Finding Joy in Your Home Jami Balmet

In today’s episode, Jami is sharing 3 seasons of waiting that her family has walked through, and what God has taught them along the way. Listen in!

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When my mom died, it took 6 months to get her toxicology reports back. In this season of grief and not understanding, I had to turn to the Lord again and again in my grief, in my anger, and in my utter inability to fix any of it. 

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

When we tried to sell our house, the market was raging hot, it crashed the week we listed our house and took 12 months to sell. In a season of financial struggle, we learned a lot about trusting the Lord and thanking him for every single dollar that comes in. 

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” - Matthew 6:25-33

When we desired another baby and it took 12 months to conceive, we had to come really to grips with the fact that we are NOT in control of our fertility in any way, shape, or manner and that we can choose peace and contentment no matter what. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Now, we find ourselves in a season of waiting once again. We are ready and excited for the next step of building our homestead. We feel a certain amount of excitement and impatience since it feels like our kids are growing so old, so fast. 

But God has said not yet. He is asking us to be patient and to trust him. And so once again, we find ourselves in this season of waiting on the Lord, trusting in Him. 

And these seasons of waiting have taught me many things: 





To plan well, to be a wise steward of what God has given us, and then sit back and be totally content with how God leads. When he opens a door you will know, when he closes a door, you can praise Him. 

When everything feels impossible to line up, if it’s God’s will, it will line up. We well and truly can trust in all of the Bible verses urging us to trust in the Lord. 

It’s often in the waiting that God is refining us, molding us, and shaping us. Before we had kids, before I had lost my mom, and before I had really encountered very many hard things as an adult, I struggled greatly with anxiety. Now, I can hardly fathom why I struggled with it so much since what I was dealing with and facing then feels so minor to the things I have wal...

In today’s episode, Jami answers your questions on all things homeschooling. Listen in!

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Questions Answered in the Episode:

Q: Teaching how to read: https://amzn.to/3N1QOKn

‘DASHIN UINTO LEARNING READERS

TGATB READERS 

Q: Reassurance that when we find a curriculum that continues to work it’s okay to stick with it. Sometimes I feel like my kids will miss out on all the other amazing options out there.

I get it! With so many terrific options out there, it can really feel overwhelming and hard to choose. What I like to do is add in a lot of quality reading, this way, I know we are still hitting all kinds of amazing things! 

Q: Curriculum Recommendations for Age 5? 

MasterBooks, The Good and the Beautiful, And Gather Round. 

Q: My son ins’t in the correct grade level - is that normal? Finishing 1st, going into 3rd.

One of the most beautiful things about homeschooling is the ability to tailor the education to your child. Who says that every single subject needs to be taught and mastered at the exact same age? Do adults function like that? Or do we all learn different things at different paces. I use grades as a general guideline to help me moving forward, but only you know your child well enough to know what they need! 

Q: General Words of wisdom? Starting K this year 

You’ve got this! I know it feels so hard and overwhelming. But K-3rd is a LOT of play and reading. Stick to that and you are golden. Also, read some homeschooling books to get a good idea of homeschooling trips and tricks. 

Q: How homeschool daily routine looks like schooling multiple kids? 

We try and bunch together subjects as much as possible. The only thing each kid does on their own at their grade level is math, everything else is done as a group. 

Gather Round or unit studies is a great way to do this. Especially for K-5th, it’s easy for everyone to study the same thing at a time. Once 5th and beyond, the kids can much more easily study subjects on their own. 

8am: daily worksheets & handwriting during breakfast. 

9am: Morning basket time & Biblio Plan & current GR unit, & then math. 

Done with regular school by noon. 

Lunch break 

Afternoon we do other fun, hands on things. We do art lessons twice a week and a music lessons twice a week. This is also free play art time, play outside, work on coding, quilting, or knitting a hat. No electronic, tv time, or playing until 4pm. 

4pm until dinner they can then play. 

Fridays are project Fridays! 

Q: Do you use a curriculum or make your own? 

Well now, sorta both since we are creating homesteading units! But mostly, I don’t make my own. 

Q: Do you bind your books that you print off? 

Yes! I have a binding machine that is amazing. It’s saved us thousands of dollars. This year we are trying a new method though in 3 ring notebooks. 



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In today’s episode, Jami invites Jason on to the show to discuss all things tech. They each share what they're currently doing to control tech in their lives, and they also go into details on how they handle tech with their kids. Listen in!

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In today’s episode, Jami fills you in on allllllllll her homeschool plans for the next school year. Listen in!

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For Math this year: We are going back to using The Good and the Beautiful. We will be doing Math 5, Math 4, and Math 2. https://www.goodandbeautiful.com/pre-k-8-curriculum/math/

We will be starting BiblioPlan: Ancient History in about 2 weeks: https://www.biblioplan.net/

We will do a few Gather Round Science Units spread throughout the year: Rocks & Minerals, Human Body, and Dinosaurs to start

In the Fall we will be starting IEW for language arts for the 4 older boys: https://iew.com/taxonomy/term/7/?f%5B0%5D=im_field_grade_level%3A7 We will be doing their Grade 3-5th. And Magnolia will do TGATB Level 2 Language Arts since it's free to print off. If we end up not wanting to finish it, I may switch her to MasterBooks language arts, we will see how the year goes.

Mid year:  We will add in a typing course for 4 older boys around January.

We do Art Lessons twice a week. We look up Bob Ross painting videos, watch Kids Art Hub, and find other drawing, painting and art classes online for free. One of my sons really wants to take a full illustrating course, so I will find a good one for him to take.

We do music lessons 3 times per week. We take online classes from https://prodigies.com/

We use Project Friday to explore additional hands on skills and training. Most of our Project Friday's lately have been coming from our own new homesteading curriculum: https://findingjoybookstore.com/collections/sterling-spectacles-homeschool

The Talk by Luke and Trisha Gilkerson: https://www.intoxicatedonlife.com/store/product/the-talk/ Jason went through book 1 with the older boys last year, he's doing book 1 with the middle twins right now, and will start book 2 sometime this year with the older boys. We highly recommend the series!

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In today’s episode, Jami welcomes Jason on and together they discuss their secrets, superpowers, and kryptonite when it comes to productivity. Listen in!

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In today’s episode, Jami gives a good peek into her planning process and thoughts for the coming months. Listen in!

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Planning:



Revamping my mornings: 6-7am: Bible, coffee, get ready time. 7-8am: 30 min instagram, 30 min current project

Planning time in realistic chunks.

Tighter homeschool plans.

Putting fun things on the calendar: We want to go swimming at least 2x a month, make a list of Oklahoma state parks to visit.

Canning & Gardening: Making lists & plans and doing them

Taking time to develop my new meal plans