Wow, y'all! Thanks for the great response on why you read my blog. It seems like there's a bit of a consensus: most are curious about how daily life works in a large Christian homeschooling household, and/or are looking for encouragement as their own family grows beyond the bounds of polite mainstream society. Does this seem like a fair summary?
I guess it also helps that I'm a smart aleck I try to have a sense of humor when things go awry.

I'm sorry for disabling anonymous commenting - I realize that many of you don't have a Blogger account and are now unable to leave comments, but thank you to those who took the time to email me privately anyway! I had to disable anonymous comments because of nasty spam that kept getting past the word verification.
For those who don't have a Blogger account, do you realize that all you have to do is set up a gmail account? You don't need to actually have and use a blog...just get an identity. I'm not sure if this still requires an invitation (does anybody know?) but if so, email me and I'll send you one. If you want to, I mean. No pressure.

And to answer a few questions:

How is the tarantula?

She is fat and happy, enjoying frequent crickets and moths. Kait named her Shelob and holds her occasionally.

What did you do about lunch [the day you went to the zoo] since you didn?t bring any, and home was an hour away?

After the zoo, we briefly considered McDonald's 99 cent double cheeseburger, then decided we could do better. We hit the grocery store instead, and for $7 we had a jar of dry roasted peanuts (protein), a bunch of bananas, a bag of pretzels, and a quart each of strawberry and chocolate milk. We were splurging a bit, had plenty of food and still spent less than a cheap and scanty fast food meal.

Who cooks? Do you have regular menus? Your food ideas have been appreciated- the pumpkin custard, banana dogs, "raw" ramen noodles.

The older girls cook more and more lately. I now have 4 who love to do it! I rarely cook breakfast or lunch, and I have ready helpers for dinner as well.
I should have regular menus and life is much smoother when I do, but I often find myself winging it (not good! Do as I say and not as I do!) At the very least, I do try to have several dinners in mind and settle upon something by early afternoon.
The last time I shopped I had a detailed meal plan (including breakfasts and lunches - something I rarely do) and lost the menu right after shopping. Grrr. Apparently, I left my brain in the shopping cart too, because I couldn't recreate the menu. Consequently, I've been winging it again. So far I haven't done too badly, but it's almost time to shop again. Does anyone have a recipe that uses spaghetti sauce, cream of mushroom soup, green beans, and tortillas? Didn't think so...

Hey, have you got any tips on running afternoon chore time so that you
don't sound like a sargeant major?

Maybe I should practice what I'm about to preach, because I have the same problem. Having said that, let me encourage you to make sure there is some sort of reward for those who work diligently. Try setting a timer and give a glass of chocolate milk, a children's vitamin or a mop to whoever beats the timer.
Yes, with the proper tactics almost anything can be a reward. It's all in the sales pitch. I have been known to reward diligent workers with the privilege of mopping, washing baseboards, or organizing a cabinet. Shades of Tom Sawyer...they love it! I should mention that the baseboard bit rarely works on anyone over the age of 4.

I need examples of how to handle it all when it all happens at once. (I'm afraid I may have control-freak tendencies ;oP ).

That's when I start blogging in my head. I tell myself, "This will be funny later." Then I'm ready to laugh when it gets even worse, because you know it will.
I think God uses these moments to humble us, to remind us that we can't do it all. In fact, we can't do anything good without His help. Sometimes it's just easy to forget this when things are going smoothly. We want to take credit for the peace and order and beauty around us, so He jiggles our day a bit.

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Control freak - now you say, "Control freak, who."

Related posts:

1. Your burning questions answered
2. Your burning questions answered
3. Blog questions and answers
4. More of your questions answered
5. Big girl naps

Filed under: blogging and business