Ten Year Anniversary Trip | Spain on Film

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The highlight of 2025: our ten year anniversary trip to Spain. We visited Mallorca and Barcelona and packed so much into seven short days back in June. This was a dream trip and I’m so glad I brought along a little Kodak disposable camera (yes, the kind from the 90s!) to document it. All the photos below are from that camera, not edited in any way. I was blown away by what it captured! Scroll through for some of our favorite bits and pieces of Spain on film.

I went back and forth about taking my big Canon with me, but ultimately decided I didn’t want to worry about keeping up with it or lugging it around (it’s heavy!). I looked into other small digital cameras like the G7X and film-look cameras like the CampSnap, but you just can’t beat the look of real film. I’m so happy with how these images from a good ole Kodak Fun Saver turned out, and while the price ain’t what it used to be, it was absolutely worth buying a 4-pack for our trip. I had the film processed by mPix (same lab I use for our family yearbooks) with a prepaid mailing label and the scans hit my inbox the day they received the cameras – great service as always. I highly recommend a disposable film camera to document your next vacation! I prefer the look of Kodak film (more golden tones vs. Fuji’s striking greens) but you can’t go wrong with any of the options below.

I did err on the side of caution and told the airport security agents I had film cameras with me – at DFW and Barcelona they told me not to worry about it; in Mallorca they did a quick hand check – not sure if that really made a difference but I didn’t want to find out the hard way if the scanners could damage the film or not. Worth the extra minute at security to be careful!

Our hotel in Mallorca, Hospes Maricel, blew us both away. The views of the pool and the ocean from our room, the service and spa, the food and drinks – we’d be back in a heartbeat. The Shameless Tourist found this gem for us – travel plans are not our forté so we decided to leave that to the experts for such a special trip and we are so grateful for the care and attention to detail they put into our itinerary. From restaurant recommendations and reservations to meaningful experiences like a tennis lesson at Rafa Nadal’s tennis academy, a sailing trip up the coast of Mallorca, a guided tour of the Sagrada Familia, and a tapas tour with a Barcelona local, they absolutely made the most of our budget and made this trip so incredibly enjoyable.

We ventured to Port de Soller for our sailing excursion and had the most beautiful day on the water with our guide. We stopped at 4 different spots to snorkel, paddleboard and explore but did plenty of relaxing, sunbathing, snacking and Cava sipping on the boat, too.

After a sailing day, a day of tennis at the Nadal Academy, and a day to relax and enjoy massages at our hotel, we had dinner at the marina in Palma on our last night in Mallorca before heading to Barcelona.

Street markets filled with treasures, sky-high cathedrals many centuries old, Gaudi’s mindblowing designs dotting the city, and quaint corner cafés abuzz at midnight… Barcelona was something special. We had one of those meals that leaves you speechless in this little spot at the back of Babula Restaurante after a day of exploring the city.

For the last night of our trip on our actual ten year anniversary (6/27), we enjoyed dinner with a view 250 feet above the city, overlooking Mount Tibidabo, the 1992 Olympic sites, the Sagrada Família, and everything in between. The menu at Altamar Barcelona was incredible, but watching the sunset with my husband, reminiscing on our trip and on ten years of marriage, talking about our hopes and dreams for the next ten and beyond… I’ll never forget it.

I’ll cherish all the photos from our trip, but these film images will forever be special to me. Grab a few disposables to toss in your carry-on the next time you travel – you won’t regret it!

Art Projects We've Loved for Kindergarten Homeschool

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Let me preface this whole post with – I am not the crafty mom. I had 3 babies, then 3 young toddlers, and crafting was the last thing I wanted to do. Art projects have been few and far between in our house (honestly, I left the crafts to their Mother’s Day Out teachers), but when we started homeschooling for kindergarten, I knew I had to get over my disdain for the mess and the chaos involved, because there are important art skills they need to develop!

I stumbled upon Deep Space Sparkle while looking for Kindergarten art lessons and I can’t even tell you what an incredible resource this website is – projects for every grade, explained simply, and all intentionally designed to teach age-appropriate skills they can build on. Deep Space Sparkle has a free download with developmental milestones in art for Kindergarteners through 8th grade – it was a super helpful for me in setting my own expectations and figuring out what to focus on.

