A big announcement, and a lot of Valentine’s Day festivities in this week’s Large Family Homeschool Life post!
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life!
MONDAY
This morning, I had a small coffee cake and my usual coffee with protein shake as creamer for breakfast. I wasn’t very hungry, so this made a nice, quick breakfast before school.
This weekend, I had a major revelation concerning our Morning Time, and it involves a story I haven’t told here on the blog as yet. So, here goes…
Our 17 year old son is getting married next weekend. His girlfriend is pregnant and due in May. We’ve known for quite a while, but as you can imagine navigating this fact has taken a lot of prayer, thought, and time.
I still don’t have a lot of wise words to share with you, but we are walking this out in the way we believe the Lord would want us to handle it. The first thing we addressed was their heart of repentance, and from there, we moved forward.
They wanted to get married right away, but both of them were 16, and we wanted to see some maturity from them first. So, we said not yet, and then lined out some things we wanted to see from them to show progress toward marriageability. And they have followed through, so a few months ago, all the parents agreed to their marriage!
It will be a quiet ceremony in our living room. And then, they will set up housekeeping in an upstairs bedroom in our home and prepare for Baby’s arrival!
So….as part of this process, we realized we needed to help our son (who is now 17) get his driver’s license and graduate high school early. Good thing I know how to condense homeschooling into a short period of time!
But…he shared with me this past weekend how he just doesn’t enjoy school, and he even suggested he wanted to quit. As I pressed him for more specifics, it became apparent that he LOVED Morning Time (History, Geography, Fine Arts, Bible), but did not enjoy the subjects he was required to do on his own. When pressed even further, he divulged it was actually Science he didn’t want to do.
He enjoyed our discussions on history and geography and art and music, and he understood why he needed the math, but he saw no purpose for the science he was doing, and it just seemed overwhelming to him. So, I mulled over the idea of adding Science to our Morning Time. I knew other families who had done this, but for some reason I never had.
Then, I sat down to watch one of Sally Clarkson’s videos, and there she was advocating the exact thing I was mulling over – a more discussion-based education! I’ve put a lot of her methods to use over the years, but I needed to hear it once again to take the leap and add more to our Morning Time!
Because Keian has already done quite a bit that would count toward an Astronomy credit, I decided to start there. As I went through the Apologia Astronomy book with my boys, my 17 year old was eagerly listening and told me several times how much he was learning! So validating!
During this particular Morning Time, we also learned about John F. Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis and his assassination. We also read in Stuart Little.
I helped the little girls with their reading and math. Aspen did some lessons in Reading Eggs. I helped my younger boys with their piano lessons and then made a plan with a friend to come over next week and teach Aspen some guitar chords. She’s super interested in learning guitar!
When I took Keian to work, I did a quick Commissary shop. He works as a bagger at the Commissary (the military grocery store), so it is convenient for me to pop in there and check out the deals while I’m there. I also stopped at the library and took an Amazon return to the UPS store.
We had Caesar Chicken Wraps for dinner – this has become a family favorite!
It was Micah’s Special Night, so we played games, watched shows, and I gave him an essential oil backrub.
TUESDAY
I didn’t sleep well last night, but today is Valentine’s Day, so I have lots to do to make it special for the kids!
For Morning Time, we did Valentine School. We did several candy heart projects, played Candy Heart Battleship, and made cards for each other.
I made Valentine Crunch, and Ty’s Granny’s Peanut Butter Cup Hearts which are pretty much the same recipe as our Buckeye Bars.
Aspen (8) wanted to make chocolate covered strawberries, so we did that too!
That afternoon, the drone that I will be using in some of my YouTube videos came. The company sent me one free of charge, so I’m excited to start using it! But, I’m also a little scared of it! I hope it ends up being easy to use! (NOTE: It is VERY easy to use and we are having so much fun with it!)
When Ty got home from work, he and I went out to a favorite local restaurant for a Valentine’s meal. It was packed, but they don’t take reservations, so we waited about 40 minutes to be seated, and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!
WEDNESDAY
For Morning Time, we read in Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible, and then studied LBJ and Vietnam. We also looked at the sculptures of Claes Oldenburg (super fun!). We went over the sun in Astronomy, and finished Stuart Little today. The ending to Stuart Little was a bit anticlimactic.
Mercy did some complaining during her independent school work and got one of her chocolate chips taken away. We been putting 6 chocolate chips in a bowl at the beginning of the day and then every time she whines or throws a fit, she gets one taken away. At the end of the day, she gets to eat whatever is in the bowl. So far, it’s been working really well to head off some of the undesirable behaviors!
