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We have had a wonderful summer and a lot going on as we get back into life at home, gardening, homeschooling, and friendships. There has also been a lot going on behind the scenes with the podcast, which is what I want to share with you in this week’s Thriving Thursday email so you can know what to expect.
Usually by now I've gotten the next year's planner edited, ordered, shipped to my home, and I've taken photos and gotten ready to share it with all of you. This year I have the draft of the 2025 planner written, but it still needs to be created.
What I've been focusing on the last few months is reading the productivity books that have come out in the last few years, taking a few productivity courses, and translating the principles that apply to us as moms into the planner and courses that go along with the planner. I am excited to share these little but effective tweaks with you soon!
I also sent an email out earlier this year to everyone who has purchased the Made to Soar: Next 90 Days program looking for feedback about what was working and what wasn't working. Two really important points emerged from that feedback.
First, 90 days is a really long time to focus on something and it led to feelings of discouragement when interruptions happened or it took longer to get through the course material. At the same time I've seen so much progress in the lives of the moms I've been working with for nearly 4 years in Soaring Mothers Society (which is the group coaching program that goes along with the Made to Soar DIY course). And the reality is that the baby steps add up to incredible change.
So the first big change I'm announcing in this email is that the Made to Soar: Next 90 Days program name is changing to Win Your Week Academy. With this focus on creating a winning week you will also experience winning months, quarters, and years. Everyone who has already purchased the Next 90 Days program will get access to this update.
Second, many moms struggled with working on the program because they were in survival mode, re-entry, or buried in the work of normalizing. Which is absolutely right because that content is really focused on the later stages of normalizing, exploring, and thriving. And this is where I realized that I had a major gap I needed to fill and where the idea of the Surviving to Thriving Toolkit came about. This is something I've been making baby steps of progress on for months and I'm looking forward to announcing the beta launch of this program soon.
The women in Mom Matters Too have also been so patient this year as we started that new program and moved around to 3 different tech platforms until we found our home. This was a huge undertaking but I am really thrilled with the results. So much so that I am going to be switching all of the products and courses over to this platform so everything will be in one place. This is a huge project but will smooth things out for everyone moving forward.
With all of these large projects on the horizon, I have made the decision to take my first break ever since starting the podcast nearly seven years ago. This way my team and I can divert all of our energy and attention to getting the 2025 planner ready to go, creating the new Win Your Week Academy program, creating the Soaring Mothers Toolkit, and switching all other digital products to the new platform.
I already have many more episode ideas and raw footage recorded for the podcast, so there is part of me that thinks I can just keep going with both. But honestly, it is a relief to decide to go all in on one thing and create a really strong foundation with things that will truly serve you and help you in ways that I can't do through the podcast. And once we have solid footing, it will be wonderful to put energy and attention back towards bringing you great conversations and insights on the Thriving in Motherhood Podcast again.
During the break you can listen to any of the 330 previous episodes here: https://thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/podcast/
I will continue sending emails on Thursday to give you behind the scenes progress updates and let you know when episodes will be released again as the time gets closer. I look forward to working with some of you in the Surviving to Thriving Toolkit beta program! You can get on the waitlist here to be the first to know when the doors are opening.
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I went out to harvest cucumbers and green beans with my kids early one morning. The plants looked amazing, with vines reaching everywhere. At first glance, it looked like we would come out with nothing to show for our months of effort water, picking off bugs, and weeding. But after we slowed down and searched for a while, we began to see lots of vegetables (we found 17 cucumbers and an entire colander of green beans!).
Just like the vegetables hidden in the garden, sometimes we get so caught up in the daily grind that we miss all the amazing things we're accomplishing as moms. That's why a monthly review is SO important! It is when we slow down and look for all of the fruit that we get to celebrate and enjoy our daily efforts.
You can do a monthly review on a piece of paper or journal, or use the Thriving in Motherhood Planner.
There's a page each month for doing this monthly review so you never have to remember that it's time to sit down and reflect again.
If you want a little more accountability and motherhood camaraderie we'd love to have you join us in our monthly Soaring Mothers Society Calls. These monthly calls are a fantastic way to connect with other moms, share your review progress, and get inspired.
And here's my favorite part of the whole process (and a way to battle the mom guilt that so easily creeps in): After your monthly review, share it with your kids and husband at the dinner table! Share the things you are learning and discovering. Share your accomplishments. Reflect and remember the things you've done as a family and the places you've gone. Share what you've been reading. And then ask them about their progress too! Your kids want to celebrate with you, be proud of you, and enjoy seeing your success and growth as much as you enjoy seeing theirs.
This is a powerful way to create a strong family culture of motivated, growing individuals who cheer each other on.
Grab a piece of paper, join our Soaring Mother Society Calls, or use your planner – whatever works for you. Just take that time to reflect, celebrate, and share your joy with your family.
