A good shepherd cares for his sheep day and night. God never stops watching over us. He is always there,

always caring, always gentle, even when he is being firm. Let's think of this in terms

of shepherding our children, and specifically in terms of homeschooling. Children cannot be driven.

You can try, but you may very well lose the heart of your child. When my husband tried to drive our little flock of actual sheep once,

one of them would faint every single time.

Being driven can literally suck the oxygen out of any of us.

Children must be led.

If we try to drive them, they will lose their minds and scatter.

Forced learning is not real learning. Learning thrives with gentle encouragement. If we're

over-scheduled, we can easily miss opportunities to gently lead our children past the puddles

and on to deeper, cleaner waters. We do this by having time for deeper conversations along the way

about whatever life brings, whether it's a math problem or a life problem. We recognize when real

learning is happening and we take time

to linger there. We can take advantage of opportunities to nurture sibling relationships,

encourage a strong work ethic, and work through conflicts in a healthy way. Children need to be

protected. That is our job. The world is telling us that we need

to expose them to the ugliness of this world sooner rather than later. I couldn't disagree more.

Especially in the early years, our children should be exposed to beauty and books, in nature, and life at home with their family.

We all know our families are not perfect, so there's plenty of exposure to quote-unquote

real life within the four walls of our own homes. When our kids are protected and are mostly

seeing the beauty and good of God, they more easily

connect that goodness to a good God. As this foundation is laid and as they begin to face more

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