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Full House
Meet Doug and Camille Johnson. They have a family of ten—and they wouldn't want it any other way.
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Doug Age: 41
Occupation: design director
Camille Age: 40
Occupation: homeschooling mom
Married: 18 years
CPT: Let's do a quick role call. What are your kids' names and ages?
Camille: Noah is 15, Chloe is 13, Zephan is 12, Noelle is 10, Micah is 8, Jessie is 6, Gabrielle is 3, and Danielle just turned 1.
CPT: Whew! You must be pretty flexible to be able to deal with a 15–year–old and a 1–year–old.
Doug: That's what makes it fun!
Camille: I don't find it hard to switch gears between soothing a baby and having a heart–to–heart with a teenager. The diversity makes things much more interesting.
CPT: What does your typical day look like?
Camille: We have an informal breakfast and then homeschool starts at 9 a.m. I have about 45 minutes of individual time with each child before lunchtime. After lunch we do planned activities that everyone can do together in groups. We go until 3:30 p.m. It's a long school day because there are so many kids. The kids play with their neighborhood friends in the afternoon and then dinner is at 7 p.m. After dinner and family devotions, it's time to start transitioning people to bedtime.
CPT: How do your kids feel about being part of a large family?
Camille: They like all the attention we get when we go places—people come and talk to us. And they enjoy always having others to play with. I haven't heard anyone say, "Oh, I wish I was an only child." They're actually kind of proud of having so many brothers and sisters.
CPT: What do you love about it?
Doug: I love seeing how unique each person is. Even the youngest is an important part of our personality as a group. Believe it or not, if just one person is absent, we feel it. We enjoy all the different personalities God has put in our family—it's the ultimate act of creativity!
CPT: Do you have any unique house rules that help your home run smoothly?
Camille: Our main one is formal table manners. We make everyone wait until everyone else is served before we start eating. Otherwise, the first ones served would already be finished by the time the last ones were getting their food! We'd be running back and forth the whole time getting seconds and thirds. Plus, Dad serves all the plates so there's not the chaos of people grabbing. The other thing we've had to do is train everyone to be ready to go on time. When I say, "Everyone get your shoes and your coats on, we're leaving," I don't want it to take 30 minutes. Losing shoes can be a big problem; there are just so many pairs! So we have a closet where everyone has to keep his or her shoes. Once I took my two–year–old to the doctor with just one shoe on. We couldn't find the other one and we needed to leave, so off we went.
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