November 18, 2025 • 36 mins
What does true balance look like for Christian homeschool moms? On this honest and inspiring episode of the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast, Kristi Clover and Rachael Carman tackle the myth of balance in homeschooling and family life. Discover why priorities—not perfection—matter most, and how to overcome guilt and comparison by listening to God. With 7 kids and decades of experience, Rachael Carman shares practical tips and faith-filled encouragement for homeschooling through every season. Perfect for Christian moms seeking real-life advice and inspiration!
Recommended Resources:
How to Have a HEART for Your Kids, by Rachael Carman
How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You? By Rachael Carman
More books from Rachael Carman
Sanity Savers for Moms: Simple Solutions for a More Joy-filled Life, by Kristi Clover
Ultimate Homeschool Organization Course (Get a $30 Coupon Here)
See Rachael Carman in Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution
More from Rachael Carman on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast
More from Kristi Clover on the Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast
We want to hear from you! Is there a guest you’d like to hear from or a subject you’d like us to discuss on the podcast? How can we be praying for you? Talk to us here.
Sponsors:
Apologia is a Christ-centered, award-winning homeschool curriculum provider. Our mission is to help homeschooling students and families learn, live, and defend the Christian faith through our print and digital curriculum and online classes.
BJU Press Homeschool is dedicated to providing homeschool families with academically strong curriculum rooted in a biblical worldview. They offer a complete curriculum from preschool through 12th grade, available in both traditional textbooks and video courses. By teaching through the lens of Christ’s power, they help students view the world through the transformative story of God’s creation
CTCMath specializes in providing online video tutorials that take a multi-sensory approach to learning. Creative graphics and animation, synchronized with the friendly voice of internationally acclaimed teacher, Pat Murray, make learning math easy and effective. Start your free trial today.
The Schoolhouse Rocked Podcast is a member of the Biblical Family Network. Our mission is to support and encourage the family by providing the very best podcasts on family, discipleship, marriage, parenting, worldview, culture, and education, all from a Biblical perspective. Visit the website for more great shows, like the Think
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The phrase I don't know. I'm starting to reject because I
don't think it's true. I think we do know.
We don't like what we know. We don't want to do.
We don't want to do what we know.
I mean, it's it's. Like door number.
Three, I know exactly I I know what God wants me to do.
(00:20):
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rock
podcast. I'm Kristy Clover, and I'm
excited to be your host again this week.
Well, today I get to welcome back Rachel Carmen to the show.
You won't want to miss out on our conversation as we dig into
how to home school without losing yourself.
But before we get into our conversation, I'd like to thank
(00:41):
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(01:04):
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(01:25):
CTC Math Math made easy. All right, my schoolhouse rock
friends. I am so excited to welcome my
friend Rachel Carmen to the showtoday.
Rachel is a powerhouse of encouragement.
She's an author, speaker, podcaster, co-owner of Apologia,
and homeschool mom of seven. Rachel has traveled the world
(01:45):
speaking at conferences and retreats, teaching God's Word to
parents and children. And Rachel and her husband,
Davis own Apologia Education Ministries, which is a leading
publisher of award-winning creation based curriculum for
home educators. She's the mom to seven and Coco
to her grandchildren. Rachel is a 26 year homeschool
(02:06):
veteran and continues to be energized by affirming,
encouraging and equipping the next generation of homeschool
families to answer the call. Well, with all that, welcome
back to Schoolhouse Rock podcast.
Rachel, did I miss anything in your introduction?
No, no, no, no. I just, I'm always overwhelmed
with it. I'm like can we get on with it?
I'm just a homeschool mom like that, you know, ex homeschool
(02:27):
mom like they are. It just seems like too much and
stuff but no thank you for that I.
Appreciate it yes I know like I have to do your justice put it
all in there and I even cut somestuff out because you have so
many things that you were amazing at but we can just
you're very kind say my friend Rachel is here so that works too
I. Prefer that?
Let's vote. I'm going to vote for that.
(02:48):
I know. Well, what's so crazy is when I
was prepping for this, I realized you were one of the
very first speakers I met. This first year.
I started speaking at home school conventions.
And that was 10 years ago. Yes, that's crazy.
We were both in our 30s back then.
Well, I was in my 20s. I don't know where you are,
sorry. Talking about math.
(03:12):
I mean, you did just talk about math, but maybe, maybe there's a
problem. Math there.
We're doing that women's right. Yeah, exactly my math, which
nobody should do, right? Oh yeah.
But I totally remember that because I remember, I mean, I
was like, they had me not just speaking, I was speaking.
I was hosting like a bloggers night out.
(03:32):
I was doing all these things andI just remember walking away
going, what have I gotten myselfinto?
Like, what am I doing? And you and Davis were just so
encouraging and you really have been just a, you know, a
steadfast person in my life justencouraging me along the way.
So I just I love that. And one of the things I admire
so much is just the way that you've balanced all these roles.
(03:54):
You homeschool, you've got a bigfamily, you guys have not just a
ministry, but a company you run.And then on top of that, you
write and speak and do mom events and all the things.
So if there's anyone to talk to today about how to have a more
balanced life, it is you, my friend.
So I'm so. Excited.
(04:14):
I know you live in California. I live in Carolina, so there's a
lot of distance between the two of us.
I can make it look really easy from that far away.
But let's talk about it. I love it.
Well, yeah, because I mean, likebalance, right?
You've got a lot of things that you're juggling.
And I have had seasons where I'mjuggling a lot.
I try to put things down and then pick up what I need to
(04:36):
juggle at the time. But with homeschool families, I
think that's the big thing that nobody really talks about is
that it's not just struggling over lesson planning and
curriculum choices. It is a lot about balance
because it's easy to get consumed by all things
homeschooling and home life and kind of feel like, like you, you
the mom, you, you know, you Rachel, me, Christy, we kind of
(04:57):
get lost in that. So yeah, it's too easy.
Well, it is and I, I'm going to blow it up from the beginning.
You're going to thank you for this later.
Oh, I love it. I don't believe in balance.
I think that I think balance, inthe words of Solomon, is like
chasing after the wind. And I think it's been a huge
(05:18):
problem for moms is they really,they get it in their head.
It's kind of like this idea of being behind.
I don't believe in being behind.You are where you are and God is
sovereign over all things. We talked about that before I
got on. You are where you are and the
enemy wants to take you captive where you are, whether you're
ahead or behind, and convince you you're not where you're
(05:41):
supposed to be. Look, you are where you are and
you go forward from where you are.
You make the best of where you are and you go forward from
where you are and you don't get stuck where you are.
And again, that's probably for adifferent day.
But when it comes to balance, I think it's related and that we
get this in our head that everything's got to be even.
And I'm just going to tell you it doesn't have to be.
(06:02):
There are different seasons whenthings are out of kilter and it
is what it is, right? And there are thing, I think
it's more about keeping your priorities in line than it is
keeping everything balanced. Because I can remember a whole
bunch of different seasons of the childbearing season, like
when we were nuts and bringing home a baby every what, 2 years?
(06:23):
What were we thinking? And so we did that and nothing
was balanced when we were doing that.
We had seasons when our kids didspeech and debate.
