Have you noticed homeschooling often feels like being in a refiner’s fire? There are days it seems you accomplish nothing because you spend the whole day addressing character issues—yours or your children’s. This is frustrating when you already have so much to do and just want to check things off your list.

Instead of allowing this to overwhelm and frustrate you, embrace these moments. In this episode, we are discussing four tips for embracing your time in the homeschool refiner’s fire and how it is beneficial in the long run.

Key takeaways from the show

1. Recognize this is an investment.
2. Build margin into your schedule.
3. Be a helper, not an adversary.
4. Seek input from your husband.

Links and resources from the show

The story of the refiner’s fire:

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: ‘He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ (Malachi 3:3) She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, ‘How do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He smiled at her and answered, ‘Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it.’ (source unknown)

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