Homeschool Hauls - What do we need to homeschool

I've been watching quite a few home-school hauls recently. At first I was inspired. All the books, the wealth of wonderful materials and resources! 

Then slowly but surely, the nagging feeling of want began to creep in. The feeling of not being enough without all the bells and whistles. The feeling that others had it more together than I did. 

I began to load item after item into various online carts. 

If I only had this resource, our days would flow so much better. If I only had that book the children would be happy to sit for hours listening to read-alouds. If I only had that curriculum, the issues one of my children has with maths would just disappear.

Now I'm not saying that having access to lots of resources doesn't make life easier or help homeschool to run more smoothly it's just that these aren't the things on which our homeschool should succeed or fail. 

I don't want our homeschool to be built on resources more than relationship: relationship with God and relationship with each other and our community.

So  though I began making purchases and felt the initial rush of excitement that comes with buying and consuming I won't be making anymore. I'm not saying all the purchases I made were wrong but that niggling feeling that there is already too much stuff in our lives and that we and our world is over stuffed in general makes me want to build our homeschool and our lives on a different kind of sustenance altogether.

I want our homeschool and our lives to be built on manna. Just enough bread for our daily needs so that we always have to trust in providence to provide. 

There were many years when financial restrictions meant our curriculum was made up of library books, free print outs, homemade worksheets and lots of conversation and kitchen science. Though those times were often hard, I wouldn't trade them for the world. Those times taught me how to trust God with every provision. There were many times when just the right resources or opportunities would fall into our hands at just the right time or I would find the exact books I'd wanted in a charity shop. I would never have known His faithfulness unless I'd experienced it so fully.

There is an element of the spiritual battle in every area of life or (internal arm wrestling) as my 13 year old calls it. As humans, we find it so easy to fall into idolatry and seek to fulfil our own plans by our own strength. 

Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. Psalm 144:1

One pitfall with buying too much is the need to justify it by making our schedules a slave to it. If I've spent X,Y or Z on a book or resource I will want to get my money's worth and make the most of it so I end up forcing it to fit into our days whether it works well or not. 

The same goes for schedules. If my schedule is inflexible where is the room for  the spirit to move within it? 

However good my goals might seem, my advance toward them may only be meant for a season rather than a whole year. My goals mustn't become my God. I must be prepared to give them up. Quitting  hurts the ego a little bit. It makes us feel like we're failing but quitting something because it gets in the way of the most important thing, our openness to the spirit's leading is an act of faith. 

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Psalm 127:1

My prayer is that whatever we build this year it’s built with God’s provision and sustained by His hand. 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:23