I can't wait to hear about all the amazing things YOU'RE accomplishing!
I'm cheering you on!
Jessica
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As mothers, we often find ourselves navigating the challenging journey from merely surviving our days to truly thriving. Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with many amazing moms, and I've noticed some common pitfalls that can make this journey feel even more daunting.
Today, I'd like to share some insights to help smooth your path. In our latest podcast episode, we dive into the five biggest mistakes moms make as they transition from survival mode to thriving.
Here are the five key mistakes to consider:
Focusing on Circle of Concern vs. Circle of Influence: It’s crucial to distinguish between what you can control and what you can’t. By redirecting your focus to your circle of influence, you empower yourself to make meaningful changes. When I was pregnant with my third baby, I found myself overwhelmed by everything outside my control. A wise friend encouraged me to focus on my circle of influence rather than my circle of concern. It was a life-changing moment that taught me to concentrate on what I could truly impact. This shift in perspective enabled me to put my energy into actions that mattered, rather than getting bogged down by things I couldn't change.
Phone Scrolling: While it's a common escape, it can hinder your ability to think clearly, connect meaningfully with your family, and solve your problems with God. Reducing phone time can significantly improve your ability to cope and connect.
Getting Stuck in Phases: Whether it's survival mode, normalizing routines, or exploring new interests, it's important to recognize when it's time to move on and adapt to new phases in your motherhood journey. I go into great detail about what it looks like to get stuck in each phase.
Focusing on Suffering: It's easy to dwell on the hardships of motherhood, but shifting your mindset to focus on what you’re learning and how you’re growing can make a significant difference. Seeing challenges as opportunities for growth fosters resilience. This can't be rushed - it takes time to grieve or work through the emotions and realities of things being hard or different than you anticipated. But I have also learned that it is a skill set and a habit of thinking that can grow stronger with practice.
Limiting Strategies to Simplify Life: I spent years thinking there are only a couple of ways to make life easier, like sending kids to Grandma's or eating out. However, there are countless strategies to improve your day-to-day, even without these conveniences.
This is why I'm creating a brand new program, The Surviving to Thriving Toolkit! If you want to be the first to know any details and get on the waitlist, you can head over to https://thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/toolkit.
Additionally, if you're seeking more support and community, consider joining Mom Matters Too {https://thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/mom-matters-too} where we work on micro habits together. These calls are a fantastic opportunity to connect with other moms, share your progress, and gain inspiration. The price is going up at the end of July so now is the perfect time to join!
Remember, every step forward, no matter how small, is a victory. Let's celebrate these wins together. I can't wait to hear about all the amazing things you are accomplishing!
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Currently, we are in a season in our lives that could be temporary - or we could be here to stay for a long, long time. I'm very good at temporary. Moving has been my lot in life, growing up with my parents (I went to 10 schools by the time I graduated high school) and since getting married (we've lived in 6 homes). But living somewhere where staying is a possibility? Now that has been a hard thing for my mind to grasp.
In this week's episode, I'm sharing a thriving thought that has come out of this struggle for me and also how it applies to motherhood.
We love where we live. We love the smaller home that is easy to clean, the updates and DIY projects we've done to customize the space, the huge garden we've put in the backyard, the rock climbing wall we just built, and the space our kids have to roam and play outside. But as we've made each of these changes and have more ideas for the future (front yard orchard and herb garden), I've often wondered if it is even a good idea to put our time, energy, and finances into something if we aren't staying here.
After much prayer and discussion with God for years I got the new understanding that I was seeking:
Yes, embrace the current resources you have now to the fullest while you have them. Enjoy the spaces, the yard, the garden, the place to develop skills and do projects. Embrace the hours the children get to roam and create and build and picnic and imagine. Embrace all of it while you have it. And when things change, you don't need to replicate what you had here. You can embrace the new circumstances to the fullest and enjoy the differences.
Then I realized that we weren't just talking about houses.
We were also talking about my children and the seasons of motherhood. It is going so fast. My oldest is turning 11 and what felt like forever in those early years with 3 kids four and under is now moving at lightning speed.
But I don't need to focus on the inevitable changes coming. Instead, embrace the season we are in now. Invest in it fully with my time, focus, and energy. And when this season changes with the children continuing to get older, embrace that one too.
And this isn't meant to get us caught up in mom guilt and focus on the limitations we have or the things we can't do that would count as "embracing things to the fullest".
If you are in a hard season right now, it can look like just being present and sitting down and watching the same movie with your kids instead of scrolling or consuming your own content. Just BEING together counts.
In fact, each step along the five-step path from surviving to thriving will look different. This is why I'm creating the Surviving to Thriving Toolkit - to empower you to embrace where you are to the fullest with all the realities of motherhood and life coming at you. You can learn more at thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/toolkit
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It can be so hard to feel like we are just surviving our days and see a huge list of all that needs to happen, but in reality all we need to do is focus on managing today and making tomorrow a little bit better too.