Minimal Supplies

With minimal storage for homeschool things in our house, we’ve made do with a short list of art supplies. Aside from the usuals (construction paper, crayons, watercolors, and tempera paint) the only supplies I’ve bought are watercolor paper (no soggy papers!), a pack of 50 oil pastels, sponges, and a better variety of paintbrushes.

Van Gogh Landscapes - Mom’s on the left, steele’s on the right. I was so impressed with her details!

One Year of Kindergarten Art Projects

Surprisingly, our Art Day Fridays every other week have become one of the things I look forward to most about our homeschool routine! My type-A, control-freak tendencies have had to pipe down as I let go of the reins and let them get after it without me intervening, and the messes have all been worth it. The projects we’ve done are easily adaptable to include the boys (on-level for Kinder but can simplify for 3-4 year olds, minimal hand-holding required) and we’ve all had so much fun working on these together and learning new things. Several are from Deep Space Sparkle; others I just googled or found on Teachers Pay Teachers. Here are the projects we’ve done this year/have planned for the rest of the year, in chronological order to make sense seasonally.

  1. Half Face Self Portrait

  2. Butterfly Wing Watercolor

  3. Vase with Stamped Flowers

  4. Oil Pastel Fall Leaves

  5. Scrap Paper Scarecrows

  6. Color Wheel Turkeys

  7. Van Gogh Winter Landscape - This one was part of our Advent study – we love and have done several of the Brighter Day Press seasonal studies!

  8. Here, Near and Far Winter Trees

  9. Winter Trees Watercolor

  10. Proportion Snowman

  11. Waterfront Houses

  12. Positive and Negative Space Heart

  13. Bird in a Cherry Tree

  14. Kandisky Circles

  15. Paper Weaving

  16. Tints and Shades Underwater Scene

  17. Recycled Robot

  18. Paint Like Pollock

  19. Alma Thomas Rainbows

And because I have ZERO chill, I’ve already planned our art projects for first grade, in order based on seasonality. Doing one project every other Friday morning has been really manageable, so we’ll keep that same routine going!

Storing Kids’ Art Projects

After our projects have their spotlight on the fridge or the wall, I’ve been storing our favorites in our keepsake file boxes. For the bulkier/oversized ones, I bought this clear storage box so we’re not stuffing and folding them. I’m really trying to be selective though and operate under the mindset of “we can’t keep everything.” Simple as that. We don’t have room for it all, we won’t have room for it all, and it’s ok to enjoy things only for a while. We’ve kept 4 or 5 art projects from each semester and so far, that’s manageable. I’ve also taken pictures of everything, so if we want to maybe have a little photo book printed at some point of all of our projects, we can!

I hope these lists can be helpful as you’re planning your homeschool lessons, especially if you have younger siblings at home who want to be included. It’s been so fun to see what they create!

32 Memory Verses for Kinder and 1st Graders

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Memorizing scripture was not something I did until well into adulthood, but I wanted to make it a priority within our homeschool plans. Knowing these truths by heart and being able to easily recall helpful verses in different situations is something I hope will serve my kids in ways they can’t even comprehend yet, but will hopefully appreciate as they grow.

We memorize a new verse each week, copying it on a lined dry erase board each morning and then on Fridays, I have her find it in our Bible, read a few surrounding verses and I briefly discuss the context with her. We did 16 verses our first semester and we’ll repeat same list next semester to really get each one down. I’ve loved working on these weekly memory verses alongside her and have been blown away by how many she knows by heart already and how quickly she’s gotten familiar with where different books are in the Bible. Laying the foundation!

This post contains affiliate links.

