Pomegranate detail The Prudent Homemaker

Each November, I post a series of gratitude. I share one thing I am thankful for that day and invite readers to do the same.

Today, I am thankful for the freedom to choose how to educate my children.

Up until 2 1/2 months ago, I had always homeschooled my children. On the first day of school in August, we put three of our children into public school while I homeschooled the rest. 

Today I officially withdrew my children and brought them home. We made new plans and are using some new curriculum for some subjects, some of which is online and is automatically corrected (I’m in the process of making changes to my homeschooling pages to reflect our new plans).

Sometimes life becomes overwhelming and we get burnt out. If you’re feeling that, it’s okay to change things up where you can. You might just rekindle the desire to do the same thing day in and day out, to serve your family with newfound patience and determination. You might find new solutions to problems that you couldn’t possibly see before.

Above all, know that your role is very important. The hugs and kisses and “I love you”s that you give to your children each day are so very, very important. YOU are important to them, and if life is hard and the only thing you can manage to get done each day is to let your children know they are loved then you have done the most important thing. May you have the strength to get through the hard days that are sometimes hard weeks, months, and even years, and the courage to continue on–with joy in your heart. If you feel that joy is out of your reach right now, please accept a virtual hug from me. You matter. You are needed.

 

Please share one thing you are grateful for today in the comments.

 

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73 Comments

  1. I’m thankful for the ability to have a choice in how and where our girls learn. How exciting that all of your kids will be homeschooling again! I truly loved when all three of our girls were at home for school. Life with our oldest in traditional school was hectic and our family time wasn’t the same.

  2. I homeschool 1 child and my other 1 is in a private school. I am so thankful that I am able to do what is best for each child. I hope that the change in curriculum makes life a little easier for you!

  3. I am thankful for you Brandy. Your willingness to share your lives with us and be such an encouragement not only in your words but in your beautiful photos.

  4. I’m thankful for our family’s health. A friend was just given a scary health diagnosis, it definitely shakes your foundation…

    Congrats on homeschooling again! (It’s not about where your children are being educated, it’s the fact that YOU’RE happy with it that makes me happy)!

  5. I’m thankful for my husband and parents. They unconditionally supported me after a very upsetting work day.

  6. What a lovely post, Brandy!

    I’m thankful for modern medical care. Without it, I may not have survived childbirth, and my precious daughter may not have recovered from illness. So very thankful for the expertise and kindness I received while in hospital.

  7. Good for you, Brandy, being able to see a different path and then having the conviction to step down it is a gift.

    I am thankful for this blog. I don’t comment very often but read every week and sometimes daily. Your first thankful post today made me think about how thankful I am for the freedom to choose to change, to do something different — every hour every day I have that freedom. Whenever I read your blog and all the comments (from around the world now!), I get ideas and encouragement for changes I can make that will better my life and my family’s life. So, thank you. And I hope the revised schooling schedule will bring you all more space and peace. (As the parent of a half-homeschooled half-public schooled son, I’m quite certain it will bring your kids a better education!)

  8. What a lovely post Brandy. Thank you so much.
    At present I am ill and unable to do much. I always feel frustrated when I am ill and unable to accomplish all the things I want to. But today I am thankful for competent doctors close by and effective, affordable medication to help me get better. And I am thankful for your lovely blog post which helped me feel calmer.

  9. Very thankful for our parents who take our children for a night or two now and then. We enjoy these days even though we’re always looking forward to having our children back afterwards – but it’s much needed time for our marriage (and sleep).

  10. I am thankful we have a full fridge and freezer. I fear hard times are head. I’m not sure why but I have a gut feeling.

  11. I too am thankful for your blog and the community you host Brandy. Wishing you and the family well with your continued homeschooling.

  12. I’m thankful we live in a country where we can choose how to educate our children. Mine are grown and no longer in school but with grandchildren coming towards that age, you appreciate the fact that we, as parents, can make that decision on what we feel is best for our family.

  13. Thank you. I am thankful for my beautiful grandson, in whose eyes I see my husband. It’s been 2 years since my husband passed. My daughters, and grandson remind of the cycle of life and love.
    Patricia/FL

  14. I’m, also, thankful for you, Brandy. I’ve been reading your blog for years and years. I don’t usually comment, but this post spoke to me at a time when I really needed to read the encouragement. Thank you so much.