Each of the five phases along the path have a specific focus, systems, and skills so that you can dramatically shorten your to-do list and put your energy towards the specific problems you are facing right now.
In this weeks episode I'm sharing the big problems with you along each phase so you can more clearly identify where you are at along the path and what you can let go of in the season you are in.
We work on solving each of these problems in the Surviving to Thriving Toolkit. You can learn more and join the waitlist to be the first to know about it here: https://thrivinginmotherhoodpodcast.com/toolkit
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We have been working on a huge project to weed all of the garden pathways and lay down weed cloth to hopefully prevent future out of control weeks from taking over. One morning I got out there super early and saw all of the beautiful plants strong, but by 10am they were withering away in the hot sun.
I realized that we've had many hot, dry days and I hadn't done much watering. It was a crazy ten minutes as I had kids melting down and a garden that was on it's way to dead that we had to take care of right then. And it was this moment that I learned a powerful lesson that I'm sharing in this weeks episode.
It hit me: just like those thirsty plants, we moms can feel drained if we don't take care of ourselves regularly.
But here's the good news! Imagine if you had a drip irrigation system for your garden. No more daily watering, just consistent nourishment that lets your plants flourish. That's the power of micro-habits and systems for moms!
Think of these habits as your drip line. Maybe it's a morning routine that sets your day up for success, or a dedicated time for quiet reflection. These small but consistent actions "water" your well-being, freeing up energy for the things you truly enjoy.
Just like with that drip irrigation, once you have those systems in place, you can spend more time savoring the fruits of your labor! Imagine ENJOYING your harvest, planting a metaphorical fruit orchard of new goals, or spending more quality time with your family.
Ready to ditch the inconsistency and effort of using a watering can and create sustaining micro habits?
Join me in the Mom Matters Too program this July! We'll dive deep into creating those powerful micro-habits and systems that will allow you to have the energy, clarity, and focus to work on the things that truly matter to you. (Plus, the price goes up in August, so don't miss out!)
Head over to Mom Matters Too and get started on your journey to a more joyful, fulfilling motherhood!
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If you are looking for a fun and new activity to do with your kids I recommend making a jar of sauerkraut this summer! It took me 2 years and five failed batches before I finally figured out all of the nuances of this process, but it was well worth the wait.
Today I'm sharing 6 mistakes to avoid and what to do instead so that your first batch can be successful and a fun check on your summer bucket list.
6 Mistakes to Avoid When Making Sauerkraut
Not shredding finely enough: Use a cheese grater or food processor with grating attachment
Using not enough or too much salt: Add 2T for every 3 cabbages (2/3 T for one cabbage)
Filling the jars too much: Leave 2-3 inches at the top so there is room for the weight and brine
Not using the outside cabbage leaf to contain everything: Use the outside 2 cabbage leaves to cover the shredded cabbage and make sure all of the pieces are submerged over the brine
Not having adequate weight/pressure to hold things down: Rocks work but the whole process was cleaner, didn't smell or attract fruit flies when I got this weight and self burping lids/
Not waiting long enough: It takes a full two weeks even here in the south where it is hot for the sauerkraut to finish. It will switch from a light green to a light yellow/brown color throughout the entire jar.
Tips for Making Sauerkraut with Kids
Decide whether this is a good time to work with just one child or do everyone together.
Let everyone know what the whole process is ahead of time.
Prep everyone to take turns and let them know what their turn is going to be.
Know it doesn't have to be perfect and it can be messy.
Do it at a time when you aren't stressed or starving because it's not fun to cook with other people then.
Turn it into a science experiment and have them track the color until it is done and see how long it takes.
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If you've ever thought about gardening with kids my conversation with Tiana Woodbury is for you! She has gardened with her three young children for many years in many different types of gardens (container, community, and her own backyard) and is full of real, practical tips.
One of Tiana's superpowers is making the ordinary magical and she brings that to her gardening endeavors as well, but in very simple and doable ways. I certainly had lots of take-aways and things that I want to do a little differently and I'm sure you will too.
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Earlier this year I shared what I did to make my smartphone less “smart” (Digital Minimalism in 2024). Since then, our family has faced some unexpected challenges that pushed us into survival mode, and naturally, our screen time increased, including mine.
This experience made me realize the unique challenges we face at different stages of our journey from merely surviving to truly thriving, especially regarding phone usage.
In this week’s episode, I delve into these challenges and how becoming aware can lead to positive changes.
Challenges with Phone Usage on the 5-Step Path from Surviving to Thriving
Survival Mode: Increased screen time, watching more movies with the kids, zoning out with shows or scrolling.
Re-entry: This is when we feel the most overwhelmed and tired, so we use phones as an easy escape. But this only prolongs the process of re-entry.
Normalizing: Rewarding ourselves with screen time after a good day, leading to late nights and inconsistent routines.
