Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 25 of 2024

Rain and humidity drench my days as we study Ancient China in our homeschool and try new Summer recipes in our kitchen!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts!

MONDAY

I ate my breakfast on the deck and then took the kids down to eat a few black raspberries off the bush by our back fence. Only 1 bush survived the transplanting I did from a family friend’s house a couple of years ago, but it is doing well.

I did school with the little girls. They are very out of practice from the random Summer we’ve had so far. Mercy in particular was struggling with getting back into school work, so I was late starting Morning Time because she needed so much help. Also, Aspen (9) took the placement test for Teaching Textbooks. She will be starting Math 4 soon. Finally, I started Morning Time with everyone at the dining room table.

For Morning Time, we read in Numbers from The Child’s Story Bible. I’m going to read through all of the stories from Numbers and Deuteronomy and then we’ll do the PictureSmart Bible lessons.

Next, we started learning about Ancient China. We read from Story of the World, worked on our China maps, watched a video about how rice is grown, and I assigned their Ancient China books from Tapestry of Grace.

To finish off Morning Time, I read 2 chapters from The Long Winter.

For lunch, I made my usual Broccoli Salad and then the little girls and I started in on decluttering their room. We went through their room section by section using my Decluttering Template while we worked.

While we worked, I had the 3 boys clean out their dresser, removing winter clothes and things that don’t fit anymore. They also made a list of clothing items they need. Then, they condensed 2 storage drawers into one. The plastic 3-drawer storage containers were just full of paper, so they had to throw away a lot.

When the 19 year old got home from cleaning the 2 houses she cleans every other week, she came upstairs to help us finish the girls’ room. It took us a total of 4 hours!

Then, I drove down to our storage unit to meet my 18 year old and his family so they could look through some of their things we have stored there.

When I got home, we had leftovers for dinner. A good thing considering the incredibly long day I put in!

After dinner, I took a walk with my 23 year old. She got accepted to Grad school, got a Graduate Assistant job to pay for it, and also got a job as an ASL interpreter with a school system. I’m so excited for her, but this means she will be leaving in a couple of months, so I’m trying to soak in my time with her.

NOTE: Do you have a homeschooled student interested in American Sign Language? Check out my post on American Sign Language Classes for Homeschoolers!

When I got home from my walk, the little girls begged me to draw with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. We made lots of flowers because they wanted a garden. It was beautiful!

Then, as if I had not already done a million things this day, I decided to dye some shirts with RIT dye in eggplant. I had a sweatshirt that was too lavender and a very nice light blue shirt that was just the wrong color on me. Rather than getting rid of the shirts, I decided a little bottle of dye might fix it. And it did!

As I was getting started, my 19 year old asked if she could put a tan skirt in as well. She didn’t like the color, but thought this might be better. I felt like Lydia swirling the clothes around in the purple dye!

My younger kids asked me how I knew to do this, and I told them about how I used to dye white cloth diapers to make them pretty colors and how my mama used to dye things with RIT dye when I was a kid.

After we finished stirring and rinsing the clothes, we threw them in the washing machine with an old towel from our “junk towel” basket, then I hung them up to dry.

TUESDAY

I walked a mile this morning before it got too hot. My weight is up again, so I’m going to Weight Watchers this morning with a plan to face the music and start tracking again. I want to be super consistent with it and reward myself for tracking, NOT for a weight achievement.

For Morning Time, we read in Numbers and in Story of the World, then the kids tried their hands at writing Chinese characters. We also learned about the 1st Emperor and added the Great Wall he built to our China maps. Then, we watched a YouTube video on his burial chamber where all the terra cotta soldiers are. We also finished The Long Winter today!

I made lunch and worked on a grocery list for some WW snack ideas and a few necessities. Then, I took the 9 year old with me to drop off an Amazon return and grab groceries at Aldi.

When I got home, I traded the 9 year old for the 13 year old and took him to his dentist appointment and Walmart. While at Walmart, he decided to use some of his earnings from taking care of animals in the neighborhood to purchase Oreos and cheese dip. My refrigerator is full of food with people’s names on them!

When I got home, I started prepping supper – Chicken Pitas and Dill Pickle Salad. My kids LOVE this salad!

I also made blue cheese dressing from the Mennonite Cookbook I’ve been telling you about in other Large Family Homeschool Life posts.

