Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines

Mom to 12 | Mission family in MO | Diapers, deadlines & real mom life (mess included) | Practical productivity for busy mamas

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

Re-intro time! 👋

I’ve been a bit quiet on here over the past couple of years (life with 12 kids will do that 😆), but now that I’m subscribing to X and getting verified, I thought it was a great time to say hello again.

I’m Lisa - a homeschooling mom of 12 (though two are now adults!) and a freelance writer and virtual assistant.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

@HannahWardEdu This is our current read aloud!

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

One of my teens bought a CD burner after our neighbor gave the family a huge new thing of CD-Rs, so now the kids are having fun burning cds from our iTunes collection to listen to on their bedroom CD players 😁

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

How would you sell electric fans to cheerleaders? Or frisbees to veterinarians?

Put your selling skills to the test with the game Pitch It!

This one has been on our shelves for a while, and we pulled it out today and had such a fun time playing! It’s perfect for a wide variety of ages (my 11, 13, 16, and 17 year old played with me!)

It was a joy to listen to the kids come up with their product ideas and present them, trying to convince the other players to vote for them.

You win by earning $5 million.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

Busses are so crazy! I used to be frustrated in school that the driver didn’t pay better attention to what was happening, but then years later we drove a short bus for our family vehicle for a few years and I then felt bad for being mad at the drivers - they literally cannot focus on both a bus full of kids and the road. But the lack of supervision causes a ton of problems. And I’m very thankful we’ve been able to homeschool and my kids don’t have to deal with it.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

We had a “bedtime tea” party tonight and I broke out all my fancy China, and we had chamomile tea and just sat around visiting for a while before we counted our blessings together and moved into normal bedtime routines. It was lovely!

Sometimes, slowing down is the best thing we can do.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

We do three gifts - a gold (something they really earn) a silver (something to encourage them to spend time together - usually a board game or puzzle or something), and a red (something to encourage them to spend more time with Jesus - a new Bible or Bible case, a devotional book, etc.)

It’s all most of our kids have ever known, and it has simplified Christmas so much so we can focus on what actually matters.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

@venturetwins I must shop for kids…

Ninjago, Ninjago, Ninjago, Minecraft, and puzzles…

Definitely “systematically expanding” our LEGO collection 😂

Thanks for sharing about this feature, I had no idea it existed

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

We’ve had 35 people over before, which when added to our family of 14 makes for a pretty big gathering! It was over 25 kids and the rest adults.

We use paper plates, sit any where inside or out (as opposed to trying to do enough tables and chairs). Taco bar is my go to meal for a crowd.

For this size of gathering, I made 10 pounds of ground beef with taco seasoning (then put it in a crockpot to stay warm), and 10 pounds of chicken that I cooked in the instant pot and then taco seasoned and shredded and left in instant pot (after draining) to stay warm. Also did a large pot of pinto beans. I diced tomatoes and onions, shredded lettuce, and then set out tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, cheese sauce, and shredded cheese. I sometimes add a pot of Spanish rice if I’m worried about the amount of food.

A couple of my kids make dessert - usually we have supplies on hand for a key lime coconut bar and brownies.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

We’ve done taco bars, with multiple protein options (we often host a few with alpha gal), a sandwich bar with individual bags of chips and cookies, and mini pizzas (we have the dough par baked and then everyone takes turns topping them and we bake 5-6 at a time). We usually have salad as a side for that, and several pans of brownies for dessert. Soups can work too - especially if you have multiple options and homemade bread to go with it!

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

@bebookled I’d mix up a couple batches of quick pizza dough, and turn it into pepperoni rolls. We’d enjoy it with corn (cooked from frozen), baby carrots with ranch, and no bake cookies!

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

A sandbox was one of the best investments in our backyard that we’ve made.

The younger kids spend hours out here every week, and the sensory play is so calming for them.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

We spent the evening in the kitchen with strawberries and steam and sticky spoons.

My eleven-year-old stood beside me, cloth in hand, wiping the tops of each jar I filled with strawberry jam.

