We love this real life share from one mum navigating the complexities of homeschooling! Sometimes we can work it out, other times we need to ask for support. The important thing for us to remember is to be kind to ourselves, be gracious when it’s just ‘not going to happen today!’ and try again tomorrow.

I love teaching my children English, but I feel much less confident at maths. If I’ve had a bit of time the night before to read and learn what they’re doing the next day, then I can just about wing it, but I’m not confident, and anything unplanned can throw me, especially if the situation isn’t conducive to having time and quiet to work through it!

Inevitably, I’m in the middle of cooking dinner with one hand, trying to keep a tiny human on a potty with the other and wondering whether or not I did in fact send that work email, when someone will casually ask, “Mummy, how would you convert this equivalent fraction?”

It’s natural to feel a mixture of panic and shame when we struggle to understand our children’s schoolwork. But there’s strength in our weakness, and as this has happened more and more over the past few weeks, I’ve seen some of the opportunities I’ve had to bring God into the middle of it all.

Sometimes, I’ve been able to tackle the problem head-on, with them. This sense of belonging and of being in it together has been so important, we’ve been able to talk about how God is in all our struggles with us.

Other times we’ve been able to pray as they’ve struggled with their school work. And I’ve been able to show them how natural prayer is as I’ve made a point of saying my short prayers out loud through the day, rather than praying silently inside my head.

Then we’ve be able to talk about perseverance. It’s hardly ever a convenient moment when our children ask us for help with something tricky. One evening  I spent half an hour learning something I hadn’t known how to do earlier.

The next morning my little boy saw that not only was I thinking of him when he was in bed and that I wanted to help, but I was also modelling perseverance. We were able to talk about how life will be full of things we will have to keep trying to do and that God is with us in that journey.

Finally though, there are always times when we’ll need to ask others for help.

There’s a limit to my mathematical understanding, but I know a couple of people who are good at maths! I sent a few texts and asked for some help. My kids have been able to call them for extra ideas, they even proudly send photos when they’ve worked something out.

Not only has this resulted in them bonding with different people over maths, but we’ve been able to talk about how God has made us all different – a body with different parts (we can find out about it in Romans chapter 12). He made us each with gifts which are different from one another’s, so that we can serve and build each another up.

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