That was nuts. We had seasons when our kids did
theater. There was nothing balanced about
doing theater. We had seasons when kids were
sick or we were moving to a different church or we were
(06:45):
hosting it. I mean, I can't remember a time,
Christy, I'm going to disappointeveryone when everything was
balanced, right? But but we had our priorities
straight and so we endeavored. Oh, and I didn't even mention
there was a time in there. We were unemployed for 22
(07:05):
months. So we've had a little bit of
everything. We haven't had balance, right?
What we had is our priorities and our priorities were we
wanted to honor God first and foremost in Word and deed.
We wanted to prioritize our relationships, Davis and our
relationship with each other, our relationship with our
(07:27):
children, our children's relationship with each other.
And then like distant, we were going to, you know, we're going
to have family reading time and we were, we were going to do
math. But in terms of having
everything, even, I think it's very dangerous to chase balance.
(07:47):
But I think what I'm saying is controversial.
And I saw it on your notes and Iwas like, how early on do I
blow? I love it, you know, because I
actually completely agree with you that for me, when I think
balance, it's impossible, right?Like you're, you're teetering
either way and teetering's no fun.
So you do you have to set your priorities.
But like balance is like that. It's the word to use that we're
(08:11):
discussing and kind of more the mindset of like, how do we not?
Because I went through a season of burnout and I think I've
talked about that on this podcast a few times.
I don't know if you knew that, but like burnout's not fun.
And I was taking on way too much.
So much so that it's just like Ihad my priorities and everything
else in the kitchen drawer thrown at me And it was just, it
(08:31):
was just a season where everything lined up really,
really poorly. So that's when, you know, I
realized I do need to slow down.And so when I like my definition
of balance is probably very similar and that it's just, it
is what it is. And that is my new saying as
well. Everybody used to be like, oh,
it's fine. I'm like, no, not fine.
(08:53):
Like you cannot say it's fine when you're struggling with
depression and burnout. But it is what it is and I'm
going to move forward. And this is where God has me.
This is where I am planted. And so this is what I'm doing
so. Yeah.
And you haven't gone through that.
Like everything that we've walked through, the sovereignty
of God, everything that we've gone through, He redeems right
(09:17):
as we dare to sit in it and let Him do His work in and through
us and through those we love. And then we progress forward and
guess what? We run into somebody else who's
doing the same thing and who's up against the same thing, and
then we get to pour into them and encourage them.
I mean, that's how he, that's the imbalance of it all, is that
(09:39):
we're not all ever in the same place at the same time.
And it's never all the same for all of us at the same time.
But in his economy, he uses all of our hot, messy imbalance to
rub up against each other and encourage each other.
You know, I can, I've thought about you finally so many times.
You know, I think Christy is over there because I so admired.
(10:02):
So, so, so admired that you did dare to step away because that
is stupid hard when you were firing on all cylinders.
Like, I know you were at that one point.
You just had your book come out.It's going great.
People are calling you. You're doing conferences.
Everything's awesome. But guess what?
Your kids aren't getting any younger.
Yeah. And if I remember correctly, and
(10:24):
I don't want to misrepresent you, so do correct me.
My sense was you were like, I don't get this time back and I
don't want to miss this time. And I thought, girlfriend, that
is so courageous and that is so exactly the right thing to do.
And I have just prayed and I seeevidence of it now that God just
(10:46):
would honor that decision because that was that.
I love the definition of courage.
Courage is a big word for me andfor our conversations in our
home. And So what is it?
You know, and I, one of my daughter's was at a church and
the, the pastor suggested that the best definition of courage
is just doing the right thing. And I love that.
(11:10):
It's a very simple definition. But I think that is exactly that
gets exactly to the heart of courage because it doesn't talk
anything about it being easy, right?
And I can bet if it's the right thing, it's going to be hard.
And that's what you did. You were like, and and I like
your, your phrase Kelter. It's kind of a quirky word, but
(11:32):
you sensed that things were out of Kelter.
And it was like, no, this is nothow it should be.
But in our culture says, yeah, but keep, don't stop, keep don't
don't you know, And you were like, no, no, it's out of Kelter
and I have to pull back. And I and I think that's exactly
it. I think we need to calibrate our
(11:54):
Kelter monitor and maybe we're going to adopt this keeping
things prioritized rightly. And and I really believe that
that is here. Here's a really hard thing.
I really think that that's unique for all of us.
I think we want things to judge each other on.
And I, I think this is our sinful state.
I'm going to, I'm going to say that this is not the best part
(12:16):
of us. Can we agree on that?
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, but I think we want to
have some sort of a checklist and go she's not doing that very
go. Oh, she's awful of that.
She's never done that, you know,to to kind of justify and
rationalize our own sinfulness. We want to look at other people
and this is in our darkest selves, right?
These priorities. I think it is profoundly
(12:38):
individual and profoundly personal to to me personally, to
our marriage, to our family, to you personally, to your marriage
and your family. I don't think we get permission
to judge each other by our own kilter meter.
You get your own individual one before the Almighty God, and
(13:00):
that's a pretty powerful thing too, because I again, I think
the temptation is to judge each other and I, I think we need to
back away from that comparison thing.
Oh, comparison is so poisonous. So poisonous.
Yeah. Yeah.
And you know, nothing good ends there.
Oh, yeah. And yeah, that actually is one
of the big reasons why I say you.
(13:20):
So you were, you remembered correctly and it was so hard in
the season because I had everything going like I was,
everything was going up. Like, you know, I had somebody
telling me I needed to pitch a show.
I, you know, I had all this stuff happening and I was like,
I have maybe 2 years left with my two oldest 'cause we were
getting ready to launch them. And so I backed out the year
(13:42):
that my oldest graduate, like that year that he was
graduating, I was pulling back and pulling back and pulling
back. And we did, we had two more
years with both of them. And so I was there, I was
present, and we got to be in it with them.
And my oldest got married in ourbackyard.
So we got to walk with him through all of his dating and
courtship and all the beautiful things.
But yeah, but coming back, it's really hard because I have felt
(14:06):
like God was like, now's the season, and so it's time to step
forward again. So it's been tricky, but I have
the Schoolhouse Rock podcast, which has been such a blessing
to me. So God's good and He really does
bring it all background. But with all of that we've been
talking about, I do want to takea really quick break so we can
hear from other sponsors for ourpodcast and we'll be right back.
(14:29):
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Well, we're back with Rachel Carmen and before the break we
were talking about what we're going to balance kilter,
whatever you we want to call it for today, what that looks like
(15:55):
for homeschool moms, especially as we recognize that, you know,
God may be calling us to kind ofstep out of just the home and
our ministry here at home. And you know, that's kind of
what I wanted to talk a little bit about next.
Rachel is just kind of talking about how when we do feel that
calling from God, like and I, I really do feel like as moms,
(16:17):
when we are homeschooling and where moms is married, whatever
we have, we already have these priorities that God has made
very clear to us. And yet sometimes he's like, OK,
but I I need to use you in another area.
So how do we fight it? Because I know even for me and
coming back into things, I really struggled with guilt.
I'm like, am I doing the right thing?
(16:38):
You know, maybe I shouldn't be doing this because I had taken
time away and I could see the difference in my family.
So kind of like how do we we howdo we kind of reframe that, I
guess from feeling guilty to feeling called, I don't know if
there's a question in there somewhere.
Yeah, there you go. Well, I'm going to, there is a
lot there though, right? Because I think first of all, I
(17:01):
would, I would strongly encourage you don't just run
over that feeling. Yeah, right.
So the temptation culturally is,oh, just ignore that.
Just just just ignore that. Don't ignore that.
