Garden Tour

I'd love for you to see our garden this year!  Click the video above.  Please like the video, comment, and subscribe to my channel.

Sewing a Swimming Skirt

I finally had some time to sew!  Rebekah needed a new swimming skirt before we took off on our camping trip.  I used her old one as a pattern to trace around and added a few inches to make it bigger.  It turned out really cute.  I started making it, and then Rebekah and my niece heard the machine running and decided they wanted to make a skirt too.  So, they took over my sewing room when I was tending to Peter.  I had to wait until the next day to finish mine!  But they did a great job and made a cute pink pencil skirt for my niece.  The next morning, Rebekah wanted to make a skirt for herself.  She made a long maxi skirt!  She cut the fabric and did all the sewing, I just helped tell her the next step when she was doing the elastic.  I'm so proud of her!  I love that she loves sewing too!  Lastly, I turned two dresses that she didn't like into skirts.  We did all of this with fabric and supplies I already had on hand, so it was free, yeah!

Click here to see past swimming outfits:
Swimming Skirt with Attached Leggings
Little Girls Swimming Skirt
Kids Swimming Outfits
Women's Swimming Skirt and Shirt

Large Family Homeschool Schedule

How do you do it?  This is a common question I hear when people find out I have 6 kids and I homeschool them.  I thought I would share our homeschool schedule today.  Currently, I am teaching 6th, 4th and 1st grades, while I also have 3 boys that are 4, 2 and 6 months.  I need to preface this by saying that these times are not fixed, we are VERY flexible around here!  Here's our current schedule:

6:30  Kids wake up and make their own breakfast (older help the younger)
7:30  Mom wakes up (Yep, I'm the last one up!)
9:30  The 6th and 4th grader start working on their independent notebooks (Brush teeth, read bible, bible memorization, handwriting, spelling, math facts, book basket, any other worksheets they can do themselves.)
9:30  I teach 1st grade while the 4 and 2 year olds make a mess and distract us...
11:00  Lunch and Free time (or finish notebook)
1:30  Nap time for the 2 year old
1:45  Nap time for the 4 year old
1:45  Snack
2:00  6th and 4th grade time with mom: bible, history, science, math, english, art, etc.  (We go from one subject to the next with no breaks, so we can get a lot done in this time.)
4:00-5:00  Finished with school

I recently filmed a Day in the Life video in which I share about our schedule and show my son's notebook.  Click on the video below to watch.

Just an Ordinary Morning

I was able to film an Ordinary Morning (click on the video above to watch).  Peter is especially adorable, while the other boys are a bit rambunctious!  I loved filming Joshua reading because he likes to add commentary that is funny, although sometimes it can get frustrating. 

I did not Vlog much of the afternoon, but it was busy.  We decided to take a walk to McDonald's for ice cream, which is usually a 20 minute walk.  However, we stopped to visit with our neighbors, a sweet elderly couple.  Please pray for Jerome with us, as he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  I know they would appreciate all prayers!  Our walk also took forever because Daniel (the 2 year old) decided that he absolutely, under no circumstances, would ride in the stroller!  He walked the entire way!!!  We finished the day by Rebekah, Peter and I going to a sign language class, while Kevin took the rest of the boys to a minor league baseball game.  Oh yeah, we also got school finished in there somewhere.

If you like this video, please like it and subscribe to my channel, Real Life, Real Joy.  Have a Joy Filled Day!

Finishing Your Homeschool Year Strong

Here's my latest video about how I'm trying to finish my homeschool year strong.  I remember our MFW Kindergarten lesson, I don't quit, I persevere!  Tell me in the comments how you are making it to the end.

Owl Pellet Found at Church!

Last week I filmed a Homeschool Day in the Life Vlog.  Click on the video below to see it.  I ended the vlog by saying we were headed to church.  As we were getting out of the van, Matthew started having a little fit and wouldn't go into church.  He stopped right under a street light...  As I was trying to persuade him to come, I looked down and there was an owl pellet!  A homeschooler's lucky find!  Of course we got a plastic grocery bag and took it home!

I googled how to sanitize it.  You just wrap it in foil and bake it at 250 for 45 minutes.  Above is what it looked like after being cooked.

Once it was cool, we used tweezers and toothpicks to pull out the bones.  We thought we had part of a skull, but it didn't look at all like the rat skeleton we found in the owl pellet we bought earlier this year (see below) from Home Science Tools.  After looking at diagrams of many different small animals in our area, we still don't know what type of animal it was.

Have you ever dissected an owl pellet?  They are fascinating!

Crafting Around the House

While I haven't has as much time as I'd like to do crafty things, I have been able to do a few things for Our New Home over the last several months.  Above is a trivet that I did at a local pottery and mosaic shop.  The blue colors are flower petals, can you see it?

