We have a lot of amazing homeschool resources at our fingertips, especially with the freedom we have here in Indiana (thank you IAHE!), conferences and their exhibit halls, and the blessing (or curse) of online shopping. We can join co-ops, buy DVD classes, find seemingly unlimited resources via our keyboards, order from Amazon/Walmart/Target/etc. We also have a lot of amazing people resources – IAHE, social media, family, friends, other co-op moms, neighbors. But there’s one resource that is more powerful than any other.
Our most powerful homeschool resource is prayer.
Join homeschoolers around the country for National Homeschool Day of Prayer!
As Christian homeschoolers, prayer should be the glue that holds us, our relationships, and our homeschools together. It should be a subject we teach and an example we set. It should be our first instinct in deciding to homeschool and our first of many questions (“God, what do You want us to do?”) as we choose curriculum and set up our schools.
Sometimes, though, it’s an afterthought. An oops at the end of the day as we fall into bed, or a hurried whisper as we cascade into that space between wakefulness and sleep. It doesn’t have to be this way, though, with some organization and a few prayer prompts.
Organizational Ideas
- Create a prayer journal with a page or section for each child, one for your husband, and another for prayers for the entire family. Throughout the school year, add concerns as they arise and also record answers to prayer.
- Pray in-depth for one person per day. If you have two children and a husband, pray for your husband on Monday, Child 1 on Tuesday, and Child 2 on Wednesday. Repeat for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
- If you are tactile or visual, mentally attach a specific person or issue to each bead of your bracelet. Alternatively, use photos of your family that sit on your desk or countertop as a prompt to pray for that person. Train your brain to pray with visual cues.
- Tim Challies offers some valuable ideas in this article: 4 Methods To Organize Your Prayer Life | Tim Challies
Prayer Prompts
In Philippians 4:6-7, we are instructed to be anxious for nothing but to pray about everything. You’ve heard it said that there is nothing too small for God. That’s Gospel truth! Here are some ideas to get you started on your prayer lists.
- Choice of curriculum
- Academic success – good grades
- Choosing appropriate and helpful activities
- Getting and staying organized
- Getting to the co-op on time
- Loving but firm reactions to children
- Making homeschooling fun
- The involvement and leadership of your husband/their father/the principal
- Consistency and stability of:
- completing school lessons
- involvement in activities outside the house
- church attendance
- emotions and attitudes
- Friends, both your own and your children’s, and their influence
- Mom’s calmness and sanity
- Finances to be able to homeschool
- Acceptance and support of your homeschool by family and friends
- College (or not) and career choices of your children
Let your praying release calm into your life as you trust God in all the details, and watch your homeschool thrive!