Do not ignore that. If if you were in step with the
Holy Spirit and if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you
were filled with the Holy Spiritand if you were sensing some
(17:23):
guilt, you need to take some time.
I would boldly suggest to you step away and sit in that for a
little bit and ask the holy mighty God to help you
understand what that is. Because there, it's one of two
sources, right? Only one of two.
And, and you would behoove all of us to listen to God.
And I don't think any of us, andI'm at the front of the line, I
(17:46):
don't think any of us listen to him as well as we want to.
We want to hear from him, but wedon't listen to him as
consistently as we ought. And then when we really want to
hear from him, we wonder why we don't.
Well, we've been turning him down for a while.
And so that's why at those moments we're not hearing it, we
kind of have to back up right, to hear from him.
So if if we're feeling that First off, say, OK, God, what?
(18:09):
Help me, I want to hear you. I'm here and actually dare to
turn down the world and tune into God.
Yes. So first of his, he's trying to
get your attention and he deserves your attention.
So dare to consider what he might be saying.
Because I know for me, there have been times when I, I've
been like, I really thought he wanted me to do this.
(18:30):
I'm kind of in one of those situations now.
I really thought I knew what he wanted me to do.
And so I boldly and courageouslydid it.
And if you know me, I don't do anything halfway.
I do nothing halfway. And so I just bam, I'm doing
this. And I am now going, yeah, that's
really not. And I don't know why yet.
I don't know if it was me. I don't know if it was somebody
else because that happens too. But I'm like, OK, that really
(18:53):
was not. So I'm backing up, right?
And that's, that's that's a thing that happens not all the
time when God says go, you go. Do you actually finish that?
Sometimes it's just a thanks forbeing ready.
We're going to try this again, right?
Sometimes though, you feel that guilty feeling and it's the
(19:14):
enemy trying to pick you off andGod has indeed sent you out and
it is very clearly His will. And yet the enemy starts
throwing the stuff at you. I mean, he will throw any
possible thing you have ever done wrong, thought wrong,
anything, anything ever, ever, ever.
He will throw it at you, right? Stuff that you've dealt with,
(19:36):
stuff that and that's, that's how you know it's him.
That's how you know it's the enemy.
It's when it's stuff you've already dealt with that he's
trying to dig up dead bones thatyou have dealt with and start
throwing them at you. And your response is I've
already dealt with that. We're done with that.
That's that's over. That's when you know it's the
(19:57):
enemy. When it's when it's stuff that
you are ignoring or denying, that's a whole different thing.
And that's when you have to stepaway and go, OK.
I really didn't want to do this.I really just wish this would go
away. God loves us enough that He does
(20:17):
not vaporize the issues that we need to deal with.
He allows them to continually bethere and gently helps us come
back and deal with them. And so I think dealing with the
whole guilt issue requires something that we all run low on
and that is time to sit in it and do some 4610 and say, OK,
(20:43):
God, what is this? What is this?
And I, I really, I've been thinking about this for a while.
I think the thing we most need is the thing we're least likely
to do, and that is Psalm 4610. I think.
What would it look like? Yeah.
What would it look like? You want to talk about a revival
(21:05):
on homeschooling Run Homeschooling moms?
What if we all dared to do Psalm4610 just to dare?
And I mean, I'll start at a low base, right?
I think ideally we would like dare to do that for like a
weekend. That would be, I think.
No, I has seen, no ear has heard.
(21:26):
I think if we would dare to takesome time together to do that, I
think that could be really powerful.
But how about we just start with15 minutes?
Yeah, we OK, God, I'm going to set this 15 minutes aside and
I'm going to sit here and I just, I'm just, I'm going to be
still and meditate on your goodness and your faithfulness
(21:46):
and, and, and listen for your voice.
I think, I think that's what we need to do.
And again, when those feelings of guilty, I think we need to
dare to not do what the culture tells us.
And sometimes I'm going to even say the culture bleeds over.
And I think Christie, you would agree with me.
Unfortunately, I don't always mean secular when I say culture.
(22:10):
It can very easily be Christian culture that says just push
through that guilt. Just push through it.
This you're doing God's will. Well, maybe not.
I mean, sometimes it can look like this is God's all over it.
And it's like you were saying earlier, it's not the right
time. It's not the right season.
(22:31):
And so we have, I really think, and it's a hard thing.
I, I have three women in my lifethat have been really good to me
and my husband too, who've been really good to me in different
seasons and have just said, I don't think this is that time
yet Or I think you're doing too much or I think, I can't tell
(22:52):
you why, but I think this is a big.
No. Oh yeah.
I think, I think we need to dareto have people in our life that
we give permission to tell us things that we don't want to
hear. Amen.
And, and those people are hard to come by.
It's hard to be that person. It takes a lot of courage to be
(23:14):
that person. It takes a lot of courage to
listen to that person. But again, I think, I think it's
revolutionary in our relationship with God and our
relationship in our marriage, our relationship with our kids,
and ultimately in our ministry because my ministry is first and
foremost in my relationship withGod.
(23:35):
That's my primary ministry. Amen.
Yeah, second. Ministry is my marriage, my
third ministry with my kids. Now I've got grandkids, but
sometimes we only think ministryis out there with, you know, all
the people. But if we don't get the first
one right, right, the other onesaren't.
It's we can fool the audiences easily, right?
(23:56):
But if you lose your your soul with your relationship with God
and your husband and your kids, it's not worth it.
It's not no. In fact, I have been working so
hard so I in all of my discoveryslowing down.
I realize that I have and I don't know if it's adult onset
or it's just like it's it's adults now.
(24:18):
I know I have ADHD and SO. Congratulations.
Thank you. That's why I'm so creative and I
can get things done because I'm so distracted.
So I'm like. Oh yeah, I'll do there.
You go, but one of the things that I've been really working
hard on is trying to be still and trying to sit before the
Lord and it's so hard when your brain is racing.
(24:41):
And so I've learned two things. Never one, I always sit down
with my time with the Lord with a pad of paper next to me or a
sticky note. So things jumped in my brain.
I just write them down and make them go away and just I'll do it
that later. But the other thing this is like
I like preach this everywhere now is there's this app and it's
a John Eldridge app and it's called the one minute pause and
(25:03):
it is so good. You're praying through
Scripture. He has very specific things and
so he's got 2. So there's one minute ones, but
I do the ones that he has a serial ones, a 20 day thing and
then the one is a 30 day thing and there's an evening and a
morning and an evening one and they're about 10 minutes and
they're fabulous. Like we even have our younger
(25:26):
kids doing this. So my 14 and 12 year old, like
I'm going to do my paws now and I'm like, OK, go enjoy.
But it has helped me so much to stay focused because otherwise I
realize I'm thinking about crazytown.
Like, you know, I, I don't even know how I, well, I can follow
the, the rabbit trail and how I got there.
I'm like, I can't slow down, butit has made such a difference
(25:49):
and just slowing down. They always start with, Lord, I
give you everything and everyone.
And so it just helps just to like surrender.
So it's a lot about surrendering.
And I think that that is a good place to start whenever we're
trying to take on other things. And there's also, you were
talking about guilt versus, I like to say guilt versus shame
(26:10):
because there's a difference. Guilt is the prompting of the
Holy Spirit. Shame is from the accuser of our
souls, the enemy. And so that is when he does try
to bring up things like, Oh, youfailed before, you're going to
fail again. Why are you even trying?