I painted this Welcome Sign for our front porch area.  My mom gave me the old milk can, which I love.  Because it lives on our covered porch, I used fake flowers, which came from the Dollar Tree.  The burlap for the bow actually came from my brother's wedding!

Here is a burlap wreath that I made at a Ladies Retreat.  It was quite simple to make (search Pinterest to make your own).

This is one of my favorite things!  My husband made these wooden frames for me, there are actually 2.  I stained them and then we stapled the maps to the back.  The other one has a world map in it.  

A sweet friend of mine invited me to her painting birthday party!  Her mom is a wonderful artist and showed us how to paint this bird, as well as a fun cat picture that is hanging in my daughter's room.  I also painted the letter V and added the burlap.

I've also been working on a denim braided rug for my bedroom for the past 2 years...

New Vlog - Credit Card Cake

Hello!  I have been working on a new adventure, vlogging!  My Youtube channel is called Real Life. Real Joy.  I have been practicing with my phone and editing them using Davinci Resolve, an awesome video editing program I was able to download for free!  I am currently researching cameras and hope to buy one soon.  Click below to check it out and let me know what you think in the comments!

I'm working on an Introduction video that will come out soon!

African Groundnut Sauce

Yesterday we made African Groundnut Sauce served over white rice, and ham (but I don't think that part was African).  The recipe was in my teacher's manual for week 28 MFW Explorers to 1850.  We read about the Zulu Wars in South Africa in the early 1800s.  The sauce included natural peanut butter and tomatoes, although I used some tomato sauce because I didn't have any fresh ones.  We all ate it, but I don't think I'll make it again.  I love making food from different countries as part of our school.

On another note, we were driving today and suddenly Matthew yelled, "I see an M!"  Since I was at a red light, I took a picture of his "M".  Can you see it?

Our House - Family of 8

God blessed us with an amazing house we were able to pay cash for!  It was a foreclosure, so we were able to get it at a great price and still have money left to fix it up.  It is 2800 square feet with 5 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, a large living room, dining room and an extra family room!

Before we moved in, we had to replace most of the electrical and plumbing.  We also had to put in a furnace, air conditioning, hot water heater, and purchase all of the appliances.  We also covered up one of two basement stairs and took out a hot tub!  Yes, I said hot tub!  It was gross...

We painted the master bedroom (there was a walrus on the wall!) and the bathroom, which was purple sponge paint!

Laminate wood flooring went into the kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom.  Fresh carpet went down in the living room and up the stairs.  Lastly, Kevin and the kids put up a tile back splash in the kitchen that is beautiful.  Here are some before and after pics.

After we moved in, Kevin and the older kids painted 3 of the kid's bedrooms and laid carpet in 2 of them.  Poor Daniel had a hot pink room for a year, LOL!

The last big indoor project we (I really mean Kevin) did was paint and lay laminate wood floor in our family room, which we also use for school.  It's beautiful now and my favorite room in the house!  What do you think? 

And that's the house that God blessed us with!

Homeschool Update

This school year, Caleb is in 6th grade, Rebekah is in 4th, and Joshua is in K, although he moved to 1st grade in March.  I am still using My Father's World, doing the 4th year of the family cycle, Exploration to 1850.  We have enjoyed every year of the family cycle so far, this one is no exception.  We just finished learning about the Louisiana Purchase, and have been playing the game Ticket to Ride.  One big change that we have made this year is switching our writing curriculum to Institute for Excellence in Writing.  I will do a more in depth post about it later, but it is working very well for my reluctant writer. 

Above, some of the kids are posing in front of our botany science experiments (Apologia).  Can you tell in the photo below that they changed color?

This experiment is to test phototropism.  We are growing bean seeds, one in the light, and one in a dark cup with only a small hole in it.

I've gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of the kids school time, but I'll be making more of an effort now.  Below is Caleb's Valentine card box, designed and constructed by him!

Melty beads have become a favorite past time around here.

We also now have a membership to a local children's museum.  They can paint and the mess isn't in my kitchen!

I'm Still Alive!

It's been a couple years since I've posted on here... life kinda just happened!  Since I last posted, we've added two babies and a house! 

First came the house, a foreclosure that needed a lot of work.  You can see that I'm very pregnant in this picture!

Then came Daniel.  It was a crazy November and December!  While I was having a baby, workers were fixing our house.  We brought a bouncy seat and a camping chair so I could nurse the baby and he could be with us while we painted.  We finally moved in two weeks before Christmas.  Here's a recent picture of Daniel.  He was helping to make pie for Pi Day!

Life continued to be busy, and then we found out we were expecting another boy!  Yep, we now have 5 boys and 1 girl.  Here is our latest edition: Peter.

That's an update on our crazy, hectic, but joy-filled life!  Here are a few more recent pictures of the kids.  Caleb is 11, Rebekah is 9, Joshua is 6, Matthew is 4, Daniel is 2, and Peter is 5 months.