August 29th - September 4th Notes

Saturday the kids and I finally finished going through the bins of clothing in the attic, checking fall/winter wardrobes. It was a lot of work, as usual. Now we have a list of who wears what size, and who needs what items to fill out their wardrobe as the seasons change. Grocery shopping happened Saturday morning, too. We've got a meal plan with a mix of familiar and new recipes (from our Raddish Kids boxes). We're trying a bit of Thai food this week. I also had six different kids volunteer to bake the soft pretzels Raddish recipe this week. I'm putting an older kid in charge of it one day with some younger helpers. 

Sunday we had church at home, as usual. Daniel taught the lesson, which was about the power of remembering God. In the evening we went to my sister's house for the monthly extended family birthday party. This one was celebrating my nephew and my step dad, both of whom have August birthdays. 

Monday morning I was up at 5:15am, followed shortly by Joseph and Emma. We had our first Zoom based Seminary class for the school year. While I would love to have all of these youth in my home each morning for class, I am grateful the Lord inspired someone to create technology that makes meeting remotely possible for now. 

Our homeschool day went smoothly. So far the kids like having our schedule with a lighter load on Mondays (generally new math lessons, science, and literature/reading). I like it too! Because my husband is home on Mondays, we are able to do appointments (today Mason had a video appointment with his dermatologist), errands, extra chores, or extra fun. In the afternoon we gathered on the floor in the living room to play the card game Capture. 

Tuesday was September 1st, which, for Harry Potter fans, is significant because at 11:00am on September 1st the train leaves for Hogwarts each year. I surprised the kids with a short school day followed by cooking Harry Potter themed foods and watching the second movie. We made butterbeer fudge, chocolate fudge, pumpkin pasties, apple pasties, and strawberry pasties, with a veggie platter 'from Professor Sprout's garden'. In the afternoon we had homemade butterbeer for a treat. It was a really simple day to put together, but the kids loved it. 

Wednesday we worked through school steadily all morning. Everyone likes or at least peacefully completes their lessons. We gathered in the living room midway through our morning for another chapter in our history read aloud. We had leftover fudge and pasties from yesterday to snack on while we read. Friends dropped off an entire bucket of tomatoes from their garden for us to enjoy. In the evening Caleb gathered a lot of us to play another card game - Guillotine. 

Thursday most kids started their school day with reading, then math. I sat at the table, helping as needed. For those unfamiliar with homeschooling a large family, here is how it works at my house most days. After breakfast is over, I sit at our very long dining room table. Kids gather around me to work, or go work on the floor, the couch, a bed, or just about anywhere else in the house. For many of the subjects I only help when asked, such as if a child needs me for a portion of a lesson in language arts, wants to discuss a book, has a math question, or needs me for sentence dictation. However, for some of my younger kids, I directly teach some subjects daily. I call each of these children one by one to do a lesson. If you aren't working with mom, you are working on independent things like reading for 20 minutes, practicing handwriting, or etc, or you are on break. Lessons I teach one on one:

• Language Arts for Samuel, Mason, and Caleb. (Oliver, Daniel, Emma, and Joseph each need me for some things in their language arts, but can do much independently.
• Math for Samuel and Mason. (Everyone else needs me on Monday for a new lesson, and for help here and there during the rest of the week.)

By 10am we are often ready for a snack and a group subject that I teach. Two days a week that group subject is science, three days a week it is history. (The high schoolers do a separate science from this middle and elementary science group, but are a part of the history group.) After an hour on this subject, kids can finish up any other school work they have left. 

Friday was school work, a visit from grandma, and the great pretzel baking day. The kids all loved the soft pretzel recipe from our Raddish kit that Emma and Mason baked recently, so today they all worked together in the kitchen to bake a quadruple batch for dinner. We also video chatted with Makayla, which is always fun.