Like, look at these issues that are happening.
That's all because blah, blah, blah, you know?
And that's so difficult. So difficult.
(26:33):
So. Yeah.
And your idea of focus. I've long believed that the
enemy is content that we don't create, we don't commit some
heinous sin. You know, we don't got murder.
We're not going out of pillagingthe countryside.
We're not stealing, right? He's just content to keep us all
distracted. And we are so utterly distracted
(26:55):
right now, so incredibly and completely distracted right now.
And if we would but, and it's just one verse, be still a no,
if we would just but sit in the stillness of the moment and
honor him for who he is and recognize him for who he is.
And you know, first Peter, cast all your cares before him.
(27:16):
It makes all the difference in the world.
It does. Just to do that.
It does, it really does. And I like, I have this weird
little saying that I use when itcomes to homeschooling and kind
of all things is that I only have so much time in my day.
We all have the same amount of time every day.
And so I kind of think of it as I'm going to come to the Lord
(27:37):
with my loaves and fishes and I'm going to ask him to multiply
it because and that's kind of how I went into the whole
business. See ministry thing.
I'm like, God, I just have this and I need you to multiply it.
And I was praying that recently.And and this is how he knows the
Lord when he's like, oh, zinger.And I'm like, because I was
(27:57):
like, Lord, I just, I really would.
I need you to multiply my loavesand fishes.
And he's like, honey, like, I don't know if you use the word,
but he was just kind of, you know, Christy.
He does for me. He does for me.
Come on. I know, but he was like,
Christy, you need to bring me the loaves and fishes.
And I realized, Oh my goodness, I'm asking him just to make
things like multiply something that I have not done yet.
(28:20):
And that was so convicting. And I knew that was the Lord
because the enemy doesn't want me doing anything.
He wants me to just sit back andrelax.
But that was so convicting for me.
I'm like, OK, I am bringing him nothing and asking him to
multiply it and you know, and that.
So I'm going to get nothing out of that.
But I'm like, OK, I need to be wise with the time that I have
(28:42):
and don't do the doom scrolling that I get so sucked into.
Holy smokes, it's crazy. So that has been one big
conviction for me lately. Yeah.
And I think we need to dare to encourage each other in those
things, right? And I think we have a low, we
have very little of that going on.
(29:03):
I remember in the past I had some really good friendships.
I mean, I've got these three women in my life now.
They're very helpful. But I can even remember they're
all older than me. Well, one's younger than me.
The other two are older than me,but I remember in the past I had
like, peer groups and we were constantly challenging each
other that the iron sharpening iron thing.
(29:24):
And I just think we've gotten really LAX in that.
Yeah. And I don't think that we do
that the way we used to and the way we need to, but I think that
that's how we grow, right? And sharing our stories and not
comparing and not competing, right, But going, Oh, I, that
would be a great thing for me toapply to my life.
I could really, I can really seehow God could really grow me
(29:48):
implementing that in my life. And I, I just think we don't do
that enough, you know, really let me share with you what God's
doing. I really appreciate you sharing
your story and, and how God's walked with you and shown you.
And I'm sure there are listenersthat will go, wow, if Christy
can step aside, I know that that's what God's asking me to
do. Because here's the other thing I
I think I the phrase I don't know, I'm starting to reject.
(30:11):
Oh, because. I don't think it's true.
I think we do know. We don't like what we know.
We don't want to do. We don't want to do what we
know, right? I mean, it's it's.
Like door #3 no. Exactly.
I, I know what God wants me to do.
I am, you know, so I've done this long enough, you've spoken
(30:33):
across the country and around the world and I'm very grateful
for that. And, and in all those years,
lots of Q&A's, lots of people, you know, ask questions and
spoiler alert, it's the same topten list in Russia that it is in
Japan, that it is in Cincinnati,that it is in Longview, TX, that
it is in Atlanta. We're all wrestling the same
(30:56):
thing. And so often people will come up
and I'll say, well, what do you think?
And they'll go, I don't know. And I'm like, but I think you
do. I think you do.
Yeah. You know.
I mean, we're not listening. If you're feel we're not
listening and we want somebody else to tell us and we want,
here's the kicker, we want somebody else to be mad at,
right? It's easier to be mad at me, but
(31:17):
I'm not your Holy Spirit. Yes, and I'm not competing for
that job. I.
Say feel like I say that all thetime.
I'm like, I'm not your Holy Spirit, so you need to go.
Pray I'm not, I'm not. So I think encouraging each
other to listen and do what we know what rich relationships
might we have if we dared to take it to the next level,
(31:39):
right? And the next level of really
challenging each other, constantly recalibrating our
priorities to be what would besthonor God, encouraging each
other to to live courageously. I think that's what it means for
us to be a real community that encourages each other and love
it, you know, throw balance out the window, but really encourage
(32:00):
each other and, and be where we are and lean into listening to
God. I love that.
Thank you. This is amazing.
I love it. But thank you for sharing all
that and I really hope that the people listening are encouraged
and they realize that they don'thave to have balance.
There we go. This is about balance.
And now it's not, but I do. I hope that ladies listening, He
(32:24):
will lean into what the Holy Spirit is is prompting you be
still before the Lord. That's where it starts.
Surrender to Him and when you hear from Him, obey.
That's the other little piece that we kind of didn't really
talk through. But before we wrap up, can you
share with us where everybody can connect with you and find
your books and resources and things like?
(32:45):
That yeah, sure. The best place to connect with
me is over at apology.com. There's so much content over
there. And our ministry is all about
helping you succeed in whatever season you're in with your in
your homeschooling journey. That's what we're all about.
So you can give us a call, you can e-mail us.
And then Davis and I do a podcast, the Let's Talk
Homeschool podcast, and I have not been back to my podcast in a
(33:09):
while, so I need to get back to that.
But the Real Refreshment podcastis still over there with a lot
of content. And again, we're just here to
encourage you. So let us know how we can do
that. I love it.
Well, thank you. And keep in mind, my listening
friends, that you can find the links to everything that Rachel
just mentioned in the show notes.
And don't forget to head over toschoolhouserock.com where you
(33:31):
can stream the free Schoolhouse Rock the Homeschool Revolution
movie. So be sure to subscribe to
Schoolhouse Rock on YouTube and follow along on your favorite
podcast app. It has been a pleasure to be
your host this week on the Schoolhouse Rock podcast.
And if you're listening today and thinking I need help
organizing and being more balanced, I have got you
(33:54):
covered. Because first, I'd love to
invite you to grab my new free three day homeschool reset.
It's a quick and easy mini course designed to help you
clear the mental clutter, reset your routine, and bring some
peace back into your homeschool space and days.
And you can sign up for that at christyclover.com/reset.
(34:14):
And in fact, when you were over there, you're going to unlock a
special $30 off discount on my Ultimate Homeschool Organization
course. So that is everything you need
to create systems that will actually work for you and your
family. So again, make sure you head
over to christyclover.com/reset to access all of my homeschool
resources for you there. But thank you for listening and
(34:37):
I will see you back here next week for Part 2 of my
conversation with Rachel Carmen.You're listening to the Biblical
Family Network. Hey, I'm Miki and I'm Will and
we're the Co host of the CultureProof podcast.
We want to invite you to join usevery week as we discuss what's
(34:57):
happening in the world and then filter those happenings through
a decidedly biblical lens. There are many questions,
especially when we see what's happening in our culture today,
but the answers are found withinthe Word of God, so that's where
we want to look. Amen.
