Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 5 of 2022

New recipes, some homesteading fun, and my birthday made this a productive week in our large family home and homeschool!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts HERE!

MONDAY

Today is my birthday, and all I wanted for the day was peace and calm. Literally, I wanted to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it, and that is exactly what my lovely family provided for me! It was a lovely day!

I watched some homesteading videos, wrote out some recipes, decluttered a bit of the kitchen, took a short shopping trip with my 17 year old, and had my 16 year old build me a fire in the outdoor fire pit to sit by at night, cuddled up with a blanket. (It was in the 50’s that evening!)

For my birthday “cake,” I had Scotcheroos and Bakery Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Such a delightfully relaxing day!

TUESDAY

Morning Time consisted of our Obey Bible Study and reading about the French Revolution. We also read in Justin Morgan Had a Horse.

After lunch, my 17 year old and I ran to Walmart to finish our shopping from yesterday. Then I got ready for a military event with Ty.

I also made a new Table Chores list for the next several months. I’m going to put together a list for all 12 months of the year and then just rotate through those and change my master list as needed. For instance, Mercy who is 5 rotates between doing a “dish hunt” (looking for dishes throughout the house) and helping to unload the dishwasher with a big kid. Someday, she’ll be able to do more, but for now, we’ll stick with those 2 chores.

WEDNESDAY

Snow day! Of course, for a homeschooling family, that does not mean a day off! At least not around here!

Morning Time was Bible Study, and learning more about the make up of the United States government. However, I had to cut it short because Ty needed me. I set the kids to doing their independent school work while I helped Ty.

When something interrupts my schedule like this, I do not pick up where I left off unless I manage to get back to things quickly. Most often, I just pick up with my routine a little further down the list and let go of any guilt I might be feeling about not being able to stick with an exact schedule.

Later on in the day, I made spiced cranberry sauce and canned it. I lost 1 jar in the canner, but will still have enough for next Thanksgiving. I had one extra less-than-full jar that I did not process. We will use it as jelly throughout the week.

I also started my sourdough using the instructions from my Homesteading Family membership. I am very hopeful it will turn out!

I also transplanted a few of my herbs that are getting too big for the starter tray I have them in. I hope they don’t mind being moved!

Then, lovely of lovelies, I took a nap! I rarely take naps, so when I do, it is such a treat!

That evening, I made biscuits and corn chowder for dinner. Ty is always finding recipes for us to try, and this biscuit recipe was one of those. I didn’t make it quite like the recipe because I didn’t want to go to the trouble of chilling everything, but it still turned out nicely.

After Table Chores, I worked on the Guest List for Blake’s wedding so they can get invitations sent out.

Then we had Micah’s Special Night. One of the things we did together was play a board game called Suspicion. It’s a really neat game!

THURSDAY

Today I decided to film what we eat in a day. I really enjoy those kinds of videos, but WOW! It turned out to be a BIG job! My 16 year old son is going to have a fun time editing it all! Eek!

I started with filming the Russian pancakes I made for breakfast.

I grew up with these crepe-like pancakes and had no idea pancakes were actually thick and not rolled up until I went to grade school and they served traditional pancakes for lunch one day. Yuck! Those fat pancakes were not nearly so wonderful as my Russian pancakes! My dad would say my mom made those pancakes so thin you could read The Lord’s Prayer through them!

For Morning Time, we did our Bible Study, followed by stories of the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. We finished up with Justin Morgan Had a Horse.

After lunch, I made a yeast bread using the last of the banana squash butter I made from my friend’s banana squash harvest. It was actually a pumpkin bread recipe. I had no idea you could make a yeast bread using a squash! I used less milk and sugar since I was using a butter rather than a puree. It turned out so yummy!

Later on, I tidied the larder while the kids played in the snow. When they came in, I fed them the Banana Squash Bread with the cranberry sauce from yesterday and some hot cocoa.

The kids tidied the house and watched a couple of shows while I made Glorified Rice and Melia (17) got started on a Mexican Casserole. Both are family recipes from Ty’s side. I’d never had Glorified Rice, and I can’t say I would ever need to have it again, but Ty’s dad loves it! It is his mom’s (Ty’s Grandma Flo’s) recipe, so we will keep it in the mix for that simple reason.

That evening, I took a break in my bedroom and ended up ordering some flour sack towels, a Lodge cast iron 10″ griddle and a wall mop from Lehman’s. Flour sack towels are so hard to come by these days, but I really like them. The 10″ griddle is something we have out at the Colorado cabin, and I LOVE it for making omelets, but these are also hard to come by. And the wall mop is something I hope will work well to clean our very tall living room walls.

Also, my Pampered Chef order arrived! My future daughter-in-law is a Pampered Chef consultant, so I ordered from her. I got a citrus peeler and an item I’ve never had before – an 8 cup batter bowl! Someone told me I wouldn’t regret getting one of these, so I’m excited to use it!

FRIDAY

Got up to a regular Friday routine – brew coffee and tea, feed the sourdough, spray the microgreens, and then start the tidy up for our weekly house cleaning!

I also culled all of the bookshelves and managed to get rid of quite a few books and make room for the ones that seem to collect on the tops of the shelves.

That afternoon, I did my Bible Study – Jesus, Fill my Heart & Home. I am almost finished with it.

I also took some time to read in a book I recently purchased – Mrs. Sharon White’s For the Love of Christian Homemaking. It’s a book made up of her blog posts on homemaking. It’s not really a how-to, but rather an inspirational collection of “parlor chats.”

Then, I did laundry and washed our sheets. This is something I have never put on a regular rotating schedule. We have a laundry schedule, but I tend to wash sheets whenever I think of it.

Keian (16) made another biscuit recipe Ty has been wanting him to try, and while he was making those, he decided he wanted to make homemade pizza for dinner, so he got the dough going for that.

I took a walk since it was 35° and also sent the kids out to play in the snow since it is melting fast.

That evening, I read in another new book – Lena Yoder’s My Life as an Amish Wife – while Aspen played in the bath. She likes to “cook” in the bath using utensils from her play kitchen. She talks and talks as if she’s on a cooking show. It was hilarious background “music” to my evening reading.