Raising Arrows
Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 43 of 2022
We spent a great deal of time out of doors this week enjoying the last remnants of warm fall days and soaking in all the colors and beauty of Autumn!
Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life!
MONDAY
This weekend, we visited family, which always leaves me scrambling for normalcy when we get back home. I’m hoping to “find my groove” soon, but I have a lot to do today!
For Morning Time, we did our Reformation Day activities and Halloween object lessons that we like to do every year. You can read more about them below:
After lunch, I had several errands that needed to be run, including grocery shopping since we are out of nearly everything after not shopping Aldi last week on a whim to see if it would save us some money.
Since we were gone over the weekend, I had to do my grocery planning right before going to the store – not my favorite way to grocery shop. I looked over all the pantries and refrigerators and freezers and went through my Master Grocery List to make a shopping list for this afternoon.
We are woefully out of staple items because I didn’t buy extra bread and milk the week before we didn’t shop at Aldi last week; however it DID save us money, so we plan to do this every month or so, possibly more often than that.
My Aldi shop came to $217, so I’m quite pleased with that! My Aldi bill typically waffles between $200-300 each week, depending on how many extras I buy and how well stocked we are. You can read more about my Aldi grocery budget in the post below. It was interesting to look at that post since it was written in 2017. Back then, my bill ranged from $180-$260. Kids are older, prices are higher.
I stopped off at the scratch and dent store to see if they had toilet paper, but they are out of the kind that we like. However, I was able to pick up another 10# bag of pasta at a great price!
On my way home, I stopped to get gas, and boy was I in for a surprise! Gas was at $2.99 – I haven’t seen anything under $3 in ages! And apparently, neither had anyone else! I sat in line for 20 minutes! (The next day gas prices jumped to $3.33!)
Our 16 year old’s girlfriend and several of her siblings came over to have Mummy Dogs, Puppy Chow, and popcorn. We don’t hand out candy or trick-or-treat, and neither do they, so we just had a fun night hanging out.
That evening, I caught word that Weight Watchers (WW) is changing their plan after only a year (usually they tweak it every 2 years). I’ve not been a fan of this latest plan, so I am VERY excited and watched a video on YouTube with all the details. Not sure how accurate they are, but I’ve decided to change the zero point foods on my app to best reflect what the new plan will supposedly be like.
TUESDAY
I made my usual breakfast of bacon, spinach, and over hard eggs before heading out to Weight Watchers. I don’t always weigh in when I go, and this was one of those weeks. Afterward, I talked a while with a friend who also attends, so Morning Time got pushed back a bit.
READ >> Our Current Morning Time Subjects & Curriculum
We read in Hurlbut’s Story of the Bible, then read about influenza, prohibition, and women’s suffrage in War, Peace, and All That Jazz.
We also listened to music by Hindemith and read in The Railway Children.
I drove our 16 year old to a neighboring town to take his driver’s permit test. He’s tried 2 other times on a computerized test at our local DMV, but failed each time. His girlfriend helped him study with some flashcards her mom made for her, and we also decided a DMV with an armed security guard and grouchy employees wasn’t the best place for him to take his test. He decided to have them print the test out, and that ended up being a really good idea! He passed!
(NOTE: He’s also red-green color blind and we realized he did not know what color the signs were, so any color questions on the previous tests he automatically failed because he had not memorized what the real color was.)
On the way back home, I got him an ice cream and we stopped at the Commissary (military grocery store) to turn in his paperwork to start working there as a bagger. He will have his training in 2 weeks.
Tonight for Bible Study with my Titus 2 group, I made a spinach salad using ranch dressing mix and olive oil. I also brought pickled okra and roasted pumpkin seeds to share. We all share what we have, and always have a wonderful time together! I also got to hold the sweetest little baby and rock him to sleep! I haven’t lost my touch!
WEDNESDAY
I had a lazy morning, which was much needed!
For Morning Time, we read in Hurlbut’s and then read about Communism in War, Peace, and All That Jazz. We read poems by Robert Frost, looked at 1920’s fashions, and finished up with The Railway Children.
Ty’s truck is in the shop (again), so I had to run the big kids to work at the bee farm. When I got back home, we did Autumn School. Our topic was pumpkins and leaves. One of the projects we did was making Gingerbread Leaves. Even I made one!
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside and Aspen worked on her roller skating. She’s gotten really good!
When I went to pick up the big kids from work, their boss told me she was giving them a raise for all their hard work. I also bought some honey and amaranth seeds from her store and then we headed back home to make dinner and play outside some more. These nice days will soon be over.
THURSDAY
It was very windy today – blowing in a cold front.
For Morning Time, we read in Hurlbut’s and then read about Presidents Harding and Coolidge. I also showed the kids this video of the Charleston dance from the 1920’s.
After lunch, I recorded 2 podcasts, edited them and then sent them to my son for the final audio edit. I only release 2 podcasts a month, so these will be for all of November.
For dinner, we had Cheeseburger Quesadillas made from antelope burger. Ty shot this antelope a few weeks ago, and this is the first thing we’ve made from the meat.
We watched Ratatouille as a family, and then Lia and I watched some Britbox while I finished up last week’s Large Family Homeschool Life post.
I ended up turning on the attic fan for much of the night. We’ve had a string of 80° days and the house wasn’t cooling down very well. AND…I refuse to turn on the AC! Tomorrow should be a lot better!
FRIDAY
It is pouring rain – glorious, wet rain! It has been so very long since we’ve had rain! It is also much cooler – barely over 40°! Perhaps we’ll have a fire in the fireplace tonight.
We cleaned the house and started the process of moving our 18 year old to the basement. There are some big changes coming around here, and we’ve decided it is best if she moves to the guest room and then vacates it every time we have guests who need the room. She’s fine with that, and keeps her room tidy, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
We are also decluttering a bunch since we are going to be moving all of the furniture out of the upstairs rooms while my nephew and our 2nd son take down the popcorn ceilings and paint. We will ALL be living in the basement for the 2 weeks while they work!
On the way home from taking the big kids to work, I got to talk to my oldest son who was in an airport on his way home from a business trip. He manages the online learning platform for a publishing house out of Chicago, and while he usually works from home, he does have to head to Chicago every so often for meetings.
For dinner, we had Broccoli Cheese Soup and I made garlic toast from the freezer bread scraps. To see how I do this, you can watch the video below:
I’m going to take off next week from the Large Family Homeschool Life posts since we will be in a bit of disarray with the painting, so we’ll see you next time!