For those who are hopping over from the Simple Homeschool linkup, welcome! We are a family of seven. My husband Jesse is a pastor in northern Oregon, and I stay home with the kids and write here.
Jonah is 8, Matthew, is 6, Hannah is 4, Elizabeth is 3, and Sarah is not quite 2 months old.
Our days are rarely all the same, but we do have a rhythm of sorts that we follow most of the time. Here’s how this particular Monday a few weeks ago went.
6:30ish. I wake up because the baby is hungry. The bigger kids have all been chattering in their room for awhile, so my husband tells them they can get up too. They play, we talk, the tv is on with news in the background and then PBS kids shows.
7:30. Breakfast time! Eggs and toast on the menu today, because it’s easy and only takes a few minutes. After breakfast, the four bigger kids get dressed and play some more. Sarah falls asleep for her first nap.
I work on my school planning for the week because it didn’t get done over the weekend. (You can see more of my homeschool binder system here.) Since we are still in newborn season, homeschool has been mostly me handing the boys lists with their assignments for the day (plus any additional chores they need to remember), and generally being around in the background to help while holding a baby.
I also shower, clean up the kitchen from breakfast, and make a pot of coffee. I’m always ambitious that I’ll get to coffee right away in the morning, but usually it’s nearly lunch time before I manage to pour a cup with enough time to drink it.
9:00. Matthew has asked to go with Jesse to church today, so I gather his school list and pack him a lunch. I also take this time to prep lunch for the rest of us – we are having Black Bean Tortilla Pizzas, so I get them ready on a cookie sheet so all I have to do later is throw them in the oven.
9:30. I send Jonah, Hannah, and Elizabeth outside because they’re being a bit crazy and loud. The kids have been creating all sorts of things in an unused garden bed in our backyard, so they head there while I get a bit of computer work done and (gasp!) pour a cup of coffee!
10:05. The big kids come in. Sarah is starting to stir, but I get them started on their structured school work. Preschool with Hannah usually only takes about 20 minutes or so, so we generally try to fit that in during one of Sarah’s naps. Elizabeth sometimes does some of the dot marker pages and stickers as well, because she likes to be included.
While I feed Sarah, the girls draw a picture for someone at church, and Jonah takes a break from school work to finish a letter to his pen pal before the mail comes. I read a few picture books to the girls, and the big kids have a little snack.
Jonah reads to me from his lesson book (see our curriculum choices here), and finishes his piano theory work. While I clean up some spilled water, the big kids start playing Go Fish. I get in a few baby snuggles and make my second attempt at coffee (I made it through half of that first cup earlier).
11:45. Lunch time! I’m very thankful I prepped it earlier, because right after the nice peaceful sibling game time, they all decided to push each others’ buttons and the three year old colored with crayons on the dining room table. Food to the rescue!
12:10. The big kids are in their beds for quiet time. They can read books or lay quietly/nap. Naps are pretty rare nowadays though. But quiet time is still very much necessary for this introverted mama! I remind them that if they’re quiet, they can watch a movie later. (This is only successful sometimes, but I’ll take it!)
I refill my coffee cup (only made it through 1/3 of the second try, but I should be good for now – I told you I usually don’t get to my coffee until lunch time!). I use rest time to listen to videos or podcasts with headphones sometimes, but today I have a few blog-related computer tasks to work on. And Sarah fell asleep again during lunch, so I’m taking advantage of having both hands free!
1:10. Sarah is awake. The rest of the kids are not being quiet, so no movie time for them. Bummer! At least I got some work done while they were in their room. I give them one more reminder/chance to get a movie while I feed Sarah and listen to a Facebook live replay.
1:40. The big kids did not get any quieter, so still no movie. I let them up and head to the kitchen to make breadsticks to go with our dinner. Elizabeth helps dump ingredients.
Meanwhile Jonah is working on a pretend church service and picking songs he would like to sing. He has decided to be the pastor for his stuffed animals.
Since Sarah wants to be held, I sit down to try to figure out why the scanner function of my printer no longer works since the last update. Jonah interrupts me to discuss the latest chapter in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Hannah and Elizabeth are playing with dominoes, and then playing doctor, and then running around their bedroom. Some days my children have long attention spans. Today does not appear to be one of those days.
But yay! Non-tech-savvy-me has managed to fix the scanner problem, which is good, because I use it for some of our homeschool work and I need it by Wednesday.
2:20. Sarah has fallen back asleep, and I suggest that the other three go outside, because they are having a high-energy kind of day. They start playing Man from Mars. (One person is it, and stands in the middle of a large area, and calls out a color. Anyone wearing the color has to run past. If they get tagged, they join the it person until only one is left. It would work better with more than 3 people, but they don’t mind.)
I head to the kitchen to do some dishes and make muffins for tomorrow’s breakfast. I chose Carrot Apple Muffins and Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins (both from here) because that’s the produce we had that needed to be used up. Normally I make a double batch of one kind.
The kids are back inside by 2:40 because Hannah fell and scraped her hand. They start playing with Play Doh while I continue working in the kitchen. A little after 3:00, Jesse and Matthew get home, and Matthew joins in on the Play Doh fun. They’re all pretending they’re on The Great British Baking Show now.
They’re discussing their respective days, and apparently Matthew read 17 chapters of Mr. Popper’s Penguins while he was at church with dad! I’m impressed.
3:30. After cleaning up Play Doh, it’s snack time! The kids are having yogurt and Honey Nut Granola, and I’m having a smoothie.
The kids go back outside, and since Sarah is still sleeping, I chop up the veggies for dinner. We’re having Gluten Free Veggie Spaghetti and (not gluten free) Garlic Butter Breadsticks. I use this handy chopper to get the veggie prep done really fast, and make it kid friendly. Totally worth the money there.
4:30. Kids come inside and watch Odd Squad on PBS. Then they play some more Go Fish. I start making dinner and preparing to take pictures for the spaghetti sauce recipe blog post (it should be up in the next few weeks!).
5:30. Sarah is finally awake. She sleeps a lot. I like that about her. We eat dinner. After dinner the boys help clean up the kitchen and get the dishwasher going.
6:00. The Olympics are on this week, so we have that going on in the background while we hang out. The kids pick up their toys and get pajamas on. They mark off their chore charts and the boys mark their Book It reading charts if they read for 30 minutes (they did).
7:00. We have family prayers and tuck the kids in. Right before bedtime, Matthew lost a tooth, so I put a reminder in my phone for the tooth fairy to come before we go to bed. (Yes, it’s not that long from now, but I’d forget otherwise!) Jesse and I have our devotion time and then we veg out on the couch until Sarah is ready for bed.
If this day seemed really full and productive, it’s because it was, but please realize that Monday is my favorite day of the week and it’s usually when I get the most done. Things go downhill from here, and I’m lucky if I get anything accomplished on Fridays. #kiddingnotkidding
Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I receive a bit of a commission at no additional charge to you.
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I enjoyed reading this. I have five kiddos eight and under as well!
It’s an adventure for sure!
I enjoyed reading about your day! I’m impressed you stuck to your guns about no movie – I would want them to watch the movie MORE if I hadn’t had any quiet. 🙂 I remember reading your blog before, but I think I caught it when you were taking a maternity break. I’ll be sure to check for updates!
Ha! I would have liked to let them watch the movie, but then it just gets worse the next day. But yes, it’s always a punishment I question at the moment. Glad to have you around!
Thanks so much for the post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.