Exploring: Spending excessive time on phones researching or learning, starting with good intentions, but often getting trapped in endless scrolling.
Each stage presents its own set of challenges, slowing down our progress.
Changes I’ve Made To My (Android) Phone:
Niagara Launcher (free version)
No Chrome/Internet
Essential apps only: phone, texting, calendar, Google Maps, Notion (for work), church directory, scriptures, LibriVox, Libby, Marco Polo, Kajabi (for courses I've bought)
Put my phone away instead of carrying it with me
Impact:Increased productivity (even with insomnia)
Solving problems caused by a lack of connection by being present with my kids
Tackling household issues together with my kids because my phone is put away
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We woke up on Saturday morning and my son was staring out the back window when he realized he couldn't see the zipper on the trampoline across the yard. Upon closer inspection, he realized that one of the huge limbs on our peach tree had broken and had fallen on top of the olive tree next to it and on the ground.
We didn't have any big storms or high winds and the kids were asking if I knew what happened. Looking at the branches with peaches full of fruit it didn't take too long to realize that the weight of the peaches - still not ripe - was too much and broke the thick limb.
This image immediately brought to my mind all of the projects, habits, and goals that I am working on right now in our home, family, garden, yard, homeschool, and business. After months of just being in survival mode, it feels so good to be making progress and gaining momentum in many areas of our lives. It is exciting to be crossing things off the list, solving some big pain points, and investing in relationships and projects that will last. But as we are charging ahead at top speed, this peach tree gave me pause about all of the "fruit" I'm trying to grow right now in my life.
There was a crucial step that we missed in caring for this peach tree - pruning.
If we had pruned some of the fruit off of the tree, the weight wouldn't have been too much and the tree would be fine.
Instead of choosing to remove some of the fruit, we lost all of it (this would have been really sad, except this peach tree actually has a fungal infection so the peaches rot before they ripen and we were planning on taking it down this year anyway).
It was a great reminder that If I don't do some pruning in my own life, it can be a fast track to burnout. Then all progress comes to a halt and we lose all of the fruit instead of just choosing a few things to let go of or simplify.
What does this look like practically? How do we do some pruning in our own lives - especially when there are plenty of things we don't want to walk away from?
The secret is a quarterly review. I first learned about this concept years ago from Greg McKeown's book, Essentialism, where he recommends a quarterly offsite review. This means you leave and go somewhere away from your home and work to think about your life.
As a mom with a baby and toddler, this sounded like a fairyland ideal. However, that didn't stop me from doing an onsite review right in the walls of my own home.
This entire process is in the Thriving in Motherhood Planner every quarter so you don't even have to remember how many months have gone by - when you see it, it's time to sit down and go through the process.
You can do this in one sitting or over a week or two as you evaluate your life and figure out what matters most going forward.
I walk through the entire process step by step in episode 102.
You can also learn about quarterly reviews fit in with the entire planning system process with the Plan a Week You Can Win training
If we don't life can start to be like a snowball that you keep rolling around and acquiring more snow - getting bigger and bigger until you can't move it at all. Or like the peach tree whose limb snaps.
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What do you do with all the stuff your kids create? This is something I have struggled with for years with my four very creative children.
In this week’s episode, I’m sharing what has been working for us, our current problems and what we are doing about it, and a brand new framework my children and I came up with that is changing how we think about the things they (and I) make.
Here are some of the things that have been working for us for a while:
Paper management: Each child has a small drawer where we can dump anything they made that is flat. Once the bin is full we go through it and take pictures of things they don’t want to forget and put things they really care about into their paper box (file folder with files from 0-18 years). Everything else gets thrown away.
3-Dimensional projects: Each child has a Maker Box where they can put the things they’ve made that they don’t want to get rid of because they still want to play with it or it’s particularly cool.
They are keeping the majority of the projects in their bedrooms while I focus on decluttering the rest of the house and creating spaces that are super easy to reset and modeling getting rid of things. The kids desire to have their rooms match the rest of the house.
While these things have been working there are still some problems. The Maker Boxes do not contain the amount of stuff that they create and a one-in, one-out rule is pretty painful when they are things they love to play with.
It’s also painful to have messy bedrooms that are hard to navigate and find things in.
While discussing these problems over breakfast, the kids and I created The Creation Cycle:
You have an idea.
You gather supplies.
You make it.
You take a picture of it (optional but sometimes they like to do this with their important creations)
You put the supplies away.
You enjoy it – either playing with it or displaying it.
You find a home for it and put it away or throw it away.
As we discussed what this looks like in our home, the kids identified that we have two main points where we are having problems with the cycle.
There is nearly zero friction between having an idea and getting supplies to start making something. While in some ways this is fantastic, it also means there are usually LOTS of things in the first few steps of the creating cycle and rarely are those things making it all around the loop.
Our biggest drop-off spot is after step 3, which is why bedroom surfaces have piles and piles of things on them.
