Raising Arrows
Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 33 of 2022
After a long break from weekly updates, we are back and ready to go with a brand new homeschool year!
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life!
MONDAY
Mondays are always a day I look forward to. It’s the day we return to our usual routine after 3 days of “different.” However, today, we have friends coming from 10-2, so we will not be fully returning to “normal.”
I don’t usually like to schedule things on Monday because it does tend to throw off my entire week, but these are friends we don’t get to see often enough, and we have to make plans for visits any time we can make it work.
We ate breakfast, tidied up the house, and I was able to fit in a short Morning Time. To learn what our current Morning Time looks like, GO HERE:
Monday Bible Time has become a time when we discuss Sunday’s sermon. There is always a lot to chew on, and I want the kids to learn to be engaged with the Sunday morning service. We are currently going through the book of John and Jesus’ I AM statements toward the end of His life here on earth. Very good stuff!
We are nearing the end of our States study. We added Idaho to the map and learned about Idaho’s state songs from our Music in Our Homeschool class:
We also listened to music by Dvorak and looked at paintings from Cezanne.
Our friends arrived, and for lunch we had 9 extra people! They brought Trader Joes fried chicken and veggie rice, and I air fried some wontons and potstickers and laid out some asian sauces from Aldi. We also had apples and cheese, tomatoes and radishes. We also made several pitchers of lemonade.
After our friends left, I called the kids to a family meeting about some upcoming activities and asked for their help in updating our Family Favorite Meals list. It’s interesting how this list changes over the years!
If you are curious about how I put together this list, definitely take the time to read this post:
Creating a List of Meals Your Family Loves!
Around 3pm, I hopped on a podcast interview with the gals from Outnumbered. We talked large families and homeschooling, and had a great time!
For dinner, we had reuben sandwiches with some rye bread I picked up on a sale over the weekend. I always keep corned beef in a can and sauerkraut on hand to make a quick version of these sandwiches.
I spent the evening hours looking through a new version of an old favorite cookbook:
Ty and I received this Betty Crocker cookbook in a notebook form for our wedding 26 years ago. The pages are now soiled and ripped, so I put it away for safe keeping. Recently, I found the cookbook in a hardcover form on ThriftBooks.com, so I snagged a copy because this cookbook is literally all the “old” tried and true recipes no one teaches you to make anymore. The recipes are simple and tasty, and definitely a walk down memory lane!
TUESDAY
This morning, I met a friend for WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and then picked my husband up from the mechanic shop because we are having the brakes replaced on our 12 passenger van. Ty is very diligent about vehicle maintenance – especially these days when you aren’t sure you’ll be able to get a part, so when you can, you get in there and get it done!
For Morning Time, we read from Hurlbut’s Story Bible and then learned about Wyoming. We also learned about the Klondike gold rush and the gold standard via this YouTube video:
I did Math, Handwriting, and Phonics with the little girls at the table, and then Aspen (7) read from Ella Sings Jazz while we sat in the rocking chair. The book is about Ella Fitzgerald, and has been a favorite among my children over the years.
For lunch, I had a salad and some yummy sour cream and onion puffs from Sensible Portions. They are kind of hard to find around here, so I stock up whenever I see them!
Ty and I went on post and walked the 2 mile section around the golf course, then stopped at the Commissary for kitty litter for our new kitten, Alice, and some fall candy for our candy bowl that we fill nearly every Friday during the Fall months.
Then, I headed to Bible study with a friend. We meet every other Tuesday and always share a meal. I brought veggie straws and sliced peppers to go with the crock pot chicken and rice our hostess had made. We had a sweet time of fellowship, prayer, and songs!
WEDNESDAY
It was a rough night. The dog was whiny and I kept waking up. Ty left early this morning for PT (physical training), so I got up and opened up the house and turned on the attic fan. It was 64° outside! I thought about staying up to work on menus, but ended up falling asleep curled up with a blanket.
When I did get up, I made myself my usual breakfast of hashbrowns with spinach and eggs and a strip of bacon crumbled over the top and doused in hot sauce. Yum! I made the kids french toast, and then took a short walk and hung the laundry out to dry.
I haven’t been hanging the laundry lately, but I really need my life to slow down and that was a step toward that slow and steady life I crave…
For Morning Time, we read in Hurlbut’s and colored in Utah on our big United States Map. We get our big maps from Cherry Creek Lane. This is what the map looked like several months back, but now we have almost the entire thing colored in!
We are studying the states as we reach the time period in history they entered into the Union.
For Fine Arts, we studied Rousseau and Puccini. We finished up Morning Time by reading a section in Butter in the Well – a fictionalized diary of a Swedish woman’s life on the plains in the late 1800’s.
After I worked with the little girls and added a new piano piece to Garin’s lessons, the big kids and I went upstairs and watched more of The Gilded Age on Kanopy. We have a subscription to this via our library and it is VERY nice to have for documentaries for school.
After the big kids headed to work, my little kids made a tent in the living room while I made a 7 Layer Salad for Bible Study tonight.
Now, you are probably wondering why I’m back at Bible Study, but it’s actually a different Bible Study associated with a church we recently started attending. They meet every Wednesday and the other one (a group a friend invited me to) meets every other Tuesday. So, starting next week, I will rotate between the two each week.
THURSDAY
It wasn’t cool enough to open up the house this morning, but I did eat my breakfast and drink some pumpkin spice coffee on the deck with my husband.
I put a whole chicken in the crock pot. I got these chickens on a HUGE sale some time back. I figure I’ll make it into chicken and dumplings – a meal my husband absolutely LOVES!
Then, I cut up a couple of sweet potatoes we weren’t getting around to eating and put them in the freezer. I’ll probably saute’ them for a meal next week, but at least I know they won’t sit and rot.
For Morning Time, we read in Hurlbut’s and then studied the annexation of Hawaii and read in Butter in the Well.
I spent the afternoon recording a podcast, a video, and working through emails. Then, I made dinner – Chicken and Dumplings and homemade applesauce.
That night, we played Name That Kitty as a family. It’s a game we bought our 9 year old for Christmas. It’s basically Apples to Apples only you have a cat name and you choose a picture of a cat to go with the name. It’s nice because even little ones can play the game since it is pictures and not words.
FRIDAY
This morning, I walked and then had breakfast and coffee. My time on the deck in the morning is a perfect way to get my day started. Since it is Friday, we cleaned the house, and then Ty and I worked on paperwork on the deck.
That afternoon, we had pest control come, so we left the house and took the younger kids shopping and out to eat. The older kids were at work and ended up going out to eat with their bosses (who are also friends of ours).
We ended up stopping at Sam’s to do some price comparisons. We have never been members, but just recently signed up on a military deal. We had a blast exploring it all! Years ago, when Ty and I were newly married and in college, Sam’s gave college students complimentary passes, and sometimes we would go to Sam’s on the weekend to “eat” because they gave out so many free samples, we could easily make a meal of it all!
It was a late night and we were all very tired, but it was fun to go out with just our little kids!