Thriving In Motherhood Podcast | Productivity, Planning, Family Systems, Time Management, Survival Mode, Mental Health, Vision

I'm homeschooling five kids (grades 6, 4, 2, kindergarten… plus a five-month-old baby), and I'm sharing what's actually working now that real life is in full swing. I'll walk through the "filter" I'm using for curriculum decisions, what changed between my plan from seven months ago and what we're doing now, and the biggest fixes we made (especially in math and writing). I also share what our days look like right now — the flow, the routines, and the small setup decisions that make consistency possible. Resources: Other Homeschooling Videos: Favorite for 2023: PreK, 1st Grade, 3rd Grade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oV70d1kr9A Favorite Curriculum for Fall 2023: Kindergarten, 2nd Grade, 4th Grade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm3hJAlVTdI Homeschooling in Hard Seasons | Library System for the Best Books: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wgIgGxQgk How I Decided Our Learning Priorities For the Summer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQkuSufQnJs Our Homeschooling Curriculum for 2024-2025 Pre-K, 1st, 3rd, 5th Grade: Alveary Update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5MvRMKNY1E Planning A Full Year of Homeschool With A Baby On The Way | 6th, 4th, 2nd, Pre-K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNKz4gz3MzI Curriculum: Growing Brave Writers https://bravewriter.com/products/growing-brave-writers (use this link to get $10 off: https://go.referralcandy.com/share/SVPT9W8?s=sp&t=cp) Math With Confidence: https://amzn.to/3Nezl3K Fix It Grammar: https://amzn.to/3N7CJxy Alveary: https://lddy.no/1jdpq (use code JJACKSON for $25 off) All About Spelling: https://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-spelling/?srsltid=AfmBOoq7t0vyOYoJiNU10_kw_RBcPQ6p8CuxneTYVBcK_bCtrgF3TJXb (I actually just buy the teachers manual used for a fraction of the price)  

As the year comes to a close, I'm talking about what it feels like to reflect when you're discouraged, uncertain, or just tired. When progress feels slow. When goals didn't turn out the way you hoped. When the future feels unclear. In this episode, I share the thoughts, stories, and spiritual insights that helped me reframe what it means to be "behind," why nothing you've given is wasted, and how to approach vision-setting when dreaming feels hard. I'll talk about seasons of becoming, surrender, and letting God lead when you don't have clarity yet.

Looking for books that will completely change the way you think about weight, health, and body image? From surprising medical history to cultural myths we've quietly absorbed, these reads helped me question where our ideals about "healthy," "thin," and "ideal" actually come from. Resources: Happiest Man on Earth: https://amzn.to/49lK5G6 The Secret To Unlocking The Stress Cycle: https://amzn.to/4aul90b Everything is Tuberculosis: https://amzn.to/3MMAY8F Semi-Well Adjusted Despite Literally Everything: https://amzn.to/3NbdGt8

As the year winds down, I love slowing things down a bit, opening my 2026 Thriving in Motherhood Planner, working through the vision section, and taking time to reflect on what actually stayed with me this year. One of my favorite parts of that process is reviewing the books I read. This year, I read over 60 books. When I sat down to reflect, I narrowed that list first to the ones that truly stood out, and then distilled it even further to my top favorites across fiction, memoir, nonfiction, and a small handful of self-help books that genuinely impacted how I live day to day. In this episode, I'm sharing: The fiction series that gave me deep, genuine belly laughs at the end of long days The nonfiction and memoirs that expanded how I think about resilience, perspective, history, and human experience The self-help books that actually changed my habits, not just my ideas How I choose what to read in different seasons of life (especially as a homeschooling mom of five) These are the books that shaped how I think, how I rest, how I parent, and how I move into a new year with intention, without pressure to read more, faster, or "better." Resources: Previous Book Lists Top Books of 2023: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLMNVWoyWxQ Top Books of 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDU1QwZm0rM Books I Read During My Tech Fast 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI7v_2DmlP8 Designing Your Personal Curriculum For 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyc-YCDjtfQ Deep Dive Book Club: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK0Nd4dbVRA Non-Fiction Books An Immense World: https://amzn.to/3Mwtman American Nations: https://amzn.to/4pFAUpR Brave the Wild River: https://amzn.to/48TWI9Z Empire of Pain: https://amzn.to/4s0S6aG Memoir Solito: https://amzn.to/4rWGJ3A The House of My Mother: https://amzn.to/4s0RYIe The Happiest Man On Earth: https://amzn.to/4oZxNrM Semi Well Adjusted Despite Absolutely Everything: https://amzn.to/3XZrUzH Self-Help Books The Glucose Revolution: https://amzn.to/4j04dkf The Power of Now: https://amzn.to/3YB8Ckd Thrivers: https://amzn.to/4oQnmGF Fiction Books The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lions: https://amzn.to/3L21cn6

Before you jump into holiday plans or new-year goals, there are two things I want you to do, because they will completely change how you feel heading into next year. In this episode, I walk you through the exact reflection and clarity-building process I'm using right now to close out 2025 and prepare for 2026. It's a simple reset that helps you see what really happened this year, understand where you grew, and get clear about what matters most going forward.