Right now, having a language to identify where the problems are happening and where every item in the room is in the Creation Cycle has been life-changing!
It changes the questions we are asking and empowers the kids to make decisions about what we do with things next. And we’re getting very close to having even the bedroom easy to reset (one down, one to go).
As you think about creativity in your home, I’d love to know if this cycle fits into what is happening with your family as well. What’s working well? Where are the breakdowns happening?
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We have four very creative kids who spend HOURS each day creating things (the most recent was an elaborate tin can phone system complete with bells and wall mounts for the cans to go between the top and bottom bunk).
In this week's episode, I'm sharing the things we've done that have made the biggest impact on raising creative children.
8 Tips For Raising Creative Kids
Encourage their interests.
For example, from the time our son was 18 months old, he used our couches to build vehicles. To support this, we built wooden boxes he could combine with stools, chairs, and a nugget couch. This has sparked endless imaginative constructions.
Expose your kids to new experiences
Anytime our kids get in a funk and don’t know what to do, we try to take them somewhere and let them experience something new. These experiences provide fresh inspiration to fuel their creative ideas.
Have supplies on hand
We like to have scissors, glue, cardboard, and paint on hand at our house. Think about the things your kids like to create and make those supplies accessible, easy to use, and easy to put away.
Teach kids basic skills
We’ve taught our kids how to knit, crochet, carve, use the sewing machine, hand sew, and weave. Giving them these basic skills has allowed them to create even more things. While we don’t force these skills on them, we support their interests by teaching them what they need to bring their ideas to life.
Get books from the library on a variety of topics
Borrow books from the library on various subjects. Exposing your kids to a wide range of topics is crucial for sparking their creativity and broadening their horizons.
Help your kids create the things they want
If our kids say they want something we help them make it. We’ve made shoe and coat racks, bows and arrows, chisels, hammers, swords, and shields. When they were little we were much more involved. As they’ve gotten older and more experienced, we’ve allowed them more independence as they create and build.
Allow them to listen to audiobooks while they create
Audiobooks are a fantastic way to keep kids engaged while they create We’ve found a good audiobook can extend their creative projects.
Model creativity
Creativity starts with us as parents. By modeling creativity, involving our kids in our projects, and providing inspiration, we set the stage for them to be more creative. We actively support their ideas and encourage them to explore and experiment.
One of the most impactful things you can do as a parent is to develop a high tolerance for stepping back and letting your kids create. This might mean occasional disruptions, like missing kitchen chairs or dealing with creative messes. We’re currently teaching our kids to clean up after their projects, balancing creativity with responsibility.
The more we embrace their creativity, the more it flourishes. Every mess, project, and mistake all add up to a fulfilling and creative life.
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Whether you are exhausted, depressed, sick, burned out, or just want a break, in today's episode I'll be sharing my #1 tip that I've used for the last 10.5 years of motherhood to get me through the day when I need some space we still have the day to spend together.
The solution has two parts: Go outside and do something creative.
When my kids were little and we lived in an apartment, this looked like bringing things I could do with my hands to the playground: whittle spoons or animals out of sticks or scrap wood, crochet blankets, make shoes out of leather, or peel apples to make applesauce.
As my kids got older and we now live in a home, this often looks like doing house projects. Recently we've done major updates in our garden, built a retaining wall, made a bed frame, cut out wood animals for the kids to carve with friends, and we are currently building a rock climbing wall in the garage.
Always I've played instruments, often outside, for a low-energy creative option. A ukulele, guitar, or fiddle is a convenient option to grab and go to the great outdoors.
No matter what season of motherhood I'm in, the result has been the same.
Everyone was happier once we stepped outside. Fighting decreases. The kids get engaged in good play. I get some space and a break from having people touch me. And creativity brings some joy and satisfaction into my day, no matter how tired or crummy I feel.
The thing I wasn't expecting was just how creative my kids would become from watching me over the years. There is never a dull moment at our house. Someone is always making something, or playing an instrument, and they are usually outside.
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It is so easy to fall into the "all I do is.." trap.
You fill in the blank - change diapers, drive kids to school and activities, feed people, nurse the baby, chase after the toddler. No matter the season of motherhood you are in, there are things that we do over and over again. And when we start to think that it is all we do, we can start to feel miserable and resentful of the people we love the most.
The antidote is simple but incredibly powerful: do a monthly review.
Even after 7 years of this 10-minute exercise, I am still surprised at how it changes my perspective and how I feel about my life.
In this week's episode, I'm sharing my findings from my most recent review in April and show you how you can do it yourself too.
5 Questions To Ask In a Monthly Review:
What have I discovered or learned this month?
What have I accomplished?
Where have we gone?
What significant things happened in our family?
What books have I read or listened to (or podcasts or shows if that is the season you are in)?
When you ask these questions you can see how rich your life actually is. And you can begin to build momentum and keep the progress going.
