Gallup Poll about Stay Home Moms

Recently I read a few blogs about the latest Gallup poll   This was interesting to me especially considering I am a stay home mom.

 I always wonder about the procedures for conducting these Gallup polls.  Do they call people at night?  How do they get a balance of people?  If these people call at dinner time and try to talk to many stay-home-moms that would be the worst time for them.  I am always skeptical for these kinds of reasons.

Many of the bloggers wanted to try explain why stay-at-home moms (SAHM) would have more of these negative emotions.  I personally have a hard time believing this, but I guess that is because I know so many happy SAHMs who wouldn't change a thing!


Then I began to look more closely at this portion of the poll.  Worry, sadness, stress, anger, and depression are the categories they somehow examined.  Again, I wonder what the question was or how was it phrased. Since I can't seem to find that information, I began thinking about each of these categories from a Biblical perspective.  What does God say about each of these emotions?  Do I experience these emotions more so because I stay home?


Worry-  I don't tend to think of myself as a worrier, but I am sure that I worry more than I should.  Jesus told us not to worry so if I am worrying I am actually sinning.  It is something I need to confess and repent for committing. Did I worry more as a working mom or now as a SAHM?  I think partly I worry less now because most of what I worried about before was missing out on my children's lives.  Do I never worry now?  I try not to.  I keep reminding myself that God is in control and all I have to do is stay close to Him (ie, read Bible and obey it) and all will work together for good.  No matter my circumstances I know the One who can take care of it.  I believe in His omnipotence and faithfulness.


Sadness-  I think they are times when sadness is a fact of this sin- cursed world.  But our sadness should be tempered with the knowledge that this is only for a short time.  At the same time that I am sad about a situation, I can find comfort and even joy from God's word.  Here are some wonderful scriptures about joy.  Again, it can be sinful to dwell on sadness, if I am not reminding myself about the joy of the Lord.  Am I more sad now than when I was a working (outside of house) mom?  No.


Anger-Again, if you are a Christian you know this is another area of sin.  We are called to avoid anger, to prevent anger, if possible, in others, and to repent of anger toward others.  Here are just a few Biblical quotes on anger.  Am I more angry as a SAHM?  Well, I have to admit that my frustration level is tested every day at least once a day.  I think this is one area I feel more tempted than the others.  Thankfully I have learned that it really is possible to avoid this if we all get proper rest, food, and exercise we need.  It also helps to notice ahead of time the things that get us pulled into habits of anger and prevent these triggers if possible.  Some of my favorite bloggers are blogging today about what to do if you need to home school on a day when you have a rotten temper.

Depression-  The word depression might not be in the Bible directly, but I think everyone would agree that is the feeling of total hopelessness.  Christians again are in sin, if we are letting ourselves dwell on depressing thoughts and attitudes.  We need to repent and then constantly remind ourselves of the hope that is within us.  This is one area I am not tempted with thankfully.  I tend to be a half-full kind of person.  I don't think I suffer any more since I started staying home, either.


Stress- This one is also not directly quoted in the Bible.  Again, I think this site that have been linking to for Bible verse collections has some great verses for this topic.  I know we all suffer from stress.  I do not think my stress levels have been increased because of being home.  


Ultimately, I know that I have been much happier since I have chosen to stay home.  I feel sorry for the moms who have so many of these negative emotions, stay home or working.  I pray that they will find conviction, comfort and strength in God's Word.  This was a good reminder to me as well.

With All My Heart~

Traditions: School and Family

This evening at bedtime, Mary finished reading aloud to Lydia and me the final chapter of Little House in the Big Woods.  This has been so delightful for the past 10 weeks. We have made ourselves read it slowly, as prescribed by a CM (Charlotte Mason) education and it is truly a sad moment when a book ends.

We savor it.  We talk about the pictures a little more than other nights.  We laugh a little longer over the funny parts.  We know the end is imminent and we just want to make it last a little longer.  When the last word is read, we talk about the fun we are going to have completing the lapbook.  Lydia has looked a few times at the lapbooks Hannah, Sarah and Mary made over 4 years ago.  Mary was Lydia's age then.  Mary is looking forward to making a second one.  (The advantage of being the middle student  - you get to redo fun activities if you want!)  The big girls may not be making one themselves, but they will enjoy oohhhing and aahhhing over Lydia's book.

I am also so thankful that Laura Ingalls Wilder did not stop with the first book.  We are thrilled to begin Farmer Boy in a few weeks! 

I will update this entry with photos of the girls lapbooks as we work on them! So check back by next week!

Until then I will leave you with a photo of another tradition we have.  Since moving in to our current house, we have been blessed with a rose bush.  It is tradition for Daddy to cut the blooms for our table..  But this tradition has now been passed to our eldest girl, Hannah, who loves to decorate everywhere! :)  This was a pleasant surprise for Daddy when he came in for dinner tonight! 

We are looking forward to having another Rose back at our table soon!  We love and miss you, Memaw!

Pay for Education instead of a System

This month I have been thinking a lot about being frugal and wise managers of the resources (time, money and skills) God has given us.  A fellow homeschool mom mentioned a fact on facebook about how much money she had saved the taxpayers by home educating.  Here is what I determined when crunching our numbers.

Where we lived for the first three years of school (2 chiildren) it was 10,000 per child. So that means Here in VA (also 3 years for 3 children) it is 14,000 per child so we have already saved taxpayers $186,000. The first year we spent around $800 on curriculum. The next 5 years we have never spent more than $500 (Counting yearly internet bill). So we spent approximately $3300 for15 years of school total for all children). AND my children were excited today because we have finally gotten to the 16th president in history so they could study Abraham Lincoln. LOL


What I mean is that our girls still enjoy learning even though we don't spend a great deal of money on it.  I am sure if we had more money I would spend more because I love books and educational field trips to historical and scientific sites.  However, since my husband is the pastor of a small church, it generally means having a modest salary, though the other benefits often out-weigh a large salary! 

What ends up happening in the public school system is you pay for the system more than the education.  You pay for busing, and food programs, and tutoring special needs, and many other expenses that the average student just doesn't need.  If their parent drives them to school, they pack their lunch and they don't need special tutoring, then they could be educated for so much less.  Paying for insurance in schools is another big expense as well as tenure to keep the best teachers.  Again the homeschooler doesn't have either of these expenses.

This is why I wish that homeschoolers would at least get a small stipend from the state or federal government for saving this money!  I could do so much more with just 3% of the 15,000 the county would have paid which equals $450.   It is really kind of funny to compare my homeschooling budget with our food budget.

Food and household supplies $600 per month.
Education  $50 per month ( for 10 months)

I must say that I am very thankful for AmblesideOnline.com which is a curricula that was developed by other homeschool moms to keep costs free or extremely affordable.  The education is excellent!  Thank the Lord for these moms who do not seek to be rich from the gems they have discovered!

Now off to prepare for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's school! :)  Blessings, Eva