Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 5 of 2024

Nice weather, birthday celebrations, old movies, and friends!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts!

MONDAY

It was 31° this morning and will get into the upper 50’s today! I’m opening the windows to air out the house a bit when it does!

For breakfast, I made myself and the little girls bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Then, I made my grocery list for today’s shopping trip. With less people living in the house, I am struggling to figure out how much to buy and how much to make. It has definitely cut our grocery budget.

For Morning Time, we learned a Folk Song from Music in Our Homeschool, then we read in Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible, plus 2 chapters in By the Shores of Silver Lake. Then, we watched videos on the polka, the jig, and the waltz because those are some of the dances mentioned in the book.

I also read Apple Tree Christmas to the children. Yes, we are still reading some of the Christmas books, and this one was absolutely LOVELY!

We also read about gardens in Farm Anatomy…

After school, I did a pantry check and pulled out some food for our son and his family since they will be here this weekend. Ty wants me to rotate our stock, so they are getting the benefit of that. I also pulled some food from our emergency stash that is getting closer to the expiration date to feed the kids for lunch – macaroni and beef, peaches, and cream cheese with candied pineapple jam spread over it.

I got the church newsletter sent out and uploaded my latest video – a Large Family Homeschool Life video!

The 19 year old and I went shopping at Aldi, then she went home to fry up pork chops for dinner while I finished up the shopping at Walmart.

That evening, I washed my hair and did a cucumber mask for the fun of it. My kids thought it looked terrifying!

Unfortunately, I think I may be getting sick. My throat is scratchy. Ugh.

TUESDAY

I went to Weight Watchers this morning and I’m down 3 pounds! I have really been focusing on my protein intake, and it’s working!

After the meeting, I chatted with a friend who also goes to the meetings, and then I headed to the city building to pay our water bill. It is the only bill we pay in person.

When I got home, we started Morning Time with a Folk Song from Music in Our Homeschool. Then, I read in Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible and By the Shores of Silver Lake. Then we looked up landforms from Nature Anatomy and made many of them using our kinetic sand.

For lunch, I made a baked potato and air fried Perdue lightly breaded chicken (a new favorite of mine!). I am definitely not feeling well, so I rested and watched the final episode of my favorite season (so far) of Blue Bloods (season 8).

That afternoon, an Amazon package came containing a new outfit for Mercy and some rabbits for a school project. Aren’t they cute??!!

(they’re even cuter in person!)

Because of how I was feeling I decided the rest of the day just needed to be spent lying around and taking things as slow as possible while tanking up on Vitamin C. I have this thing about chasing rabbit trails from books and movies. One of those rabbit trails led me to Chimes at Midnight – a 1967 Orson Wells film based on Shakespeare’s Henry IV & V. I had never seen the film, so I decided to watch some of it while I was languishing. 😉

I also put together a podcast and post for release, plus an email to share them and then added to my calendar my speaking schedule for the Teach Them Diligently conference this coming May. I will be speaking on Large Family Homeschooling, Home Management for the Homeschool Mom, and Taking a Jubilee Homeschool Year.

That evening, my pre-birthday festivities began! (Yes, my birthday is tomorrow, and yes, I’m sick, but I refuse to be too sick to party!).

The kids decorated,

the 19 year old made me my favorite Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookes,

and Ty gave me flowers!

WEDNESDAY

Happy Birthday to me!

My 19 year old daughter took my dog out for his morning walk while I took a luxurious bath. The 15 year old made french toast for breakfast for everyone.

Than, a friend and I went thrifting and had lunch at my favorite gastro-pub. We had so much fun!

That afternoon, I filmed my latest Large Family Homeschool Life video, talked to my mom and several friends, spent time outside with the kids (it was 60° today!), and had a lovely birthday afternoon!

That night, we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner and I opened presents and cards and yes, ate more chocolate chip cookies!

Here’s to 47 years!

THURSDAY

Since I’m going to an early lunch with my sister, I had a banana and some coffee for breakfast. Then, got right into Morning Time.

I read from Hurlbut’s and By the Shores of Silver Lake and then assigned extra books to all the kids that corresponding with what we’ve been learning about in the Silver Lake. Doing this, helps me to stretch lessons that might not be quite up to the older boys’ level. That way, I can teach from one curriculum and use extra assignments to challenge them.

While the kids did their independent school work, I put a bunch of books on hold from our local library for our new Hundred Acre Wood curriculum. We will be doing the same thing with this curriculum – teach to the middle, assign to the edges.

My sister and I grabbed lunch at a local diner and then shopped at a boutique we both like. I bought a pair of earrings and a necklace that are brushed silver and will look good with some of the black and charcoal outfits I wear.

When we got back to the house, I showed her the apartment we are putting in the basement for mom. My sister is really good at decorating and designing (her degree is in fashion), so she is going to put together some ideas for how to organize the small space to show our mom.

The kids spent the afternoon playing with friends across the creek. Reminds me of my childhood, and I am so thankful they are able to have this time to just be kids and do fun things like this.

I started the chicken and veggies for dinner tonight and then ran to Walmart to get Special Night food – vanilla ice cream and root beer for floats. It is the 9 year old daughter’s turn to be Special Night Kid. We played Balderdash, Duck, Duck, Goose, and then watched gymnastics and cheerleading. The boys made merciless fun of it all, but we had a good time despite their antics!

FRIDAY

It was in the 40’s this morning. We tidied up for Home Blessing. I did not take my week off for my birthday because we have company coming in tonight and I want the house up to my standard of clean!

The 19 year old had to leave off cleaning halfway through to take care of a friend’s dogs. She cleans our 3 bathrooms, so she will finish those up when she gets back.

Everyone ate lunch on their own – which often happens on Fridays. The kids headed back over the creek to play when suddenly, Mercy came running and screaming back to the house because she thought she saw a snake!

I worked on some blog stuff – mostly technical things I don’t really enjoy. I rewarded myself for doing the hard stuff with a cup coffee on the deck and the last few minutes of Chimes at Midnight.

Our 18 year old son let us know he and his family were on their way to our house, so the 19 year old started on his German Chocolate birthday cake. (yes, we have A LOT of January birthdays!). Our friends also let us know they were headed our way as well. It’s going to be a full weekend!

I decided I needed to divide all of my podcasts into seasons. Some of them were already done, but I had stopped doing them somewhere along the line and I didn’t like how it looked in the podcast app. I can hardly believe I am on Season 8 of the podcast! I remember when I started this venture like it was yesterday.

I’d love to hear from any of my podcast listeners as to which episodes have been their favorites over the years!

Once everyone showed up for the weekend, we made nachos for dinner and then made a run to Home Depot for supplies to work on the apartment in the basement. We stayed up late that night talking and eating Puppy Chow and ice cream.

I am thankful for good friends and an awesome family!