I will work on adding in teaching each subject and children who don’t want to do their independent work, those are great ideas.

I hope that your other questions will be addressed in what we’ve already scheduled. If they aren’t please ask again. (Remember, I’m expecting our 10th- MAJOR case of ‘mommy brain’!!)

Thank you for helping us with topics!

I have never had any help from friends, family etc, and I prefer it that way. Hired help is out of the question as we couldn’t possibly afford it, even if we wanted it! You need to be organized, but you also need to be flexible, because nothing ever goes as planned! Have faith, God will always be there to give you the strength you need to get through it.

So do you think that Apologia is good for large families? We are thinking about going to that next year.

Warmly,
Tina

I’d love to see how everyone handles toy and clothing storage (out of season and between kids). We only have 4, working on our first adoption, and my house already feels stuffed!

Here are some of my quick answers.

My house was actually cleaner when I just had a few kids because we lived in a smaller house and I did all the cleaning. Now with the kids doing much of the cleaning, everything is just a little dirtier.

Sandwiches or breakfast for dinner? We didn’t know there was any other possibility. That is not much of an exaggeration either.

I was always exhausted!!! When we post about this I’ll post one of my actual schedules from back then.

I was like you and did not have help. It got much, much easier when our oldest turned 5 and we had our fifth and has continued to get easier ever since. (well maybe not easier, but different.)

Our school day looked much the same then as it does now. During school I do not have the big kids help with the little kids. The big kids are busy doing their own school work and the school day is a great time for me to be plugged in to ALL of my children. By the time my oldest was school age she was able to make lunch and I still have my little kids (5 and 6 year olds) make lunch most days. So if you go back to my posts about homeschooling multi-levels you should get a good idea of what our school looked like when we had all littles.

My situation is a bit different than yours but it had to do with anxiety and was DURING the pregnancy. (It ended as soon as I gave birth, weird.) Anyway, I too was told to expect it to get worse. I had it with baby number 4, it was worse with baby number 5 and then only slightly with baby number 6. I’ve not had any problems since then.
I say that just to remind you that God is in control and will give you exactly what you need to get through everything that He calls you to. He also has the power to take that away if He wills.

Trust me, I KNOW it’s hard. During that time was the first time I really realized the joy of heaven and being able to be past all the sin and misery in this life. I think that the Lord had me struggle through those times so that I would be able to understand and help others who have those struggles.

Blessings to you and your family.

In the meantime here are some thoughts from someone who’s been through it before. One thing that I think I’ve realized as I’ve grown older is that sleep isn’t as important as I thought it was. I know that may not be what you want to hear, but honestly it gets a lot easier and you become accustomed to interrupted sleep.

I’ve also learned to enjoy that time when I’m up with my babies at night. Again it may just be age or an attitude shift, but it is easier to enjoy it now than it was.

On the practical side, starting with baby number 4 I’ve co-slept with our babies. This enables both the baby and me to get a lot more sleep and this is important when you have little ones that will be up during the day whether I got to sleep at night or not. That was one of the biggest factors for us. We’ve not had any sleep issues since I started doing that.

I do think that this would be a great topic to tackle, so stick around.

I would really love if each of you could dig deep into your psyches and try to remember what it was like when you had just three kids. How messy was your house really, when you had no hands big enough to really help you clean? How many times did you and hubby have sandwiches for dinner because after chasing three toddlers there was no time for cooking? How was it really when you started homeschooling your first and second child with other younguns underfoot? How many hours a day did you spend cleaning, doing laundry, and actually sleeping?

I ask this because, as helpful as advice is from mothers of many, I find myself unable to use so many of their suggestions. I have no older siblings to take care of the youngers, make a sandwich for lunch, or mop the floor for a chore. And I wonder if my level of clean, and the amount of sleep I get is normal for my circumstances. Certainly when my oldest is older I can use him for much, but what do I do in the meantime!? Did you all have hired help? Did you have aunts, cousins, sisters, or moms who were tickled to play with the kids or helpful around the house? What did you do if you were like me and you have none of that?

Thanks for asking, and for being willing to open your homes up to us.

I had a question though… I have two children, my youngest is 4 months old. I got mild post-partum depression with my first, and this one it’s pretty bad… and I hear it gets worse with each child. I can hardly function right now, I’m afraid for my family if it gets any worse… did any of you struggle with PPD? How did you deal with it (or overcome it)? How did your families function while you couldn’t? I would love to have more children, I’m just scared to death that I will get hit with it again and worse.

-NJ

Can’t wait to see all the posts. As a mom of ten myself, I am always looking for ways to improve things around here!! Looking forward to meeting all the other moms.

Have a wonderful day!
Rachelle (mama to 10 blessings so far!)