Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 12 of 2023
Raising Arrows
Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 12 of 2023
This week, we started a 3 week long Easter School. Plus, we enjoyed some new recipes and time with friends.
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life!
NOTE: This week I realized I’ve been off with the week numbers in these posts for about 6 weeks now! So, I’m getting back on track this week!
MONDAY
The first thing on my mind when I got up this morning was the laundry. We are so backed up and discombobulated in the laundry room lately, and I desperately need to make a new Laundry Schedule. I got 2 loads of my own laundry put away and then started the little girls’ laundry.
I made bacon and eggs for me and the 10 year old because he didn’t get any of the pancakes the 18 year old made this morning. She was using up a boxed mix and it didn’t make enough for everyone. But, he enjoyed the eggs and bacon all the same.
For Morning Time, we started with Bible and Astronomy so the 17 year old could head off to work on his independent school work before heading to his job. Currently, that includes Algebra and what little he has left for English Lit.
After he left, we did our first day of Easter School with An Expectant Easter!
We started with an Egg Hunt. It’s a lot like Resurrection Eggs. Inside the egg was a tiny donkey from Mercy’s farm set and a construction paper palm branch my 18 year old made to put in the egg. Then, we read about Palm Sunday at the dining room table.
Next, we did an Art Study of The Last Supper, worked on a memory verse, and read a poem by Louisa May Alcott. We finished up with our current read-aloud – The Phantom Tollbooth.
At lunch time, some friends showed up to hang out on their way to a homeschool baseball game. We spent a couple of hours together with the kids playing and the mom and I chatting. I was also able to send a big bag of clothes home with her for her oldest daughter who has kids just a bit younger than mine.
After they left, I made myself a late lunch and then went with Ty (who was able to come home early) to drop off our 17 year old at his job. Then, we walked the 2 mile course on post and shopped at the Commissary for a few things including Special Night food for our 10 year old son.
The friend who was over earlier today reminded me about having parfaits for breakfast, so I made our favorite granola recipe and put it in a half gallon mason jar with a plastic screw on lid so we would have it ready for tomorrow’s breakfast.
I also started some rice for tonight’s rice bowls. We do a lot of rice bowls because it is easy to put lots of other ingredients in with a little sauce and call it dinner!
After the rice was finished I went upstairs to open a box of new clothes for the girls from The Hair Bow Company. I bought Mercy one of the outfits with a bunny with glasses. I’m a sucker for clothes that have animals in glasses!
Then, I put away the girls’ laundry. I should get an award for how many clothing items I have to turn right side out after washing their laundry! While I put their clothes away, Aspen (8) played her recorder for me. Her guitar teacher has her practicing the recorder to strengthen her fingers for guitar.
For dinner, we had Mediterranean Bowls with rice, artichokes, olives, dill sauce, and cucumbers. I also made some olive and cream cheese stuffed celery. I’ve been looking through old 1950’s recipes and this one popped up, so I thought we’d try it. Everyone liked it!
For Special Night, Creed had jalapeno poppers and cream soda. He played video games with Ty and I. I must admit I am TERRIBLE at video games, but I humor the kids on their Special Nights.
TUESDAY
Granola for breakfast! Some of us had parfaits and some just added milk.
For Morning Time, we started with Stories of the Resurrection for our Bible lesson.
Then, we read about comets in our Astronomy book. After that, I dismissed the 17 year old and we started Easter School with the 14, 12, 10, 8, and 6 year olds. If you’ve been reading these Large Family Homeschool Life posts for a while, you might remember when my 18 year old daughter suggested I start focusing on my younger 5 kids when it comes to school. That’s what I’m trying to do with Easter School and our upcoming Jubilee Year. The 18 year old is graduated, the 17 year old is almost finished, it’s time to focus on the younger set of kids.
If you are looking for your own Easter School ideas, check out THIS POST:
After our Egg Hunt and Scripture reading, we read Jan Brett’s book The Easter Egg and made salt dough eggs.
The kids enjoyed Jan Brett’s style of painting so much, they asked to watch more on her YouTube channel. It does my heart good to see their interest sparked from a homeschool lesson!
For independent school, Aspen had a new book about pirates. I let the girls play on Reading Eggs as a reward for their hard work today. In my opinion, Reading Eggs is the best online reading and math app that doesn’t have a lot of fluff, so I let them use it as a reward when they’ve done really well or as incentive when they are struggling or getting grumpy.
For lunch, we had leftover ham and cheese quiche from Sunday night’s meal. Then I wrote a blog email and worked on a reel for Instagram of my latest podcast. I need to work more with the program I’m using, but I like a lot of the features it has.
The younger boys (ages 14, 12, & 10) made hamburgers for dinner tonight. They used Ty’s dad’s recipe with a special seasoning blend and a pat of butter in the center. (He called later to see how they turned out.). They also made a salad for everyone.