Memory Verses for kindergarten

  1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

  2. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. Colossians 3:23

  3. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11

  4. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

  5. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

  6. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. James 1:19

  7. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Isaiah 43:5

  8. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

  9. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

  10. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:7

  11. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

  12. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

  13. God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

  14. Love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. Mark 12:30

  15. Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

  16. For God so loved the world, He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. John 3:16

Bible Study Books for Kindergarten

We’ve also been studying the truths in The Ology by Marty Machowski – this book is gorgeously illustrated and explains things in such a beautiful way for kids (ages 7-9, especially). This text has been instrumental in helping her get more familiar with the books and people of the Bible and is one we’ll come back to in the years ahead as she grows in understanding. Between memory verses, The Ology, and a daily reading from Indescribable, a devotional for kids by Louie Giglio, we love our kindergarten Bible study routine!

Bible Study Books for First grade

Along with more The Ology lessons, these are the devotionals and Bible study resources I’ve purchased for 1st grade:
How Great is Our God
The Wonder of Creation
Mom & Me Having Tea Bible Study
Bible Character Studies & Activities (Daniel, Jonah, Joseph, Esther, David, Samson)

Click on a title below to purchase.

Bible Memory Verses for First Grade Homeschool

These are the weekly verses we have planned to memorize (and discuss the context of) next year!

  1. All people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

  2. I praise you God, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14

  3. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Luke 6:31

  4. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

  5. The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies are new each morning. Lamentations 3:22

  6. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything gives thanks. Thessalonians 5:16

  7. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

  8. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus. Hebrews 12:1

  9. The body has many parts, but the parts make up one body. God has put each part just where he wants it. 1 Corinthians 12:12, 18

  10. The Lord always keeps His promises; He is gracious in all He does. Psalm 145:13

  11. Come to me, all of you who are weary, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

  12. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2

  13. Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for what He has done. Philippians 4:6

  14. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

  15. Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

  16. So do not be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:31

Below are some of our favorite Bibles and Christian books for kindergarten and young children. Our children all received a Beginner’s Bible around age 3 and they are very well loved in our home. I’ll catch them sitting on the couch flipping through the pages all by themselves. I bought the Storybook Bible (104 Bible stories/short studies) for Steele now that she’s reading on her own and has a basic understanding of the major Bible characters. And Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer is a wonderful book for explaining prayer to elementary kids. So grateful for all of these!

Click on a title below to purchase.

Our Kindergarten Homeschool Routine and Curriculum

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We’re a month into our first year of homeschooling now, and after making a few shifts and really finding our groove, I’m thrilled with how our weekly and daily routines are falling into place.

After spending months researching different curriculum options back in the spring (I gave myself a deadline to purchase everything by June 1st so I wouldn’t be overthinking it all summer), I’m pretty happy overall with what we landed on. I’ve been able to quickly figure out where we’re lacking, how we can supplement, and how to structure our weeks to be most efficient and not bog our days down with schoolwork – because isn’t that the whole point?!

Sharing below about each of our picks, what I like (or don’t) about it, and how we’re fitting it all in each week.

Kindergarten Curriculum Choices | Core Subjects

The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts | Steele completed TGATB Kinder Prep last year, so we were somewhat familiar with this one. Their Level K Language Arts is open-and-go with zero prep or busy work and I can see why TGATB is a popular choice, but I do agree with critiques about their language arts curriculum being “wide, not deep” — the lessons often feel a little disconnected and surface-level. I’m not sure this is a long-term fit, but she enjoys it, so we’re sticking with it for now, probably will move on to the first grade book soon, and filling in the gaps with a great reading comprehension workbook and THIS for spelling/vocabulary.

Handwriting Without Tears | We’re loving the Level K Handwriting program and its foundations for cursive later on, as well as Keys for Me, their beginner computer skills course. Super impressed with both! I ended up also getting their Building Writers workbook, which has been a great supplement.

Singapore Math | A huge YES for us! This program is unique in so many ways and has tons of research to support its methods. Steele has a strong grasp on lots of math concepts (seriously, get your toddlers watching Numberblocks and prepare to be amazed) and I was hopeful this curriculum would keep her challenged. It has blown me away! We’re finishing up KA/KB (lots of valuable lessons and foundational things I wanted to make sure she’s confident with) and we’re excited to settle in with the Grade 1 set this fall. This one’s a definite win and we haven’t looked back!

Answers Bible Lessons | This ended up not being a good fit for us, unfortunately. It’s very dense for a 5-year-old. I decided to wait before trying to find a replacement for this one, as our devotionals and seasonal studies incorporate lots of Bible time.

