Encouragement Day speaker urges homeschool moms to ‘live with an eternal perspective’

Terri Hitt has experienced firsthand what she calls every parent’s greatest fear – losing a child – when her daughter passed away unexpectedly at the age of 29.

“When she passed away, I really saw things through an eternal perspective that I hadn’t before,” she said on a recent Midwest Parent Educators (MPE) podcast episode.

Hitt will speak at the nonprofit’s Jan. 31 Women’s Encouragement Day at Journey Bible Church in Olathe, Kansas. The purpose for the day is simple – to help moms build “an eternal legacy” for their children, Hitt explained.

“That’s our role [as mothers] – it’s to guide them and prepare and equip. But we can’t lead our child out of this world. So that really hit me that I wasn’t there, to be there with her when she passed from here to eternity. 

“And that’s what really stuck in my mind, is living with eternal perspective. And it just shifted everything.” 

‘Gaining something that we’re able to give back’ 

The event grew from its start of about 20 women to serve hundreds of homeschool moms in the Kansas City area each year, according to the nonprofit.

Attendees should expect to find connection with other home educators, support for specific challenges and the empowerment to let go of expectations that may be holding them back, Terri said. 

“When we stay home isolated like that, it’s easy to stay in whatever mindset we’re in,” she observed, noting these same moms may be pushing their children to try new things in their daily lessons. 

“If we step out and do that, we’re not only gaining something for ourselves, but we’re gaining something that we’re able to give back to our children.”

By expanding their educator skillset, moms can experience “getting deeper into what the Lord has for us in homeschooling and for our families,” according to Hitt. 

“I had so many homeschool days where, when the day ended and the door would have closed as the kids go upstairs out of the schoolroom, I remained in the dark in the schoolroom on my knees. … I just pray that the moms will get something like that will enable them to stay the course, to take that next step in that moment-by-moment journey that they’ve committed to, and not give up hope.” 

Registration for Women’s Encouragement Day is open on MPE’s website until Jan. 18.  

The nonprofit is also preparing for two additional area events:

• A Chili Cook-off Dinner for homeschool dads Jan. 30 at Church of Christ in Olathe, with a presentation by Dr. John Blackburn 
• A Homeschool Capitol Day planned for Feb. 5 in Topeka