Large Family Homeschool Life – 12/13/20

A week filled with hot cocoa and cookies and the wrapping up of our Christmas School!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts HERE.

SUNDAY

This morning, I made oatmeal for breakfast and sat and read while my laundry washed. So thankful for machines that wash our clothes!

We watched an Advent series on Right Now for church and lit our 3rd Advent candle.

Later, I watched a Voddie Baucham video on YouTube entitled “Why You Can Believe in the Bible.” He walks through the Biblical basis for his answer to why you can believe in the Bible:

I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin.

I also appreciated his paraphrase of Spurgeon as to why we do not need to defend the Bible. This is Spurgeon’s original quote:

The Word of God can take care of itself, and will do so if we preach it, and cease defending it. See you that lion. They have caged him for his preservation; shut him up behind iron bars to secure him from his foes! See how a band of armed men have gathered together to protect the lion. What a clatter they make with their swords and spears! These mighty men are intent upon defending a lion. O fools, and slow of heart! Open that door! Let the lord of the forest come forth free. Who will dare to encounter him? What does he want with your guardian care? Let the pure gospel go forth in all its lion-like majesty, and it will soon clear its own way and ease itself of its adversaries. 

Charles Spurgeon / “The Lover of God’s Law Filled with Peace” (January 1888)

Tonight, our older kids had their annual Hot Cocoa party, while Ty and I got to visit with some old friends of ours. The kids made a big pot of hot cocoa and laid out whipped topping, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, peppermint sticks, and snacks. They played games and laughed for hours. It was so nice!

Later in the evening, I watched the end of an online video I’ve been meaning to finish for quite some time. It is about delighting in God’s design for gender and sexuality – InHisImage.movie. Very good – I highly recommend it!

MONDAY

This morning, I had labs drawn to check my iron and cholesterol. My functional medicine doctor is trying something different with my supplements, and I am trying something different with my diet. I am VERY interested to see how this goes.

We didn’t do school today because Ty was off and I needed to work on a grocery list and Christmas menu. Here’s the menu I’ve come up with:

Christmas Menu

Ham
Cheesy Potato Casserole
Corn Casserole
Granny’s Sausage Dressing
Cranberry Celebration Salad
Cheese Ball
Christmas Cookies

I took my 16 year old for a driving lesson, and then we went grocery shopping. The total grocery bill for about 10 days of groceries was $360 – a little better than my average lately. Some weeks, the bill is higher. Other weeks, I can keep it down due to finding meals I can scrape together from my pantry.

READ >> My ALDI Shopping List & Grocery Budget

While we were out, my 14 year old son made his famous biscuits for his older sister who went to work without eating. She texted him and literally begged for his biscuits when she got home. Pretty cute!

Ty and I had an impromptu date night with Chipotle he brought home and a movie we watched in the bedroom. These kind of Date Nights are fun because they are out of our norm.

TONS OF DATE NIGHT IDEAS >> Frugal Date Nights

TUESDAY

This morning before school, I had to run Garin (10) to the dentist to check on a tooth that had a silver treatment on it. He got a bit more painted on, but otherwise it was fine.

For Christmas School, we did a map of Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem and the Wise Men’s star chart. The kids really enjoyed this project from You ARE an Artist!

In the afternoon, I took the boys Sibling Shopping for Christmas at Dollar Tree. Everything there is $1, so the kids like to shop for their siblings there. I couldn’t take all of the kids because my van is at the mechanic’s, but it was a lot easier taking a smaller group of kids this time!

WEDNESDAY

When Mercy woke me up to get her dressed and feed her breakfast, I was so deeply asleep, I was quite disoriented for a while. I made oatmeal and a cup of tea called Churchill’s Toddy (non-alcoholic, I promise!) – so yummy!

Christmas School was our Names of Jesus devotional, Christmas in Sweden, and we drew gingerbread houses.

I also sent out an email with our Christmas Eve plans and my free Christmas Eve Candlelight Service for families to do at home.

I went to a friend’s for the afternoon to drink tea and chit-chat. It’s so nice to have friends in the area! It’s hard when you move so much to connect with people.

When Ty got off work, he took the girls to Sibling Shop at Dollar Tree, and I made chili and biscuits for dinner.

THURSDAY

I slept in a bit this morning, so a later start to my day.

Christmas School was shorter and we didn’t do any individual school work because I needed to make Christmas cookies for family we’ll be visiting this weekend. T

he kids helped me bake and we knocked it out in no time! So different from when I used to do all the Christmas baking by myself!

Our Christmas Cookie Plates:
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Chocolate Revel Bars
Fantasy Fudge
Saltine Toffee
Peppernuts

During the afternoon hours, my older kids went to their respective jobs, and the younger kids played outside. They enjoyed taking old paintbrushes and looking for “artifacts” in our backyard.

I sat on the deck and read a book by Dr. Robert Lustig. I have watched his Sugar: The Bitter Truth video on YouTube, but have never read any of his books. I totally agree that sugar can definitely be an addictive substance!

After a dinner of pork chops and broccoli, I whipped up a cheese ball for Ty’s work Christmas potluck tomorrow. And then he asked the boys to make popcorn, so I made some BBQ popcorn seasoning since that is his favorite. We often have popcorn on Thursday nights because it is kind of messy and we clean on Fridays, so it all gets cleaned up.

We did our Advent readings and watched a movie as a family. Before bed, I gave the kids a lavender oil rub on their backs. It is a good way to relax them and get them to sleep sooner.

READ >> Creating a Simple Evening Routine for Children

FRIDAY

This morning there were lots of birds at the feeders outside my kitchen window. They were so fun to watch! I keep track of the birds I see in a Birding Journal I picked up at a national park in Wyoming. I just leave it near the kitchen window along with a pencil, so I can record the birds I see.

We did our Home Blessing while Ty was at his Potluck for work. He came home after that, and he and I ran errands, including picking up our van from the mechanic’s. We also did a quick shop at the commissary and PX, and took Megan’s Spanish book back to the college on post.

That evening, I made some more peppernuts just for our family – so yummy!

I also checked on those labs I had drawn on Monday, and while my iron was not very good, my cholesterol was GREAT! I am thrilled because it means the dietary changes I’ve been making have worked! VERY QUICKLY in fact! Yay!

SATURDAY

Today is the “twins'” birthdays! Meg and Aspen are 14 years apart, but best buddies!

On birthdays, the birthday child (or children, in this case) get to choose their meals for the day, plus what cake they are going to have. They are also allowed to eat out one meal.

READ >> Large Family Birthdays

Here’s what they chose…

Breakfast:
Bacon & Waffles with toppings, and orange juice

Lunch:
Buffalo Wild Wings

Dinner:
Cattle Drive Casserole (we call it John Wayne Casserole) & Bow Tie pasta with butter

Cake:
Ice Cream Cake (for Aspen)
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake (for Megan)

We ended the evening with Birthday Baths – something almost all of my kids love to do on their birthdays. They fill the bath with WAY more water and WAY more bubbles than I ever allow on a normal day. It’s a nice and special way to end their birthdays.

With Christmas and the New Year coming up, I won’t be doing a Large Family Homeschool Week until 2021, so, I’ll wish all of you a Merry Christmas (and share a cute photo of our dog, Kip!).