When you see you read a book - you are a reader! What else can you read? When you see you've made progress on projects or goals you can feel motivated to take the next baby steps. When you discover or learn something you realize just how interesting this life is and wonder what else there is to learn. When you see all the places you've gone it is easier to get out of the house again.
And when you record the significant things in your family you realize why your house is in the state it's in...or maybe more accurately, how great you are really doing as you invest in these people and relationships.
And if you discover that you don't have much to write about, you will have a clearer picture of WHY which brings much more compassion, grace, and understanding as well as gives you clues on how to move forward.
You can do this in the Thriving in Motherhood Planner on the monthly review page so you don't even have to remember that a month has gone by - you just do it when the page shows up - or in a notebook or journal you already use.
If you want to do it with someone to celebrate your progress and plan what you are going to focus on for the next 30 days with some accountability, come join us in Soaring Mother's Society where we share our monthly reviews in small groups.
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With summer quickly approaching, I needed to refocus on what we are going to make our learning priorities for the next few months. We go year-round in our homeschooling so that we can have the ultimate flexibility to take breaks or just enjoy the nice days outside. And, hot weather here in the South has us indoors more than in the winter months.
In this week’s episode, I’m sharing the question I asked to give me the clarity I needed to decide what we are going to focus on in our schooling and home so that we can have confidence in how we are using our time and energy.
The question I asked myself is: “What do each of my kids need to be prepared for next fall?”
With this question, I was able to narrow down the few things that matter a lot and let go of the rest.
For us, we are making a family project of working through Story of the World 4 this summer so we can enjoy modern history when we start Alveary in the fall.
We are also focusing on some specific skills tailored to what each child needs, instead of keeping up with all of the subjects and curriculum. Everyone is continuing with math and a few of my kids are starting All About Spelling. We started a writing club by buying our own notebooks and writing on our own time, sharing what we write when we are ready.
We are also working on organizing bedrooms and our school space in May to have our environments set up to make it easy to do what we want to do. I’m prepping the Alveary curriculum in June while getting ready for our annual cross-country road trip.
Resources We Are Using This Summer:
Story of the World 4
Alveary (use code JJACKSON for a $25 discount)
All About Spelling
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For the last 30 days, I've been using the Thriving in Motherhood Journal. Before this personal challenge, I would use it about once a week when things were hard and noticed a nice lift to my week. But as this year has continued to surprise us I started to flounder and wanted to see what impact the journal would have in my life.
In this week's episode, I'll share some of the logistics and tips for using the journal, the impact it had on my life, and my invitation for you to give it a try for yourself.
You may be wondering what it actually took for me to stick to my 30-day challenge. Here are some things that I found helpful:
Have a pen ready
Have multiple windows of when you will use the journal and put it in the next likely spot (next to your bed, office, kitchen, etc.)
Be flexible with morning or night (or both).
Pick it back up when you miss a day.
Don’t pressure yourself to answer every question. Pick the relevant ones for that day and leave the rest.
Don’t worry about keeping the daily and weekly pages perfectly ordered.
When I started this challenge, I was floundering. We’ve had a hard year on lots of levels - health, jobs, lots of things going on, kids struggling with different things (including surgery), and the unexpected keeps popping up. I have felt exhausted.
Here are some of the positive impacts I noticed during my 30-day challenge:
Using the journal has empowered me through this season. I’ve been surprised at how much joy I have felt in the last 30 days.
I’ve been able to parent better, more consistently, and more confidently instead of pulling into myself and surviving through the hard days.
I’ve processed some hard emotions/situations so I could truly find peace and let go.
I did a lot more service outside of my home in 30 days than I did all year. Small ways, like helping return a grocery cart and carry food out to the car, and bigger things too.
I captured many magic moments during the last 30 days and now my days are full of them.
My health wasn’t great during this window but when I did my monthly review I discovered a miraculous amount of things got accomplished. I attribute this to the power of having the vision in my Thriving in Motherhood Planner and asking the daily questions in the journal about the next three steps for my priorities that week.
I got rid of mom guilt which normally rears its ugly head during hard survival times with the question, “What would help me feel successful today?” This question allowed me to pivot to what mattered most each day.
I have struggled with anxiety about facing the next day in the past and fret at night about what is to come, especially when I’m sleep-deprived. But this journaling process helped me live more in the moment each day and ending the day with magic moments, gratitude, big wins, and God’s involvement in my life made a big difference.
This process led me to naturally have a better routine before bed and get rid of tech when I was journaling.
I’d like to extend an invitation to you to pull out your Thriving in Motherhood Journal (or get yours today) and commit to 30 days of journaling. Watch and see the difference it makes in your life.
If you've already been using the journal, I would really appreciate it if you left a review on Amazon to help other moms find it and see if it would be a good fit for them. And as a special bonus, if you leave a review on Amazon, you’ll be entered to win a 2024 coil-bound Thriving in Motherhood Planner!
