Season of Re-education

& Renewing of the Mind

____________________________

   

(#15)

"I Can't Afford to

Get Everything for the

Course at Once

(Can you make it more affordable?)

so

What Should I

 Get First?"

     

  

I have received this question in a variety of forms, another variety of which goes like this...  

   

"Have you come up

with a creative way to make this

course more affordable

for me?"

    

   

The mom who asked me that question continued: "I have some of the materials on your book list, and my heart is saying "Yes," but I feel some reservation about the cost involved.  Any help or solutions?"  

   

I do have a few ideas, but, before I share them, would you allow me to show you a bit of what's "behind the scenes" for us? If you do not currently know ~ and actually really do not care to know what goes or has gone into our ministry/business, then skip on down to the heading "WHAT SHOULD I GET FIRST?" ~ which is about 2/3 of the way down this page...

   

Most people have no way of knowing, so there's NO condemnation in being clueless.    But if you'd like to know, and to thus become more a part of the "solution" and less a (unknowing) part of the problem, I'd like to give you a glimpse. But PLEASE do not feel bad by what I'm about to share with you!  I don't expect people to know this; there's no way they can!!!  I didn't have a CLUE as to what went into this until I got into it myself! So I'm not sharing this to make anyone feel guilty or bad!  I just feel it's important for people ~ especially Christian homeschooling people ~ to become more aware of the behind-the-scenes stuff that we (their servants) deal with so that they'll better understand the "whole picture" (beyond what they see in catalogs and the "bottom dollar amount."    After reading this your eyes will be more opened, your heart wiser. 

    

   

NITTY GRITTY OF THIS BUSINESS

    

       Many people mistakenly think that homeschooling families who have book-selling businesses are doing this only as a ministry to homeschoolers.  Homeschoolers need books and, being single-income families, they need to get as many books as they can for as little as they can, right?  Well, it's a nice thought, but you need to understand how this works.  (I didn't, UNTIL I got into it.)  Okay, here we go (IF you're still with me!)... 

       Being a small, home-based business (just my husband and I do it all), we are unable to purchase the books in large enough quantities to get the discounts that make this a more profitable business to be in, so this automatically puts us at the low end of "pay."  Actually, we are not "paid" as such, except by orders that come in.  We are not subsidized by any organization or government agency; every penny spent comes directly out of our pocket. Let me give you just a few examples...

       We paid over $16,000 for the latest batch of new Senior High Form+U+la's.  (Yes, I have that comma in the right place; it's not just $1,600; $16,000.)  If that sounds like a lot of money to you, it is to us too!  In fact, it was an almost impossibly  HUGE amount for us to come up with!  We didn't want to go into debt to pay for the books; so we trusted God to provide for us. As He always does, God supplied our financial needs.  Doors opened financially that we had no idea would or could, BUT at the same time, we did have to "cinch up our belt."  And most of our profit for several months went into that...

       Then just to house this many books, we (correction: DAVE) had to build an insulated and heated addition ~ a 10-by-20-foot room into our shed!  (That included a raised wood floor, insulation, wiring, heating, lighting, ceiling, and sheetrock.)...

   

...We ran out of my Lab Science book and need a few thousand dollars to fund reprinting it. It's already in many catalogs, so discontinuing it is in NOone's best interest.

   

...We have not one, but TWO weddings coming up this summer.  Our son and our daughter.  These kids have already sacrificed much for our family to be able to continue in the ministry we do.  They have both waited and saved their whole hearts for "the one."  We want their weddings to be all they deserve. (within reason, of course! But they are both very reasonable and frugal.)

     

...To be able to create my website I had to buy a web-creating program which was $130, and LEARN it.  And several hundred more dollars went into purchasing graphic sets and licenses to use them, and that was just to make it a homey, cozy place to come to.  We pay about $25 a month just to have my website on a server; that doesn't include my email service. 

   

Sidenote:  Yes, I realize I could get cheaper ~ or even free ~ web service, but I want my website to be totally relaxing, with Moms totally free to focus on what the Lord would have them focusing on, with NO distracting advertising. This is why I don't have it set up in "frames."  That's a wonderful web concept, but I personally feel that they can be distracting. My stuff typically makes people uncomfortable.    If they get to a challenging part of something they're reading, having an option just an inch or two away on the screen to skeedaddle outta there could be TOO tempting; I don't want to make it easy to not finish.   I'm not criticizing anyone who does use frames or free web hosting with ads!!!  I'm just sharing my own vision and heart, and why I'm willing to pay for it.

     

What I have shared is, believe it or not, just a few of our expenses. This is not even touching on all our mailing and office expenses, the new computer I have to get every two or three years because I actually wear them out(!), production costs for our other seven books, etc.  And then for a whole month of every year ~ December ~ we have next to no income from our business because our whole market is homeschoolers, and guess what they're usually NOT doing during the holiday season?  They're NOT buying homeschool stuff!    (which is totally fine and right!)

  

That's just the money end. I have put in hundreds of hours creating the website and writing books and articles to help those who want to be set free.  And I also put in many many hours serving homeschoolers that I am never compensated for; the only way we are is through the sale of books.

   

Now, in light of "all the above," can you see how questions about how I can make the course cost less might affect me? I don't take them personally, they don't make me angry or hurt my feelings.  It's just that I ~ WE ~ have already poured endless hours and thousands of dollars to produce the resources and website you are enjoying. We now need for you to take the baton and run with it from here.  I'm a wife, a mom, homeschooling myself (and my children), with NO staff other than my husband and myself to handle the 500+ contacts we receive a month, so rather than ask me to take more of my time to personalize the course for you and figure out how to make it cost less for you or figure up your order, I need to ask you to take what we have already provided and do what you can from here.   
  

