Is homeschooling going to kill me?

When Adam and I decided years ago to homeschool, it seemed to easy. In my mind, I pictured peace while Easton did his work and the other kids would quietly play around him. Clearly, my mind was foggy or I had been hit in the head because this is hard-there is no quiet, ever. I have heard people say that it takes a couple of years before you find your schedule and I completely believe it. Let's take this morning for instance-the kids get up, make their beds, brush their teeth, and I made them breakfast. Easton sits down to start his reading (enter screaming/teething/drooling Sutton who needs to sit on my lap). Easton keeps reading outloud louder and louder. Screaming Sutton stops screaming long enough to try to jab his eye out with a pencil that I was letting him draw with (to stop screaming). I take the pencil away (which caused him to scream louder) and then I notice that the girls have surrounded Avery-who WAS having tummy time. They have rolled her over and covered her in a giant, fleece blanket. After I took the blanket away, explained they could suffocate her, and sat back down-Easton was done with his book. I wanted to bang my head on the table.

Not all days are like this. Most go fairly well. The girls and Sutton draw and color. Easton does his work. Weston does letters or handwriting. Avery does tummy time. They must have not gotten the memo today.

Tomorrow is storytime at the Library and it is my favorite day of the week. The kids love the Bristol Library and for anyone who hasn't visited, it is really beautiful (way nicer than you can imagine for our small area). The children's section is amazing and there is a bird named Citrus. The children's director is great. She always reads, sings, and does crafts with the kids. It is very laid back so you can come and go as you please. We have gone to a few storytimes in the area, at different libraries, and the Bristol one is by far the best.

Questions, Questions, Questions

A few questions answered-just for you, Jen. Well, really for everyone I guess. Maybe people do just really wonder what it is like to have so many kids?



I do 4-5 loads of laundry everyday. If I miss a day, I will pay dearly for it later. Now, since we haven't been leaving the house much recently, I have only been doing 3-4. It doesn't help that Abby and Emery are little fashionistas who change their clothes and throw the other clothes down the laundry chute causing me to play the fun game "Is this really dirty or was it just tried on?"



I do at least 4 loads of dishes everyday and we eat off paper plates and bowls. I do cook most meals so the dishes are lots of pots and pans and utensils.



How much is our grocery bill? This, I get asked ALL of the time. I can almost guarantee our total is less than just about anyone elses. During the summer, we eat from the garden/farmer's market. I only buy meat, milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt, occasionally grains, and paper products from the grocery store so our summer total at the grocery store was around 30 dollars a week plus an extra 30 for the farmer's market. So, 60 a week to feed our family of 7 (Avery doesn't count yet because she doesn't eat). During the winter, when there is no farmer's market, we spend around 150 for 2 weeks worth of groceries. This summer, I have canned close to 300 jars of fruits and veggies so I can't wait to see how all of our hard work lowers the grocery bill. Last year, we were able to get a great deal on 1/4 of a cow. That fed us for a long time. I also stretch the meat that we buy. Like last week, I bought 2 giant packs of chicken breasts for 88 cents a pound. I think there were 12 breasts and it was about 10 dollars. I baked them all on Monday and used them throughout the week in meals. We ended up having chicken all week but that's ok-we like chicken. This week, I bought a ham from Food City for 20 dollars (it was on sale from 40 so it's a good deal). We will eat ham steaks, mac and cheese with ham, ham sandwiches, and dice it up to go on top of a salad-so when you see that it will be used to make 8 or 10 meals-it makes it not so bad. We aren't having ham tonight though. Some hunter friends killed a deer behind our house-so tonight we are having deer steaks. Another hunter gave us some ground deer so we might have that next week.

Diapers, Diapers, Diapers-We use cloth diapers at home. I love Bum Genius 3.0's. We have used them since Weston was a baby and they are still in great shape. We use disposables when we go out and I got an awesome deal off Amazon. If you signed up for auto ship, you got 30 percent off and I had a 20 percent coupon on top of that. I did the same deal for wipes. It made the diapers and wipes so cheap AND they were shipped to our door for freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I will have to post a pic of how stocked up we are now with diapers and wipes. I don't even think Adam realized it til he went into the little room in the basement =)

Homeschool Curriculum-We use A LOT of different things. Thankfully, the homeschool community here is very tight so you can always borrow something to look at before you buy it. Some stuff I have loved, some I have hated. Currently, I am doing a sort of "block" schedule for Easton. From August until December, we will focus mainly on Reading, Handwriting, and Math. From January until May, we will focus on Spanish, Social Studies, and Science. My theory on this is that once he can read well, he will enjoy reading stories in SS and Science. My favorite curriculum so far are Hooked on Phonics (wonderful, wonderful, great, program), Explode the Code, Handwriting Without Tears, and Abeka Phonics. He is using Saxon for math and while I have heard other people rave about how wonderful it is, I think it is a weird curriculum and oddly put together. The manipulatives have been good and Easton really is enjoying it.

