Homeschooling Essentials: Prayer
I am a huge planner. I plan everything out, including the birth of my children. I had it all figured out. I knew exactly how it would be when I brought my last child home from the hospital. I saw it all in my head and I was ready. God, however, had other plans. We didn't come home, well at least not for awhile. After almost six weeks in the NICU and another 10 day stay for open heart surgery I learned that things do not always go as planned! Now, I tell you this not to keep you from planning, but just to remind you that planning is not enough.
You see, I was going to title my first Homeschooling Essentials post just Planning but I think I will leave that for tomorrow. Instead, I felt that it was important to first start with the reminder to pray. Sisters, we should start everything we do with prayer. That should be such a part of our lives that it should not have to be mentioned. I might also add that along with prayer comes Bible study. I can not seem to do one without the other. Conversation takes two. God speaks to us through His Word and we speak back to Him through prayer. Oh sure there will be that still small voice encouraging you on what steps to take to follow His Word, but His Word is what matters most.
One thing I do to help make sure I read my Bible every day is sign up for a simple reading plan at Bibleplan.org. I usually read through the Bible in a year but this year I am doing it chronologically. They offer many different plans for various levels of commitment in many different versions and languages. You can also print the list off on paper if you prefer to keep track of it that way. I tried that once but I didn't seem to keep up as much. I love seeing that reminder in my email each morning.
There are many ways to make sure you get your Bible reading in. Bibleplan.org is just one of them. There are several apps for your phone. I grabbed a simple one in the NET version which is a FREE online Bible. I have several different versions of the Bible on my Kindle too and most of them were free.
Since I try to teach the importance of starting your day with Bible study and prayer to my daughter, I make sure that the Bible is the first thing we do each day in school. After doing the lesson I always encourage my daughter to spend some quite time of her own in prayer. Then we complete the rest of the lessons for that day.
In order to get my own personal prayer time in each day I started getting up earlier. Then my daughter started getting up earlier too. So I started getting up even earlier and low and behold, so did she! I later realized that it was good for her to see me in prayer. I remember the first time she woke up and saw me praying. She didn't interrupt. She just sat there watching me, waiting for me to finish. While she was quiet, knowing she was there did distract me, but I think it was great for her to see that. Now I just tell her when I am praying and she knows to go do something and wait. Sometimes, however, she joins me. That is such a blessing!
She has learned a lot by watching me. We get to church early every Sunday to help get the coffee going and things like that. Gess generally plays in one of the rooms, coloring or writing on the board, but look what I found her doing a few weeks ago!
Ladies, our prayers are so important!. Yes, we need to pray about the lessons we plan, we need to pray for guidance in what we teach, seek wisdom in how to teach it and pray that our kids learn it, but even if we forget to pray for this specific thing or that, we need to PRAY! Just praying will make a difference While prayer is personal we can't make it so personal that our kids don't know we are doing it otherwise they can't learn from it. They need to see that prayer is a part of every - single - thing - we - do! Let us PRAY!
You see, I was going to title my first Homeschooling Essentials post just Planning but I think I will leave that for tomorrow. Instead, I felt that it was important to first start with the reminder to pray. Sisters, we should start everything we do with prayer. That should be such a part of our lives that it should not have to be mentioned. I might also add that along with prayer comes Bible study. I can not seem to do one without the other. Conversation takes two. God speaks to us through His Word and we speak back to Him through prayer. Oh sure there will be that still small voice encouraging you on what steps to take to follow His Word, but His Word is what matters most.
One thing I do to help make sure I read my Bible every day is sign up for a simple reading plan at Bibleplan.org. I usually read through the Bible in a year but this year I am doing it chronologically. They offer many different plans for various levels of commitment in many different versions and languages. You can also print the list off on paper if you prefer to keep track of it that way. I tried that once but I didn't seem to keep up as much. I love seeing that reminder in my email each morning.
There are many ways to make sure you get your Bible reading in. Bibleplan.org is just one of them. There are several apps for your phone. I grabbed a simple one in the NET version which is a FREE online Bible. I have several different versions of the Bible on my Kindle too and most of them were free.
Since I try to teach the importance of starting your day with Bible study and prayer to my daughter, I make sure that the Bible is the first thing we do each day in school. After doing the lesson I always encourage my daughter to spend some quite time of her own in prayer. Then we complete the rest of the lessons for that day.
In order to get my own personal prayer time in each day I started getting up earlier. Then my daughter started getting up earlier too. So I started getting up even earlier and low and behold, so did she! I later realized that it was good for her to see me in prayer. I remember the first time she woke up and saw me praying. She didn't interrupt. She just sat there watching me, waiting for me to finish. While she was quiet, knowing she was there did distract me, but I think it was great for her to see that. Now I just tell her when I am praying and she knows to go do something and wait. Sometimes, however, she joins me. That is such a blessing!
She has learned a lot by watching me. We get to church early every Sunday to help get the coffee going and things like that. Gess generally plays in one of the rooms, coloring or writing on the board, but look what I found her doing a few weeks ago!
She was reading her Bible! Another time she disappeared we found her in the sanctuary, praying. What a blessing!
Ladies, our prayers are so important!. Yes, we need to pray about the lessons we plan, we need to pray for guidance in what we teach, seek wisdom in how to teach it and pray that our kids learn it, but even if we forget to pray for this specific thing or that, we need to PRAY! Just praying will make a difference While prayer is personal we can't make it so personal that our kids don't know we are doing it otherwise they can't learn from it. They need to see that prayer is a part of every - single - thing - we - do! Let us PRAY!
Now that we have started our school with prayer, it's time to get planning! I will discuss that topic tomorrow. In the meantime be sure to check out these other great 5 Days of Homeschooling Essentials blogs.
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge for Whining
Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road
Heather @ Thrift Schooling
Joanie @ Simple Living Mama
Lisa @ Home to 4 Kiddos
Amy @ Homeschool Encouragement
Monique @ Living Life and Learning
Jenn @ Fresh Start Academy
Click the banner below to find even more homeschooling essential bloggers!
Comments