0:00
Hi guys, I've got a fun homeschool challenge for the new year and I'm really hoping you'll join me
0:15
It's the end of the year and typically the time any of us start thinking about new habits, new resolutions, and overall goals for the new year
0:23
Before I share one of mine and this challenge that I'm going to be running, I want to give a shout out to my friend Daisy from
0:29
journey in the home. She is hosting this collaboration where a bunch of us are sharing our
0:34
24 homeschool goals and resolutions. So make sure you check out the playlist link in the
0:40
description below for a few more great videos. And if you're new here, welcome. I'm Sarah. I'm a
0:45
homeschooling mom to four kiddos. We are a Christian family and a homeschool from a biblical
0:50
worldview. So I love sharing tips, encouragement, and resources with other families here and on my
0:57
blog, blessed homeschool.com. Now we all have different reasons that lead us to homeschool
1:01
For me personally, I know that it is not by accident that I'm homeschooling my kids
1:06
obviously because God is sovereign and I know that he is in control. However, the string of
1:11
events that brought us here was nothing that I could ever have imagined myself. Instead
1:16
it was a gentle leading by our Heavenly Father and he has continued to use our homeschool
1:21
journey to draw me nearer to him Three years ago in 2021 I had just been feeling a tug in my heart to spend more intentional time praying for our homeschool Up until that point it had been all too easy to make decisions based on what I wanted to do or what I felt was right for our homeschool journey
1:40
And I never really talked to the Lord much about it. Granted, I was using biblical worldview curriculum, studying scripture with my kids, you know, following what I learned from God's word that I should be doing in teaching and training my kids
1:53
but I didn't really talk much to the Lord about our homeschool in prayer
1:57
In fact, I realized that I didn't have a great discipline of prayer
2:01
and I knew that was important for me to work on. And so I reached out to the readers who had subscribed to my blog email list
2:09
and I invited them to join me in a homeschool prayer challenge that year. Prayer is vital to our Christian walk
2:14
and it's so easy to lose sight of this privilege and not take it seriously or think that it makes any difference
2:19
I was a little hesitant to put the challenge out there, if I'm being honest. I wasn't sure if I could commit to an entire year of writing the prayers, sending them out
2:29
You know, I worried about failing. I worried whether or not you'd be able to find the words to pray, worried about others reading my prayers
2:35
But that's where the enemy wants to keep us, right? In that state of worry and inaction
2:41
So even with hesitation, I sent that first email and launched that first prayer challenge
2:47
I'm so thankful for everyone who joined in then and has continued to join in each year
2:51
While I know that all of our journeys have their ups and downs even when we diligent in prayer my desire from the beginning was that we all grow closer in our walks with the Lord through this calling of homeschooling that we would
3:03
learn to pray continually and keep God at the center of our homeschools. I truly believe that we were
3:08
created to have a relationship with our creator, and he wants our whole hearts. He wants us to
3:15
draw nearer to him and to become more like Christ in all we do it, and that includes our homeschools
3:21
I've already been getting emails asking if I'll be doing another prayer challenge, and the answer is yes
3:26
This is my goal this year to recommit to intentional daily prayer for our homeschool
3:34
It's so easy to get out of the habit, and I definitely notice a difference
3:39
My family definitely notices a difference when I'm not spending that intentional time with the Lord on a regular basis
3:48
So I would love to invite you to join me in this weekly homeschool prayer challenge
3:54
This challenge is going to start on Monday, January 1st to kick off the new year
3:58
Each week you will receive a topic from me to focus on in prayer for that week
4:03
You will get a scripture reference to read, pray over, and reflect on
4:07
and a homeschool prayer to pray and print out if you'd like to hang it on your fridge
4:11
or your homeschool room wall. Super easy challenge, no pressure, just gentle reminders and accountability for all of us
4:18
I do not want this to become just one more thing to take off your to-do list. My desire is that you and I will make a habit of praying for our homeschools and that it will translate to other areas of our lives as well It not going to be hard but I encouraging you to carve out a
4:33
little bit of time each day for intentional prayer. It's going to be worth it. Oh, I almost
4:38
forgot. Just last year, I took this prayer challenge and created a workbook that I published on Amazon
4:46
The printable has been available in my shop on my blog, but I just went ahead and created
4:52
an actual book out of it. Isn't that fun? So this book is not needed to use for the challenge. You
5:00
don't need it. I'll be sending you the printables each week. But if you like something that's
5:04
already printed out and you like the format all bound together, you might like this. And I'm going to
5:09
be giving away five copies of my workbook this month. And all you have to do to enter is sign up for
5:17
the challenge, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and like this video. That's it. So check out the
5:22
in the description below to sign up and officially join me on this challenge, commit to
5:26
praying for your homeschool. And if you know another homeschool mom who might like to get in
5:30
on this, please share this video with her. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments
5:34
below. And don't forget to check out the New Year's homeschooling goals and resolutions
5:38
playlist as well to be inspired by some other homeschool resolutions. How
5:42
transforming will this next year be as we intentionally spend time praying for
5:45
our homeschools each week? I can't wait to find out. We'll see you on January 1st
