Prayer and Your Homeschool

When I began this journey, now 10 years ago, I had no idea the amazing places God would take me. Not physical places mind you (although we’ve done quite a few awesome field trips!) but I mean places that He has led me—such as joy-filled places, despair-filed places, places where I have laughed, places where I have cried—just so many different emotional places. Yet one place He has taken me to that has been a necessary one, is on my knees in prayer.

I have learned over the years that I do nothing without Him. I would not have started this journey if I had not submitted to His plans- even when it seemed absolutely impossible for ME to homeschool, I prayed so much that year, and He lead me to start homeschooling.

I am eternally grateful that I kept a journal that year. It has provided a written testimony of all that He has done. I highly recommend doing so. A prayer journal may not only bless you now, but your future self will thank you. When I look back over journals and I see the prayers answered and how God works, it is incredibly encouraging. It blows my mind to see myself in my writings from 10 years ago…a terrified mom with no idea what she was getting into, but she was listening and obeying God. I am so thankful I still have those journals!

There have been times of big prayer. Really big prayers. Where things have seemed so impossible and I was driven to my knees. There were times of great joy. Where I couldn’t help but praise Him for all He does and for who He is!

There are the little prayers in between-

“Please Lord, help me to get through this Algebra problem without losing it!” or

“Please Lord, let my little one succeed in phonics today.”

There were family prayers, prayers at mealtimes, and prayers before bed…

And there was weekly prayer over our homeschool plans. That to me is a must do for all homeschool moms.

How can we expect our plans to succeed if we don’t include Him?

Pray over your plans each week. I try to spend time on Sunday night reviewing the week before and submitting my plans for the week ahead to the Lord.

War Room

I recently saw the movie War Room and was completely blown away. Yes, I want to be Miss Clara when I grow up! 😉
Seriously, though it was a game changer for me and how I look at prayer. The battle is HIS, and we are to step aside and let Him work, but we still must GO to Him in prayer.

My husband made this bench and firepit for us this weekend out of stones on our property. I posted this on Instagram:

 

I’m thinking this bench and fire pit my hubby made today (out of stone on our property!) will make a great prayer spot. #WarRoom

 Where is YOUR War Room?

Really, your War Room can be anywhere- a closet, a spot on your porch, or a bench made out of stones 😉 . The important thing is we must be on the offensive and pray!

I have a resource to help you get started. Download it for FREE–there are 31 verses to pray if you don’t know here to start:

May we remember that our homeschools should be covered in prayer. Daily, weekly, and moment by moment. 

Join the Movement– Share with your friends, build community, and live #real.

#Real Homeschool

Share in your community what a real homeschool looks like. Let’s build a community, together, and be real.

Also, you can read more about God at the center and simplifying your homeschool:

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I am laughing at the title of this as I type, because this week has been anything but typical…with our recent move. BUT, I did think that we got a good amount of work done, and our studies were somewhat back on track. Usually, though, there is NO such thing as “typical.” 

Here is what we have been doing:

BIBLE: We are doing an Advent devotional, and the kids are copying Luke 2 for copywork.

MATH: Math U See: Algebra for the oldest (pray for us! 😉 ) Delta, and Zeta for the others. Littlest guy is practicing counting, order, calendar, and writing numbers.

HISTORY: We are continuing in Mystery of History. We are reading about Ancient Rome and Christian persecution. We read through a lesson, and then took another day to do some of the activities for the lesson. We had to talk about how Rome was divided up into provinces to make it easier to rule by Diocletian. So we were able to then do activities relating to how our country is divided into states. We spent one day using flashcards to review the states and capitals. The older children had to then research what a governor does and write me a short paper about their duties and limitations of power.

SCIENCE: Apologia for all children. This is a great Bible-based curriculum. Plus lots of real life science on our new property! Salamander catching, exploring in the woods, nature, and more!

LOGIC: Older children working through The Fallacy Detective. I have to laugh when I see my daughter using skills she is learning when she is arguing with us! (Ha! Practical application, I guess 😉 )

LANGUAGE ARTS: Explode the Code for younger children, Language Lessons from Sandi Queen for older, and IEW for oldest. My oldest is working a report writing with IEW. We absolutely love that program! There have also been a few writing assignments for the younger children. 
SPELLING: Review for younger children

GEOGRAPHY: Reviewing continents, oceans, countries, maps, and states and capitals

READING: Oldest is reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Across Five Aprils. Middle schooler is reading Narnia series, and younger is reading a fishing book (he loves fishing!) Littlest is learning to read with Explode the Code and I can Read It.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: French using Middlebury Interactive for oldest.

OTHER: Public speaking class (ICC), fine arts program, robotics, baking, crafts, and lots of exploring on our new property. We also have two boys making a homemade manger out of wood they cut. Can’t wait to see the result 🙂

Big List of Pilgrim Resources for Homeschool

Several years back we studied the Pilgrims for a long time. We just got stuck on this time period because it was so fascinating to read about these people who risked everything and suffered for a cause many of them would never even come to see to fruition. Amazing testimony of faith. Our studies culminated with a trip to Plymouth, MA to visit Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower. It was truly amazing. With Thanksgiving upon us, here are some resources to learn about the Pilgrims.

