Sanctified homeschooling is homeschooling with purpose, the greatest purpose. It is not only about academics but raising the next generation of children of God who are firm and steadfast in the faith. It involves raising children who will not waiver or compromise with the fast paced, morally decaying tide of the world.

What does sanctified homeschooling look like in my home?

First off, I make no claim of being a perfect parent who knows all the answers. My reliance is on God, and He is the key. I have seen how He has changed my way of thinking, and I often feel like military personnel trying to strategize against the enemy.

Sometimes in the silence of the night I awake, thinking about how to prepare my child to prevent her from falling into the enemy's enticing and well-laid traps. Through my personal observations of how our youth are lured and my own life experiences, I see the battle for the young minds intensifying. I have learned that parenting in God's Kingdom must be intentional and not haphazardly done; hence, wisdom is greatly needed. There is only one who can give wisdom, and it is our Lord and God who gives freely.  Matthew 7:7(KJV) - Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. It is His Kingdom and family we are desiring with our whole hearts to build. I know He will be faithful in providing all we need to do the job as parents, and the following are some ways I have been blessed with and gladly share.

1. Sanctified homeschooling starts with the goal parents set before them.

My goal is to ensure I have done all I can in the young and mouldable age of my child because the time is quickly approaching when her ways will be set, and it will be harder soil to turn. I would be the happiest parent if my child is simply strong in the faith and works in God's vineyard. The preservation of the faith is the most important of all ambitions and careers. It was God who put this in my heart because I did not always have this view. It was a God-given mindset change. The world offers a counter mindset, which many of us parents can get distracted by or feel peer pressured into. Hence why setting the goal is greatly important since it keeps us anchored and focused. I see God training my hands for war, spiritual war. I believe HE wants to train all parents of faith for this spiritual war because the time is approaching when our children will be tested like never before.

2. He has shown me the wisdom in deliberately building habits into my child.

For instance, I have my child pray every morning when she awakes, for every meal in the day, and every evening before bed. She also must read at least two chapters of the Bible chronologically every day. At the beginning, for the first few months, I would have to constantly remind her, but today, I'm happy to say that after almost 3 years of this daily habit, my child does it on her own. She feels naturally uncomfortable until she has performed these daily tasks which are now a part of her. 

There was a bonus blessing in this as well. I did not grow up with these habits, but in training her, I too have formed the exact habits since I led by example in these daily activities. I simply cannot fall asleep until I have read my Bible or said my prayers. This strategy that God gave me of creating habits works because it has worked on me to such a deep level that I feel like a fish out of water without it. 

My child is almost done with her second round of reading the entire 66 books of the Bible, and she is just eight years old. By reading and rereading, THE WORD gets implanted in the mind. It is THE WORD that renews the mind and affects our actions and consciousness so please never forsake doing this with the children in your lives. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 tells us we must train the children DILIGENTLY and put God's commands as frontlets between the eyes (mind/decision making/conscience) and tie it on their hands (actions/what we do). This verse is so profound because whatever our belief is in our minds, we will put into action with our hands. If God's words are in the mind, it will affect what we do. Simply put, God's words need to sit on the throne of the mind, in us and our children.

3. Praise our Lord, God, and Saviour in all we do.

Another strategy that God has shown me that we should incorporate into our homeschooling is that as parents we must pray aloud and sing new songs to our Father in heaven as often as we can in the presence of our children.

Do not be afraid to speak your hearts out to God in the presence of your children. They must see and hear our reliance on our heavenly Father. In turn, it teaches our children how to pray and to run to our Father for support in life's circumstances and needs. God becomes reality and a real lifeline in the household. Singing even with a croaking voice to praise and give thanks to our Father teaches our children to sing themselves and not be embarrassed of whatever their voice sounds like because once we are lifting our voice to give praise and thanks, it is melody in the ears of God.

I have personally found it has allowed creativity in my child in that she creates new songs and poems almost every week that she sings aloud to God. I may have a potential musical artist who will serve in God's Kingdom with this gift of music. Time will tell what doors God opens as He paves the way for her to work in His vineyard.

4. Dedicate our gifts to God.

This leads me into my last point which is deliberate examination of your child's gifts, talents, and finding ways to direct and apply those skills into God's Kingdom for His glory.

I have discovered, through homeschooling , my child has a gift for music, singing, and writing. I can see the Holy Spirit downloading lyrics and piano tunes to her. God willing, I will learn what needs to be done to further explore the possibilities of her musical inclinations and how to develop it. For now, I just have her write her lyrics down, and I record any new piano tune she comes up with on my phone.

Her other skill of writing was a bit easier for me to approach and direct. I had story writing as one of her weekly academic subjects since I noticed she loved listening to and telling stories. I would encourage her to try and incorporate good morals and even Bible verses into her stories. After having her write several stories, I was inspired to seek out how to go about publishing a book. I was inspired by “the writers round up" activity of The Canadian Schoolhouse division that was coordinated by Stephanie Morrison in 2022. The idea that I can guide my child’s gift for writing in a purposeful way from an early age towards working for God officially was exciting. 

God has shown me that the more I build my child's entire life around Him, the harder it will be for her to be lured away or derailed from HIS path. I aim at ensuring every aspect of her life has God in the centre, including career planning and ambitions. After seeking out how to publish a book, I gathered up all my daughter's best stories and started working with her on doing our own illustrations. I found a publisher and was able to get her book published so now she is officially an author for the Kingdom of God. Her first book "Odd Tales and Strange Names" aims at teaching young children Biblical morals and a memory verse after each story. She is currently working on her second book, and I am happy because I would like to see her using all her gifts and talents for God's Kingdom by helping others find Him. This might be the start of her journey of a lifetime of evangelizing in a way God built her for.