Passion

We all want to be successful in life. Even more than that, we want our kids to be successful. What is success? I don't think success has anything to do with how much money you make. Success is doing whatever it is with all your heart for the glory of God.

 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

That is a difficult task to accomplish. It's even harder to teach our kids. However, the task becomes much easier when we find our passion. What is your passion? What drives you to get out of bed every day? What makes you want to push yourself harder?

For me, there's a few. First and foremost is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Next, it's my family. I will work far harder to give them opportunities to find their passion than I will in pursuing my own. 

It's frustrating to teach your kids day after day and see them hate learning, struggle with everything, have complete apathy toward hard work. Then, one day you see a spark. My 15yo has become very passionate about drawing. He will spend every spare moment he has doing that. He will draw for hours if that means he can avoid his other schoolwork. At first, I was a bit skeptical. Everyone he drew had square bodies and no necks. However, he kept working at it. He got library books, looked online, and just kept drawing. Now, he is becoming quite the artist. Then, he discovered theater. I have never seen him work so hard on anything before.

My next passion is fitness. I first discovered the joy of this when I was in college. Growing up, I was told not to run and not do a lot of things due to breathing problems. In college, I found a few things that I could do. I changed my major midway through to Health/Fitness because I enjoyed it so much. However, I let excuses get in my way and never finished. Then, I got married, had babies, and let that go by the wayside for well over 10 years. I'm still not sure exactly where this is going. I need to figure out a way to combine this passion and use it to benefit the first two. I just know that I really enjoy getting stronger, faster, and healthier every day. It is priceless to feel better at almost 40 than I did in my 20's. This is definitely a passion I want to pass on to my kids. If I can get them to embrace a healthy lifestyle now, that will benefit them their whole lives.

Another passion I have is math and science. At the moment, my attention is about equally divided between this and fitness. Upper level math and sciences are some of the most difficult to teach for homeschooling parents. I love being able to use my passion for this to help others. Another dream I have is to turn my love of science into a ministry. The impact of science on the church today is huge. The beauty is that science is the foundation for fitness and nutrition as well.

This passion for math and science is part of what is driving my desire to be more organized. I have a lot of kids that I'm working with. I have my own kids with their schoolwork and activities. I have to make dinners and do laundry. As I get busier, organization is more and more important. Today is day 5. Sunday was Day 3. Because of church and my son's final performance in Aladdin, not much organization got done. I also tend to not do much on Sundays. I prefer to keep that day for worship and family time. Monday was another story. Next week my first chemistry co-op starts. My project for the day was getting the first week planned and lab supplies figured out. I think I got it figured out, for the most part. Today shall be more meal planning and starting to tackle the front office.