When we resist those cultural trends that rival the truth.
We remain culture proof. At some point, most homeschool
(35:21):
parents have a child that will potentially say, I want to go to
school, like, you know, for whatever reason it is, but I
want to go to school. And So what do we do as
homeschool families who are committed to wanting to
homeschool? How do we tackle that?
If in the moment you are overwhelmed with emotion because
(35:42):
you have poured into this child and and it does hurt you, they
don't need to know that. Right.
And I can appreciate that as homeschool mothers, we have a
lot invested in this. But we should not put our
emotional baggage and our emotional junk on our children.
They are not responsible. For.
(36:03):
That Amen. You are communicating love to
your child. I see you.
I care about you. This is valid.
I'm not panicked. I'm not angry.
I'm not manipulating. I'm not frustrated.
I love you and there's somethinggoing on here that that deserves
my attention and our conversation.
Let's do that.
The phrase I don't know. I'm starting to reject because I
don't think it's true. I think we do know.
We don't like what we know. We don't want to do.
We don't want to do what we know.
I mean, it's it's. Like door number.
Three, I know exactly I I know what God wants me to do.
(00:20):
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Schoolhouse Rock
podcast. I'm Kristy Clover, and I'm
excited to be your host again this week.
Well, today I get to welcome back Rachel Carmen to the show.
You won't want to miss out on our conversation as we dig into
how to home school without losing yourself.
But before we get into our conversation, I'd like to thank
(00:41):
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So Sign up today at ctcmath.com and start your free trial.
(01:25):
CTC Math Math made easy. All right, my schoolhouse rock
friends. I am so excited to welcome my
friend Rachel Carmen to the showtoday.
Rachel is a powerhouse of encouragement.
She's an author, speaker, podcaster, co-owner of Apologia,
and homeschool mom of seven. Rachel has traveled the world
(01:45):
speaking at conferences and retreats, teaching God's Word to
parents and children. And Rachel and her husband,
Davis own Apologia Education Ministries, which is a leading
publisher of award-winning creation based curriculum for
home educators. She's the mom to seven and Coco
to her grandchildren. Rachel is a 26 year homeschool
(02:06):
veteran and continues to be energized by affirming,
encouraging and equipping the next generation of homeschool
families to answer the call. Well, with all that, welcome
back to Schoolhouse Rock podcast.
Rachel, did I miss anything in your introduction?
No, no, no, no. I just, I'm always overwhelmed
with it. I'm like can we get on with it?
I'm just a homeschool mom like that, you know, ex homeschool
(02:27):
mom like they are. It just seems like too much and
stuff but no thank you for that I.
Appreciate it yes I know like I have to do your justice put it
all in there and I even cut somestuff out because you have so
many things that you were amazing at but we can just
you're very kind say my friend Rachel is here so that works too
I. Prefer that?
Let's vote. I'm going to vote for that.
(02:48):
I know. Well, what's so crazy is when I
was prepping for this, I realized you were one of the
very first speakers I met. This first year.
I started speaking at home school conventions.
And that was 10 years ago. Yes, that's crazy.
We were both in our 30s back then.
Well, I was in my 20s. I don't know where you are,
sorry. Talking about math.
(03:12):
I mean, you did just talk about math, but maybe, maybe there's a
problem. Math there.
We're doing that women's right. Yeah, exactly my math, which
nobody should do, right? Oh yeah.
But I totally remember that because I remember, I mean, I
was like, they had me not just speaking, I was speaking.
I was hosting like a bloggers night out.
(03:32):
I was doing all these things andI just remember walking away
going, what have I gotten myselfinto?
Like, what am I doing? And you and Davis were just so
encouraging and you really have been just a, you know, a
steadfast person in my life justencouraging me along the way.
So I just I love that. And one of the things I admire
so much is just the way that you've balanced all these roles.
(03:54):
You homeschool, you've got a bigfamily, you guys have not just a
ministry, but a company you run.And then on top of that, you
write and speak and do mom events and all the things.
So if there's anyone to talk to today about how to have a more
balanced life, it is you, my friend.
So I'm so. Excited.
(04:14):
I know you live in California. I live in Carolina, so there's a
lot of distance between the two of us.
I can make it look really easy from that far away.
But let's talk about it. I love it.
Well, yeah, because I mean, likebalance, right?
You've got a lot of things that you're juggling.
And I have had seasons where I'mjuggling a lot.
I try to put things down and then pick up what I need to
(04:36):
juggle at the time. But with homeschool families, I
think that's the big thing that nobody really talks about is
that it's not just struggling over lesson planning and
curriculum choices. It is a lot about balance
because it's easy to get consumed by all things
homeschooling and home life and kind of feel like, like you, you
the mom, you, you know, you Rachel, me, Christy, we kind of
(04:57):
get lost in that. So yeah, it's too easy.
Well, it is and I, I'm going to blow it up from the beginning.
You're going to thank you for this later.
Oh, I love it. I don't believe in balance.
I think that I think balance, inthe words of Solomon, is like
chasing after the wind. And I think it's been a huge
(05:18):
problem for moms is they really,they get it in their head.
It's kind of like this idea of being behind.
I don't believe in being behind.You are where you are and God is
sovereign over all things. We talked about that before I
got on. You are where you are and the
enemy wants to take you captive where you are, whether you're
ahead or behind, and convince you you're not where you're
(05:41):
supposed to be. Look, you are where you are and
you go forward from where you are.
You make the best of where you are and you go forward from
where you are and you don't get stuck where you are.
And again, that's probably for adifferent day.
But when it comes to balance, I think it's related and that we
get this in our head that everything's got to be even.
And I'm just going to tell you it doesn't have to be.
(06:02):
There are different seasons whenthings are out of kilter and it
is what it is, right? And there are thing, I think
it's more about keeping your priorities in line than it is
keeping everything balanced. Because I can remember a whole
bunch of different seasons of the childbearing season, like
when we were nuts and bringing home a baby every what, 2 years?
(06:23):
What were we thinking? And so we did that and nothing
was balanced when we were doing that.
We had seasons when our kids didspeech and debate.
That was nuts. We had seasons when our kids did
theater. There was nothing balanced about
doing theater. We had seasons when kids were
sick or we were moving to a different church or we were
(06:45):
hosting it. I mean, I can't remember a time,
Christy, I'm going to disappointeveryone when everything was
balanced, right? But but we had our priorities
straight and so we endeavored. Oh, and I didn't even mention
there was a time in there. We were unemployed for 22
(07:05):
months. So we've had a little bit of
everything. We haven't had balance, right?
What we had is our priorities and our priorities were we
wanted to honor God first and foremost in Word and deed.
We wanted to prioritize our relationships, Davis and our
relationship with each other, our relationship with our
(07:27):
children, our children's relationship with each other.
And then like distant, we were going to, you know, we're going
to have family reading time and we were, we were going to do
math. But in terms of having
everything, even, I think it's very dangerous to chase balance.
(07:47):
But I think what I'm saying is controversial.
And I saw it on your notes and Iwas like, how early on do I
blow? I love it, you know, because I
actually completely agree with you that for me, when I think
balance, it's impossible, right?Like you're, you're teetering
either way and teetering's no fun.
So you do you have to set your priorities.
But like balance is like that. It's the word to use that we're
(08:11):
discussing and kind of more the mindset of like, how do we not?