Supplemental Curriculum

The Ology | More here! Its Truths and discussion questions are helping us build solid faith foundations before we dive into another Bible curriculum.

Indescribable: Devotions About God + Science | More here! We’re enjoying these — quick, interesting, thought-provoking — and will continue on with the others in the series, How Great is Our God/The Wonder of Creation.

The Good and The Beautiful Science | TGATB has five overarching science units for PK-2, all of which can be taught in any order and adapted for multiple ages, so the boys can participate too. The lessons are quick, minimal prep if any, engaging, age-appropriate and creative. We love it!

Beginning Geography | An intro to maps, landforms, bodies of water, continents and oceans – more here. She’s learned so much from this already! A worthy addition.

Brighter Day Press Seasonal + Holiday Studies | We got the Labor Day, Autumn, Thanksgiving, Advent, and Spring studies and have enjoyed them even more than I expected! They’ve been a great way to round out each week with fun, enriching activities and they’re easy to do with multiple children/ages.

Exploring Nature | More here. Several are climate/location dependent, but we’ll get at least a dozen good, simple activities out of this book.

Deep Space Sparkle Art Projects | I happened upon this website when searching for kindergarten art projects and I’m so thankful. Lots of artist studies and projects organized by grade level, designed to teach art skills in an intentional way. We’ve had so much fun with these!

Our Weekly Homeschool Routine for Kinder

One theme I kept seeing as I was thinking about how to structure our days: we’re not trying to replicate public school at home. I wanted to intentionally leave room for play, rest, outings and activities throughout our weeks. It took us a little bit to figure out how to fit all the pieces together, factoring in things like dance practice, the boys going to preschool two days a week and being home with us the other three, and spreading out our writing-heavy days, but we’ve found a great routine. Most days we are done with our work by lunchtime or we’ll save core subjects for the boys’ rest time.

There are a lot of physical homeschool planners out there, but I prefer digital so I can easily edit and move things around. I made this template on Google Docs that I copy from week to week and fill in details where needed. We print each week out and check off as we go, but I usually let her pick the order of our subjects each day and if something comes up and we need to adjust, it’s not a big deal. Here’s what our typical week looks like!

As for the boys – they are newly 4 and still two years away from officially starting kinder (early September birthday so we’ll wait til they’re 6). Two days of preschool a week is plenty for them right now, but they of course want to be included and both love to “do school” too, so we encourage them to join us for devotionals, seasonal studies, nature, art, music and science lessons as those aren’t as age-specific. They play outside or independently while we do other subjects, or if they want to be at the table with us, these preschool workbooks keep them pretty busy (thank you Larson for the rec!). It’s not always calm or quiet but if we need a break, we pause and play! If we need to chill out, we sit on the couch and read. If we need to head to the park, we go.

I’m not aiming for a specific number of days for our school year – we started the last week of August and I want to be finished by mid-May, with plenty of breaks and hopefully some travels in there too! Most of our curriculum is intended to fit a typical school year and I think we’ll end up with somewhere between 30 and 32 weeks.

Future Curriculum Picks

Always keeping an open mind of course, but here’s what I’m interested in adding to our lineup for next year and beyond:

Singapore Math Sprints (mental math practice for 1st grade/up)
BJU Press Writing + Grammar (2nd grade/up)
Bite Size Social Studies (1st grade)
Notgrass 50 States (2nd grade)
Handwriting Without Tears Cursive (2nd grade/up)
The Good and The Beautiful Science, History, Creative Writing, Music Appreciation (3rd grade/up)
World Watch News (3rd grade/up)
Not Consumed Bible Studies (all ages)

Lots on this list influenced by Francie Outlaw — I love her heart for homeschool and for teaching her children in general.

No curriculum is perfect, no single program will cover every single thing we’re wanting or needing – but that’s the beauty of getting to custom-tailor things. We can piece together a plan that works beautifully.

Homeschooling is teaching us both so much and is truly one of the best decisions our family has made. It’s given us SO much joy and peace. If you’re considering homeschool for kindergarten, I’m cheering you on!

