Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 22 of 2021

The Renaissance, the library, and an outing that didn’t go as planned (including hitting a deer) made this week rather exciting!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts HERE >>

MONDAY

It’s a rainy day here. Yesterday, we saw a bobcat by the creek – not expecting that today with all the rain.

I had peanut butter and banana toast and coffee for breakfast. I use a caramel protein shake in my coffee as creamer – so good!

After breakfast, I prepped for school this week. We are starting a new unit tomorrow in Tapestry of Grace on the Renaissance! It is several weeks long and full of art lessons!

READ >> How We Use Tapestry of Grace

I woke up everyone who wasn’t already up. They got dressed, ate breakfast, and did their chores.

READ >> A Simple Morning Chore Routine for Homeschool Families

For Morning Time, we did GrapeVine (read my review HERE), Sound Words, and used our Impressionism for Children book to do a quick art study. It just happened to be Van Gogh’s Roses which are white and led perfectly into the War of the Roses we are studying today!

We read in Story of the World and Our Island Story about the War of the Roses and followed the family tree included in Tapestry of Grace. Then, we discussed our upcoming Medieval Feast. The last time we did this, the kids were so much younger! You can see that old post HERE >>

Then, we moved to the living room and read in The Fallacy Detective and The Way of the Wilderking.

By that time, it was close to lunch time, so I gave kids the choice of eating lunch first or doing school first. Lunch is pretty low key around here since we almost always have soup, salad, or sandwiches (or leftovers).

READ >> Making Homeschool Lunch Easy

If you’ve been reading these weekly posts, you know that we took a bit of a break from Teaching Textbooks math mainly because I had not been diligent about drilling math facts and checking their lessons. For the past several weeks since they finished their last grades of Teaching Textbooks, I’ve had the boys work on those facts via Khan and Math Seeds (a part of the Reading Eggs app). They took placement tests today for Teaching Textbooks, and it is clear they are more than ready for the next levels of their math! Yay!

After lunch, I did Tapestry of Grace Primer with the younger 3 kids. Aspen (6) was super excited about the Bible stories and activity pages!

Then, I taught my 16 year old how to write an essay. We used the myth of Hades and Persephone to draw out 3 points and write a 5 paragraph essay using those points. She caught on quickly, but wasn’t very patient with the actual editing process. She likes to “knock things out” (her words) and the whole rough draft to final draft concept wasn’t something she was happy about. Unfortunately, it’s just part of it, dearie.

Later in the afternoon, I worked on show notes for Podcast #104 – Large Family Meal Planning Basics.

Then, I answered a few emails and worked on a new Table Chore chart for the month while the 16 year old made Mac and Cheese Soup for dinner.

That night, I read more in The Way of the Wilderking because the kids are enjoying it so much.

TUESDAY

Went to WW this morning and then came home to start school. We always start a little late on Tuesdays because of my meeting.

Morning Time was GrapeVine, Sound Words, and Charlotte Mason Fine Arts study on the Renaissance.

I recently wrote a review of the Charlotte Mason High School Fine Arts class here on the blog. It is another FANTASTIC class from Music in Our Homeschool.

You might notice we do all of her classes during Morning Time, and this one is no exception. Even though it is listed as a High School Fine Arts class, it is totally doable for a younger crowd and fits perfectly into our Morning Time.

READ >> Charlotte Mason High School Fine Arts Review

We also read in The World of Columbus and Sons and marked major art and music cities of the Italian Renaissance on a map from Tapestry of Grace. We rounded out Morning Time with The Fallacy Detective and The Way of the Wilderking.

After lunch, I chatted on the phone with a Teaching Textbooks representative about an upcoming promotion (including a giveaway!) I’ll be doing for them here on the blog. And then, I read through my 16 year old’s second essay. There were very few edits this time, so she is definitely catching on. And even though she has no plans to attend college, I still educate her as if she will be attending college.

We have chosen to give all of our children a college prep education, not because we believe college is the be all end all, but because we believe they deserve a well-rounded education.

READ >> Preparing Your Child for College {even if they don’t go}

I introduced the new month’s Table Chores to the kids. It’s always a little rough in the beginning, but eventually it smooths out until the next month.

Keian (15) made Crispy Oven Pork Chops and Caesar Salad for dinner. After dinner, Meg (20) and I repotted a couple of plants and planted some choke cherry seeds my husband salvaged from a bush last summer. Ty is hoping to transplant them near our mountain cabin this summer. I’m hoping we can get them started properly!

The evening was nice, so the kids played Capture the Flag in the backyard while Megan made No Bake cookies for Keian’s Special Night tonight. He’s also having a Brazilian limeade – a specialty of his 16 year old sister’s.

I took some time to thumb through some books I got at the library – one on decorating and another on paper quilling – an art I learned while we were doing The Homeschool Garden Morning Time Lessons. (click the graphic below for a FREE 2 week trial!)

WEDNESDAY

I had breakfast and coffee on the deck this morning – so lovely! The little girls joined me and ended up playing in the morning dew, making footprints and handprints all over the deck.

Morning Time was Sound Words, GrapeVine, and Charlotte Mason Fine Arts (today we learned about Shakespeare’s sonnets).

Then, we did a lesson in Color Theory using the information included in Tapestry of Grace. They kids really enjoyed the lesson!

We also studied Giotto’s frescoes using the Art Appreciation questions from the Charlotte Mason Fine Arts class. This worksheet has been super useful in our art studies!