Because I went through a season of burnout and I think I've
talked about that on this podcast a few times.
I don't know if you knew that, but like burnout's not fun.
And I was taking on way too much.
So much so that it's just like Ihad my priorities and everything
else in the kitchen drawer thrown at me And it was just, it
(08:31):
was just a season where everything lined up really,
really poorly. So that's when, you know, I
realized I do need to slow down.And so when I like my definition
of balance is probably very similar and that it's just, it
is what it is. And that is my new saying as
well. Everybody used to be like, oh,
it's fine. I'm like, no, not fine.
(08:53):
Like you cannot say it's fine when you're struggling with
depression and burnout. But it is what it is and I'm
going to move forward. And this is where God has me.
This is where I am planted. And so this is what I'm doing
so. Yeah.
And you haven't gone through that.
Like everything that we've walked through, the sovereignty
of God, everything that we've gone through, He redeems right
(09:17):
as we dare to sit in it and let Him do His work in and through
us and through those we love. And then we progress forward and
guess what? We run into somebody else who's
doing the same thing and who's up against the same thing, and
then we get to pour into them and encourage them.
I mean, that's how he, that's the imbalance of it all, is that
(09:39):
we're not all ever in the same place at the same time.
And it's never all the same for all of us at the same time.
But in his economy, he uses all of our hot, messy imbalance to
rub up against each other and encourage each other.
You know, I can, I've thought about you finally so many times.
You know, I think Christy is over there because I so admired.
(10:02):
So, so, so admired that you did dare to step away because that
is stupid hard when you were firing on all cylinders.
Like, I know you were at that one point.
You just had your book come out.It's going great.
People are calling you. You're doing conferences.
Everything's awesome. But guess what?
Your kids aren't getting any younger.
Yeah. And if I remember correctly, and
(10:24):
I don't want to misrepresent you, so do correct me.
My sense was you were like, I don't get this time back and I
don't want to miss this time. And I thought, girlfriend, that
is so courageous and that is so exactly the right thing to do.
And I have just prayed and I seeevidence of it now that God just
(10:46):
would honor that decision because that was that.
I love the definition of courage.
Courage is a big word for me andfor our conversations in our
home. And So what is it?
You know, and I, one of my daughter's was at a church and
the, the pastor suggested that the best definition of courage
is just doing the right thing. And I love that.
(11:10):
It's a very simple definition. But I think that is exactly that
gets exactly to the heart of courage because it doesn't talk
anything about it being easy, right?
And I can bet if it's the right thing, it's going to be hard.
And that's what you did. You were like, and and I like
your, your phrase Kelter. It's kind of a quirky word, but
(11:32):
you sensed that things were out of Kelter.
And it was like, no, this is nothow it should be.
But in our culture says, yeah, but keep, don't stop, keep don't
don't you know, And you were like, no, no, it's out of Kelter
and I have to pull back. And I and I think that's exactly
it. I think we need to calibrate our
(11:54):
Kelter monitor and maybe we're going to adopt this keeping
things prioritized rightly. And and I really believe that
that is here. Here's a really hard thing.
I really think that that's unique for all of us.
I think we want things to judge each other on.
And I, I think this is our sinful state.
I'm going to, I'm going to say that this is not the best part
(12:16):
of us. Can we agree on that?
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, but I think we want to
have some sort of a checklist and go she's not doing that very
go. Oh, she's awful of that.
She's never done that, you know,to to kind of justify and
rationalize our own sinfulness. We want to look at other people
and this is in our darkest selves, right?
These priorities. I think it is profoundly
(12:38):
individual and profoundly personal to to me personally, to
our marriage, to our family, to you personally, to your marriage
and your family. I don't think we get permission
to judge each other by our own kilter meter.
You get your own individual one before the Almighty God, and
(13:00):
that's a pretty powerful thing too, because I again, I think
the temptation is to judge each other and I, I think we need to
back away from that comparison thing.
Oh, comparison is so poisonous. So poisonous.
Yeah. Yeah.
And you know, nothing good ends there.
Oh, yeah. And yeah, that actually is one
of the big reasons why I say you.
(13:20):
So you were, you remembered correctly and it was so hard in
the season because I had everything going like I was,
everything was going up. Like, you know, I had somebody
telling me I needed to pitch a show.
I, you know, I had all this stuff happening and I was like,
I have maybe 2 years left with my two oldest 'cause we were
getting ready to launch them. And so I backed out the year
(13:42):
that my oldest graduate, like that year that he was
graduating, I was pulling back and pulling back and pulling
back. And we did, we had two more
years with both of them. And so I was there, I was
present, and we got to be in it with them.
And my oldest got married in ourbackyard.
So we got to walk with him through all of his dating and
courtship and all the beautiful things.
But yeah, but coming back, it's really hard because I have felt
(14:06):
like God was like, now's the season, and so it's time to step
forward again. So it's been tricky, but I have
the Schoolhouse Rock podcast, which has been such a blessing
to me. So God's good and He really does
bring it all background. But with all of that we've been
talking about, I do want to takea really quick break so we can
hear from other sponsors for ourpodcast and we'll be right back.
(14:29):
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Well, we're back with Rachel Carmen and before the break we
were talking about what we're going to balance kilter,
whatever you we want to call it for today, what that looks like
(15:55):
for homeschool moms, especially as we recognize that, you know,
God may be calling us to kind ofstep out of just the home and
our ministry here at home. And you know, that's kind of
what I wanted to talk a little bit about next.
Rachel is just kind of talking about how when we do feel that
calling from God, like and I, I really do feel like as moms,
(16:17):
when we are homeschooling and where moms is married, whatever
we have, we already have these priorities that God has made
very clear to us. And yet sometimes he's like, OK,
but I I need to use you in another area.
So how do we fight it? Because I know even for me and
coming back into things, I really struggled with guilt.
I'm like, am I doing the right thing?
(16:38):
You know, maybe I shouldn't be doing this because I had taken
time away and I could see the difference in my family.
So kind of like how do we we howdo we kind of reframe that, I
guess from feeling guilty to feeling called, I don't know if
there's a question in there somewhere.
Yeah, there you go. Well, I'm going to, there is a
lot there though, right? Because I think first of all, I
(17:01):
would, I would strongly encourage you don't just run
over that feeling. Yeah, right.
So the temptation culturally is,oh, just ignore that.
Just just just ignore that. Don't ignore that.
Do not ignore that. If if you were in step with the
Holy Spirit and if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you
were filled with the Holy Spiritand if you were sensing some
(17:23):
guilt, you need to take some time.
I would boldly suggest to you step away and sit in that for a
little bit and ask the holy mighty God to help you
understand what that is. Because there, it's one of two
sources, right? Only one of two.
And, and you would behoove all of us to listen to God.
And I don't think any of us, andI'm at the front of the line, I
(17:46):
don't think any of us listen to him as well as we want to.
We want to hear from him, but wedon't listen to him as
consistently as we ought. And then when we really want to
hear from him, we wonder why we don't.
Well, we've been turning him down for a while.
And so that's why at those moments we're not hearing it, we
kind of have to back up right, to hear from him.
So if if we're feeling that First off, say, OK, God, what?
(18:09):
Help me, I want to hear you. I'm here and actually dare to
turn down the world and tune into God.
Yes. So first of his, he's trying to
get your attention and he deserves your attention.