I also whipped up a ranch dressing using Greek yogurt as a base. I keep a big batch of this homemade ranch dressing mix on hand because it is our favorite. My daughter-in-law says it has spoiled her on ever eating any other ranch dressings.

My 23 year old was off work today, so she helped me by cooking the pasta for the Dill Pickle Salad. It’s always nice to have an extra set of hands in the kitchen.

Around 5:30, I started the chicken in the air fryer and got all the fixin’s ready. This is the air fryer we have and it works really well for our large family…

Everyone enjoyed the food and once Table Chores were complete, we all went outside. It was 89° and humid, but the kids don’t mind as long as the sun isn’t overhead. After a bit, I headed out on a walk with the 9 year old, the 23 year old, and the dog. We walked our usual 1 mile route and then I took a shower.

I also rewashed and dried my newly dyed shirts and then sewed up the neck of one of the shirts so that I don’t have to wear anything under it to make it modest. I absolutely LOVE how the deep purple turned out!

I decided to go ahead with my final dye project – 3 light blue shirts that I wanted to dye teal. I soaked and stirred them for an hour, and then followed the same process I did for the purple ones.

I also helped the 5 younger kids find a mug cake recipe to try with the stipulation they had to clean it all up when they were finished, including the mugs they were using. We found a double chocolate cake recipe and they loved it!

WEDNESDAY

There was a gentle rain this morning. As we head deeper into Summer, I am thankful for any rain we get.

Rather than walk Winston, I put his puppy bumper on and sent him out back with our tri-color French Brittany, Kip. The puppy bumper keeps little Winston from slipping through the fence.

I modified my favorite breakfast cookie recipe to be lower in Weight Watchers points and then made a cup of Cinnabon Coffee with half & half. Because of the rain, I ate inside at my little breakfast table.

Then, I headed to my massage. A woman in our church is a masseuse and is amazing! I have tennis elbow from walking the dog with a retractable leash (something I am no longer doing) and she’s been working on it.

When I got home, we did Morning Time. We read in Story of the World about Confucius. Then, the kids tried writing Chinese numbers and we tried our hand at the math of Magic Squares. We watched a video touring China and one about how to use an abacus. Then, I read in The Golden Goblet.

The kids wanted to play in the rain, so I let them postpone the rest of their school work for a little jaunt out in the rain. They came back inside and hour or so later absolutely soaked, but it was so worth it!

For lunch, I made myself a Greek inspired bowl, and the 19 year old started a no-churn ice cream recipe we found online.

I also took some time to watch a video from Mystie Winckler about planning your week. Then, I headed to the kitchen to put together the meatloaf for tonight while the 19 year old started on Grandpa’s Potato Salad. (hint: it uses dill pickles rather than sweet!)

I sat outside for a while listening to and watching the rain come down. What a lovely day!

That evening, I headed to our church’s Women’s Group with my 19 year old daughter. After it was over, we talked for a while with the pastor and his wife about potential church buildings. We are a porta-church and he’s anxious to find us a home. I also talked to him about an upcoming Ice Cream Social the elder’s wives planned. Everyone is excited about coming together to fellowship with games and ice cream!

THURSDAY

Because of the rain all day yesterday and overnight, everything is muddy. I took Winston on a 1 mile walk and about slipped in the mud!

I ate breakfast at the breakfast table in the kitchen rather than dry off the patio set on the deck. After that, I made my bed, dressed for the day, and called the painter who is going to be painting our house in order to tell him that we are ready. He’s going to have a color specialist come out to help me choose colors. How exciting!

There is a lot of activity around here lately. Our 23 year old moved back in after her college graduation, and our 18 year old and his wife and son are living here again as well. Our 19 year old is seeing a young man, so she’s gone more than she used to be, and the apartment in our basement for my mom is nearing completion and she will be moving here in about 3 months times. I’m learning to just ABIDE in the Lord through it all.

If you remember, my word for the year was STUDY, but I always seem to go back to 2022’s word – ABIDE. Time and again, I find so much depth of meaning and so much comfort in that one word. Perhaps I should just consider it my LIFE WORD.

For Morning Time, we read in Numbers from The Child’s Story Bible.

Then, we watched some videos on Chinese architecture. We rounded out the day and week of school with a dragon chalk art lesson from ChalkPastel.com. It was more of a medieval lesson, but still a dragon that worked well for our Chinese study.

