Homeschool Week 9 Notes

Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon were all about clothing shopping. It's exhausting buying clothing for 9 children! I was very ready to recharge my batteries by Saturday evening. It was perfect timing - it was the first session of General Conference, which happens to be the Women's session (for girls and women age 8+). My girls and I snuggled up on the couch with bowls of ice cream and paper for taking notes that evening and streamed it live to the tv. It was so encouraging and uplifting!

Sunday we packed in 3 hours of church followed by a double birthday party at my house for a niece and a nephew. The Bishop was one of our speakers in Sacrament meeting. He challenged us to use these last few months of the year to read the Book of Mormon again. There is just over 90 days until the end of the year. We're taking the challenge as a family. I love the Spirit I feel as I read the scriptures and talk about them with my family. For anyone who wants to read along, here are a couple ways you can break the reading down to finish in 90 days:

• 531 pages = 5.9 pages per day
• 239 chapters = 2.6 chapters per day
• The audiobook version (free online or with the free Gospel Library app) is 26 hours and 29 minutes long = 17.7 minutes per day

Monday morning was a bit wacky. I had some running to do to prepare for Pack Meeting this Wednesday (I'm our pack's Cubmaster), as well as grocery shopping. I helped kids do school until about 10am, then spent 2 hours doing the running, and came home to help kids finish up what they had left of school. (Many had finished while I was gone.) In the afternoon Daddy took 7 of the kids to see the new Lego Ninjago movie at the theater. I finished up grocery shopping at one last store and Makayla kept an eye on Tobias while I did so. We did our family reading in the Book of Mormon over dinner.

Tuesday the kids got my attention when they needed help with school. The rest of the morning I was reading a book. Yes, really. I finished it too! The kids didn't seem to mind, I sat at the table and read. They worked at the table and sat beside me when they needed help. I promised I would give them an oral narration about what I read if they wanted me to... so I could call reading a book 'school' for me. I'm sure that is going to come back to haunt me when they realize I'll probably let them do the same thing sometimes.

Wednesday after school was finished the kids and I headed to the church. Tonight is Cub Scout Pack Meeting and I needed to do some setup. We pulled the crossover bridge out of the shed and brought it in to the stage, set up chairs and tables, brought in the flag materials for flag ceremony, and just made sure everything was ready. That made our meeting in the evening easy. We had awards for a number of boys, a crossover ceremony for one who has finished Cubs, and then it was on to the activity. All month our Cubs have been learning about germs, food, and cooking. We decided a fun way to celebrate that would be to do an Iron Chef themed Nachos and Sundaes night. Everyone brought ingredients to share and got to put together their own unique creations. Yum!

Thursday the kids only had history to do, then our book club friends came over. We had fun visiting and eating together. I was even extra productive in the morning before friends came over and put dinner in the crock pot. It's my own version of an Olive Garden soup I love, so here's my recipe:

1. 1 lb ground sausage, browned
   4 cups chicken broth
   15 oz can tomato sauce
   15 oz can diced tomatoes...15 oz can kidney beanstwo 15 oz cans Great Northern beans3 carrots, sliced into coins3 celery ribs, sliced1 onion, diced1 T. minced garlic2 tsp. Italian seasoning1 tsp. oregano
2. Dump all ingredients into a large crock pot and cook on low all day (8+ hours).
3. Optional: Cook 1 cup of a small pasta like ditalini on the stove top an hour before dinner. Drain and stir into crock pot.

Friday was just a regular school day. The weather finally cooled back down from the upper 80s so all the windows were open and the morning started with blankets because it was only 44 degrees F outside. My favorite school moment today was hearing Daniel ask, "Mom, can I keep writing this story next week too? I'm not ready to move on yet." Yes, of course you can!

By early afternoon everyone was discussing what preparations still need done for General Conference this weekend. Where we live (Eastern time zone) the sessions go from 12pm-2pm and 4pm-6pm each day. That is right across lunch and dinner. We plan meals that are easy to prepare, like cinnamon rolls in the oven or something in a crock pot. As of right now I think the meals are going to be cinnamon rolls, chicken bacon ranch tacos, French dip sandwiches, and homemade pizzas. The pizza is still up for debate. The kids also decide if they want coloring pages, blank pages, or lined pages in a notebook to have with them during conference for any doodling or note taking they want to do. We print or gather those items today. Everyone also puts in a request for their favorite candy.

That's really our week in a nutshell. Now I'm off to make a shopping list.