Excluding category from home page screws up post count

I’m excluding a category from my home page, but it’s screwing up the post count for the home page. My home page (idratherbewriting.com) is supposed to show at least 10 posts. However, if 4 of my recent posts are in my hidden category, the home page only shows 6 recent posts. How do exclude a category from my home page without having that excluded category’s posts count towards the specific number of posts to show on the home page?