So dare to consider what he might be saying.
Because I know for me, there have been times when I, I've
been like, I really thought he wanted me to do this.
(18:30):
I'm kind of in one of those situations now.
I really thought I knew what he wanted me to do.
And so I boldly and courageouslydid it.
And if you know me, I don't do anything halfway.
I do nothing halfway. And so I just bam, I'm doing
this. And I am now going, yeah, that's
really not. And I don't know why yet.
I don't know if it was me. I don't know if it was somebody
else because that happens too. But I'm like, OK, that really
(18:53):
was not. So I'm backing up, right?
And that's, that's that's a thing that happens not all the
time when God says go, you go. Do you actually finish that?
Sometimes it's just a thanks forbeing ready.
We're going to try this again, right?
Sometimes though, you feel that guilty feeling and it's the
(19:14):
enemy trying to pick you off andGod has indeed sent you out and
it is very clearly His will. And yet the enemy starts
throwing the stuff at you. I mean, he will throw any
possible thing you have ever done wrong, thought wrong,
anything, anything ever, ever, ever.
He will throw it at you, right? Stuff that you've dealt with,
(19:36):
stuff that and that's, that's how you know it's him.
That's how you know it's the enemy.
It's when it's stuff you've already dealt with that he's
trying to dig up dead bones thatyou have dealt with and start
throwing them at you. And your response is I've
already dealt with that. We're done with that.
That's that's over. That's when you know it's the
(19:57):
enemy. When it's when it's stuff that
you are ignoring or denying, that's a whole different thing.
And that's when you have to stepaway and go, OK.
I really didn't want to do this.I really just wish this would go
away. God loves us enough that He does
(20:17):
not vaporize the issues that we need to deal with.
He allows them to continually bethere and gently helps us come
back and deal with them. And so I think dealing with the
whole guilt issue requires something that we all run low on
and that is time to sit in it and do some 4610 and say, OK,
(20:43):
God, what is this? What is this?
And I, I really, I've been thinking about this for a while.
I think the thing we most need is the thing we're least likely
to do, and that is Psalm 4610. I think.
What would it look like? Yeah.
What would it look like? You want to talk about a revival
(21:05):
on homeschooling Run Homeschooling moms?
What if we all dared to do Psalm4610 just to dare?
And I mean, I'll start at a low base, right?
I think ideally we would like dare to do that for like a
weekend. That would be, I think.
No, I has seen, no ear has heard.
(21:26):
I think if we would dare to takesome time together to do that, I
think that could be really powerful.
But how about we just start with15 minutes?
Yeah, we OK, God, I'm going to set this 15 minutes aside and
I'm going to sit here and I just, I'm just, I'm going to be
still and meditate on your goodness and your faithfulness
(21:46):
and, and, and listen for your voice.
I think, I think that's what we need to do.
And again, when those feelings of guilty, I think we need to
dare to not do what the culture tells us.
And sometimes I'm going to even say the culture bleeds over.
And I think Christie, you would agree with me.
Unfortunately, I don't always mean secular when I say culture.
(22:10):
It can very easily be Christian culture that says just push
through that guilt. Just push through it.
This you're doing God's will. Well, maybe not.
I mean, sometimes it can look like this is God's all over it.
And it's like you were saying earlier, it's not the right
time. It's not the right season.
(22:31):
And so we have, I really think, and it's a hard thing.
I, I have three women in my lifethat have been really good to me
and my husband too, who've been really good to me in different
seasons and have just said, I don't think this is that time
yet Or I think you're doing too much or I think, I can't tell
(22:52):
you why, but I think this is a big.
No. Oh yeah.
I think, I think we need to dareto have people in our life that
we give permission to tell us things that we don't want to
hear. Amen.
And, and those people are hard to come by.
It's hard to be that person. It takes a lot of courage to be
(23:14):
that person. It takes a lot of courage to
listen to that person. But again, I think, I think it's
revolutionary in our relationship with God and our
relationship in our marriage, our relationship with our kids,
and ultimately in our ministry because my ministry is first and
foremost in my relationship withGod.
(23:35):
That's my primary ministry. Amen.
Yeah, second. Ministry is my marriage, my
third ministry with my kids. Now I've got grandkids, but
sometimes we only think ministryis out there with, you know, all
the people. But if we don't get the first
one right, right, the other onesaren't.
It's we can fool the audiences easily, right?
(23:56):
But if you lose your your soul with your relationship with God
and your husband and your kids, it's not worth it.
It's not no. In fact, I have been working so
hard so I in all of my discoveryslowing down.
I realize that I have and I don't know if it's adult onset
or it's just like it's it's adults now.
(24:18):
I know I have ADHD and SO. Congratulations.
Thank you. That's why I'm so creative and I
can get things done because I'm so distracted.
So I'm like. Oh yeah, I'll do there.
You go, but one of the things that I've been really working
hard on is trying to be still and trying to sit before the
Lord and it's so hard when your brain is racing.
(24:41):
And so I've learned two things. Never one, I always sit down
with my time with the Lord with a pad of paper next to me or a
sticky note. So things jumped in my brain.
I just write them down and make them go away and just I'll do it
that later. But the other thing this is like
I like preach this everywhere now is there's this app and it's
a John Eldridge app and it's called the one minute pause and
(25:03):
it is so good. You're praying through
Scripture. He has very specific things and
so he's got 2. So there's one minute ones, but
I do the ones that he has a serial ones, a 20 day thing and
then the one is a 30 day thing and there's an evening and a
morning and an evening one and they're about 10 minutes and
they're fabulous. Like we even have our younger
(25:26):
kids doing this. So my 14 and 12 year old, like
I'm going to do my paws now and I'm like, OK, go enjoy.
But it has helped me so much to stay focused because otherwise I
realize I'm thinking about crazytown.
Like, you know, I, I don't even know how I, well, I can follow
the, the rabbit trail and how I got there.
I'm like, I can't slow down, butit has made such a difference
(25:49):
and just slowing down. They always start with, Lord, I
give you everything and everyone.
And so it just helps just to like surrender.
So it's a lot about surrendering.
And I think that that is a good place to start whenever we're
trying to take on other things. And there's also, you were
talking about guilt versus, I like to say guilt versus shame
(26:10):
because there's a difference. Guilt is the prompting of the
Holy Spirit. Shame is from the accuser of our
souls, the enemy. And so that is when he does try
to bring up things like, Oh, youfailed before, you're going to
fail again. Why are you even trying?
Like, look at these issues that are happening.
That's all because blah, blah, blah, you know?
And that's so difficult. So difficult.
(26:33):
So. Yeah.
And your idea of focus. I've long believed that the
enemy is content that we don't create, we don't commit some
heinous sin. You know, we don't got murder.
We're not going out of pillagingthe countryside.
We're not stealing, right? He's just content to keep us all
distracted. And we are so utterly distracted
(26:55):
right now, so incredibly and completely distracted right now.
And if we would but, and it's just one verse, be still a no,
if we would just but sit in the stillness of the moment and
honor him for who he is and recognize him for who he is.
And you know, first Peter, cast all your cares before him.
(27:16):
It makes all the difference in the world.
It does. Just to do that.
It does, it really does. And I like, I have this weird
little saying that I use when itcomes to homeschooling and kind
of all things is that I only have so much time in my day.
We all have the same amount of time every day.
