A busy week full of travels, fun impromptu lessons, and sickness. I’m worn out, but blessed!
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts!
MONDAY
A lot of blog work has been weighing on me, so when Mercy woke me up at 3:30 am, I stayed up for 1.5 hours working on blog things. Doing so took a huge load off my mind, and I was able to go back to sleep and slept well.
I made a big breakfast for Ty and I. I had to skip Morning Time (seems like I have had to skip a lot lately!) to take Ty to the college to pick up a government vehicle. He has to transport it to Fort Knox, KY tomorrow.
On my way home from dropping Ty off, my 25 year old called, and we talked for the rest of the drive home. It was so good to hear from him – it’s been a while. He and his wife are planning a visit up here next month.
When I got home, I got everyone started on Table Chores and then sent them outside to play in the sprinkler. They had so much fun with this first official water play of the summer!
Then, I ran to ALDI since I had not gotten in a weekly grocery shop on Friday as usual. I had so much going on this weekend. I spent $270 while there. Very thankful it was under $300.
I also stopped at Kroger and got our favorite tea bags for iced tea (Tetley) and some chocolate for Creed’s Special Night.
Once I got the groceries unloaded, I started dinner in the slow cooker. It was an old recipe from Ty’s Granny for loose-meat sandwiches. We’ll have the meat on brioche buns, along with chips and strawberries.
Then, I recorded 2 short videos. One of the videos is for YouTube. The other is for Made 2 Homeschool.
Made 2 Homeschool (M2H) is a community of homeschool moms with creators like me (blogger, YouTubers, etc) sharing videos, resources, articles, workshops, and conversation to help you on your homeschooling journey! I hope you’ll join me there! (Doors open officially on June 1)
The 18 year old helped me with a few blog projects, and the boys started editing my videos. They are doing so good with editing!
Then, Ty came home and watched a movie with the kids. Mercy started feeling poorly, so I gave her some meds and rocked her. This cold has really been rough for some of the kids. And it has just drug on, going through one child at a time. Ridiculous!
That evening, I decluttered my end table – so many books, so little time! I managed to get the number of books sitting on and under my end table down to 22! Yes, 22! *snort*
Some of the books on my end table include:
For Special Night, the 12 year old made an Orange Julius for his little brother and Daddy put his Lindors on the Special Night plate and we headed upstairs. Creed has been so excited about his Special Night this week! We had a really nice evening with him.
TUESDAY
Our dryer has been out for a couple of weeks. The repairman finally came this morning and we are up and running! We’ve had very little rain, so I’ve been able to hang everything (so thankful I can hang laundry on the clothesline!), but there is rain coming the rest of this week, so it was repaired just in the nick of time!
Ty did a load of his Army clothes, and I did towels (I hung those to dry) and washed and dried our My Pillows. They are so nice when freshly washed and dried!
The kids did their independent schoolwork and then we did Morning Time. We found a bee on Ty’s truck this morning, so I decided to do a nature study on bees with the kids from Exploring Nature with Children during Morning Time. We had such a good time studying this neat insect.
Afterwards, the kids made a race track on the carpet with tape and the 14 year old worked on his paint-by-numbers fox from Christmas. I remember having a horse paint-by-numbers when I was a kid. So fun!
A weather system is coming in, so my head hurt. My 14 year old rubbed my head and neck, and I promptly fell asleep for a bit. The kids covered me in stuffed animals while I slept!
After I woke up, I put together an email newsletter for the blog while the kids got on Zoom with friends from a city we used to live in.
For dinner, we had Broccoli Salad and Chicken Crescent Bundles. I made quite a bit, so we should have leftovers because we have quite a few people gone from the house right now.
That night, I put the kids to bed and then my 18 year old and I watched British mysteries.
WEDNESDAY
For breakfast, I made oatmeal, and Mercy and I had a bowl together. Hers with chocolate chips and peanut butter, mine with strawberries, bananas, and walnuts. We ate at my work table in the kitchen – just the two of us. She was thrilled! She said it was like eating at a little restaurant. We sat there, ate our oatmeal, talked, and listened to Enya Radio on Pandora. A lovely morning that both of us hope to repeat again soon!
After breakfast, I repaired a tear in our winter quilt and got it put in the laundry so it can be put away for the season. I already put our summer weight quilt on the bed since it has been quite warm lately.
Then, I sat down to read another chapter in Lessons from Madame Chic. I can’t renew the book because someone has a hold on it, so I need to try to get it finished and back to the library. It’s been a fun little read.
Then, we got Morning Time started. We read from The Ology and went through the May Bible Calendar of Events from Grapevine. Then, I read a lovely book about Christina Rossetti to the children.
Next, we read the chapter on Sheep Shearing in Farmer Boy. We watched a video on Sheep to Sweater so the kids could see the entire process in modern times.
We also watched a video on wool felting and tried our hand at it with some wool I had from another project. It didn’t work real well for us, and I’m not sure why because I’ve used this wool before and it was fine. Oh well.
The time working on the felting wasn’t all for naught because I was able to squeeze in a couple of the Shire lessons from Music In Our Homeschool! It’s the music of Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves, and is super fun and informative!
We learned about leitmotifs (where a character has its own theme). I am thrilled my kids are learning to appreciate musical composition!
After lunch, I took the kids downstairs to help me clean Meg’s room before she comes home from Europe. We had to dump everything from her dorm room in her basement room, and then I promptly forgot about it all. I hate for her to come home jet-lagged and then have to sleep in a mess! So, we took 2 hours to clean her room, rearrange, and create a comfy place for her.
Then, it was time for me to pick Ty up from the airport! When I got home, I had the 12 and 14 year old boys make dinner – egg roll bowls. So yummy!
Then, I talked to our 25 year old son (twice in one week!) for an hour. I had asked him his thoughts on AI and the future for education and blogging. We had a good and interesting talk.
The kids made popcorn for Daddy, and then he fell asleep. It’s been a long couple of days for him with the drive and then the flight back.
THURSDAY
I spent the morning packing, so no Morning time. I headed out at noon to pick Meg up from her European trip. I am getting a hotel room since it is such a long drive and she won’t be back to the college until late at night. I’m expensing the room for the blog, so I left early so I could work.
When I got to the hotel, I set up my equipment and recorded 2 videos, 2 podcasts, and started work on a review I have coming up.
Around 11pm, Meg texted and said she was ready for pick up at the college. She and I talked late into the night about her adventures!
FRIDAY
Meg and I woke up early and snagged breakfast in the hotel lobby. It was rather abysmal. Very little to choose from, and no one to replenish the food. There was one person working the entire lobby and only a couple of housekeepers. Covid really hit the service industry hard.
We drove home, and despite the long drive, I kicked it into high gear when I got home. I ironed Ty’s dress blue pants for ROTC commissioning (where ROTC students commit to the military as officers), put together a menu for next week, and made a grocery list. Then, the 18 year old and I went out to grocery shop at ALDI. (Back on track for our usual Friday shopping!)
Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED that evening and feel fast asleep early!
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