There are some amazing bonuses you can claim when you purchase the journal to help you get the most out of it so don’t wait to get yours!
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I got a fantastic question from a mother who is using the 2024 Thriving in Motherhood Planner this year: "I get confused sometimes about the distinction between things like goals (quarterly vs. yearly) vs. projects vs. habits vs. Big 3 vs. focus vs. tracking. Should these things all be related or not necessarily?
For example, on page 31, I'm not sure what goals vs projects are. Do I choose a big goal and then break that down into projects, or are goals and projects different? Should my daily, weekly, and quarterly goals all go back to my 10-12 goals for the year? I guess I'm just not clear on how these things are different or if they should all be connected!"
In this week's episode are going to do a deep dive on the difference between Projects, Goals, and Habits and how you can practically organize your ideas to make things happen with the Thriving in Motherhood Planner.
First, use this how it works best for you! There are no grades or right or wrong answers. But, if you’re curious, here’s how I use my Thriving in Motherhood Planner in these different areas.
Projects: Projects are things with multiple steps that need or want to happen. For example, on my list are creating a family meal binder, updating our family yearbooks, planting raspberries, planting a medicinal and culinary herb garden, and cleaning out garden pathways.
Goals: Goals are a little more personal and stretching—definitely outside of my comfort zone. This year, I put three goals down: write a book, do community service as a family, and do a cooking camp with the kids. These are also multistep goals, but they are also about shaping who we are as people and doing things that are intentionally hard.
Habits: Habits are also about becoming—but on a daily level. For me, I wrote about prepping for the next day and knowing what's going to happen so we get a head start, tracking finances, daily exercise, and reading with a commonplace notebook.
Could some of these be mixed in different places - absolutely.
Another way to think about it is that Goals are things I want to HAVE, projects are things I want to DO, and Habits are things I want to BECOME.
Also, I don't fill out page 33 (Goals, Habits, Projects page) for the whole year all at once. I do it quarter by quarter. Sometimes, it is in planning, and sometimes it is in review to just see an overview of what happened.
Will goals or habits have projects involved? Very possibly! Do I use the goal planning pages for a project? Sometimes! Do I not use a goal planning page for a goal? Yes!
I like to have my daily, weekly, and quarterly goals funnel down from my vision. Some years, my vision is clearly defined on page 33, and sometimes, it is NOT. But I am picking what I focus on each quarter based on my vision and my month based on the quarter. My big three for the week have at least one thing from my vision on it most weeks (and sometimes it's taken up with homeschooling, celebrating a birthday, or getting the car fixed).
Focus is usually more about who I want to be, a scripture that I want to remember, a thriving thought that is helping me navigate day-to-day life or something that is challenging me and I want to navigate it better. It is nice to have it as a reminder on my weekly page spread.
Tracking is for the daily habits I want to keep a record of accomplishing. In some seasons, it is really motivating to check them off, and other times, I think just doing the things is enough and could care less if there is a check in the checkbox.
If you have any more questions about how I use the Thriving in Motherhood Planner or whether it’s right for you, email me at [email protected], and I’ll get back to you!
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Cleaning my home with my children has always been my number one priority. When they were babies this looked like using cleaning supplies that would be safe while they were in a baby carrier on me. As they were toddlers, it meant they could clean with me, and I wasn't worried about what they were touching. As they get older it means having materials I'm confident they can use safely by themselves.
But knowing that this is what I wanted and executing it were two different things. In this week's episode, I'm sharing all the things I've tried and what worked, what didn't work, and what we are doing now that has been the right fit for us.
I tried many things over the years. The first was to walk through the cleaning aisle at the store to find the products we needed. But due to overwhelm (the number of options, not knowing which products were actually safe, and calculating the expense of it all), I always walked out of there with nothing. This also meant that for years, the actual cleaning in our home was minimal because I was so worried about picking the wrong thing.
My friend Hannah (we were neighbors in grad student housing - true friendship is formed in not ideal living conditions) created a course called Simple Green Cleaning (not available right now) that taught me how to clean the majority of my house with a few basic ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, and dish soap. I thoroughly enjoyed feeling confident cleaning my house and mixing up what I needed when I needed it. But when I started teaching my kids how to do it, they were so inspired by the process that they created their own cleaning supplies by mixing soaps, shampoo, conditioner, and lotions, and it made a pretty big mess. This didn't quite work with my purpose of cleaning with my kids.
A few years ago, we decided to try Force of Nature, which is completely safe for skin, disinfects, and can be used on all surfaces. It has been a game-changer. We have ONE cleaning product we use on EVERYTHING.
It makes it simple to teach our children how to use it (plus they LOVE the process of making it and never complain when I ask them to clean) and I never have to worry about what they are breathing in or is touching their skin.
