Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Vickie Farris is the mother of 10 children, a 24-year homeschooling veteran, and wife of Home School Legal Defense Association Chairman and General Counsel Michael Farris. On today's Home School Heartbeat, originally aired in 1998, she shares what encouraged her to keep going through many busy years of homeschooling.

Michael Farris:
Vickie, what has kept you going through 17 years of homeschooling—you've got 10 kids, you are wife to a very busy husband. How do you do it?

Vickie Farris:
First of all, I've tried to really focus on God's truth instead of my feelings throughout all of this. I've clung to God in faith and I've determined to believe what He says. For example, when I feel like the kids are just making no progress, I try to remember Galatians 6:9, which says, "And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." When I'm feeling totally exhausted and ready to give up, I remember Isaiah 40:31: "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." When I'm feeling like I'm missing out on life because I'm just staying at home with babies, teaching little ones, then I remember Psalm 84:11, which says, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." So I try to just keep God's truth in my mind.