4 Prayers for an Amazing Homeschool Year

Homeschooling is a special opportunity to be very intentional in our parenting and in our child’s development. I cherish being the person to introduce new ideas, facts, and skills to our son.

I love being able to fulfill the direction from Deuteronomy 6:6-7: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

 Homeschooling makes space for us to “teach them diligently” when we go for a walk, when we take a nap, when we are just hanging out at home. Homeschool allows for much building into our children! Such a weighty opportunity most certainly requires much time spent in prayer!

As you embark on your school year, here are some Scriptures you can pray over your homeschool experience.

Verses to pray over the goals and direction of your homeschool:

This year for homeschool we hooked into a charter. The plethora of resources and options combined with website overloads and due dates quickly made me realize how easy it is to get distracted from the simplicity of goals we had previously laid out. I hear a lot of moms talk about wrestling to stay on target with their goals. So, here’s a few verses to pray over your family’s homeschool goals:

The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water,
But a man of understanding draws it out. Proverbs 20:5

The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage… Proverbs 21:5

But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands. Isaiah 32:8

Father,
      These are my hopes for our homeschool year (list them). Thank you that I can trust You to be the One who ultimately directs my steps and the steps of our whole family. Pour out understanding on me so I can draw these plans out of my heart into reality, as I surrender these plans to Your will. Give me diligence to lead our family homeschool into advantage for the good of our children and for Your glory. Cause the plans and direction of our homeschool to be noble in Your sight and make them to stand.

Verses to pray for yourself, as a teacher and parent:

It can be hard to parent and not take personally the successes and failures of our kids. Homeschool ups the ante on this issue exponentially. But our efforts will be all the better if we remove our egos from the equation. If our homeschool efforts are for the purpose of serving our children and honoring the Lord our motives and labors will be all the purer. If our labors are just for the Lord, we will be less likely to wear ourselves out (no competitions with other moms or even our own expectations for ourselves). We will also hopefully have less times of conflict with our children.

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation. Psalm 24:4-5

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. Colossians 3:23

Lord, 
      Purify my heart so that as I come into this new homeschool year, I can serve You and my family wholly and completely. Cleanse me of expectations that are not from You for myself or my children. Give me clean hands and a pure heart, grace me to have You alone seated on the throne of my heart, no people pleasing in our homeschooling. Strengthen me to do everything in word and deed for You, Lord, with a thankful heart! And grace me to do this work heartily for You!

Verses to pray for your child:

One of my favorite aspects to homeschooling is being able to give our son a more individualized education. Scripture tells us to “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). But how exactly should he go?

The phrase “should go” in Hebrew might mean more than a general direction of going with the Lord but also inclusive of the specific way God has designed him to go through life. There’s an individual path of faith and journey with God we each have. Each of our children has specific gifts and skills the Lord has tucked into their young life to be part of their calling.

 As a parent it is my joy to watch our son grab hold of who God has made him to be. So I watch and pray for wisdom and prompting from the Lord to be part of his process of developing what God has entrusted to him.

While I love the way homeschooling can facilitate the development of uniqueness in the area of skills or talents, my heart is first and foremost for the growth of his walk with Christ. Perhaps your child “should go” into engineering and mine “should go” into music, but at the end of the day as parents, it is our fervent hope that all our children would go with God.

Here are some verses to pray over the way of your child:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. Ephesians 1:18-19

If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. John 8:32

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Colossians 1:9-12

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. Colossians 2:8

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Father,
      Help me to be a blessing in __________’s life as s/he discovers Your calling on their life. Help me be part of them learning the “way he should go” in all the ways, general and specific, that You have called this child of Yours. Help me see the trainable moments and use them well. Open the eyes of ___________ (my child/ren) so they would know the hope of Your calling and the fullness that is in You. Put Your truth in their hearts to free them from anything that holds them captive and cover them with Your grace to continue in Your word. Fill them with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so they might bear fruit for You and increase in their knowledge of You. Protect their minds and hearts so that empty deceptions would have no place in them. Thank You for the good work You started in them and that You promise to complete!

Verses to pray for your family:

It can be very difficult to juggle family life and homeschooling. Lots of us moms are carrying jobs (inside and outside the home), ministry positions, elderly family that need care, and the gamut of all life requires of us all the while tending homeschool. Making home a place of sanctuary in the midst of all those activities is more than a little challenging. 

I used to see the homeschool rooms other families had and assumed we would be able to create a similar space. But that did not end up being the case. Homeschooling and my personal office both have to camp on the kitchen table. Next to the laundry. Often times our house feels more like a project factory than a cozy home. So together we’ve been learning how to set tasks aside and not allow the work to dominate our family life, even when it’s sitting in the middle of our house.

Families often share how the decision to homeschool creates a tighter knit relationship in their family dynamic. This year in particular, I am praying for wisdom to balance and organize these facets of our home life so that homeschooling is a blessing to our family dynamic and not another little-house-space frustration.

Having room might not be a stressor for your family, but whatever it is that threatens to steal the blessing of homeschooling from your family commit, that issue to the Lord. Whatever you need to make homeschooling the best blessing to your family, ask the Lord for it!

Solomon prayed: "Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” 2 Chronicles 1:10

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Psalms 51:6

So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Psalms 90:12

When pride comes, then comes dishonor,
But with the humble is wisdom. Proverbs 11:2

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5

Lord, 
      Thank You for answering my prayers for wisdom and understanding! Thank You that I can count on You to give me wisdom! Please give me Your perspective and wisdom for __________ issue with our homeschooling. Give me wisdom and good judgement so I can tend the various facets of our family life in a way that would honor You and bless my family. 

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April Motl is a pastor’s wife, homeschool mom, and women’s ministry director. When she’s not waist deep in the joys and jobs of motherhood, she writes and teaches for women. You can find more encouraging resources from April here and here.

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