Jump to content

Menu
Giving You and Your Child a Road Map to the Best Possible Education
The Well-Trained Mind Community

17 kids!! Is this a new Hive record??

Moxie
 Share

Recommended Posts

cloversandlions

cloversandlions

Posted
Posted
I want some!

 

:( I could only have two ... and we "found" another, LOL. I always wanted eight though. *sigh*

 

Anna, I have child envy!

 

After my second dd was born, my ds kept asking for a brother. I told him that that wasn't going to have any more children, but if he found one, he could bring him home and keep him. :lol:

 

I still maintain that three is a lot of children, though...especially if you are very, very disorganized (and they are, too!). :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ChrissySC

ChrissySC

Posted
Posted
After my second dd was born, my ds kept asking for a brother. I told him that that wasn't going to have any more children, but if he found one, he could bring him home and keep him. :lol:

 

I still maintain that three is a lot of children, though...especially if you are very, very disorganized (and they are, too!). :)

 

 

I am not disorganized, but I don't have a house. The kids have a house. I keep hearing from them that they have room for more too. :lol:

 

 

I keep telling eveyrone that if they find one that they should call me ASAP! After we remodel, I may have to go look for another girl or two. I am hoping there will be five brothers and sisters that need a home. :) I have always wanted eight!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
5LittleMonkeys

5LittleMonkeys

Posted
Posted
I am hoping there will be five brothers and sisters that need a home. :) I have always wanted eight!

 

This reminds me of a lady I used to know who was trying to adopt. I know they had waited for a long, long time because she wanted only one, Caucasian and an infant. One day she got a call that they had siblings (they were African American\Caucasian) that they were trying desperately to place all together and that one of them was an infant (4 months). She assumed that they meant only two children. At first she said no but the lady in contact with her asked her to at least come take a look and meet them. She agreed to go to see them. She was extremely surprised to find out that there were 5, all girls, ranging from 4 months to a 9yo. She fell in love with them on the spot. Imagine going from none to 5 almost overnight!

 

Anyway, no real point...just wanted to share that you never know what's in store for you in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LittleIzumi

LittleIzumi

Posted
Posted
This reminds me of a lady I used to know who was trying to adopt. I know they had waited for a long, long time because she wanted only one, Caucasian and an infant. One day she got a call that they had siblings (they were African American\Caucasian) that they were trying desperately to place all together and that one of them was an infant (4 months). She assumed that they meant only two children. At first she said no but the lady in contact with her asked her to at least come take a look and meet them. She agreed to go to see them. She was extremely surprised to find out that there were 5, all girls, ranging from 4 months to a 9yo. She fell in love with them on the spot. Imagine going from none to 5 almost overnight!

 

Anyway, no real point...just wanted to share that you never know what's in store for you in the future.

 

We know some people who (through a combo of fertility treatment success & sibling adoption) went from 0 to 7 in about a year!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky

Posted
Posted

Oh yes, definitely envious here as well. I didn't realize I wanted a large family until it was too late and the docs said we had to stop.

 

One of my best friends' is cousin to the Duggers on TLC. I'm sure you get asked about them all the time, and I don't mean to bring them up AGAIN. ;) Just wanted to say that they are a neat bunch and I've always loved large families like yours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
catholicmommy

catholicmommy

Posted
Posted
I noticed her post earlier today and sat and counted how many dc she had. We have one of the largest families in our church and yet I would love to have more. i had my tubes tied after having our last and now wish I hadn't made such a rash decision.

 

That is heartening to hear... I have had seven kids in 10 years (youngest is 4 months old), and I just feel like I'm never going to want to get pregnant again... I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of managing ANOTHER toddler while trying to homecshool... one day I won't actually feel like this? I'm only 35 and probably have many years of fertility left. :001_huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
justamouse

justamouse

Posted
Posted

I love this. I love the fact that those of us with 6 and 7 are in awe because let's face it, everyone is normally astonished at us!

 

That is heartening to hear... I have had seven kids in 10 years (youngest is 4 months old), and I just feel like I'm never going to want to get pregnant again... I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of managing ANOTHER toddler while trying to homecshool... one day I won't actually feel like this? I'm only 35 and probably have many years of fertility left. :001_huh:

 

It will happen. Yours are small yet. My littlest hit 5 and I had the baby wants like crazy. I guess it's because they're older and doing so much for themselves, you finally get some breathing room and can spare the braincell to consider it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anna Marie

Anna Marie

Posted
Posted

The best advice I could give anyone (no matter the size of the family) is don't sweat the small stuff! (okay I know that's a cliche but seriously!)

 

There are many times something didn't go how i wanted, something didn't get done, someone's misbehaving, etc., etc.!

 

I've learned to just let some thing's go, thing's don't have to be perfect All that really matter's is that everyone's healthy & happy! (once again sorry for the cliche but it's true)

 

I have a list of all the Chores that need to be done, and everyday the kid's 6-13 have a contest of who can get the most done, the winner get's a prize (a variety of stuff!) The younger 3 have to clean the Play room, the know how to put a toy in bins! The older one's have assigned Chores. Laundry is our biggest issue, sometime's the kid's don't even get dressed and stay in their pj's and say "I'm saving some laundry :tongue_smilie:" During the summer they're basically always in their bathing suit's at least the younger-ish one's because they're in & out of the lake all day.

