I am wanting very much to have the opportunity to homeschool my daughters next year. This requires God to show up in a new, innovative and huge way for us financially. My husband has been doing his part by looking into jobs that would provide enough income to solely support us. He has made repeated phone calls and sent emails to follow up on different options to be certain he is doing his part. We have both prayed and fasted over these opportunities and situations. I am fearful that God will say no, but I am trying to be faithful in trusting that He will say yes!

In trying to do my part, I have started a Teachers Pay Teachers store called Basics Rethought. Over my relatively short education career, this is my 13th year in teaching, I have seen the pendulum phenomenon happen in education repeatedly. So, the name of my store reflects my teaching philosophy which has developed from watching this not so phenomenal phenomenon. It is where education operates in one lane, such as phonics, for a while and then swings to the far other side, like the whole language approach, and totally drops anything that was working in the phonics approach. Then, a little more time passes, and they swing all the way back to phonics without keeping anything that worked in the whole language approach. I have seen that there is generally some good from all ways of teaching and most “new” ways of teaching are some form of a re-do of a past way of teaching. Therefore, my education philosophy is to keep what works, add what “new” things will work with it, and always look back at what worked in the past. I try to add only things that compliment what I have been successful in the past. I strive to live by the adages, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.” and “There is nothing new under the sun.”

This starting of my store has brought its own set of fears. What if no one buys anything? What if I don’t enough money to make any difference? What if someone says something mean or discouraging about what I make? I have thought about putting on my Facebook page that I started this store and asking my friends for their suggestions of what resources they are looking for on Teachers Pay Teachers. This would likely result in more traffic through my store. It would give suggestions of resources I could create and put in my store that are likely to sell. However, as of this writing, I still have not been able to be brave enough to post on my Facebook page. I am trying to overcome these fears, but it is HARD! God has been faithful to sell one of my products each month that I have had my store opened. This is the third month and just today I made my first sale this month. My sales went up six times from December to January!! Of course December’s sales only totaled about 25 cents!!!! If I could possibly or faithfully keep up that kind of growth it will only take me four months to make $2000.00 a month! That is AMAZING, since that was/is my original monthly income goal to allow me to homeschool my daughters next year. Of course that kind of growth would also be supernatural and miraculous.

So, this journey continues to be a big sloppy mess of faith, fears and firsts! I am praying that the faith will soon start to outweigh and outmeasure the fears! Have you ever had a first that was a mix of faith and fears? Which ended up bigger?