This past week, we said goodbye to our home here in Raleigh. This house has seen so much life happen in the past 5 years. We've brought 3 babies home from the hospital, we've spent nearly half our marriage here, we've begun our homeschool journey, we've repented and forgiven one another more times than I can count inside these walls. I wanted to share our real estate photos to preserve the memory of this sweet little home. We will miss her dearly.

Our homeschool adventure!

Alphabet Chalkboard from Chalk Full of Design

For those who may not know, we decided to homeschool Liam this year for Kindergarten! It was a prayerful decision, as we wanted to make sure I felt up to the task and that it would be a good fit for Liam. At this point, we hold this very loosely and don't know if I'll homeschool for just this year or for the next 20 years. But for this year, for this child, we feel 100% sure that this is the right decision. We are nearly a month in and Liam is absolutely thriving - and honestly, so am I! It's been a sweet, smooth transition for our family.

Because I'm often curious what other families are using, I wanted to share what curriculum we've chosen and some other great resources I've found in the process. And please hear me say this: I am no expert. I homeschooled Liam for preschool last year using The Peaceful Preschool and that is the extent of my experience. I'm sure I'll look back at this a year or five from now and see so many changes, but for now, this is what we've chosen and it's working! So if you're thinking about homeschooling, perhaps this will point you in a good direction.

The majority of curriculum we are using comes from Sonlight. We chose Sonlight through strong recommendations from friends and family (my sister included) that we really trust. Sonlight is Christian, missions-oriented, literature-based, and has been around for a long time. It's based on using real books - not textbooks - which I especially love. The Instructor's Guide gives us a roadmap to our days and is so helpful.

For "Morning Time" (the most important first hour of our homeschool day), we are following Sonlight's recommendation and reading from a storybook Bible and practicing that week's memory verse. Liam loves writing it on the chalkboard and reciting it each morning. I also just started reading from Long Story Short, which includes 10-minute family devotionals that are gospel-centered and point back to Jesus (even in the Old Testament). I love it so far. I just ordered the Church History ABCs to add in an introduction to key figures in our church's history throughout the year. And on a weekly basis, we practice the catechism using New City Catechism (the free app is wonderful!). Eventually, I'd love to incorporate some hymn singing during this time.

After that, we move into History and we are using Sonlight Core A (with the level 2 readers). After History, we move on to reading aloud. Liam and Lanie have quickly learned our routine: as soon as I pull out a book that I'm going to read to them, they pull out the art cart (more on that in another post soon). I've filled a small rolling cart with art supplies that I feel comfortable with them using unsupervised. So while I read, they create and work with their hands. They might cut and glue paper, draw a picture with crayons, or glue feathers onto paper. It keeps them quiet and occupied while I read from our stack of read-alouds. This is probably all of our favorite part of the day.

We then grab a snack and move onto science. We are using Sonlight Science A and love it so far. We just completed a unit on weather and I learned so much! I feel like homeschooling is a selfish endeavor (in the best way) because I get to go back to school, too!

Depending on Brooks' nap schedule, we usually take a break for playing outside and prepping lunch. After lunch, while Lanie and Brooks go back down for naps, Liam and I work on Horizons K Math (we also ordered the math manipulatives which Lanie also enjoys using to learn shapes and numbers).

For handwriting, I have him practice for 10 to 15 minutes a day using Handwriting Without Tears K. I ordered the level 1 book as well, knowing he will blaze through this one but still need more practice this year.

For phonics, we have the Explode the Code workbooks 1, 2, and 3. Liam worked his way through the first workbook in about 2 days (oops), but he thinks it's a game and enjoys working through them.

I also encourage Liam to read on his own quite a bit, but I usually don't even need to remind him. He is the most self-motivated learner I've ever met. He reads encyclopedias for fun. He was already reading very well prior to starting Kindergarten, so I feel ahead of the curve and very thankful in that regard. As long as I provide him with plenty of nature books (he's currently obsessed with animals), he could spend hours reading. (For those who are curious, we used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for Liam to learn to read. It worked beautifully!)

For art, I have these art cards (I've yet to incorporate them). I also love these two books for art project ideas:

The Artful Parent by Jean Van't Hul
Art Workshop for Children by Barbara Rucci

Art is something we do regularly anyway so I don't have a set schedule or curriculum. I really just want them to create and explore using good materials and enjoy the process. I'm often reminding myself this is Kindergarten, which takes a lot of pressure off.

For geography, we do very little formally (although the history curriculum does take us around the world to many cultures). I have this 50 States book which has so many fun facts, and we also have a blow-up globe from Dollar Tree that Liam loves. I call out a country and he finds it. Geography... done!

Whew. That sounds like a LOT. But in our day-to-day, it typically takes 2-3 hours or less. We have a lot of free play time, meet up with friends quite a bit, and snuggle up and read for hours. We also do normal house things like cooking and cleaning and laundry. I thought homeschooling would be such a drain on me, but honestly, it's been just the opposite. Having a routine with Liam and Lanie has been life-giving. An answer to prayer.