 

I start the Bedtime routine at 8:30 with the youngest 3, and then get the shower's ready for the other one's. But once they're 10 they're responsible for taking shower's by themselves (usually in the morning). For meals I just double/triple it to fit our family and we grill alot during the summer.

 

From the homeschooling aspect, we do MFW (K & Multi-Age Family Cycle) Life saver!! We do the Multi-Age Family Cycle in the Morning together, and everyone breaks after Lunch to do L.A & Math independently while I do K!

Then after Snack Time the older kid's help me check everyone's work!

 

 

Dh has 7 siblings, & I have 9. Each of our sibling's have at least 4 kid's, imagine our family reunion/party we have every year :D

 

The Duggar's are *always* brought up when we meet someone new.

Me: This is "insert everyone's names"

Someone: Oh you remind me of the Duggar's

Me thinking: Well no duh ;) :tongue_smilie:

 

My kid's say "That's so unfair we should be on tv" :D I personally wouldn't want to be on tv, That's just me.

 

And in our church we are the biggest family there, but there is a family with 15 children.But there are many large families (6/7), just not as large as mine ;)

 

On a side note, we saw the house (10 bedrooms) and we made an offer on the spot! (they have until tomorrow at 4pm to accept/decline/or counter offer it) to It's perfect!! If you don't mind praying that they accept it or make a counter offer that would be appreciated :D

 

Also if there's a specific question about something I didn't say you can ask, i was trying to keep this short because i have to go get the little's ready for bed! :001_smile:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Emmy

Emmy

Posted
Posted
This reminds me of a lady I used to know who was trying to adopt. I know they had waited for a long, long time because she wanted only one, Caucasian and an infant. One day she got a call that they had siblings (they were African American\Caucasian) that they were trying desperately to place all together and that one of them was an infant (4 months). She assumed that they meant only two children. At first she said no but the lady in contact with her asked her to at least come take a look and meet them. She agreed to go to see them. She was extremely surprised to find out that there were 5, all girls, ranging from 4 months to a 9yo. She fell in love with them on the spot. Imagine going from none to 5 almost overnight!

 

Anyway, no real point...just wanted to share that you never know what's in store for you in the future.

 

That's an awesome story. How neat!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Emmy

Emmy

Posted
Posted
The best advice I could give anyone (no matter the size of the family) is don't sweat the small stuff! (okay I know that's a cliche but seriously!)

 

There are many times something didn't go how i wanted, something didn't get done, someone's misbehaving, etc., etc.!

 

I've learned to just let some thing's go, thing's don't have to be perfect All that really matter's is that everyone's healthy & happy! (once again sorry for the cliche but it's true)

 

I have a list of all the Chores that need to be done, and everyday the kid's 6-13 have a contest of who can get the most done, the winner get's a prize (a variety of stuff!) The younger 3 have to clean the Play room, the know how to put a toy in bins! The older one's have assigned Chores. Laundry is our biggest issue, sometime's the kid's don't even get dressed and stay in their pj's and say "I'm saving some laundry :tongue_smilie:" During the summer they're basically always in their bathing suit's at least the younger-ish one's because they're in & out of the lake all day.

 

I start the Bedtime routine at 8:30 with the youngest 3, and then get the shower's ready for the other one's. But once they're 10 they're responsible for taking shower's by themselves (usually in the morning). For meals I just double/triple it to fit our family and we grill alot during the summer.

 

From the homeschooling aspect, we do MFW (K & Multi-Age Family Cycle) Life saver!! We do the Multi-Age Family Cycle in the Morning together, and everyone breaks after Lunch to do L.A & Math independently while I do K!

Then after Snack Time the older kid's help me check everyone's work!

 

 

Dh has 7 siblings, & I have 9. Each of our sibling's have at least 4 kid's, imagine our family reunion/party we have every year :D

 

The Duggar's are *always* brought up when we meet someone new.

Me: This is "insert everyone's names"

Someone: Oh you remind me of the Duggar's

Me thinking: Well no duh ;) :tongue_smilie:

 

My kid's say "That's so unfair we should be on tv" :D I personally wouldn't want to be on tv, That's just me.

 

And in our church we are the biggest family there, but there is a family with 15 children.But there are many large families (6/7), just not as large as mine ;)

 

On a side note, we saw the house (10 bedrooms) and we made an offer on the spot! (they have until tomorrow at 4pm to accept/decline/or counter offer it) to It's perfect!! If you don't mind praying that they accept it or make a counter offer that would be appreciated :D

 

Also if there's a specific question about something I didn't say you can ask, i was trying to keep this short because i have to go get the little's ready for bed! :001_smile:

 

great post, thank you! I love the part about the kids trying to see who can get the most done! Sometimes in the midst of day to day, I forget to make stuff fun...this is a really good idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anna Marie

Anna Marie

Posted
Posted
Anna Marie -

 

 

OK, I have a question: What do you do about bickering between siblings. We have 7 (3 girls 4 boys). My husband says I only give birth to "chiefs" and no "indians." :D

 

T

 

It really depends how bad it got,what they we're bickering about, etc. but there are a couple things

 

*Writing out "I will not bicker" (how many times depend's on their age & what they did)

*Get sent to a room for a certain amount of time to cool off

*Timeouts

*Things taken away (cell phones, laptop/computer time, tv,their favorite toy,etc.)

