Feeling overwhelmed by grumbling kids, comparison, or stress in your homeschool? In this episode, we talk about the power of being thankful for what you have—even in hard seasons—and how it can transform your heart, your home, and your family.

You’ll hear personal stories, powerful Scripture, and practical steps you can take to build a daily gratitude habit. This episode will help you fight overwhelm and experience the joy that comes when you shift from complaining to contentment.

✅Learn the science-backed benefits of gratitude

✅Hear how Kerry's 10,000 gratitude journal entries shaped her mindset

✅Get 3 simple tips for creating a family gratitude habit

✅Discover practical ways to help your kids choose gratitude over grumbling

✅Be encouraged with real-life stories of thankfulness in hard seasons

📥 Grab the resource mentioned in the podcast—link is in the show notes!

Resources Mentioned:

Give Thanks Tool Kit

30 Day Gratitude Challenge

Gratitude Journal for Kids

Show Notes:

Hey, everyone, Kerry, Beck here with homeschool coffee break where we help you stop the overwhelm so you can actually take a coffee break. No coffee with me. I'm actually recording this in the afternoon. Haven't had coffee for a few hours, but I want to help you take a break, slow down and pause. And today's episode is so good and so helpful to you, I can, I promise you, if you put these things into practice, it will change the way you think, the way your mind works, and even help with your kids as well. We are talking about moving from complaining to being thankful, building a gratitude habit in your homeschool, in your family, in your home as well.

Why does this episode matter so much? Let me just tell you. Actually, I think I wrote this down today. You'll be getting this in a few weeks. But I wrote this down today. I was sort of pondering what to do. But I've been keeping a gratitude journal since 2010. That's almost 15 years, and the first 2 or 3 years I wrote down 3 things but I discipline religiously every single day, and every year I did that I added a thousand things. Then I became a little less structured, but I still kept a gratitude journal throughout the year. I may not have done it every year, and sometimes, like here, you can see I sort of color coded. There you go. That's more than 3 things here. That's more than 3 things. So it just depended on the day there's 3 right there. But today, on May 27th 2025, I entered number 10,000. Can you see that? 10,000 right there?

And I'll just, I was a little skeptical last week. I was like, I don't want to write anything down. I want 10,000 to be something really great. But then this one I was like, just write what you're thinking about Kerry. So 9,999 were friends that had been praying for me, especially a few weeks ago, when my son got married, and there's just a little tension and everything. But I knew everything would be great, and we would have great joy because they were supporting me in prayer, but 10,000 number 10,000 I didn't really think about this morning, and I just wrote down my kids, faith in God and their protection of me. My kids have just been so supportive of me over the last several years, and that makes me feel good. I'm not. I wasn't trying to make that number 10,000. But that's just really what came to mind.

So that is what we're talking about. We're talking about gratitude and the power of gratitude in good times and in bad times, before we dive into that. If you have not subscribed to our channel, then I would strongly recommend that you do that. It will help us get this message out to more and more people, and don't more of us want our kids to go from complaining to gratitude. Don't we want to have victory through the gratitude? Don't we want to have joy through gratitude? I'm going to talk all about that today. So share this, find one person, you could click that, share button and share it with someone today.

So the power of gratitude and hard seasons. Now, I don't know if you know me very well, but I will tell you. For the past 9 years it's been a struggle for me. I've been lonely at times. I have felt rejection. I've had lots of financial struggle in and out. I've had lots of grief, both death, rejection, abandonment, and betrayal, and it's hard. About 5 years ago, I want to say, 5 or 6 years ago I had one of the hardest thanksgivings. Thanksgiving seemed to have been really hard in the last 9 years, but God showed up. I had an explosion at the dinner table in my own parents. It was pretty embarrassing, and my own parents house, and about 2 or 3 days later I had to say, Okay, God, I need to apologize, and I went from negativity to joy and peace in my life, and some of that was thankfulness to God that he is working in me, and he is helping me get past all these hardships.

I will tell you that faith is not about the absence of hardship. It's about how we trust God in the middle of all of it, and one of the ways we can show our trust is through gratitude. Being thankful is not natural, being selfish and wanting our own way, and getting everyone to pay attention to us and do what we want. It's easy being thankful and pulling back and being humble. That is a discipline. In 1st Thessalonians 5, 18. It says in everything. Give thanks. And I believe that is what can truly change the way. Actually, I don't just think there are scientific. There are scientific evidence that when we start to give thanks on a regular basis. We have better sleep. We have better relationships. Our kids, when they do it, become more generous. There are scientific studies that show this. They have done so much seriously. When we show gratitude, it changes the synapses, the wires, all those things up here, and if we give gratitude at least 30 days and more. It can truly change the way you think, and it can change the way your kids think.