I've found that one of the most important things is for me to stay filled up and motivated. I've read several books written by homeschool moms that have been so encouraging:

Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie
Better Together by Pam Barnhill
Mere Motherhood by Cindy Rollins
The Unhurried Homeschooler by Durenda Wilson

And two books I'm currently reading:

The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie
For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

Creating our homeschool space was a labor of love. We put it all together in about a week and it's now our favorite spot in the whole house! I knew it would be so important for me to love being downstairs - we live in a split-level house and the downstairs has not always been my favorite place because it doesn't have a ton of light. We worked on the lighting, found bookshelves from Craigslist and got organized and it is truly an inspiring place now.

I hope this has been helpful! I am happy to answer any questions or to hear other recommendations more experienced homeschool parents might have. Feel free to leave both in the comments!

Liam's room.

A disclaimer first: No, this is not always how Liam's room looks. It's usually strewn with cars and random puzzle pieces and maybe even a diaper under the bed.

Now that we have that out of the way, his room is one of my favorite rooms in the entire house and I simply wanted to remember it. It's always changing just a little, just like he is. So much of it has been made by me or by him (the teepee by me, the banner and painting on the wall by him). Oh, and the dresser was mine as a baby. It even has the original shelf liner in the bottom drawer.

The day we walked into our house for the first time, I walked into the sunlit middle bedroom and said, "This has to be his." I knew the giant windows would make it a place we wanted to spend time, and I liked that it was right next door to our room if he needed anything. He has one of the two carpets in our entire house, so we do spend lots of time in his room: reading "three Bibles" every night before bed (Jesus Storybook Bible, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, and the Rhyme Bible), putting together dinosaur puzzles, getting both kids' diapers and clothes changed.

Mostly, it's just feels like him: a lot of light with a little wild thrown in.

Photo wall.

Remember this post? And this empty wall? 

I asked your advice on how to fill it up, and finally finally got around to making it happen. Truth be told, I had lots of grand ideas about doing a photo ledge. But because of our crazy schedule recently and my need to just get something up on the wall, I nixed that idea and (much to Shawn's chagrin) just hung some photos without measuring anything. Thankfully, we love how it turned out!

Top left: A photo of NYC that Shawn took on our first visit there when we were "just friends."

Bottom left: A gorgeous print by Emily Jeffords that we're letting represent Tennessee.

Largest frame: A map of Raleigh.

Top right: A photo of the three of us (plus tiny Lanie in my belly) taken by Shawn's mom in Germany, just a few minutes from where Shawn grew up.

Under that: A photo of the Chicago skyline that I took while standing on the roof of my college dorm.

Far right: A gold foil print of New York City. 

Bottom right: A black and white of Lanie in Shawn's hands.

Help me decide.

When we moved into our current house last August, we did a mad dash to decorate as quickly as possible, knowing we'd be having a baby soon and wouldn't have the time or motivation to accomplish much after that. Now that we've lived here for more than 6 months, I'm feeling an itch to really settle in decor-wise. Maybe it's Spring on its way, maybe it's cabin fever. I've hung four pictures in the past week and it's feeling homier with every one. 

The next decor project I want to tackle is this wall (straight ahead): 

It's in our main living/dining room where we spend most of our time, and it's feeling especially bare. I love gallery walls, but what I don't love is having to constantly straighten the frames to make sure they stay in place. With a little guy who jumps and bounds around, the frames get just a hair "off" and drive me a little nuts.

So what I'd love to create is a picture ledge. I love that you can change it up as often as you'd like without making new holes in the wall. I also love the look when it's kept somewhat simple. Here is some of my inspiration (click on the photos to take you to the original sites):

I love how bright and happy this one is with a few pops of color.

Source

I love the different size frames and the monochromatic look of this one.

Source

This one is my absolute favorite. Can I just move in tomorrow? I love how eclectic and yet uncluttered it looks.

Source

I have quite a few family photos in different sized frames that are ready to go. But I'd also love to incorporate a piece of art to break it up. Here's where I need your help. I've been looking at Minted.com for a standout piece for the picture ledge and have fallen in love with too many. Here are my top choices:

1. A subtle pop of color. Fresh and airy. I love the textured look of the paint, too.

Land of Plenty by Emily Jeffords

2. A bold "tangerine" color, I think this would tie together the mustard chairs we have on the opposite side of the room. Plus, it's one of my favorite colors. Bright, simple, and happy.

Abstract Layers 1 by Kelly Nasuta

3. This one is more abstract, but I'm just drawn to it for some reason. I love the simplicity of the patterns.

Pink India Fly by Lady Noble

4. This one is real gold foil and features a special place for Shawn and me (NYC, where we got engaged!). I also really like the gold foil maps of Chicago, Tennessee, and Germany. I'd buy them all if I could.

New York City Map

 5. I'm drawn to this one because of the color combination. I love it. Clean and modern.

Abstract Muted 2 by Kelly Nasuta

6. I love the ampersand sign, and this more muted look is appealing.

& i love to read by Niki Digrigorio

So what do you think? Do you have a vision for any one of these? Picture one of these in a large size plus several family photos in black & white and maybe a couple in color. I'd love to hear your thoughts and can't wait to show you what we decide!

This post is in collaboration with Minted.com, whose products I genuinely love, and the opinions expressed are all my own.