Our 18 year old has a friend in from another state, so she took the day off from work, but I still had to take the 17 year old to work at the bee farm. Thankfully, on Wednesdays, he has a ride back into town because the boss’ son comes in for Youth Group.
Once at home, I did laundry, tidied my bedroom and desk and tackled the mess on the coffee bar in the kitchen. So many piles of paper!
The kids went outside and played with the neighbor kids while I did some blog work and changed out my nails. I use Dashing Diva Gloss nail stickers (they don’t require nail polish remover to take them off!), and I had my Valentine nails still on, so I changed them for a brownish color. I’ll redo them again right before the wedding.
I made sloppy joes for the kids for dinner, and then headed out to our church’s Women’s Group for an evening of fellowship.
THURSDAY
I put on a pot of coffee and made myself some breakfast cookies in the microwave. Ty doesn’t have work today due to the ice and snow overnight. It’s always nice to have him home!
For Morning Time, we continued learning about LBJ and the civil rights movement, read in Astronomy, and started our new read-aloud – The Phantom Tollbooth.
Garin (12) finished his 7th grade Math, so he’ll take a break from math until next Monday when he starts Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra.
My 10 year old started the Graphic Design class that his older brothers did last year. We really like this class! You can read my Graphic Design for Homeschoolers Review to learn more!
In the afternoon, we turned on some Irish music and I read to the little girls from some library books I picked up last week. Then, I took a 30 minute nap! I never take a nap, so that was very nice!
For dinner, we had nacho fries with homemade french fries. I cut all the potatoes and then Melia babysat the airfryer for me.
That night, Keian’s fiancée came over and we rearranged the furniture in the living room for the wedding and did some decorating to make sure they have everything they need for the wedding next weekend. Then, we took it all down and made some notes. The kids are handling everything themselves, and I’m super proud of how they are managing things!
FRIDAY
We cleaned house this morning and then I recorded a video and worked on the blog.
I also put together a transcript for my high school senior using our Homeschool Hall subscription. It was soooo fast and easy! I am very impressed with how simple it was to put together. I have used templates in the past and then just inputted the classes and grades, but this was even easier than that! And it looked a lot nicer! (Below is an example without the name and address and other information that is also on the transcript.)
For dinner, we had Asian Bowls – another family favorite! This time we did rice, zucchini, wontons, wonton strips, and sauces. So yummy!
Susan says
That’s been quite a challenge and you’ve handled it with much grace – hope all goes well/has gone well, and what a blessing to have a grandchild right there in your home soon x
Amy says
Thank you, Susan. We have certainly tried to do what we believe the Lord wants us to do.
Julie Bahr says
First, I’d like to apologize for my comment about “keeping this one quiet” on YT this am. I promise I wasn’t even thinking premarital pregnancy. That being said, thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. Our family has recently dealt with this situation with our niece. Our response was the same and it is hard. But we believe babies are always blessings and that the Lord works all things out to good for those that love Him. God has given us all mercy and grace and we try to extend the same. Disappointment and hurt are understandable reactions and I think you and Ty have walked through a difficult situation well (I’m sure it was even harder in real life!). I will be praying for your family as you enter this new season!
Amy says
No need to apologize, Julie! We did keep it quiet because there was so much I wanted to say, but could never find just the right words. Thank you for your kind words and prayers!
Melinda Johnson says
I just have to say is that we know what it is like when a Christian homeschooled kid sins and you have to walk through that crisis. The emotions, the problem solving, the seeking the Lord on what to do to handle it, etc. Also, this is a scenario that I have actually planned for but never have had to face. But I would feel the same way, I would pray that I would not squander the opportunity to live out my faith and put all those words of being pro-life and supporting my kids no matter what and yet holding them accountability to the test. I will be praying for you and your family, for the newlyweds as they walk this journey together, for the wee one as it grows and is loved on by all the aunts and uncles, and for all the things that Satan tries to throw your way to make you feel awful about it, that God will remind all of you that He will work it all out for HIS glory. We, readers, think no less of you or your family or your son for his mistake. We are all sinners. Instead, we lift you all up in this new chapter of life. If only I could hug you and them and tell you that it’s going to be ok. And to not question yourself about where you went wrong or where did he/they went wrong. It’s something I do often about our situation, which has been resolved, but still has ripple affects, as yours will, too. But at least yours will be a beautiful child as a result. From one mama heart to another, lots and lots of love.
Amy says
Thank you so much, Melinda!