*A chore

*When they're older we would let them go ride their bikes I know not really a punishment, but it helped them clear their head's and calm down.

 

When they're done with their punishment, we sit them down together and they tell each other why they got mad, and how they can fix it next time. Then they hug and all is well :)

 

They've learned to work it out by themselves, and if someone's getting on their nerves then simply walk away and not add to it!

 

Hope that helped!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AngelBee

AngelBee

Posted
Posted
This reminds me of a lady I used to know who was trying to adopt. I know they had waited for a long, long time because she wanted only one, Caucasian and an infant. One day she got a call that they had siblings (they were African American\Caucasian) that they were trying desperately to place all together and that one of them was an infant (4 months). She assumed that they meant only two children. At first she said no but the lady in contact with her asked her to at least come take a look and meet them. She agreed to go to see them. She was extremely surprised to find out that there were 5, all girls, ranging from 4 months to a 9yo. She fell in love with them on the spot. Imagine going from none to 5 almost overnight!

 

Anyway, no real point...just wanted to share that you never know what's in store for you in the future.

Beautiful!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AngelBee

AngelBee

Posted
Posted
That is heartening to hear... I have had seven kids in 10 years (youngest is 4 months old), and I just feel like I'm never going to want to get pregnant again... I'm so overwhelmed at the thought of managing ANOTHER toddler while trying to homecshool... one day I won't actually feel like this? I'm only 35 and probably have many years of fertility left. :001_huh:

:grouphug: I also have 7 and am 33. We adopted a teen last year.

 

Toddlers are super difficult for me. :001_huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dolphin

Dolphin

Posted
Posted
Anna Marie -

 

 

OK, I have a question: What do you do about bickering between siblings. We have 7 (3 girls 4 boys). My husband says I only give birth to "chiefs" and no "indians." :D

 

T

 

 

Anna Maria has great ideas, and I only have 2. I read about this in a homeschool book and it is my new favorite bickering solution.

 

Couch time

 

As soon as I start to hear the bickering I say couch time. They have to go and sit on the couch and hold hands until they are ready to be friends and play nicely together. They can stay for 5 seconds or 5 hours, their choice:lol:. If it has lasted more than 10 minutes, I go in and remind them about good communication tools and then leave them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anna Marie

Anna Marie

Posted
Posted
:grouphug: I also have 7 and am 33. We adopted a teen last year.

 

Toddlers are super difficult for me. :001_huh:

 

They're the hardest for me too. Something to think about (if they're still taking naps) don't stop them, have them take long naps after lunch. Mine take 1-3 hour naps (shorter as they get older) in the afternoon until they are 4/5 years old.

Every 2 week's we go to the Thrift store, and I buy a couple new toys to keep them interested.

We have ton's off toys,coloring books,etc. that ishould keep them occupied but we all know it doesn't last too long :glare:

 

They participate in our extra science theme's (that i add onto MFW's science), they sometimes sit and listen and if it's an easier activity they participate in it. (unless they're causing a distraction)

 

But I'll admit they spend to much time watching tv, it's so simple to get caught up with what your doing, so you just put them in front of the tv.

Mind you a lot of them are educational though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Anna Marie

Anna Marie

Posted
Posted
Anna Maria has great ideas, and I only have 2. I read about this in a homeschool book and it is my new favorite bickering solution.

 

Couch time

 

As soon as I start to hear the bickering I say couch time. They have to go and sit on the couch and hold hands until they are ready to be friends and play nicely together. They can stay for 5 seconds or 5 hours, their choice:lol:. If it has lasted more than 10 minutes, I go in and remind them about good communication tools and then leave them again.

 

That is a great idea! It wouldn't work with my strong-willed children though, they'd be there for day's ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
cloversandlions

cloversandlions

Posted
Posted
You have not seen disorganized until you see me! :D And I have 7 so far! :lol:

 

:D Well, that's true 'nd all, but...trust me, it's a problem here, too! :lol:

 

DH's factory is closed, but I'd love to do foster care. That's pretty high on my list, actually...and as close as I'll get to having more. DH is hoping to find a job (or job transfer) to move us across country, so it's something I'll pursue once we're all settled. :001_smile: Makes me all happy just thinking about it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Carrie12345

Carrie12345

Posted
Posted

 

But I'll admit they spend to much time watching tv, it's so simple to get caught up with what your doing, so you just put them in front of the tv.

Mind you a lot of them are educational though!

 

I LOVE you for saying this.

My 4yo gets too much screen time. Mostly educational for sure, but still more than I would allow if, you know, we didn't have STUFF to get done!

 

Thank you for not pretending it's easy to be perfect. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...