Pilgrim Educational Websites

The First Thanksgiving- Scholastic Website (LOTS of great info, games, videos, and more)

Plimoth.org Website

Pilgrim Books

Pilgrims Of Plymouth

The Story of the Pilgrims (Pictureback)

The Pilgrims of New England A Tale of the Early American Settlers (FREE for Kindle)

Magic Tree House Fact Tracker #13: Pilgrims: A Nonfiction Companion to Magic Tree House #27: Thanksgiving on Thursday (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving

Sarah Morton’s Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl (Scholastic Bookshelf)

If You Sailed On The Mayflower (If You…)

P Is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet (Discover America State By State. Alphabet Series)

Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage

Squanto, Friend Of The Pilgrims (Scholastic Biography)

Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620-1691

Of Plymouth Plantation 1620 – 1647– One of MY very favorites. I read this after visiting Plimoth Plantation and just loved it.

The Pilgrims of Plimoth

Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy In Pilgrim Times

My Name Is America: The Journal Of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, A Pilgrim Boy

Stories of the Pilgrims (FREE eBook)

Bible-Based Thanksgiving Resources (general crafts, books, and more)

(A compilation I put together last year of Bible-based resources)

FREE Bible Lesson about the Pilgrims- (I am going to do this activity!)

harvest Blessing Mix Snack with Lesson (adorable)

FREE Thanksgiving Bible Crafts from Christian Preschool Printables

JoyfulHeart.com has some Bible-based articles and such

BibleFun Zone has FREE printables

Be Thankful lesson from Homeschooled-Kids.com

Bible-Printables.com has a variety of coloring pages

We Gather Together: 14 Thanksgiving Hymns
30 Scripture Readings on Thanksgiving (Year Long Bible Reading Series)
My Thanksgiving Prayer
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving
30 Scripture Readings for Thanksgiving & 30 Scripture Readings for Christmas: Two Months of Scripture Readings for the Holidays

Field Trip

One of the best things we ever did was visit Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA. We visited late September when the crowds were gone and the weather is perfect. I highly recommend visiting if you can. After learning about the Pilgrims, when we actually visited Plimoth Plantation, it was amazing to step back in time and visit life there.

Check it out here: Plimoth Plantation

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 Today I am thrilled to share with you a guest post from Debi, from the Peapod Family Homeschool

Preposterous!  That old-fashioned word sums up the responses I received from my gallery of naysayers when I announced, as a single mom of two small boys, that I wanted to homeschool my children.

The naysayers were comprised mostly of family and friends. Strangers were more likely to affirm my desire. One friend rejoiced and affirmed my announcement. One.

Does that surprise you?  It surprised me.  Until I realized that strangers don’t have a deeply held desire to see me succeed. Strangers can afford to be encouraging of a not-so-typical dream.  Family and friends want me to be safe.

Why is it that tradition seems so safe?

The word safe reminds me of a line from the C.S. Lewis classic, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

I once told my dear, worried mom just before she died, and now often tell my children, that the safest place we can be is where God wants us to be. Even if we die doing His bidding, we are safe.

God planted the seeds of faith for foster care, adoption, and homeschooling when I was quite young.  Even my typical childhood and not-so-typical rebellious, tumultuous, young-adult years didn’t squash the seedlings.  At His appointed time, my hardened heart softened. To me, it seemed the journey to my destiny had commenced, but truthfully, it had already begun before I was born. Praise HIM!

Allow me to boast in the Lord by sharing the status of those seeds of faith, held in God’s sovereign hands: 

Foster care: 15 years and 25 children

Adoption: 6 children (ranging in age today from 14 down to 1-year-old twins)

Homeschooling: 9 years and still counting

Marital status: still single

Career: Stay-at-home mom, teaching university-level courses online for 8 years

Today, I still have naysayers. Their comments reflect their desire for me to adhere to safe, typical paths. They also say things like “I don’t know how you do it! HOW do you do it?!”

The short answer is: I don’t do it. GOD does!

To me, the journey has been an unpredictable adventure with joy, peril, sorrow, pain, uncertainty, poop, gain, loss, laughter, tears, delight, pleasure, fear, barf, spontaneity, abundance, noise, contentment, imperfection, loneliness, poverty, provision, rejoicing, hellos, good-byes, respite, exhaustion, and peace.

By the world’s standards, there’s nothing safe at all about this journey. But what a glorious adventure with Jesus it is!

Before I ever asked God to give me the desires of my heart, before I even knew what I needed and wanted, God planted the seeds of faith that gave birth to the desires now being fulfilled and lived out through the touch of His good and loving hands. This truth overwhelms my heart with joy!

If you’ve read the following passage of Scripture before, don’t let your eyes glaze over the words today.  Please pause, ask God for fresh eyes, and read it again slowly and prayerfully:

“Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:3-9)

To God be all the glory forever!

~ Debi

Debi is a still-single, homeschooling momma of 6 children given to her by God through the amazing journey of foster care and adoption. She has been homeschooling for 9 years and is looking forward to many more years of home education.  She spends her days walking by faith and living out the command to teach her children when they lie down, rise up, and walk by the way. 

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