2018-2019 Homeschool Week 16: Van Trouble and A Good Week

Mason  and Caleb building towers together

with the Citi Blocs. These two are only 13 months apart and 

lately they have been playing together more. It is sweet to see.

Monday Notes:
The first day back to school after Thanksgiving break went well, despite having appointments and other things on the calendar. The kids were all up and doing school pretty early. They wrote their own schedules out for the week and I sat down at the table to do a lot of math lessons. In between I would give spelling lists, help with little kid lessons, and encourage kids to talk less and work more.

At 8am Jason headed to the dentist to get a filling fixed that fell out last week. He dropped off paperwork at the surgeon's office and got home at 10am. In those two hours the kids and I got done all the subjects they needed my help with. Then Mason and I were out the door to get his dental work done while Daddy held down the fort and handled homeschool questions. By the time I was home again everyone was done with their work.

At lunch time I took four kids on a date. Makayla, Joseph, Emma, Oliver, and I went to see Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald. We liked and hated it. It's a great dip into the Harry Potter universe but there were heart squeezing parts and unresolved things because there will be 3 more movies in the series. We will spend the next few days discussing bits and pieces, make theories about what is going to happen next, and just relive the movie.

Tobias is very 3 year old right now. He is opinionated,

sweet, and sassy by turns. He loves being right in the 

middle of things.

We got back at snack time. There were a couple loads of laundry to sort and put away. I think laundry is the worst when we are in the cold winter months because jeans take up so much space in the wash! Clothing for 12 people for just one day is more than 1 load of laundry.

Samuel having fun smiling for the camera.

It was soup night for dinner. Then we had a fun Family Home Evening with 'hink pinks' and learning about some of the women leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wait, you don't know what a hink pink is? Let me give you a few examples:

• What is an after dinner treat alarm?  Dessert Alert.
• What is a squash magician? Zucchini Houdini

You can find free hink pinks online, but we pulled ours from the November issue of The Friend Magazine. (Also free online)

After Family Home Evening I spent an hour in my bedroom wrapping gifts. We've finished all our Christmas shopping. We do 98% of it online so as packages arrive my goal is to check them off my list and wrap them. 

Emma working on science and 

waiting for me and my camera to 

go away.

Tuesday Notes:
We woke to a snowy day with tiny flurries swirling around. Kids woke on their own schedules and ate breakfast. Makayla and I did some Latin translation early. I remembered to charge my camera battery so I took a few pictures of kids randomly. Around homeschool lessons I baked four dozen muffins so that we would have a yummy lunch. I also wrapped a few more gifts. Caleb asked two of his brothers to speak at his baptism this Saturday. He was so excited when they agreed. One will speak about baptism and the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father and the other will speak about confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In the early afternoon I spent a bit of time creating some peg dolls. I got the following peg dolls done today:

• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Wolf
• Grandmother
• The Woodcutter
• Three Little Pigs
• The Big Bad Wolf

Rebekah is walking! She is 9 months old and 

lights up a  room with her smile.

Wednesday Notes:
Chaos. After school I drove Makayla to work so I could take Emma to the orthodontist. Joseph babysat for part of that and then my sister and nieces dropped in for the rest. It was a good thing, because when Emma and I left the parking lot of the orthodontist our van died in the middle of a 5 lane road (2 lanes of traffic going one way, 2 lanes going the other, and the shared turn lane in the middle which is where I guided the van to when it died). We called grandpa and roadside assistance. Got the van towed to the mechanic and us dropped off at home. The plan was to have my sister pick Makayla up from work later as Jason wouldn't be home. Then the mechanic called. After pushing the van into their garage it started just fine. Nothing is wrong with it that they can find. My mom and her husband ran to the mechanic to pick up the van for me before they closed. They dropped it off about 5 minutes after Makayla texted me to come pick her up, so I did that. Now I worry every time my teen driver takes the van somewhere that it will die when she is the one behind the wheel.

Makayla is so busy! Between school, working, 

church activities, writing a novel, pet care

for her reptiles, and life in general

she's on the go and busy!

In the evening while the oldest three kids went to activities the rest of the kids made slime.

Joseph caught at the table doing some school work while snuggled under a blanket.

Perks of homeschooling for sure!

Thursday Notes:
Beautiful falling snow accompanied our morning of school work. We had no grumpy children, and no grumpy mommy. The afternoon was pretty relaxed. In the evening I wrapped the last Christmas present. This is the first time I can think of where I have no wrapping to do in December.

Daniel looking serious. 

Friday Notes:
The check engine light came on in the van so we decided to get it checked out again. Unfortunately by the end of the workday the mechanic still hadn't gotten to our van, so we now have just 1 car that doesn't fit our family in it and 12 people needing to be at the church tomorrow for Caleb's baptism, and back at church on Sunday of course. We're going to drive some of the family to o the church and then have one adult drive home to pick up the rest of the family and come back to the church. We'll repeat that in reverse to get everyone home. LOL! Joseph and Daniel also wrote their talks for at Caleb's baptismal service.

Oliver waiting patiently with his box of

Pokémon cards for a sibling to be

available to play a game.

We decided it was a perfect evening to watch a Christmas show and found Bah Hum Duck on Hulu. It is a retelling of Dicken's A Christmas Carol with the Looney Toons. We've read A Christmas Carol before and the kids like Looney Toons, so it was a hit!

Caleb is so excited to be baptized!

Scripture Reading Update: 
I'm in Third Nephi chapter 22 in The Book of Mormon and still journaling in a notebook about every chapter. It has been an amazing way to read and study this time!

I was hoping to get an  updated header made for the blog but it just didn't happen this week. I sprinkled pictures of all the kids throughout this post, for those who have been asking for pictures!