The kids were so happy to come back to these lessons! It’s been a while, and I didn’t realize how much they had missed Nana and the chalk pastel medium.

I grabbed a bit of lunch and then drove Mercy to her eye appointments. She sees a pediatric retinal surgeon who lasered her retinas when she was a tiny tike. He said the 2600 burns around both retinas are holding fast, so that’s great news! She also saw her regular eye doctor who said her prescription is leveling out, so hopefully, we won’t see any big changes until she hits puberty (and maybe not even then!). She is currently -14 and -16, which is actually better than it was when she was younger.

Then we began the quest for new frames for her. We spent 2 hours trying to find frames that were plastic with nose pieces – which are the best for her facial features and prescription. The selection is abysmal at most places, so I know at some point we will have to give up and come up with another way to manage her frames. We ended up not purchasing anything this day because I just wasn’t sold on what I had seen on her.

When I got home, I asked the 23 year old to make dinner – Fiesta Bowls and leftover salads. After dinner, the kids did Table Chores and Laundry Chores. The way we are currently doing laundry has been our method (with only minor adjustments) ever since we moved into this house 5 years ago!

By the way, my 9 year old likes to listen to Adventures in Odyssey Club while she folds her laundry, while she cleans her room, and when she goes to bed at night! If you use THIS LINK, you can get a FREE TRIAL of AIOC! We LOVE it!

That night, I made popcorn in this microwave popcorn maker…

We ate the popcorn while I shared with them a Charlie & Lola episode on YouTube about Lola wanting glasses. I think sometimes Mercy feels like she’s so different from her siblings (only her oldest brother wears glasses), so I hope it made her feel special and realize some people really absolutely want glasses!

FRIDAY

I had a rough night. The dog got himself stuck in the main level bathroom in the middle of the night, so I got him out, but then was wide awake for 2 hours. It made for a late start to my day.

The Summer Solstice was yesterday, so the countdown begins as we move away from the sun. Summer is most definitely upon us as our temperatures have been in the 90’s during the day and 70s at night.

I did eat breakfast on the deck and then watered my outdoor plants. There were lots of little mushrooms growing in them, so I pulled those out.

We reset the house for Home Blessing. That always feels so nice!

You can read the post and listen to the podcast below to learn more about how we do this house cleaning…

While the kids cleaned, I worked on cleaning burnt on rice from one of my favorite stainless steel pots. I really hope I can get it clean! I’ve been trying everything from cream of tartar to Barkeeper’s Friend to dishwasher pods. It’s coming off little by little.

As soon as Mercy was finished with her chores, I took her and my 23 year old to the city to try to find a pair of glasses for her. When we got there, it was time for the optician’s lunch break, so we grabbed our own lunch and then came back and waited for her. At this particular place, they work with one client at a time behind closed doors. Very different from what I’m used to!

We finally settled on a pair of clear T.C.Charton frames (Asian fit frames), but I didn’t feel 100% sold on them. Even after I had paid and we had left the shop and were heading home, I continued to waffle. When my 23 year old asked if we could stop at a fitness place for her to fill out some paperwork, I took the opportunity to call the optical shop back and ask them to cancel the frames.

But then…

I changed my mind. *sigh*

So, I called them back, and said go ahead since we’ve had such a difficult time finding anything that would work. I just wanted it over with.

But then…

The optical shop called me back a little while later and told me the frames had been discontinued and the warranty would be null and void.

Umm…7 year olds NEED a warranty because they are SEVEN!

BUT…

That made my decision FOR me, and I thanked God for that! I told the lady on the phone it was a blessing in disguise because I wasn’t sold on the glasses and now it wasn’t even a possibility, so onward and forward. I’ll keep trying places until we find something!

I ate my Broccoli Salad for dinner and everyone else had leftovers while the 13 and 15 year old went with friends to a pizza party at our church.

That evening, I walked Winston a mile, took a shower (because every time you step foot outside you are drenched in sweat from the humidity!), and then tried to read in one of my library books, but gave up on it because it was too disconnected for me.

Once it was dark, I went outside to watch the fireflies and pick the flowers from my herbs so they will continue to grow. I ended the evening reading in The Cottage Fairy Companion…a very lovely little book.