Earlier during the process, she asked how to tell when the jam was boiling a rolling boil, whether the lids would really pop, and if she could spread the foam on toast after we got done like I used to do with my mom. She did, and she loved it!

These are the so-called old skills: boiling water baths, pectin and patience, knowing when fruit is ready and when a jar has sealed. They allow us to turn a bumper crop (or in my case a sale at the fruit stand) into a delicious breakfast for later.

Filling the pantry is also school. Measuring, timing, following a process, cleaning as you work, putting food by for a season you cannot yet see. It’s learning without the workbook…

Just fruit, sugar, heat, a child who wants to help, and the quiet lesson that competence is something you pass from one generation to the next.

One day she may can peaches with her own kids. Or she may just open a jar in winter and remember the evening the kitchen was warm and the strawberries were everywhere.

That is reason enough to keep the skill alive.

If you have a child, a niece, a neighbor kid, or even just a friend who has never heard a lid ping as it seals—invite them to join you in putting up some food.

What are you canning this fall?

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

I have an annual meal plan (the kids help me make it each summer when we aren’t homeschooling). My middles and bigs (age 6-18) each have a “day” of the week. They pick what breakfast and lunch will be on that day and then we eat those meals on that day all year.

They also pick a theme for dinner and we work together to select 5 meals for that theme (balancing for budget and health) and we do dinner on a rotation (so for instance each Friday is our international day this year, so we have one of those five meals we picked on each Friday and then start over after the last.)

This post explains better: https://t.co/UFaCxy30Ci

On their day, I also do 1:1 time with that child, and they get other privileges (like extra screen time and picking where they sit if we go somewhere…) this way I don’t have to keep track of whose turn it is or anything.

I also do an annual chore chart and have the family divided into “crews” for table chores. The breakfast crew cleans the kitchen and dining room after breakfast, and then don’t have to help with those chores at lunch and dinner. I have crews for each meal.

They have afternoon chores based on a room each weekday (so on Monday we all tackle one extra cleaning task in the kitchen and on Tuesday the living/dining room, etc.)

We do a 15 minute cleanup with our afternoon chores so as soon as their extra chore is done they start in on a general cleanup. With so many of us working, we can keep the whole house pretty tidy with just this work period. Occasionally we have a really messy homeschool project or something and we do an extra few minutes of cleaning as needed.

We have a central laundry room where all the children’s clothing is kept along with our washer and dryer. It’s so much simpler to put things away and the toddlers are no longer emptying drawers out throughout the day, which has been a big time saver!
I try to do 4-5 loads a day, and always fold and put away right away so it doesn’t become a mountain of clothes to deal with.

My best piece of advice is to find what works for you and do it, even if it’s unconventional. Experiment and then actually do the work. There’s no magic wand or plan or system that makes the work go away - just things that make it easier or more streamlined.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

My teen taught herself the written language on Ninjago and now pauses the show to translate for us.

The “gibberish” on screen is real words, that make sense contextually- when you know how to read them.

Homeschool doesn’t always look like a workbook. Sometimes it looks like a kid who cared enough to crack a cartoon code.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

@BeckyTheChicken I only did them after my first - I found them annoying.

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

I just ordered math and language arts materials for the upcoming school year!

This year, my children are in the following grades:

- Preschool
- Kindergarten
- 2nd grade
- 4th grade
- 6th grade
- 9th grade
- 12th grade

We are almost all looking forward to starting school and getting back into a more normal routine!

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

My children have all made their selections, and here are our unit studies for the year:

- August - National Parks
- September - The Water Cycle
- October - Daniel Boone and other “Trailblazers”
- November- Animals
- December - The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
- January - Ancient Rome
- February- Map making/cartography
- March - Dr. Seuss
- April - the Amish

It’s a nice mix of topics, so it should be an interesting year!

Now I get to start planning resources, activities, and potential field trips for each!

[Lisa Tanner - Balancing Diapers and Deadlines @LisaTannerWrite]

@homemakinghunny Sounds delicious! We’ll definitely give this a try on our crockpot day.