We have 3 little boys who contribute quite a mess to our home. Sticky fingerprints on doorknobs, tomato sauce on kitchen cabinets, and Skittle stains on the couch. I remember the first time I noticed the dirty handprints beneath the bathroom light switch and along the stairway wall. Sweet little hands that were jumping to reach the switch or using the wall to balance as they carefully walked down the stairs. These kind of messes immediately make me smile. I’m grateful that tiny children live in my home. You can find a basketball in every room of our house, magnets cover the refrigerator, and the playroom is hardly ever tidy.

I can’t believe I’m entering my 3rd year of homeschooling my oldest! We have both loved learning at home, but we continue to take it year by year, child by child. Next year, I’m anticipating having a 4th grader and 1st grader at home with me which is wild! Below you’ll find my plans for my rising 3rd grader. You’ll notice we are continuing all of our curriculum from last year. Abeka for Math, BJU Press for Language Arts, Christian Light Education for Reading, The Good and the Beautiful for Science, and Notgrass for Social Studies. There are so many great curriculums to choose from, but we enjoyed all of our choices last year. For the sake of consistency and linear learning, we kept everything the same and are thrilled with that choice! I hope my selections below help guide you in yours.

Every Sunday night is family movie night! We all pile onto the couch and snuggle up with popcorn and candy. The kids look forward to it each week! We’re starting this tradition when our boys are 7, 5, and 3 years old, so we’re viewing Disney classics first. There are so many movies we can’t wait to watch alongside our boys as they grow up. I can already tell that this tradition will be a core memory for our kids and a big part of our family culture. Below, I’m listing the movies we’re watching, in order. I’ve also listed the rating and linked the reviews.

Making homemade Father’s Day cards is such a special tradition in our home. This will be our fifth year creating a card for Matt, and I love the memories the cards hold. Each year is a different theme. So far we’ve done golfing, fishing, grilling, and gardening. Considering how much baseball we played this spring, we decided a baseball themed card would be a home run this year! My boys also love filling out the “All About My Dad” questionnaire each year!

We are thrilled to be venturing into our second year of homeschool! We enjoyed Mills’ 1st grade year more than we could’ve ever imagined, and while we are eager for 2nd grade, we are currently enjoying a well deserved summer break. During our first year of homeschool, it was confirmed that we have a traditional approach to schooling, but we also really love spending a lot of time reading good books and integrating children’s literature into our studies. When considering our curriculum for next year, I revisited our values for homeschool.

1. I will teach all subjects with a Christian worldview.

2. I want to spend more time snuggled on the couch reading books to, with, and alongside my children and less time learning at the table.

3. Even so, I don’t mind a good workbook. I like measurable learning.

4. Our academics will be fun and engaging, but they will be rigorous.

5. I want to honor childhood. We will play, travel, and go on adventures.

Below I’m sharing our curriculum choices for our 2024-2025 school year as well as some systems we will implement in regards to scheduling and planning. I hope our choices help to guide and inspire your homeschooling decisions!

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus! How wonderful it is to gather with friends and family and rejoice that our debt has been paid! As we prepare our hearts to celebrate a risen Savior, my hope is that our homes are filled with joy, anticipation, and gratitude. With a house full of children, it’s easy for our days and weeks to hurry by. But celebrating Easter? We do not want to miss this. This year, let’s intentionally set aside moments of our days to remember that Easter is coming! Let’s celebrate in fun ways as we go on a scavenger hunt and dye Easter eggs. But let’s also celebrate in holy ways as we take communion as a family and memorize John 3:16. Every day and every year as we have conversations with our children about each day of the Passion Week, I pray that their faith and understanding will deepen. I hope to raise children who love God, are excited about eternity with him, and who are filled with gratitude for Jesus’ death on the cross.

I believe organizing your photos and videos begins before you actually sit down to organize them. It begins with your mindset.

In my opinion, we’re taking far too many photos and videos. I understand it, and I’m guilty of it. We want to capture everything. We want to remember it all. But then, what are our plans for the memories? How will we ever look through thousands of photos? Will it even feel special? Will it even be possible to sort through them all?

If we really want to collect memories that we’ll treasure forever, we need to be more intentional about the photos and videos we take. And when we overdo it, we need to be intentional about deleting those images so they don’t waste space.