So let's talk about 3 tips to help you with this. First, we need to thank God first, and as we thank God we should be modeling for our own children. God is always good. God is always in control. God is always working things for good. It may not look good like I'm going to tell you right now. They're like. Seriously, God, this does not look good in my life right now, and I'll just let you in on a little tip in case you haven't ever heard my husband left 9 years ago, and I've had to do a lot of soul searching. I've had to do a lot of work on myself, not me working, but allowing the Holy Spirit to come and work in my life, and his gratitude has me so far from that negative blame shift all those things to seeing that God is good, that God is love, that God is working. God is working in me. Praise God, thank you. But even more important. He's working at Steve, and I believe with all that she's bringing it back, and I'm praying for him. God is always good, even when it doesn't look like it, even when he doesn't look like he is working.

If nothing else goes right. I always know Hebrews 13, 5. God! He says, I will never leave you nor forsake you or abandon you. And he says in Philippians 1, 6, I am working in you until the day of Christ Jesus. I know that it's true for me. I know that it's true for my kids, just like I could be thankful. Number 10,000 for my kids walking with God, and I am trusting, and I still believe that he is working good in Steve's life. So how can I believe this now? Because I'm going to tell you 9 years ago that was probably not true.

Oh, I forgot my! I will give you 3 tips that will help change your brain seriously. Family gratitude journal during every morning, at breakfast or every night when you are eating dinner, or before you go to bed, open your gratitude, journal, and go around the table, go around the circle and say, Give me one thing you're thankful for today and write it down. You might color code it for different kids, so that you know who said what? Because then, when they start complaining, you can pull that gratitude journal out and say. Hey, let's take a let's just take a step back, and then read the things that they said they were thankful for.

But every day, once a day have everyone say something they're thankful for I wish that I'd had my children keep individual gratitude journals as they got older. If you have older kids, I would give them 5 or 10 min every day. Just make everyone stop, and we're going to all be grateful. Let them write it down, and then let them share it out loud as well, let your kids hear you. Thank God aloud, and if you don't think you can say thank you, I'm going to tell you what, if you are living in a house, you should be able to say, Thank you. If you have food today, you should be able to say, Thank you. There are so many things. We may think we're not making enough money, or we don't have the greatest thing because we're comparing ourselves to social media whole nother subject. But I am telling you. You need to be able to. There is always something to be thankful, a good night's sleep. It does not have to be material as well. There are so many things to be thankful for.

I will tell you that we have. I was looking for it. This resource is called oh, gosh! Can't really see it. Give thanks. A mother's prayer journal, and yeah, I don't know how many days are in it, but it does allow you to be able to give thanks and any any resources I mentioned. Just look in the show notes, and you can get those as well.

So tip number one. Thank God! First model this for your kids. Tip number 2. Choose gratitude over complaining. Gratitude is a choice. It is not a feeling. There was a man named Martin Rinker. Back in the Middle Ages there was a huge war. This is in the Black Plague, the bubonic plague. This man was a pastor, and during one year he was doing 50 funerals a day. 50 funerals a day, including one of them, ended up being his wife. I don't have the prayer with me right now, but he has written a beautiful prayer. I will link it to you in the show notes that kept saying, Now, thank we all are God. And he kept saying, Thank we all are God. How can you say thank you to God when you're performing 50 funerals a day? If that man can say thank you to God. In the midst of 50 deaths a day, and funerals, I should be able to say, Thank you for the many blessings that I have. You need to help your kids learn this, that we choose joy and gratitude, no matter, the circumstances.

I was actually listening to a podcast this morning. I don't know if you've ever read the book, the hiding place, but in the podcast they were referring to a section in the story. And this was Betsy. I cannot remember the person that wrote the book. Okay, is Betsy's sister, and you'll probably know who he is. She is. But they were in a concentration camp. They were Jews, they were not Jews, but they had hidden Jews. So now the 2 sisters are in a concentration camp together, and I want to say it was like 1,400 people in a place that 400 people should be, and they actually somehow had a Bible.

And they read, and we know no, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God, and we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. And so they decided that they were going to tell each other things that they were thankful for, and they were thankful for this Bible because it was hidden on her neck, and the guards did not see him, and they had to like strip naked to get into this concentration camp, and the guards were blinded to that, and they were thanking for things. And then, Betsy, the very calm person, says, Well, we need to thank them for the fleas and her sister like. I wish I could remember who's the author of the hiding place? She says. Fleas! No way. We are going to thank them. They were in a place right then that there was a Flea infestation, and so she kept saying, it doesn't say, only be thankful in the good times it is in all circumstances. So they said, Thank you.