  15. I am thankful my husband works so hard so I can stay home. My husband just became a RN last December. He works his 3 day RN shift, has a extra night RN job once a week. Also owns his own business….and sells medical insurance! Let me add he is starting his PA masters degree this month. His is an amazing blessing to me and my children.

  16. I am thankful that I live in an age that has so many wonderful things such as medicines that work, sanitation, fresh water and that I live in a society that allows me so many freedoms that others do not have.

  17. You seem like you have a great plan in place to move forward. Wishing you and your family all the best ❤️

    I am grateful for my husband. ❤️

  18. I am thankful that one of our chickens laid its first egg when my disabled son was giving them some strawberry tops. He witnessed it and got to gather the egg. It was still warm was his comment. Then he watched the chickens and sang and talked to them for at least an hour. He decided that they like Christian music and that he is a chicken whisperer. I just love that he enjoys the outdoors! He will be moving out with us and I am delighted that he is enjoying the chickens and making plans with excitement!

  19. I, too, am grateful for the freedom to choose how we educate our children. When my girls were growing up we used private, public and ended with homeschooling. My favorite was homeschooling. It was more hectic sometimes but I so enjoyed the time I had with them. I believe that it has made a difference in our relationships today. God bless you and your family, Brandy!

  20. I am thankful for this gratitude series you do every November, Brandy. I really enjoy the opportunity to reflect upon and posting my daily gratitude. I also love to read what other’s have posted.

    I particularly loved what you posted today. When life keeps throwing curve balls, it’s easy to slip into a negative mindset. But we really do matter, even if it doesn’t always feel like we do. So today, I am grateful to the opportunity to remember all the good thing that happen, special people in my life, and wonderful things this world has to offer.

  21. I, too, am very grateful for the freedom to educate my own children! Hard? Yes! I’m thankful God has entrusted me with these souls to raise for His honor and His glory! Brandy, I pray God’s truth and joy shines light into the hard dark places and brings peace beyond all understanding! Your devotion to your family and your call as a wife and mother is inspiring!

  22. I just had my 6th breast cancer surgery, mostly caused by infections, and I am thankful for my caring doctors and the advances in health care we have. October was National Breast Cancer Month and I want to remind everyone to check yourselves and not depend on mammograms to find all cancers. Mine was hard to spot due to dense tissue and I should’ve done a 3D mammogram. My gynecologist Doctor said it was nothing and I went through two years of treatment because I didn’t go to a Breast Cancer Center to begin with. I’m thankful for The Hope Lodge which allowed me to stay there free for 5 weeks during my radiation. There are several others in the U.S. if you need help. I am also thankful for this blog which encourages us to grow our own food which helps us be healthier. If Brandy can do it with all her children, we can too! I wish that I had homeschooled my children and I’m thankful there are so many programs for that now. The public schools are forcing teachers to teach ungodly things and we should pray for our Christian teachers for whom I am also very thankful. I could continue, but there are too many blessings to list. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  23. I am thankful I was able to retire from 38 years of teaching in order to be home to help with my grandchildren. Today one of them is sick and I am able to keep her so her parents can work. This time with her is so precious to me.

  24. I am also thankful for educational choices for our children. One in traditional school and 2 homeschooled. I wonder sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with farm life and food preservation, if I am doing the right thing. Our children are thriving, so we must be making good choices for them. I wish I could have all 3 of them home, but that is not to be.

  25. Thank you so very much for this post. This is my first time commenting. I consider my self a strong person for the most part but have been feeling overwhelmed by the world lately. So I give thanks for this post a good roof over my head and my German Shepherd Baron my rescue dog. Best wishes to you and your family and once again thank you!

  26. I am thankful that I am able to be there for my children through the challenging teen years when they need me so much. I work full time an they are in public school but God seems to have blessed me with the ability to still be there for my kids when they need me. I’m very thankful for that.

  27. I’m thankful that I remembered today to check this blog for the Thankful series! I need to be reminded often that I have much to be thankful for, although this year, with the devastation in the Panhandle, I KNOW I have a lot to be thankful for. Had Michael come to land a few miles further east, I would be suffering that much.
    I learned today that in some areas of the Panhandle, the forests, which much of that area depends on for industry (paper, etc.) are 95% destroyed. It will take years to replace it, and what is blown down has to be retrieved quickly or it will be too late to be usable.

