Camping with my large family

So, just got back from a week long camping trip to sunny (and rainy) Florida. It had been awhile since we tent camped for so long. I researched lots on Pinterest ahead of time, but some of  our best realizations were brought about out of necessity and happenstance as most brilliant discoveries are. I will share a few of them here. Oh, and anything that serves a dual purpose,  especially on a road/camping trip is even more awesome so far as I am concerned.

1. Road trip moment of brilliance.  Tin foil: don't leave home without it.
Those tin foil skills gained working at a popular steak house years ago come in to play as a mom. To save money,  I buy the larger chicken nugget pack at the drive through and divide it among 3 or 4 children.  Then,  whip out the foil and wha-lah, instant travel food pouch. I'm still impressed with myself over this one! So many uses...chips, fries, cereal.  Road trip success.

2. Labeling drinks. Awhile back I got one of those big packs of juice drinks at Aldi with the intention of reusing the bottles. They are a great size! I usually use them when we go to homeschool co-op once a week and it isn't a big deal if they're labeled. On our trip however, I thought it'd be nice. So, I first wrapped duct tape around a clean, empty bottle. Then after writing names with a sharpie and adding whatever stickers, I wrapped them again in packaging tape. Now if I could just get them to stop losing the lids!

3. Dixie cups. Those 5oz. kitchen size. For at the campground I brought dixie cups. Little did I realize how great a choice this was until we got to using them.This is where that whole dual purpose thing comes in to play. Not only do they reduce the amount of dirty dishes needing washed, but being that they are basically wax coated paper, they make excellent fire starters too!

4. Last one for now. Tent lights. I found these at Harbor Freight as a sort of last minute purchase. They were perfect. No need to buy batteries either. They lit up each room of the tent fairly well, have the ability to be a flashlight, come with hooks that fold in for hanging, and even have magnets to store them on the fridge at home and not lose them. At just under $4 each, I might just have to go back for more!

We really enjoýed our week at Tomoka State Park! Here is a picture of our site all setup.  

Large Family Homeschool Lesson Planning

Lesson planning for a larger than average size family can be a bit tricky.  I mean, I could make up a separate planning page for each child, but that is a bit much for me.  I like to be able to at one glance see what will need done for the week.  I have found a serious lacking of planners for 3+ students (free and fee).  So, today I learned how to insert a table on a word doc. and made my own.  We do some subjects together and some not.  I even have a place to jot down ideas to keep the little ones busy.  Hopefully come August this will do the trick for us.  I only plan out a week or 2 at a time because I have learned that is I plan more than that ahead, when life happens (and it will), the whole thing needs reworked.  

No more paper towels in the house

Awhile ago now we stopped using paper towels in the house.  I still use them in the van for when we're out and about, but for inside we have switched to cloth.  I looked at all the options online.  There are tutorials out there for sewing your own "unpaper towels", and for making your own special towel holders.  Some even use snaps that connect together and wind around a wooden paper towel holder.  Those are all nice, pretty options, but (especially the snapping ones) seemed a lot of work and could easily turn into quite the project that could be procrastinated upon.  I am fairly good at procrastination :)  I needed inexpensive and practical.  Don't we all?  Well I was at Menard's and came upon a plastic grocery bag dispenser thing that was perfect and only about $6 too!  I have it hung on the side of my refrigerator with those sticky mounting tab things.  As for the towels, I collected quite a few nice ones at the local thrift stores for about  $.40 to $.60 each.  I just stuff them in the top, pull one out when needed and toss them in the hamper when used.  I have a big enough collection that we usually have a few ready to go when needed.  It is a pretty simple, easily workable solution for our family.  Now if a toddler or preschooler gets into the "paper towels" there isn't a roll needing rewound and/or tossed.

What is being eclectic?

ec·lec·tic  

Adjective Deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Noun A person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

I would think then that being eclectic would lend itself rather well to a learning lifestyle.  Eclectic is more than a homeschooling method, it is a lifestyle of gathering new ideas, information and experiences from a diverse range of sources.  It is more than how we learn, it is how we live.