And then they continued to have morning worship, morning whatever they called it, and were able to share the Bible with those around them, and then they decided to do 2 a day, and they wondered why the guards were not coming to see them. They weren't bothering them, and they could share Jesus. They could share the Bible with all these people. Well, guess what? Because the guards didn't want to have anything to do with fleece. Is that a reason to thank God? Yes, because they were able to share Jesus and his salvation with all these people in the concentration camp, and who knows what impact that may have had on them?

So we need to choose joy and gratitude, no matter what our circumstances are. Some practical tips would be a gratitude over grumbling jar anytime. Someone complains. They write down one thing that they are thankful for. If you hear a child complain? You've got a little stack of papers, or post-its, or whatever, and you just stop. Write it down and then put it in the jar, and then you have a history of the things that they are thankful for, and you can read those aloud. Maybe sometimes when they complain, we pull that jar out and we read them. Do this with your kids. You're not going to do it to them. You want to do it with them.

Another thing that you could do is to actually do some. Give thanks. Copy work. I have a let me see if I can find it there. It is this is called, give thanks to God again. You can't see it too well. Give thanks to God. Copy, work for all ages, different verses that your kids can copy, and y'all can talk about just copying that down, and they'll be thinking about it as they copy it down as well.

Tip number one. Thank God! First, model it for your kids. Tip number 2. Choose gratitude over complaining. Tip number 3. Create a gratitude, practice habits start small and they grow deep roots. Just think about me. I hit 10,000 not really trying, and know lately it's not been every single day, but I have that practice of being thankful. I was telling my son this morning. You know I can be going down our main highway, and I hit all green lights and all this I'm like, oh, thank you God! He gave me a blessing. I can be walking, and I hear the birds. Oh, thank you! God for the birds you start to notice so many more things that you can be thankful for.

So start your family or your homeschool day with gratitude. I've already mentioned the family gratitude challenge. If you want to do that another way, we have our 30 day gratitude challenge you can. When you get it, you can get it like this, which is a blank. 30 day calendar. And every day your kids write something down younger kids. You might want this. There is one idea on every single day, and there's space for them to write it down. A family member food. You enjoy something in nature, and that gives them a little prompt as to what they can write it down, and then the last thing would be, thank you. Cards or a Thank you letter, and in that, and there'll be links to all of this in the show notes. So you can just go get those is how to write a thank you letter or thank you. Card. There's a few questions that you answer, and then you actually write it. And I would say each week, encourage your kids to write a thank you letter to a neighbor, to a grandparent, to a pastor, to a friend, to a neighbor, or say, neighbor, any of these? And then, lastly, this is fun. It's a practical hands-on. These are our gratitude activities for kids, and you can be able to get that. I think that's in our gratitude. Give thanks, toolkit as well.

As we close. I just want to say, moms, I know you're tired. Homeschooling is stressful. Homeschooling, especially comparison is real, and we need to get rid of it. Gratitude is the way we fight comparison. Gratitude is the way we fight. Overwhelm gratitude is the way we fight. Worry those things sort of fall by the wayside when we can get our eyes in the right place. Psalm 16 11, says, in the presence of the Lord is joy, and then it says in Nehemiah, and the joy of the Lord is our strength, and the presence of the Lord is joy. Get up, and every day spend time in him, and that can give you joy that day, and then that joy, the joy of the Lord will give you strength to the rest of the day. If you are tired, that is a great way to start it. Presence of the Lord is joy, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.

Gratitude transforms not just our attitudes, but our kids, hearts, too. You can start today, and it does not have to be perfect. So here's my challenge. Say one thing you're thankful for today, and then do it again tomorrow, and then do it again the next day and the next, and build habit of gratitude. Help your kids do the same. Colossians 3, 17. Whatever you do, give thanks to God the Father through Him in everything. Give thanks.

What do you need to do pause. Breathe, breathe, can do lots alright, and reset the button, reset your life by being grateful. Now I will tell you we have resources for you. I've mentioned. Most of them are 30 day gratitude challenge our things to be thankful for. List. Our gratitude. Oh, I didn't mention this one gratitude journal for kids. It's a printable, and your kids can fill things out for that as well. And then we have our gift. Thanks, toolkit, which includes, give thanks to God, copy work for all ages. Give thanks to mother's prayer journal, gratitude activities for kids and a 30 Day gratitude journal. You've got a lot in there. So pick the one that would help you the most.

And I just look forward to hearing how your family, how your homeschool, and how your life changes by just starting to be grateful and finding one thing a day, just one thing a day to start it with, to be thankful. I know it can change your life. It has changed my life. I'm Kerry Beck, with homeschool coffee bright. We'll talk to you next time.