  28. I am so grateful for my family and the love they show me. Love your blog, read it every week, you are truly and inspiration to young mothers. Wish I had had something like this many years ago when raising young ones.

  29. I did the same thing several years ago. I was so burned out and tired, I just needed a break so I sent my homeschooled kids to public school. We all survived. Everyone was home again by the winter. It was the break I needed at the time and it gave me some breathing room to reevaluate what I wanted our homeschool to look like. Glad you are on a path that is working for you!

  30. I’m thankful for my children. My third child was born on November 1st so it is always easy for me to remember to be thankful on the 1st of November. It was very important to me to have three children. More would have been great but I knew I wanted at least three. Three is what I had, and I’m so very thankful for each of them.

  31. I am grateful I am literate in a society that demands it. From my parents and my teachers and mentors, I learned to read, write, listen, speak, and think, so I can learn about people I will never meet in person yet be close to in thought; make good choices for the upcoming election; understand my finances, (and the occasional medical billing is not designed for the illiterate!); and encounter the world and all of its wonders from my small position in it.
    Thank you for hosting these thanksgiving posts.

  32. As always, I’m grateful for you! You are an amazingly strong woman that shows us all how to be our best authentic selves! Blessings to you and your whole wonderful family!

  33. I, too, am thankful for your blog, Brandy. Our kids have gone to an online public school for years, but I am seriously thinking of pulling our youngest DD out and homeschooling her next year, so your words in this post were timely and inspiring for me. I am most thankful for my husband, children, and pets. 🙂

  34. I am thankful for the soup we have in our fridge & pantry, as we have sinus/chest congestion right now. Thank you for writing such an encouraging blog!

  35. Your courage and conviction and fortitude never cease to amaze me.

    I am thankful for so many things I’d run out of room in the comments box, truly. Today I’ll be thankful that today I had enough flexibility to have lunch with my daughter at her little school.

  36. I also feel that harder times are coming. I had to purchase both a new car and new furnace and now owe a lot of money which truly scares me. I’m 75, live alone on a very limited budget, getting less sleep and more wrinkles! Between Brandy and all these wonderful people who respond to her newsletter, I get inspiration to keep on a-going!

  37. I am thankful to be child-free and only responsible for myself. Some people have no desire to be parents and I’m one of them. My education and subsequent career has allowed me to be a very generous aunt to my nieces and nephews (and now grand-aunt to a second generation) and I am grateful for their presence in my life but also grateful that I get to send them home.

  38. I appreciate Meals on Wheels for brightening mom’s days and encouraging her to eat a bit more. I am so thankful that doctors and nurse practitioners who make house calls still exist, are covered by Medicare, and can even do x-rays from the comfort of mom’s living room. I so appreciated the visiting nurse and therapists who visited during the first month after mom returned home from the skilled nursing facility. Modern technology enables my mom to continue seeing despite cataracts, glaucoma, and wet macular degeneration, each a condition that would have blinded her had not the needed tools and medicines been developed and tested before she needed them. I am grateful for friends who know what taking care of an elderly parent involves–that it is so not “an easier life” or a “decade-long vacation”–and who provide both practical and emotional support.

  39. I am 76, and very grateful for our wonderful doctors and the heart centre. They made more life possible for me following each of 2 heart attacks. For my grown children’s support and care, for my grandchildren who bring such bright love and laughter. For today’s sunshine and golden leaves, such a beautiful world. Never forget life is to be lived! Ann Lee S

  40. I am thankful for my husband, who somehow thinks I am a lot more intelligent and funny than I really am! Without him, life would be a pretty lonely path for me.

  41. I’m thankful that I have a new job and that I will be celebrating Christmas soon with family, friends, food and shelter.

  42. After a very long day, I am thankful to just listen to the rain hitting the roof. Just what is needed to decompress.

  43. I am grateful for the skills I learned with my mother. The summer I was 14 we learned to can fruit together and to make homemade bread. She was the youngest girl in her family and by the time she was old enough to be in the kitchen to help and learn her sisters would shoo her away! Funny how those older sisters had to teach the two of us together many years later! I have wonderful memories of time spent with my Aunt Leila and mom while learning to make bread.