And so I kind of think of it as I'm going to come to the Lord
(27:37):
with my loaves and fishes and I'm going to ask him to multiply
it because and that's kind of how I went into the whole
business. See ministry thing.
I'm like, God, I just have this and I need you to multiply it.
And I was praying that recently.And and this is how he knows the
Lord when he's like, oh, zinger.And I'm like, because I was
(27:57):
like, Lord, I just, I really would.
I need you to multiply my loavesand fishes.
And he's like, honey, like, I don't know if you use the word,
but he was just kind of, you know, Christy.
He does for me. He does for me.
Come on. I know, but he was like,
Christy, you need to bring me the loaves and fishes.
And I realized, Oh my goodness, I'm asking him just to make
things like multiply something that I have not done yet.
(28:20):
And that was so convicting. And I knew that was the Lord
because the enemy doesn't want me doing anything.
He wants me to just sit back andrelax.
But that was so convicting for me.
I'm like, OK, I am bringing him nothing and asking him to
multiply it and you know, and that.
So I'm going to get nothing out of that.
But I'm like, OK, I need to be wise with the time that I have
(28:42):
and don't do the doom scrolling that I get so sucked into.
Holy smokes, it's crazy. So that has been one big
conviction for me lately. Yeah.
And I think we need to dare to encourage each other in those
things, right? And I think we have a low, we
have very little of that going on.
(29:03):
I remember in the past I had some really good friendships.
I mean, I've got these three women in my life now.
They're very helpful. But I can even remember they're
all older than me. Well, one's younger than me.
The other two are older than me,but I remember in the past I had
like, peer groups and we were constantly challenging each
other that the iron sharpening iron thing.
(29:24):
And I just think we've gotten really LAX in that.
Yeah. And I don't think that we do
that the way we used to and the way we need to, but I think that
that's how we grow, right? And sharing our stories and not
comparing and not competing, right, But going, Oh, I, that
would be a great thing for me toapply to my life.
I could really, I can really seehow God could really grow me
(29:48):
implementing that in my life. And I, I just think we don't do
that enough, you know, really let me share with you what God's
doing. I really appreciate you sharing
your story and, and how God's walked with you and shown you.
And I'm sure there are listenersthat will go, wow, if Christy
can step aside, I know that that's what God's asking me to
do. Because here's the other thing I
I think I the phrase I don't know, I'm starting to reject.
(30:11):
Oh, because. I don't think it's true.
I think we do know. We don't like what we know.
We don't want to do. We don't want to do what we
know, right? I mean, it's it's.
Like door #3 no. Exactly.
I, I know what God wants me to do.
I am, you know, so I've done this long enough, you've spoken
(30:33):
across the country and around the world and I'm very grateful
for that. And, and in all those years,
lots of Q&A's, lots of people, you know, ask questions and
spoiler alert, it's the same topten list in Russia that it is in
Japan, that it is in Cincinnati,that it is in Longview, TX, that
it is in Atlanta. We're all wrestling the same
(30:56):
thing. And so often people will come up
and I'll say, well, what do you think?
And they'll go, I don't know. And I'm like, but I think you
do. I think you do.
Yeah. You know.
I mean, we're not listening. If you're feel we're not
listening and we want somebody else to tell us and we want,
here's the kicker, we want somebody else to be mad at,
right? It's easier to be mad at me, but
(31:17):
I'm not your Holy Spirit. Yes, and I'm not competing for
that job. I.
Say feel like I say that all thetime.
I'm like, I'm not your Holy Spirit, so you need to go.
Pray I'm not, I'm not. So I think encouraging each
other to listen and do what we know what rich relationships
might we have if we dared to take it to the next level,
(31:39):
right? And the next level of really
challenging each other, constantly recalibrating our
priorities to be what would besthonor God, encouraging each
other to to live courageously. I think that's what it means for
us to be a real community that encourages each other and love
it, you know, throw balance out the window, but really encourage
(32:00):
each other and, and be where we are and lean into listening to
God. I love that.
Thank you. This is amazing.
I love it. But thank you for sharing all
that and I really hope that the people listening are encouraged
and they realize that they don'thave to have balance.
There we go. This is about balance.
And now it's not, but I do. I hope that ladies listening, He
(32:24):
will lean into what the Holy Spirit is is prompting you be
still before the Lord. That's where it starts.
Surrender to Him and when you hear from Him, obey.
That's the other little piece that we kind of didn't really
talk through. But before we wrap up, can you
share with us where everybody can connect with you and find
your books and resources and things like?
(32:45):
That yeah, sure. The best place to connect with
me is over at apology.com. There's so much content over
there. And our ministry is all about
helping you succeed in whatever season you're in with your in
your homeschooling journey. That's what we're all about.
So you can give us a call, you can e-mail us.
And then Davis and I do a podcast, the Let's Talk
Homeschool podcast, and I have not been back to my podcast in a
(33:09):
while, so I need to get back to that.
But the Real Refreshment podcastis still over there with a lot
of content. And again, we're just here to
encourage you. So let us know how we can do
that. I love it.
Well, thank you. And keep in mind, my listening
friends, that you can find the links to everything that Rachel
just mentioned in the show notes.
And don't forget to head over toschoolhouserock.com where you
(33:31):
can stream the free Schoolhouse Rock the Homeschool Revolution
movie. So be sure to subscribe to
Schoolhouse Rock on YouTube and follow along on your favorite
podcast app. It has been a pleasure to be
your host this week on the Schoolhouse Rock podcast.
And if you're listening today and thinking I need help
organizing and being more balanced, I have got you
(33:54):
covered. Because first, I'd love to
invite you to grab my new free three day homeschool reset.
It's a quick and easy mini course designed to help you
clear the mental clutter, reset your routine, and bring some
peace back into your homeschool space and days.
And you can sign up for that at christyclover.com/reset.
(34:14):
And in fact, when you were over there, you're going to unlock a
special $30 off discount on my Ultimate Homeschool Organization
course. So that is everything you need
to create systems that will actually work for you and your
family. So again, make sure you head
over to christyclover.com/reset to access all of my homeschool
resources for you there. But thank you for listening and
(34:37):
I will see you back here next week for Part 2 of my
conversation with Rachel Carmen.You're listening to the Biblical
Family Network. Hey, I'm Miki and I'm Will and
we're the Co host of the CultureProof podcast.
We want to invite you to join usevery week as we discuss what's
(34:57):
happening in the world and then filter those happenings through
a decidedly biblical lens. There are many questions,
especially when we see what's happening in our culture today,
but the answers are found withinthe Word of God, so that's where
we want to look. Amen.
When we resist those cultural trends that rival the truth.
We remain culture proof. At some point, most homeschool
(35:21):
parents have a child that will potentially say, I want to go to
school, like, you know, for whatever reason it is, but I
want to go to school. And So what do we do as
homeschool families who are committed to wanting to
homeschool? How do we tackle that?
If in the moment you are overwhelmed with emotion because
(35:42):
you have poured into this child and and it does hurt you, they
don't need to know that. Right.
And I can appreciate that as homeschool mothers, we have a
lot invested in this. But we should not put our
emotional baggage and our emotional junk on our children.
They are not responsible. For.
(36:03):
That Amen. You are communicating love to
your child. I see you.
I care about you. This is valid.
I'm not panicked. I'm not angry.
I'm not manipulating. I'm not frustrated.
I love you and there's somethinggoing on here that that deserves
my attention and our conversation.
Let's do that.
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