Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 12 of 2024

This week, we are preparing for an extended stay from friends.

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts!

MONDAY

It was 23° out this morning, so I didn’t walk the full mile with Winston. I wasn’t dressed for it at all! When I got home, I had some vanilla green tea to warm me. The kids ate leftover Irish Soda Bread for breakfast, but I opted out of breakfast after such a big meal yesterday evening.

It was definitely a Monday here! I had fussy children, loud young adults, and a difficult time getting back into the swing of things! I have a sticky note on my refrigerator that says “Just keep going,” and that’s what I’ll be doing today!

I did school with the little girls before Morning Time. I am still having trouble remembering to start with the girls instead of calling everyone to Morning Time first. However, when I do remember, it works really well.

We did Phonics, Math, and I read to them from our story Bible. While I worked with the girls, the boys worked on their independent school work. Then, we met up for Morning Time in the dining room.

For Morning Time, we worked on our Genesis PictureSmart pages. Then, we studied the continents and oceans with some map work. We also talked about Pangea and where the continents might have connected. I used THIS POST from GotQuestions.org as a reference. Mercy also worked on her Days of Creation book – it’s coming together nicely! To round things out, I read to them from The Long Winter, but decided I’ll try to read from the rest of the Little House books in the evening instead of during Morning Time to keep the chronological nature of our lessons intact.

I had a quick lunch, and then ran to the bank to transfer money for the HMMWV my husband bought last week. I also bought a storage unit. Between my mom moving in with us and my young adult children not moving out quite yet, we have an overabundance of things that don’t fit in our home. Unfortunately, while I was opening the unit, I set off an alarm! How embarrassing!

On my way home, I went to Harbor Freight to buy a gift card for our 18 year old’s graduation present (yes, I’m a little late with this!). And then to the library to pick up 4 holds.

When I got home, I fell asleep in my chair. I’ve had several sleepless nights in a row, plus I put up 34 jars of jelly and several quarts of salsa over the weekend besides putting together our annual Irish Supper! I suppose I deserve a nap!

Later in the day, Micah did his Typesy typing class and then used what he’s been learning in his CompuScholar Game Programming class to make his own game. It’s been fun to see him using these skills!

READ > Typesy Homeschool: The Best Online Typing Program for Big Families

I worked on the church newsletter and then on planning meals for next week when we have company coming for 10 days. They will be here for Easter when we will also have our other adult children home as well. I think we’ll have 17 people total here for Easter dinner.

I also looked over the Holy Week activities from Celebrating the Church Year to decide what we’ll be doing this year. I put those ideas on my menu plan as well since I will be looking at the menu every day and will hopefully remember to do the activities.

That evening, my kids helped me make dinner. We put together an Enchilada Casserole with frozen peas as a side and some strawberries. My boys helped with the casserole and peas, and the little girls cut off the stems of the strawberries with their little kid knives.

TUESDAY

I went to Weight Watchers this morning. I stayed the same weight as the last time I was there 2 weeks ago. When I got home, I did school with the little girls (yay, I remembered!) and started Morning Time.

For Morning Time, we did PictureSmart and read in Winnie the Pooh. We also worked on making a color wheel. I downloaded a wheel pattern and gave one to each of the kids, then we talked about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. We also talked about warm and cool colors and then the kids had fun using the same color calculator I use for design ideas.

After Morning Time, the kids headed out to play with the neighbor kids who are out on Spring Break. They spent the entire afternoon together!

I shaped sourdough rolls, did my Bible Study, took the dogs out, and then headed out to my Titus 2 group.

When I got home, I had a nice, long chat with my son and his wife, and even got some crocheting in!

WEDNESDAY

I had an early morning Elder’s Wives prayer meeting. It was only supposed to last an hour, but we ended up being there for several hours! I also brought home a chair from the house we were meeting at. I *might* have a free (or nearly free) chair problem. But I justify it by the sheer number of people I have in the house and how they all need a chair! *wink*

I let the kids go out to play with friends again this morning. I finally just decided to give them the day off of school. I could use the day off as well. I had a late lunch, paid bills, and worked on last week’s Large Family Homeschool Life post and email.

Then, I got the kids started making rice for Asian Bowls while the 19 year old and I went to Women’s Group for our church. I am going to need to decide when to go to these and when to stay home because I am gone way too much!

THURSDAY

It was a chilly morning. I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and then started another batch of sourdough rolls for our company coming tomorrow.

Next, I worked on Phonics and Math with the little girls. Both of them are close to finishing their math workbooks. Aspen will move to Teaching Textbooks and Mercy will move to 2nd grade math.

I also read to them from Vos’ Story Bible; however, I think I’m going to need to change to something else. It’s been a lot of homeschooling trial and error lately!

For Morning Time, we went outside and measured off Noah’s ark down the street. Then, the kids ran back home. I let the younger kids do their own thing while I had a deeper Bible and Government discussion with the 13 and 15 year olds. This is how I used to do Tapestry of Grace when I had a lot of littles and the bigs needed more in-depth study. I imagine we’ll be breaking off like about once a week from here on out.

Then, the girls did Reading Horizons Discovery online program. This is a phonics program I am trying out in order to be able to give all of you an online phonics option if you don’t feel like you have the time, energy, or ability to teach phonics. So far, both girls are really liking this program!

For lunch, I had a freezer meal that had been in there a while. It was gross. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Then I worked some more on my grocery list and decided not to go shopping until the kids were finished playing with their Spring Break friends. I must say all this playing with friends is making it a little difficult for me to get much accomplished.

Meanwhile, I put together a lasagna for tonight and made the garlic toast from the bread I had stored in the freezer. To learn more about how I do this, you can watch my Scrap Saving video…

While the kids watched their TV time and the lasagna baked, I did my grocery shop at Aldi. When I got home, the kids put away groceries and the 9 year old made a salad to go with the meal.

That evening, I took Winston for a walk and called my mom while I was out. We talked for an hour before a friend from church came by to start tiling the basement shower in the apartment where my mom will be living.

That evening, I got a podcast ready to publish, helped Aspen put away her laundry, and read to the children from The Long Winter before bed. An altogether lovely evening!

FRIDAY

This morning, I shaped the sourdough rolls. I put plastic wrap over them and try to keep them in a warm place to rise because my house is rather chilly.

Then, I washed my hair and gave Mercy a bath before we started tidying up for Home Blessing.

Next, I drove to the Commissary (the military grocery store) and grabbed some meat for the upcoming week. It’s going to take more meat than usual to feed this crew since we will have quite a few more adults in the house over the next 10 days.

When I got home, I made lunch and baked the rolls. They will make a nice addition to any of the meals we have while our friends and family are here. And I will probably make one more batch for Easter dinner.

That afternoon, the 15 and 19 year olds and I loaded up stuff to take to the storage unit. I have really been impressed with how my 15 year old has stepped up and started helping out with big projects more and more, and I let him know. He really thrives on praise, and I need to make an effort to praise him more. I’m tend to be a “killing snakes” person. I like to knock things out and keep going and pushing for more productivity, without realizing how important praise is for some people.

On our way home from the storage unit, the 19 year old wanted to stop at Walmart for strawberries and whipped cream to make a frappe she’s been wanting to make. It’s fun to see who my kids have become as they move into adulthood. She loves to make interesting drinks and desserts, and thankfully, always cleans up after herself!

That evening, I finished Kristin Lavransdatter. This has been such an interesting, read full of so many heartbreaking moments.

For dinner, we had our old standby – nachos. And then our friends showed up for an extended stay while we work on my mom’s room in the basement. I won’t have a Large Family Life post for a while while we get a bunch of work accomplished and then I rest from it all!