Lately I have been taking some time to reevaluate our homeschool.
With another child joining our family, I have found myself really pondering what our homeschool day should look like.
What should be our priorities? What is the most important thing to have on our schedule every day, even if absolutely nothing else of value is accomplished?
You may remember that I chose to name our school "Shield of Faith Homeschool" based on Ephesians 6:16 -
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
More than anything else - more than academics, social skills, or creative abilities - I want my children to have a strong faith so that they will be ready to stand strong with God through whatever they may face in their lives.
One evening a few weeks ago after our family had been struggling through some pretty rough days, Big Brother stopped playing with his LEGOs and said something so profound it really got my attention:
"Mom, I think I know why we've not been having good days. We haven't been praying together in the morning like we used to. When we pray in the morning, the days are better."
And he was right.
Isn't it amazing how God can use our children to touch our hearts and speak His truth to us?
I had gotten so caught up in checking off our daily academic work, keeping up with enrichment activities, and then trying to just survive through the hectic day as a mom who already wasn't feeling well...I was wearing myself out trying so hard to do all the good and right things, yet I had so often missed the most important thing.
And my almost 10 year old knew exactly what we needed.
We needed to seek God and ask His blessings on our days.
We needed to turn our hearts and thoughts toward Him first of all.
We needed to start our day with worship.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 is a command for parents to teach their children about God and to weave this instruction into the fabric of their daily lives.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
My own mother did a wonderful job of this. While there are many things I'm sure I have forgotten from my years of growing up homeschooled, the one thing I remember most when I think back is how every single morning she would consistently read at least one chapter of the Bible with my brother and me (sometimes more, and we would often read devotionals, too.) We went slowly and steadily through the Scriptures, and by the time I graduated high school, we had read through the entire Bible together during these morning sessions. Many evenings were also spent playing Bible trivia games or listening to my Daddy read and discuss the Bible with us. How thankful I am for my parents taking Proverbs 22:6 seriously!
So now, as a mom, I have committed to start our every homeschool day from now on with worship. And Big Brother has promised to help hold us accountable!
Whether my children learn anything from a textbook or whether our day gets completely thrown off and no academics are accomplished at all, I want to be at peace when I go to sleep at night knowing we have taken the time that day, like Mary of Bethany, to sit and learn at the Savior's feet.
For the past several weeks now, Morning Worship has been the very first item on our schedule after breakfast.
I know times of family worship are going to look different for each family, and I know ours will change as our children grow. But I want to quickly share some of what we have been doing during Morning Worship to turn our hearts toward the Lord and surrender our days and our hearts to His will.
Bible Stories
We are slowly working our way through The Beginner's Bible, mostly for Little Brother's benefit but Big Brother enjoys reviewing the basic Bible stories, too. We have a couple Beginner's Bible coloring books, and Little Brother has been enjoying coloring pictures of each story.
Devotions
Right now we are using the Jesus Wants All of Me devotional simply because it has daily readings and is brief. But I am not really a fan of it, and we may soon switch to Adventures in Odyssey's 90 Devotions for Kids
Scripture
While Bible story books and devotional books are awesome, I want to fill my children's hearts and minds with the straight Word of God. I grew up on the KJV with no problems, and so are my children. It is rich in vocabulary and is proven to be the best version for memorization. Some days I may simply read a Scripture passage, or we might listen to a chapter set to music on my phone. Big Brother and I are currently enjoying memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 set to music, and Little Brother is working on John 10:11
Singing
I love to sing! And hearing my children sing Scripture songs, hymns, or other songs about the Lord is such a blessed way to start my day.
We have found a few songs based either on our Scripture memory verses or our current Bible story and have been singing them together every morning.
Prayer
I am trying to teach my children that prayer is a powerful privilege, so this final part of our Morning Worship is very important. We talk about people or situations that we know of that need prayer, and then we take it all to the Lord. I let the boys pray aloud if they want to, and I always pray aloud, too. We thank the Lord for the day and offer our time and talents to Him to use as He sees fit. We pray for safety, we pray for people we love, we ask for help with our daily tasks, and I make sure I let each child hear me call out their name to the Lord in prayer.
Then, and ONLY then, are we ready to tackle the rest of our homeschool day!
If you have not yet tried starting your homeschool day with worship, or if you're like me and have been shamefully inconsistent about it, I want to prayerfully encourage you to give it a try. As Big Brother said, it really does make our days better!
My husband leaves very early for work every morning, so he isn't present for this Morning Worship time. But I am thankful around the same time I started pondering making worship a consistent part of our mornings, the Lord independently laid on his heart to start reading Bible stories and then asking questions with the children before they go to bed at night. How mysteriously the Lord works!
How do you incorporate a time of worship into your homeschool day? What are some resources you have used to teach God's Word in your home? Share in the comments below!
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