How do you bathe 6 kids? It takes around 45 minutes to an hour. I usually put the boys in 1 bath and the girls in a 2nd one-then give Avery a dip in whichever bath is cleaner. During the summer, I would give 2 sets of baths, 1 set before nap because they were so dirty from playing in the yard, and 1 set before bed. That was a job!

We do take the kids out to eat a few times a month. The kids always love this special treat and I always love not having to cook. We love to go to Earthfare on Thursday nights. Kids eat free and the adult food is rather yummy too. The kids meals are big and very filling. The kids get a turkey rollup with carrots, spinach, and tomatoes, a blueberry yogurt, a fruit cup, and an organic milk box. I always get the jerk chicken panini and Adam gets pizza. By the time we checkout, with drinks, our total is about 15 dollars. 15 dollars to feed 7 people out =) I LOOOOVE it.

And what do they wear? Gymboree. We buy a few things from other stores but their clothes come mainly from Gymboree. We pass down clothes from 1 child to the next and Gymboree always holds up great. For jeans, I love Crazy 8 and Childrens Place. I do 1-2 Old Navy orders a year for odds and ends. I shop the sales, use gymbucks/c8 cash, buy during circle of friends, and use a coupon. I never, ever pay full price. We do get the kids new, matching, Halloween and Christmas Pajamas but always with a coupon or on sale.

Are the all yours?

I have a love hate relationship with people who ask me this-and trust me, it gets asked every single time we have ever gone out in public since Emery was born. What really baffles me is that the kids are good out in public and usually aren't bothering anyone when people come and comment. We take the kids out to eat every few weeks-maybe once a month. They are always good because they know it is such a special treat. People even stop at our table to ask if they are all ours. Then, we get the following comment "Well, you have your hands full". That makes me want to cuss someone. Yes, to take any child-whether it be 1 or 6 or 10-there are lots of things you need-stroller, purse, keys, cell phone, diapers, etc but I don't really think of it as "oh this is awful, I will never take them out again". We go normal public places-Walmart, the zoo, out to eat, the library, etc. I think of everyday as a learning experience for them and if they never learn how to act in public, I won't have done my job of being their mom. I just wish people would keep their comments and head counts to themselves.

I got some new books this week-a book on changing what we eat, a bread book because I forgot how much the kids like to make bread, and a book on the challenges of a large family. I am especially excited about the large family book. I hope it has some real advice for large families. I know, people always have cleaning tips or flylady or whatever and I have tried lots of different stuff but none of it (especially Flylady) accounts for the 6 little people going right behind me and making a mess faster than I can clean it up. I would also like to get some pointers on a better chore chart for the kids. They are all very capable of doing chores and we have been working on this for awhile but I need to hear what works for other big families.

We're getting there

I really feel like the last year has been a blur-a very super, duper highly stressful blur. Just thinking about it makes me think I might need a Xanax. It started with my sister, Mara, giving birth to Jon. What should have been a wonderful thing was made stressful by her useless husband (yes, useless is the nicest word I can find for him). The next week, we found out Weston needed heart surgery and the day after that, we found out we were pregnant. The spring was spent going back and forth to doctors for Weston. We went to Duke twice, 1 time for his cath that landed him in the PICU for a week, and the other time for surgery that didn't happen. Then, the week before we left for Philadelphia, Nancy decided she wanted to try to get Abby back so back to court we went. Everytime it's the same-they send in more state people to "help". The "help" really means more random people coming in, doing home assessments, doing background checks on us, talking to the kids, basically wasting my time. I know that sounds mean but I value our family time together and I do not enjoy having to cater to any of these people. We didn't abuse or neglect our children, yet we are treated like criminals. We asked the judge to take away Abby's dad's rights (because he hasn't seen or called about her in over a year!). The judge said "I won't take away his rights because one day he might win the lottery and Abby will be entitled to some of that money". Now, is it just Adam and me, or do you think the last thing a crack addict is going to do when they win the lottery is call us to set up a savings account for a kid they haven't seen in over a year? Then, we headed to Philadelphia where Weston's heart surgery went fabulous. We were told to expect him to need another surgery in 8-10 years. We got home to TN and Avery arrived soon after. She is our very best baby ever. In the weeks since she has been born, we have been on house arrest to keep Weston away from germs, we were told Weston will probably need another open heart surgery soon, we have to find a pulmonary specialist somewhere in the US that will take him, we have gone back to court to try to keep Abby, we got rid of our dog because she was acting crazy and we didn't want to risk her biting the kids, we got chickens (which are seriously my fav pet ever), my sister Mara has moved in with us with her baby, and then there was Chenhan. It is enough to drive a person crazy! I just want to tell everyone to get their act together, get their kids, and get out of my house.

