illness (fibromyalgia) that limits what she can do, the Lord led her to start an online business which she can do from home.

• Have a FedEx Day.
• Try DIY Report Cards.
• Give them an allowance and some chores–but don’t combine them.
• Offer praise…the right way.
• Help kids see the big picture.

Check out the article for details about each of these great ideas!

Each lesson plan for The Proverbs Project is centered on a specific character-building theme, and includes a Bible verse, one or two activities, and a prayer point. If you are looking for a simple, but powerful, way to begin training young children in biblical wisdom, you will love these lessons, too!

I was able to visit Julia and her family last week and can testify to how much her little ones loved the lessons! Here they are pictured working their way through the obstacle course we designed to go along with a lesson on diligence.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ve been asked to speak at the 2010 Heart of the Matter Online Conference. The conference will be February 22-24, 2010, and you can enjoy the whole thing from the comfort of your own home! Here’s a tid bit from their website:

Are your feet dragging? Do you need a little pick-me-up? Winter is wrapping up and we are anxious for spring — for green, for sunshine, for life, for a little oomph in our homeschool day. It’s easy to get bogged down and for things to turn hum-drum.

A Woman Inspired and Heart of the Matter Online are excited to bring you a Homeschool Refresher conference that is sure to give you a boost.

This conference will feature some speakers chosen specifically for their ability to revive, rejuvenate, and renew the hearts and minds of their audience. You are sure to walk away motivated and inspired to achieve great things!

Incredibly, the full price for the conference is only $12.95, but HOTM has allocated five free tickets to give away on my blog! All you have to do is leave a comment below to enter the giveaway drawing. And…if you want to earn extra entries in the drawing, just post about it on your blog, twitter, or facebook with a link back to this post and leave another comment letting me know about the additional postings. I’ll give you one additional entry for each place that you post!Thanks for helping spread the word!

(BTW, you can click here to view the page for my workshop: Everything Your Child Needs to Know and How to Teach it to Them.

So now is a great time for Christians to support young Christian journalists. Build programs that educate them in biblical understanding and train them to write, do video, and produce terrific websites. Give the kids enough money to eat peanut butter and fumigate the roaches. Right now we have the opportunity to change the path of journalism for the next 150 years.

I love this outlook! Media has such an undeniable influence in our society, and with modern globalization and universal access to various mediums of communication, almost anyone has a platform to be a journalist in some capacity. I echo Marvin Olasky’s sentiment and would add that the four areas he highlights are key components that every homeschooling parent should incorporate into the education of their children:

1. Biblical Training/Worldview

2. Excellent Writing Skills

3. Ability to Produce Videos (and I would include in this an understanding of how to contrive an appropriate plot, visualize and script it, capture the desired shots, and make it accessible via the Internet)

4. Website Navigation and Construction

Not only are these areas which can be harnessed by people of all ages to make a difference in the world, they also represent marketable skills that will be useful in any vocational field and are essential knowledge for entrepreneurs who aim to build their own businesses.

Although I’ve never considered it this succinctly, I affirm that these four areas (with the one distinction being that for #3 I would include video production instead as a sub-category in a larger study of verbal communication skills) are the ones that have afforded me the most opportunities and equipped me to serve and influence the people around me. In fact, come to think of it, these four areas are ones that I discuss more fully in my book, Pajama School – stories from the life of a homeschool graduate. But I’m quite certain neither Mom and Dad nor I thought in such concrete terms in our early years of homeschooling! How glad I am, though, that homeschooling provided me with the flexibility to make these four areas of study an integral part of my education.

EXTRA NOTE: If you’re interested in receiving a free PDF of Marvin Olasky’s book, “Central Ideas in the Development of American Journalism” send them an e-mail requesting it.

Earlier today, when I ran a few errands around town, I could hear it in the air. The sound of the end of summer. The sound of school. It was eerily quiet and the streets seemed motionless as I felt the absence of the children who occupied the outdoors all summer. They have all gone back to school.

As I sit here working at home, though, relishing the breeze blowing through our open windows, I realize that the ebb and flow of our lives continues much as normal. Naomi sits behind me, diligently working away at one of her self-initiated projects. Joey is hanging out in his room, absorbed in a book. Noelle is doing some research for me in preparation for a new endeavor she and I are getting ready to begin. And so on. Learning is integrated into life. We don’t watch the clock and pack up our books and turn off our minds at a designated hour. We don’t cross off days on our summer calendar, bemoaning the arrival of an official school start date.

Yes, this is certainly a more unconventional approach, and no, we haven’t always been so carefree, but now that all of us kids that are still living at home are older and can take responsibility for our own learning, we are expected to do just that. Mom and Dad instilled in us and modeled for us a love of learning. They trained us to think through various problems  and issues, and then to apply ourselves to gain understanding and find solutions. And perhaps most of all, they raised us outside of the schooling paradigm. We don’t ever really go “back” to school…because we’re always in “school”!

So…in honor of not going back to school, I’ve decided to offer a special sale on my book, Pajama School – stories from the life of a homeschool graduate. Through the end of August, you can receive a 25% discount on your purchase when you enter the code: NBTS when you checkout at SibroPublishing.com! If you’ve been meaning to get a copy, but have been putting it off, now is the time – this is the most I’ve ever discounted it before! And just to make the deal even sweeter, if you make a note on your order that you’d like an autograph, I’ll be happy to personally sign your copy of the book!

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”¹ They hoped their children would receive a good education. They hoped their children would become well-adjusted adults. They hoped their children would be successful. But they wouldn’t see the results for many years. They were taking one day at a time…by faith. And it is that faith that has left a legacy for their children – the second generation of homeschoolers.

We will do some things differently than our parents. Hopefully we will be better teachers than they were. By God’s grace, we will be better parents to our children. Not in spite of what our parents have done, but because of it. We who have been trained in the ways of the Lord from a young age; we who have been spared the bombardment of humanistic philosophies that permeate our government education system; we who have seen the example of obedience and faithfulness in our parents; we who have been given much – much will be required of us.²

I am excited about the future, and about the great things God has in store. And we who will make up the second generation of homeschool families are well-poised to make a huge impact on the world. Why? Because we are “standing on the shoulders”³ of our parents.

1. Hebrews 11:1
2. See Luke 12:48
3. See http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/268025.html