Discouraged & need prayer

My youngest daughter (12yo) & I were having a little talk about things that go on over at her dad’s, and she told me that there is a lot of pressure over there put on her & her brother & sister to be put into public school. I worry about other things going on there, some of which I’ve related before (their dad & I are not divorce/legally separated but he lives with another woman, they allow violent movies/video games/music, etc.), but this school pressure is getting to be too much for me.

This other woman has been referred to as his fiancee (which makes me so nauseated), and she seems to be the one who is constantly comparing her daughter to my kids (strangely enough, since she is not doing well in public school, but of course they blame the girl’s father for that), and she seems to be the one pushing for public school for my kids. I found out that now their dad’s live-in girlfriend has regained custody of her 12yo daughter, so she will be living with her mom & my kids’ dad starting in the summer & will go to their local public school in the fall. I can only imagine what that will be like.

This is very, very discouraging to me, and I would really appreciate your prayers. I’m still convinced that God wants me to homeschool my children (I haven’t heard otherwise from Him), but I am doubting just how well I am educating them, and I feel like my kids are behind in some areas. A lot of this is due to the struggles we have as a family with my autistic son, who unfortunately comes home from his dad’s expressing a lot of displeasure towards school and talking about how he should go to public school, saying things like, “If I was in public school, I’d have gym class, more friends, more fun….” and just generally acting very rebellious and very agitated. I’m planning to call a Christian counseling practice I finally found that takes our insurance (I think) to see if they can start counseling him. Meanwhile, his meltdowns can just put our whole day’s schedule way out of whack.

Sometimes I feel as though I’ve let my kids down, as I often feel too physically and emotionally exhausted to keep up with things they need to learn, from the academics to life skills. I don’t want them exposed to a lot of the nonsense that seems to prevail in the public school setting, but I also want them to receive a good quality education. I don’t think they would get what they should in a public school, but I don’t feel as though it’s happening as it should here at home, either, so I would be grateful if some of you would lift our family up in prayer.

Oh, and I really want to search the Scriptures for verses & passages that would help & encourage me in all of this and not just read broad daily devotionals right now, so if any of you have any Bible verses that come to mind as you are reading this or praying, I would appreciate it if you would pass them along.

Thanks,

Sue