  44. I am thankful that my husband’s latest CT scan was again clear of cancer 🙂 He is now 2 years out from he first got diagnosed.

  45. I am grateful for this reminder to be grateful and count my blessings. I forget how “rich” my life is far too often.

  46. Thank you for this precious post, Brandy. Praying that you are all able to readjust quickly to your “normal” schedule that makes things easier for you.

    I am most thankful for having known and felt the presence of the Lord since the very young age of 3.

  47. I am thankful for my husband. God brought a Christian man into my life when I was 18 and now at 50 I love him more than ever!

  48. Today, after a tough week at work, I realized how very thankful I am for my job. Not just to support my son and I, to be able to catch up from the disaster, put away for the future, but also to be able to teach those who are so desperately in need of God’s saving grace and a kind word.

  49. The words expressed in your post are incredibly powerful Brandy. Sending you a virtual hug.
    Of course, I’m always grateful for my wonderful family; bu today I’m especially grateful for a good friend who helped me fund raise and collect and drop of much needed cat & dog food and other items to our local no-kill animal shelter.

  50. I am grateful for my husband and my children. We’ve had two deaths of young people in our community in the last two weeks. I have been so grateful that I can tuck my children into bed each night and give my husband a kiss.

    Thanks for hosting this each year, Brandy. It truly helps so much!
    Lea

  51. I am thankful, Brandy, for your reminder of how powerful genuine gratitude is. In addition, today I am particularly grateful for our small long-haired Dachshund: always cheerful, loving, uncomplaining, funny, and thrilled to do anything at all with us. Being together is all that matters to him; he is helping us daily to get through a very rough patch right now.

  52. I am thankful for the ability to read. My grandmother taught a one room country school and I ‘started’ there with her at the age of 2. My parents and grandparents all read and encouraged me to read. The first chapter book I read was The Boxcar Children and I’ve loved mysteries ever since. I was able to go to the local Friends of the Library used bookstore and buy a box of books. Last night I read three! All part of a series by a German writer Cay Rademacher. They are set in Hamburg 1947 and 1948 and were so enthralling.

  53. I’ve have that “feeling” too. It started a few months ago and is becoming more urgent. Unfortunately we are in the most debt that we have ever had currently. I have hope though. I’m doing what I can to put back extras. My husband is working as much as work will give him. I believe the LORD is prompting us to get ready. Something big is coming. GOD be with you both.

  54. I am thankful for this blog, for the inspiration it brings, for the community of commenters who enrich my life, and for the ability to put into practice what I learn here.

  55. I am grateful for my friends who make an extra effort to see that I am not lonely as my husband is deployed.

  56. I am thankful to be part of this community that your blog has created. In a hectic world, it is comforting to come here and find peaceful people who are kind to one another and wish each other well. Many other online communities are so at odds with others in their own group, that I really notice shared goals and caring hearts when I spend time here. Lately I am overwhelmed at times and your ability to try something new, and then come up with yet another new idea if the first one is less successful than hoped, really is a great example for me to follow. I really need to learn more patience, and you are a good teacher of that.

  57. I needed these words so much today! Thank you, Brandy, for sharing them today. Somehow, they mean more to me knowing they come from another woman who has surely experienced the challenging days. I truly appreciate it.

  58. Hi Brandi,
    I just read your post. I don’t have any small children at home but I am a widower and have an elderly mother in the nursing home. Some days it feels so overwhelming trying to take care of her and make the best decisions for her care. Plus trying to take care of the rest of my life without my husband of 40 yrs. I know our Lord is faithful and puts people like you in our paths to encourage us at just the right time. Thank you for allowing your followers a glimpse into the lives of your precious family and everything you do to make their lives so lovely. You are truly the virtuous woman that Proverbs 31:10-31 speaks of so eloquently. Thanks again, MJ in South Carolina.

  59. I am thankful for you, Brandy! Thankful we are eating pepper jelly from your recipe with our chicken tonight. Thankful for friendships and for the work that I do.

  60. I needed to hear this today. Thank you. God bless you for your renewed strength to continue homeschooling. We are also grateful for the freedom to educate our children as we see fit.

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