Homeschooling in real life with 7 kids under 9 1/2

Yesterday at church when I was sitting in the nursery with Squdge, Tater, and Peach, another mother asked me how I homeschool with little ones in the home. 

I had to answer her honestly, "That is the hardest part of homeschooling:  What do I do with the toddlers and baby while I teach the older kids?"

Well, this is just a small sample of what may happen when I leave one of the school-aged children in charge of twins while I teach the other two school-aged children.

What isn't included in the picture of the four pack of yogurt (those are 6 oz. each by the way) is the yogurt covered table and splotches on the floor from the fridge to the table, Cheerios strewn from one end of the living room to the other, the turned over play kitchen, the half-dozen paper airplanes, the ripped off fridge lock, and two totally yogurt coated two year old twins (say that three times fast).

The baby escaped unscathed.

Generous Tater, sharer with all persons big or Peach-sized

Tater:  Mommy, Baby wike cumbers!

translation:  Peach likes cucumbers.  Why haven't you thought to give them to her?

Peach with her cucumbers

Right now in Pookieville

I have 30 bell peppers waiting to be diced and frozen,

5 cucumbers waiting to be chopped and eaten (Math),

a case of roma tomatoes waiting for me to can them,

a dozen butternut squash waiting for me to find out if they really are butternut squash and how to cook them,

and a dozen zucchini waiting to be sliced and dehydrated (science lesson).

I have one sleeping baby waiting to be rescued from her high chair,

two year old twins waiting to be potty-trained,

a four year old waiting to read me a story,

a six and almost eight year old playing at the playground,

a nine year old watching Rio (with the subtitles on) and waiting for lunch,

and a re-broken toe trying to heal.  again.

What to do, what to do?  I feel like spinning around in a circle and pointing and going with that first.  What thinketh you?

The ants go marching through my kitchen, heehee, haha!

I walked into the kitchen to find Hammy rolling about on the kitchen floor giggling,

"It tickles!  It tickles!  Oh hehe hahaha!"

"Hammy, what are you doing?"

"Mommy, ants are friendly bugs!  I love ants!  They are nice.  They tickle us!"

Time to mop.

Ask the Audience: Pencil grip

Why is holding a pencil "correctly" important?  Why are some ways of holding it right and some wrong?

A few trips: Lunch, eyes, and overseas

Today we are going on a lunchtime playdate at a secluded park on the way to town.  It's a relatively short van trip there-- like 15 minutes.  With just a little prep of sandwich making and flavor-blasted goldfish bagging whilst 7 happy children bounce around with glee (yeah!  Goldfish!  Friends!) we will have the makings of a fun memory-filled afternoon.

Next week Danny turns 35.  I had the plannings in my head of a surprise get-together with friends.  But he's going on a trip instead.  He got pre-approved for laser eye surgery.  So it's his turn to be gone for 2 weeks.  His trip is about 5 1/2 hours by car.

Because we recently enrolled the oldest three kids in a charter program that teaches them Science, History, Art, and Music twice a week (and we homeschool the rest), we won't be going with Danny to his prep appointments, surgery, and post-op appointments.

We considered having him come home in-between some of the appointments-- but it's a 5 1/2 hour drive and gas prices are through the roof.  We'll be making nightly calls to catch up with him.

And the long trip.  Sometime between December and April, Danny will most likely be taking a very long trip.  We knew in the back of our minds that this could be a possibility being Air Force and all, but I hoped it would never happen.  And for this trip he'll be gone 6 months to a year.  This time the travel will be by airplane.  

We'll learn how use Skype to keep up with him and so he can see how much his babies grow while he's gone defending our freedom and serving our country.