A Bittersweet Goodbye After Ten Years of The Big and Bright

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Ten years ago in April, I shot my first wedding. In two weeks, at the very same venue no less, I’ll shoot my last. And after wrapping up a few more upcoming newborn sessions and three days’ worth of mini sessions this fall, I’m officially hanging up the photographer hat after Thanksgiving, and saying goodbye to this business I’ve poured so much of myself into for the last decade. At least for a long while!

This was not in my plans before this month, but I can’t say it hadn’t been on my heart. Looking back, there are so many ways the Lord was preparing me for this and protecting me from things not meant for me, my family or my business.

family photos by maddie ray

So why walk away now? Fall is always a photographer’s busiest time of year. The majority of my weekends between mid-August and mid-November are booked with some sort of session (I was booking weekdays only for a while, but with Andrew’s job demands and us not having any family close by to help, weekday sessions were becoming harder to make work on my end). As our kids get older, trying to fit my business into the little time we have to spend all together just isn’t feasible or sustainable anymore, even if I were to outsource more. It’s been wearing on my family, not just on me.

Our daughter starting kindergarten and our boys turning 4 this month really hit us hard. It’s all going by so fast. We’re acutely aware that this is the only childhood they get – it’s happening NOW – and we want to make the most of these years with them. We don’t want to look back and have regrets. We realized we can’t keep putting off traveling as a family or getting away for the weekend together, or even just savoring slow Saturdays at home. As I say to my twins all too often, “There’s only one mommy,” and there’s just not enough of me to go around anymore.

Andrew would’ve never asked me to step away, but I knew something had to give in order to prioritize what’s most important to us as our children enter such formative years, and I’ve felt such relief and peace about my decision. I’m sure it was no coincidence that the Sunday after I told him I wanted to call it quits later this fall, the message at church was about the Sabbath and general concept of rest. How God designed it for us, intentionally. The pastor compared it to the concept of tithing – something that in the moment can feel… wasteful? That’s a lot of money (tithing), and a lot of time (setting boundaries with rest) that we could be using productively… building our businesses, more more more… but at what cost? It’s human nature to be stingy with our money and our time, but He wants us to trust Him with both. And when we do, whether we see it or not, the fruits of that trust and obedience are always better than the fruits of our labor.

These last ten years have been more than I ever dreamed. I’ve had the honor of being welcomed into your homes, your wedding days, your surprises and announcements, capturing your families’ milestones, sharing in your biggest and brightest moments, getting to know so many of you and seeing you again and again over the years, from engagement to wedding, maternity to newborn sessions, your first family sessions and your second, third, fourth and beyond. Watching your children and your families grow. Finding an outlet for my creativity that stretched me in the best ways, that kept me inspired and excited about work for an entire decade. That’s something I don’t take for granted and I’ll of course miss those parts and the friends made along the way, immensely.

I’m going to savor this time of being able to focus solely on my family and our home and not worry about keeping up. I’ve been encouraged by some wonderful friends who’ve made similar moves in recent years and have no regrets whatsoever. I’ve learned not too hold too tightly to any plans (it really isn’t up to us anyway), so, as I’ve said a lot over the years – never say never. Who knows what’s in store for the future, but for now, the next several years at least, I’m being pulled to wear my wife and mom hat full time, and I’m so grateful for that.

Thank you for being here – for trusting me, for encouraging me, for every show of support along the way. The Big and Bright has always been about YOU and I hope you cherish the memories we’ve captured together for years and years to come!

To my DFW families looking for someone new: these are, in no particular order, photographers I trust and whose newborn/family work I deeply admire!

Jordan Mitchell
Kristen Howell
Meghan Tidwell
Lakin Stearns
Maddie Ray
Taylor Pettigrew
Ana Dufreche
Tate Smith
Gaby Caskey

This website isn’t going anywhere (not with ten years of photos and blogs!) and I’ll most likely still blog occasionally – I enjoy sharing my favorite finds, our travels, organization tips and the systems that are working for us in our home, and ramblings on motherhood. I share all of those things on my personal Instagram and I’d love to stay in touch with all of you there!