My 18 year old and I went to our Titus 2 study. We are reading through Secret Power by D.L. Moody right now. The Holy Spirit is definitely someone I did not grow up knowing much about. I went to a church as a kid that didn’t really talk about Him much…if at all. Well, except for when we sang “Gloria Patri” in the middle of the service. *wink*
WEDNESDAY
This morning, I made another batch of granola and another pot of rice for lunch. When I first start making granola again, I always have to make several batches a week until the kids get their fill.
For Morning Time, we did our usual lessons and then the kids painted their salt dough eggs from yesterday. While they worked, I mixed up some of my favorite pizza dough for tonight and popped it into the refrigerator. It goes together so quickly, you can literally have pizza within 30 minutes, but I knew I would be coming home near dinner time and might not feel like “whipping some up.” Better to make it now when I feel like it!
I spent some lunch time with Ty as he was going from one appointment to the next and was able to stop by the house in between. After he left, I headed out to visit a friend.
Once home, I pulled the pizza dough from the refrigerator, punched it down, and let it come up to room temperature. Tonight, we are having White Pie or White Pizza. I heard it mentioned on Blue Bloods, and decided we should try it. The sauce is just olive oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic. Then, you add white cheeses – fresh mozzarella, ricotta, and grated parmesan. It was delicious and everyone loved it! Definitely going in the meal rotation!
After dinner, the Young Adult group from church met at our house. They talked through the story of Ananias and Sapphira and then played games.
Afterward, Ty packed for an FTX (Field Training Exercise) this weekend. I hung out with him and read in Sally Clarkson’s Awaking Wonder. This book makes me terribly nostalgic. I remember when my bigs were little and we were just starting on our homeschooling journey. I often find myself wanting to do it all over again just to get to do it all over again. *sigh*
THURSDAY
Ty left this morning at 4:30 am for his FTX. I got up with him and made him some breakfast and got him some coffee for the road. After he left, I went back to bed. That is just a wee bit too early for me!
When I did finally get up for the day, I listened to Scripture on my YouVersion app and worked on a new laundry plan. Hopefully, it will work well!
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For Morning Time, we did our usual Easter School lessons and then added our painted eggs to the “Easter Tree.” In An Expectant Easter, you are supposed to use branches and a pot, but we just hung them on the fake evergreen tree we have in our hallway.
After lunch, I worked on Jubilee Year plans. I’m starting to wonder if perhaps I am trying to cram too much into a year that is supposed to be fun! I’ve been reading in Awaking Wonder and I want to be sure to build in time for wonder and exploration, but I also want to pique the children’s interest with new ideas and projects.
Later in the afternoon, a friend from church stopped by with her 2 little boys to play with my little kids. We had a good time chatting about homeschooling and other things while the kids ran around.
For dinner, I seared some stew meat and then cooked the meat and some frozen noodles in the last of my home canned beef broth for a yummy Beef and Noodles.
The little girls wanted to sleep in my bedroom tonight since Daddy is away, so I let them. After I got all of the children to bed, the 18 year old and I watched another episode of Rosemary & Thyme on BritBox.
FRIDAY
My little 8 year old lying next to me woke me up this morning wanting oatmeal for breakfast. After I got her oatmeal going, I mixed up a 30 minute roll recipe from Three Rivers Homestead. (I believe the recipe is in THIS VIDEO.). The recipe was the perfect size for our family and the rolls were soooo soft and great for making sandwiches!
After I got all the rolls out of the oven, we started our weekly Tidy Up and then I got the kids started on their chores before heading out for a shop at Aldi. I am trying to buy more fresh veggies and switch out a few of our less than great choices likes chips and crackers for healthier snacks. I filmed the grocery haul for YouTube, but it won’t be up for a couple of weeks.
I ended up buying some dried fruits and nuts, and some fish since we haven’t had fish in a while. I also bought a pork loin because it was a better price than I’ve seen in a while. I ended up spending $283.50. I was thrilled it was under $300 with the amount of food I purchased!
I talked to our 22 year old daughter via text while the other kids played with the neighbor kids. They must be out of school today. I’ve been on my feet so much today, I decided I better take some time to take a load off before taking the 17 year old to work.
On the way home, I stopped by the library to pick up some holds and get info on a children’s event they are holding. Then, I ran home and picked up my 18 year old and went to Walmart to finish our weekly shop. We needed to buy a baby shower gift for a friend’s daughter. We also bought some new microfiber turbies. We love these things!
Garin (12) made breaded chicken in the air fryer (have I mentioned how much I love my air fryer!?!) for our Caesar Chicken Wraps. We also had a bunch of raw veggies Lia and I cut up after I got home from Aldi.
The kids and I watched an episode of Hoarders after dinner, and that made Lia and I want to clean and declutter, so we headed down to one of the storage rooms and cleaned out a section. We removed 2 bags of stuff! We rewarded ourselves with an episode of Rosemary & Thyme to finish off the evening.