While I haven't done a petri dish test to confirm how well it disinfects surfaces, but it cleans well enough to remove all smells and clean surfaces, so that is good for me! When it comes to my main priority of cleaning with my kids, this one checks all of the boxes.
If you want to try Force of Nature yourself, you can get a discount with this link:
Force of Nature
Get 40% off bundles in April with code: PLANET40
Get 60% off Cleaning and Laundry Duo Bundles with PLANET60
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When I had three kids, four and under, I learned about Charlotte Mason and her principle of spreading a wide feast of ideas. Practically, this looks like 20 different subjects in a Charlotte Mason classroom that get covered during the week.
Before we were in the formal school years, I got into the habit of discovering where all the different sections of books were at the library so I could just walk the shelves and grab some that covered a wide range of ideas without any preplanning. For years, we have had this system in place that has provided an educational cushion through all the ups and downs in our lives and given our kids a lot of learning in a very natural way.
For years, we have had this system in place that has provided an educational cushion through all the ups and downs in our lives and given our kids a lot of learning in a very natural way. I also supplement by putting books on hold at the library that deep-dive into what my kids want to learn more about so that I’m not hunting for specific books once we get there.
In this week’s episode, I’m sharing practical tips for not losing the library books and keeping free books free, bringing some great books into your home, and some of our recent favorites.
How we avoid fines and the library to keep our books free:
We moved all our personal books upstairs to a home library and have a separate bookshelf downstairs for the library books to create separation.
We have ONE library card, so we don’t lose track of the books we have checked out, what’s on hold, and what we have to return.
We try to get to the library on the same day every week so that we don’t have many different due dates to keep track of.
I try and go to our library account after we get home from the library to renew any books that we might have missed returning.
We have a library book bag that holds between 20-30 books, which creates some margin.
Recent Library Book Favorites That Were So Good We Would By Them
Professor Wooford McPaw’s History of Astronomy
Papa is A Poet A Story about Robert Frost
The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain
Hawk Rising
Send a Girl!: The True Story of How Women Joined the FDNY
Find Me! Adventures in the Forest
The Apartment: A Century of Russian History
Under Your Feet... Soil, Sand and Everything Underground
Charles Dickens (Little People, Big Dreams)
A Walk in London
Cooking Class Global Feast!: 44 Recipes That Celebrate the World’s Cultures
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Synthia Simenson is a mother of five (almost six) children ages 10 and under. She went through the struggles that I think we can all relate to when we first become moms—overwhelm, unsure of where to focus her time and energy, and not even sure what she wanted life to look like. I hope you are as inspired by her journey as I am, from those survival years to making intentional changes that created space for her to dream.
Things like minimum baselines for taking care of herself and her home, weekly out-of-the-house dates with her husband (a minimum of 3 hours!), and creating a schedule so she wasn't reinventing the wheel every single day (notice the 3 pillars of thriving there?!).
She also began asking this life-changing question: "What is something you want more of?"
As she and her husband discussed this on their weekly dates, their answer was travel. They both love being in new places, connecting with people, and spending time together as a family while having new experiences and discovering things. Leaning into that dream has turned into years of trips all around the world.
Synthia's Hacks For Traveling Internationally With Kids
Plan trips that you are excited about because it is overwhelming and stressful, and you need something to really motivate you to do it because there are so many benefits
Each kid has a day bag and night bag (toothbrush, pajamas, night diaper, etc.)
Pack a swim bag with everything needed for swimming or a beach day
Church bag with everything for church - bows, snacks, activities, etc.
Make a customized packing list on the computer, print it out, and modify it according to the trip. Then, hand the list to the older children and have them pack by a deadline. This keeps you organized and lets the kids step up.
Bring everything into a dining room or guest bedroom so it is consolidated into one space
If going on a two-week international trip, start packing two weeks before because there are going to be that many details and things that go into it.
Have a babysitter come over to help with packing
Everyone gets their own snack bag that lasts for the entire trip. They get to pack 10 healthy snacks and some candies. She never regrets packing lots of food options to help with hungry moments.
Have a restaurant bag with diapers, wipes, and black t-shirts for little kids instead of bibs to cover their clothes, and use it all week to keep them clean
Listen to podcasts or YouTube videos about the place you are going to (start 6 months before) to get lots of ideas about what you can do without sitting in front of the computer all the time (though there is plenty of that, too).
When I plan trips with kids, I skip over any blog that talks about travel without kids. I only read from sources that include "...with kids."
Have a toiletries bag that is 90% ready to go for travel with duplicates of everything
Have bags with long handles that go over the headrest in the car to help keep the kids' things organized so things are up off of the ground
Always have 10 empty grocery sacks with you - there is always a kid who throws up, or has an accident, or there is garbage - and it helps you feel really prepared
Traveling with your family might not be your dream, but I hope that this week's episode inspires you to ask the question, "What is something I want more of?" and see where it leads.
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