April 18th - April 24th: Another Week at Home Together

Saturday I headed out early to grab the necessities at the store. It is really difficult to get enough fresh food for 12 people for more than a week or two, especially with 1 refrigerator. Picture milk, for example, or fruits and veggies. We can eat a 3 lb bag of apples or potatoes in a single snack or meal. A gallon of milk lasts 1 day if we ration it and only use it for breakfast and dinner.

In the afternoon we got to visit with my sister and her husband from 6 feet apart - them outside the house, us in the doorway - when they stopped by to grab some dvds from our porch.

Sunday was a special day for us. We decided last week that we would have a Thanksgiving day on this day. We had a turkey in the freezer from November sales that we pulled out to cook, and made everyone's favorites. The house smelled delicious all day while the turkey roasted.

We had church at home. It is a sweet routine we have developed, with different children responsible for different parts of preparing the room for the Sabbath (cleaning, setting up chairs, preparing music, and so on). After the sacrament, we had a short lesson about some of the teachings of King Benjamin found in the early chapters of Mosiah. We played Hangman, with the words being from his teachings. We sang a few of my favorite hymns: I Am a Child of God, There Is a Green Hill Far Away, and Love One Another.

Top: Daniel sorted cars by color, then ran tests to see 

which were the fastest in each color.

Left: The kids made tents several times this week.

Right: The older girls baked and decorated watermelon cupcakes.

Monday we were back into the homeschool routine and Daddy's next college class started too. Everyone's math lessons were straightforward, always a bonus on a Monday. After a morning of school work we headed into the backyard in the afternoon to enjoy chilly sunshine! When we came inside Makayla and Emma, my oldest girls, got to work baking watermelon cupcakes, while most of the boys made tents with sheets and clothespins.

Tuesday was not a good day. School went just fine, but as the day went on, grumps increased. They pestered one another, whined, complained, and generally drove me batty. It was just a rough afternoon and evening. The only good point was when I pulled out The Oregon Trail card game and Go Fish and played with the kids. Then they went right back to being grumps. It can't all be sunshine and roses, right?

Wednesday we set out to have a happier day. A lot of my boys gathered on the floor right after breakfast for a game of Labyrinth. I sat down with them and helped the younger boys when requested. It was a lot of fun and a solid way to start our morning. The school day moved on from there. We baked subs in the oven for lunch. Some of my kids made a new batch of slime together. After a taco dinner there were some kids creating with Model Magic. At 6:45pm we turned on part of the Disney Family Singalong. We may not be talented singers, but we are enthusiastic.

Thursday it rained and clouds abounded. We learned about bats in science by studying their anatomy, diet, different attributes, sizes, and habitats. We tested our hearing and played an echolocation game. We talked about the bats we've seen at our zoo, and watched a video about bats from our curriculum. That led to watching some videos from our zoo and another in our state - both are sharing regular animal videos while everyone is quarantined. We found out today that one of our gorillas had a baby this month and she is adorable.

Friday morning I surprised the kids with a free day - no school. They quickly got busy playing. A group of us played Outfoxed. Two kids worked on origami projects. One was drawing. Two were discussing what their favorite book characters would do if they swapped worlds. As I type, one teen is playing Cruella De Ville on the piano. Three little kids are playing with the slime again. I am going to hit publish on this post and see how much reading I can get done in my book before someone needs me.