Now for a few ways to make this more affordable: 

   

Ask any homeschooling friends (or even mere acquaintances) if they have any of the books for the course that you could borrow.

   
Consider going in with another homeschool family or two to share resources. (...except those that are duplicable and you need to purchase yourself.)

   

See if your support group has or would want to start a homeschool library.  If they don't, ask the Lord if maybe He is calling you to start one.  It will be a ministry with far-reaching results.  (And here's a word to the wise About Homeschool Libraries, Vendors, and Curriculum Fairs.) 

      

Pray, assuming (in faith) that the verse "My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus" applies to you TODAY!     I assure you that it does apply to you, and probably even more than it ever has because this arena is so very foundational for your family!
    

Refrain from buying ~ or even sell ~ some of your curriculum text/workbooks. What you would pay (or have paid) for even just one or two subjects for just one child is typically enough to pay for the entire course! (I actually got this idea from several moms who have told me they did this!) The benefit your entire family will reap from the money being spent on truly educating Mom and freeing her up will far exceed the academic benefit of the text/workbooks.  It's far more important for Mom to get her foundation established and her vision set!  Then, if you still feel you need the textbooks later, God will provide. 

   

Color me unsympathetic, but I can't tell you how many moms have told me they wish they could get my stuff, but they just can't afford it.  What's frustrating to me is that, in many cases, I just happen to know that they have spent hundreds of dollars on text/workbooks!  It boils down to what are your priorities?  And your beliefs about education are going to totally determine what your priorities are.  There is plenty of information right here at my website (110 articles at the time of this writing) to help you in your endeavor to make a "priority shift," if you so desire.  And it will not cost you one cent; it's all right here for the taking!  But I have given you all the help I can at this point; you now need to take the baton ~ accept the responsibility ~ to do the reading, the praying, and the decision-making for your own unique family.

  

Is it possible that God may have already provided for you to take the course, but you have spent it on other stuff? "Why spend your money on foodstuffs that don't give you strength? Why pay for groceries that don't do you any good? Listen and I'll tell you where to get good food that fattens up the soul. Come to Me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake."  (Isaiah 55:2)  I'm not saying that curriculum has no value, nor that I have all the answers that only the Lord can give you!  But I am saying that if you come to the Lord with your ears wide open, He will provide for your true needs.  

   

   

WHAT SHOULD I GET FIRST?

    

Donna Heck, my list shepherdess for the first four years of the SHF-L list's operation, (and my online secretary as well!) had this to say... I know that it can get really expensive to go and purchase a lot of books. Some of them might be available at your library or church library so check there first. Next, if they aren't available I'd really recommend that you get these two things at least. One is the Guide-a-log as it covers so much that reading (and digesting) it can really be a season of re-education all by itself. 

  

While you are reading that I'd suggest you also purchase one of the Jumpstart Navigators ~ which depends on the ages of your children.*  That way they are not waiting for you to complete your re-education before they can get started.  As someone wrote earlier, that season of re-education may take a long time as many of us find that it becomes a lifestyle of learning.

   

Here's what another mom wrote...

  

 

       

My 2 cents in answer to your question...  All I can tell you is what has hit me the hardest, but for each person what they need is different...  Barb's Guide-A-Log is the absolute first thing to get if you don't have that. The many mini-articles are an excellent encouragement in your time of seeking. 

   

A lot of her resources I already had, and the seeds were planted over the past few years, but something last year seemed to "tip me over the edge" so to speak into a whole new way of living.  For me (and I can only speak for myself), it was Barb's cassettes "Out of Fear & Burnout; Into Focus, Freedom & Refreshment."  Then Shepherding a Child's Heart, which was very difficult for me to read ~ very convicting.  I had to put it down many times because my poor soul could not handle it and I felt that the book was continually pointing at me telling me I was a failure in "shepherding" ..... and I was. (So it was what I needed to hear even if I didn't want to hear it.) Then also To Train Up a Child by Michael and Debi Pearl was excellent (and inexpensive) to show that it is all from the heart... but that showed me how I was not enjoying my children. 
  
I began to get the idea that not only would it be okay to have fun with my kids, but that it was my job!!  I was supposed to enjoy them!  I began to see them as souls, rather than little people to feed, clothe, and read to.  This was the light for me, and perhaps I've been hearing it for years, a tape here, a speaker there. But I struggled so hard ~ wasn't I supposed to "make sure they obey?" as my main job in life?  I gave that thinking up so to speak, and decided to try to communicate to their hearts instead. And I find that it is fruitful!  Just like I read in someone else's post, if our hearts are not "together", I am just wasting time. I am no better than the public school teacher whose kids stare out the window for hours on end.  What's the point? So instead of books (even all that good literature that I used to shove down their throat!), we try ~ or rather, I try ~ to make sure that we are meeting spiritual needs with one another, and we try to enjoy life, whatever that means to us.  
  
I don't want you to think we don't do anything like schoolwork ~ we must, in order to enjoy life!  They must know handwriting, reading, research, math skills, etc.  But it all has to come when they need it, not when I decide to start shoving it down their throat!  We keep track of what we look up because it is interesting to us. We decorate our pages and put them in a notebook because then they are pleasing to look at.  We share what we find with each other. We minister to people outside our family by letters and other ways as we are able.     

   

 

We often think we need "stuff" to get started at what God has for us, but really we most commonly need HIM, and to start following Him, and start doing things HIS way.  So my REAL answer to "What should I get first?" is this "More than ANYthing, you need a new perspective!"  The above homeschool mom has helped you do just that.  You may or may not want to follow her advice for the products to get first, but I hope you will follow her lead in getting ~ starting with ~ a new perspective. And that doesn't take one cent to get!  Just some "cents"!  (correctly spelled "sense"! )

 

 

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