Monday, the cardiologist said we could go out a little more in public. So, yesterday I took the Super 6 to storytime at the Library and to the place to vote. It was nice to finally be able to leave with all of the kids. I am so thankful that we finally got to have a nice, normal day!

A good friend

I got the terrible news that a good friend committed suicide. I am totally not a death or dead people person. He is probably the first real friend I have had pass away (yes, I have only experienced death of all of my family). I thought we were good friends. He always joked about all of the kids and I always joked about his girlfriends. I am so sad because he never felt all of the love of everyone that care so much for him. I am sad because he must have felt alone in the world. I feel terrible for his parents and even for his dog and snake (mostly the dog because it is sweet). I feel bad for the rest of his friends who are hurting. I cry reading his facebook page and seeing his last posts. I never want anyone to feel like they don't have anyone else in the world to turn to. I talked to him a couple of weeks ago-typical back and forth and he seemed so happy. My mind keeps thinking about Tuesday. I saw him make a post on facebook about loving his friends and glad they were part of the good times. I remember reading it and thinking it was weird-but sometimes he posted things to be funny. Now, looking back, I wish I had posted something or called or I don't know (taking 6 little folks to visit someone with no kids, a big dog, and a giant snake seemed out of the question). I have thought about it all day today. How can we keep this from happening? If we had only known. So today, I made sure the kids know how much I love them because my friend that passed away was someone's baby once.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

On Monday, I made the kids apple pie oatmeal. They love apple pie and there is no way they would ever get to eat it for breakfast. I try to make their breakfasts as filling as possible because they are big eaters. The recipe is more of a method because I realize that not everyone is cooking for an army of "STARRRRRRRRRRVING TO DEATHHHHHHHH" kids. I would love to try this with steel cut oats but I haven't found them on a good enough sale yet. This ended up making a giant stoneware of oatmeal plus a pyrex dish. Next time, I will go ahead and use 2 stonewares.

6 and a half cups of oatmeal
5 cups of vanilla almond milk
5 and a half cups of vanilla soy milk ( I am sure you can sub regular milk)
6 apples sliced, cored, peeled and chopped
cinnamon to taste (I just sprinkled it over the top)
apple pie spice to taste (again, just sprinkled it over the top)
3 cups of applesauce (I used unsweetened applesauce that I canned this summer)
optional-a few spoonfuls of brown sugar or honey. I didn't use any but I think it would have given it extra sweetness.

I baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes but stirred it everything I thought about it. (I was giving the kids a bath so my 30 minute timeline might be skewed). Don't let it get too done or it won't reheat well.

When I go to serve it, I break up a few graham crackers on the top for the "crust" part. The kids love it and it fed them for 3 breakfasts =) If it's too thick when you reheat it, just add more milk.

Avery has arrived!

After what felt like the longest pregnancy EVER, a fairly long labor (especially for a 5th baby!), and a super speedy delivery-Avery Ruth-Kathryn Keeton arrived on September 30 at 4:51pm. She weighed 7lbs and was 19 and a half inches long-only furthering my belief that ultrasounds are WAY off when it comes to our children. She has a head full of black hair, which is the only thing the kids ever take after me. I will enjoy it while it lasts-until it turns blonde anyways. The kids were overjoyed to meet their new baby sister. The girls kept fighting saying "my baby' "no my baby"-back and forth, over and over. The older boys, of course, are in love. Easton and Weston are so good with babies! Sutton wasn't sure what to think. He is used to being a little prince. He loved on her a bit and has been enjoying laying beside of her on the boppy. He reminds me a lot of Emery when Sutton was born. She would sit on the boppy while I nursed him.

Monday, we took Weston for his echo. His heart looks good, his lungs look bad. He goes back in 4 weeks for another echo and we will go from there. I am trying not to get overly worried about it. He has made it this far and is doing great-his lungs just didn't get the memo.

Yesterday was my first day alone with them. The morning went well. We took Avery to the doctor and my mother in law sat in the car with the older 5 while I took Avery to get her bilirubin checked. We came home and everyone napped-it was nice. I love a good afternoon nap. Today has been a bit rougher. I lost my keys so we spent the morning searching for them. After I cried and Adam was getting ready to leave work, Sutton brought me my keys. I have no idea where they were but I was glad to find them. Avery went back to the dr today to get her bilirubin checked again. All of the kids have had jaundice and had to go under the lights. I am hopeful that Avery can do without the biliblanket.

And so now, I am trying to adjust to 6. It's not been bad so far-just tiring-or maybe that is because all Keeton newborns believe they need to nurse every hour and a half to 2 hours? I can't wait to get off the lifting restrictions and get back to a new, normal life.