We ended the morning with The Fallacy Detective and The Way of the Wilderking (as usual!).

After lunch, I met with the older kids (15 & 16) in my bedroom for a more in-depth discussion on humanism during the Renaissance. Some of the conversation would have been inappropriate for our little kids, so it was best reserved for a private discussion. These things are important to discuss, and integral to raising “arrows” who are going to be shot out into this messy world.

LISTEN >> Homeschool to College: How to Transition Your Teen

I set up Teaching Textbooks Math 5 & 7 for 2 of my boys. They chose their “math buddies” and are quite excited to back to Teaching Textbooks after a short break. I put the apps on the school computer and the iPad so that they have a couple of different devices to choose from during school hours.

The little girls did some Reading Eggs, and then I took the 3 little boys to run errands with me. We went to the Post Office, the Library, and the Farmer’s Market where I bought homegrown strawberries – something I haven’t had since I was kid when I would pick them from my mother’s garden.

The boys picked out several books at the library and spent the rest of the day reading. (Proud homeschool mom moment!)

Melia (16) made Beef & Homemade Noodles for dinner and then she and her brother headed to Youth Group. Our church’s youth group is very focused and committed to Christ, so I feel comfortable with them going.

Tonight, I finished Season 4 of The Crown and then let the little girls watch cartoons for a bit. I also cleaned up the kitchen and ordered a new printer!

You know you’re a homeschool mom when you are super excited about buying a printer! In fact, I can hardly wait until it arrives. I purchased an Epson EcoTank after hearing rave reviews from other homeschool moms.

It wasn’t cheap (and do shop around because you can find deals sometimes), but my printer is on its last leg, and I wanted something that could print color beautifully and keep up with all the printing I do in our homeschool.

Before bed, I sent my big kids this meme:

One fun thing about having big kids is the group text we share. Sometimes we send news articles back and forth, sometimes it is just a “Hello and I love you!” It’s just a great way to connect with all of them.

THURSDAY

Ate breakfast on the deck again, then pulled weeds by the mailbox. I’m still trying to decide what to do about landscaping in the yard.

I came in and tidied up the kitchen and put away recipes in my recipe binder. I had kept out a bunch of printed recipes thinking I would make them soon, but after weeks of those recipes laying on the counter, I can tell “soon” is definitely not right now. So, I’ll file them away for another day.

READ >> How to Organize Your Recipes in a Recipe Notebook

When the boys woke up this morning, they went straight to reading their library books. At the rate they are going, we’ll need to make another trip to the library soon!

I announced to the kids that today is da Vinci Day! We will be studying all things da Vinci, but first, a GrapeVine Bible lesson!

We started our da Vinci lessons with a Techie Homeschool Mom Online Unit Study. I recently got the Famous Artist (volume 1) and it included a section on da Vinci. We are not doing the art gallery part of this study, but the rest of it was well worth the cost.

We studied da Vinci’s paintings using the Art Appreciation worksheet from the Charlotte Mason Fine Arts class I mentioned earlier, then we studied the Mona Lisa. We even learned about how the Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911!

Part of the Techie Homeschool Mom class was a parody on the Mona Lisa, so when we did our Chalk Pastel lesson from Nana at You ARE an Artist, some of the kids made their Mona Lisa a parody on the original.

Here are some of their paintings:

I have a Clubhouse membership to You ARE an Artist because I like to have access to EVERYTHING Nana produces (by the way, Nana really is the grandmother to a group of homeschooled kids, and my kids love her dearly!). That way, if we are studying an artist or a country or a topic, I can do a chalk lesson that corresponds (and trust me, there’s a good chance Nana has done a lesson on something that corresponds!). Chalk pastels are a great medium for all ages and have been a wonderful addition to our Morning Time.

After looking over my calendar for the day, I realized I had forgotten Melia’s dermatology appointment yesterday. I called and rescheduled. I seriously hate when I do that!

After the 3 older kids left for work at the Bee Farm, I did Tapestry of Grace Primer and The Peaceful Press Mountain Guide with with the 3 littles. We learned about Abraham and Sarah in Primer and the Alps in the Mountain Guide.

Learn more about Primer HERE >>

Learn more about Mountain Guide HERE >>

FRIDAY

I had plans with a friend, so I left the 16 year old in charge of Friday house cleaning chores. But, on our way to the city, we ran into a deer. Her car was ok to drive back to her house, so we left it there and decided to stay in town and shop and have lunch. But then, I got a text that Mercy (4) was throwing up, so my friend and I decided today was NOT the day we were supposed to do anything together!

Mercy was pretty puny for about 5 hours and then jumped up off the couch and resumed normal 4 year old activities. Weird.

The kids played computer games after their chores were finished. Today was the last day of our 3 month free trial of Apple Arcade that came with my new computer, so they were all scrambling to play the games on there before I cancel the subscription.

The older kids went to work at the apiary for the afternoon and ended up eating pizza with the other workers. The rest of us just ate leftovers and sandwiches.

I worked on a review of the Charlotte Mason High School Fine Arts class and cleaned up my email.

One email in particular caught my eye. It was from Mystie at Simply Convivial. She has a new session beginning entitled Simplified Pantry, and it looks really great, so I decided to join in!

The first lesson was on Decluttering Your Pantry, so I listened to the short lesson and then set about decluttering my pantries. I’ll work on the other projects throughout the week, including updating my Master Weekly Grocery List. (You can join me by clicking HERE.)

And that, my friends, was the ending of quite a week!