Homeschool, Here We Come!

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File this under: posts I never thought I’d be writing. But here we are! Finishing up our oldest’s pre-K year at a local church preschool, eager to start Kindergarten, at home, together. It feels surreal to even say!

I started considering homeschool for our daughter (keeping an open mind for our boys, more on that later) a few years ago. So many things about it sounded like a great fit for our family, our beliefs, and our values, but of course I had so many questions and hesitations along the way. When I first brought it up to Andrew, I honestly expected a little more pushback, but his support from the get-go was so encouraging and gave me the nudge to keep pursuing the idea more seriously. I got the confidence I needed to finally say “ok, this is what we’re doing” when I *very nervously* told my mom (who has spent 40 years teaching and working in public education) about our plans and she had nothing but support and encouragement for our decision.

Why homeschool?

The main drivers behind our decision were freedom, faith, and family. Which sounds so cliché, but really, all of our reasons for homeschooling boiled down to these three things. We want the freedom and flexibility it will allow our family to structure our days like we want to, to learn about the things we want to at the pace we want to, to get out and go places when we want to. We want the ability to incorporate our faith into our children’s education because our faith is at the core of who we are and everything we do as a family. And mostly, we want to preserve childhood for at least a little longer. We want to give our five year old time to be FIVE. To play with her brothers and friends, to spend hours outside, to not be woken up at the crack of dawn and hurried out the door or be beholden to a rigid schedule. I’m so incredibly excited and grateful for, if nothing else, one more year of slow mornings at home with my children. I don’t take for granted the privilege it is for our family to have this opportunity, and I’m going to try to steward this extra time we get to spend together well!

Our homeschool style + Priorities

Before I could even begin to narrow down curriculum choices, I had to articulate what our goals and priorities were for home education – essentially, what “style” or method would work best for us. There are several popular methods of homeschooling, and it looks like we’ll be blending aspects of a couple of them. I like the structure and predictability of an open-and-go curriculum (Traditional), but we want more than just workbooks, too. It’s important to us to emphasize reading, art, nature, music and scripture (Charlotte Mason), and I’m excited that a lot of our curriculum has a common thread of foundational faith teachings. I want field trips, outings, cooking together, and camping and hunting with her daddy to all contribute to her overall education, too. There are learning opportunities everywhere!

Trusting my own discernment

Researching curriculum was incredibly intimidating for me. One of the main advantages to homeschooling is getting to tailor what we do to her strengths, abilities, personality, and interests, so I didn’t want to pick something that ended up feeling “wrong” for her, something that didn’t challenge her enough, something too rigid or not rigid enough. I set a goal to have our choices made by June 1, and started to familiarize myself with some of the more popular options several months prior, looking through scopes and sequences, reading reviews and sifting through comparison blogs. I knew at some point I just had to trust my own discernment, place my orders, and know that nothing is set in stone. If something ends up not working, we can always shift and try something else.

I shared more details about our specific curriculum choices HERE!

Tuning out the noise

The public school/private school/homeschool debate isn’t something I want to devote a lot of mental energy to. All three options are great for different families, in different seasons, for different reasons. I don’t want to fall into the comparison trap and do my best to put my blinders on, focus on MY children and MY home and our family’s situation, and not worry about the rest. I don’t follow many homeschool accounts (really, just one) because the overload of information and opinions can be way too much noise, but Francie Outlaw’s account has been one I’ve loved for years and I appreciate so many of her insights on parenting, family values, systems for the home, and homeschooling. Many of our curriculum choices were influenced by her, and I plan to use her Weekly Planner system to map out our lessons and keep us organized.

Keeping an open mind

As I mentioned, we’re going into this very open-minded and taking things one year at a time. I know I’m going to be learning right alongside Steele this coming year, figuring out what works best for us, adjusting as we go, and giving us both a lot of grace along the way. While I fully believe that a well-rounded education doesn’t require a classroom setting or following the standards set by our state, we’re also not opposed to public school or private school options for the future, and we have two more years before we need to make a decision for our boys. So we’ll see how this year goes and go from there. Here’s to our first year of homeschooling!