Large Family Homeschool Life – 3.1.21 – 3.5.21

The Byzantine Empire, new family recipes, a new laptop, and family tree discoveries were highlights of this week’s Large Family Homeschool Life!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts HERE.

MONDAY

Ty worked all weekend, so we had a slow morning together before he headed back to work. When he works weekends like this, it sure makes for a long week and I’m always mixed up on what day it is!

For Morning Time, I introduced the kids to Emperor Justinian, and we studied the Hagia Sophia (one of my favorite buildings!). We watched this short video overview:

We also started The Secret of the Swamp King – the second book in the Wilderking Trilogy.

After school, I called our 23 year old son to ask his advice about a new laptop. The “T” key on my 2015 model MacBook Pro is getting persnickety. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Not great for writing emails and blog posts!

After a long talk and lots of links and mulling over specs, I decided to stick with Apple and buy a new MacBook Pro. My choice really came down to my “workflow” – or how I use my computer. I often use the screen mirroring for school, and I airdrop photos for the blog a lot. Plus, I really like being able to answer my texts from my computer since I honestly hate texting. So, I’m sticking with what I’m used to.

During the afternoon hours, the boys headed to the woods to work on their fort. More and more neighbor kids have discovered just how fun it is to play back there, so the boys are concerned someone will find their fort. They spent a lot of their time trying to conceal it better.

Melia (16) sat on the deck to read in the sunshine, and I helped the little girls with their dune buggy. That ended up being quite a chore!

First, I pulled it out of the garage and let them putter around the cul-de-sac, then I decided it would be nice for them to be able to drive it in the backyard, so I had Aspen head toward the gate, but she managed to run over my foot in the process!

Then I nearly threw my back out getting the big, heavy gate opened, so she could drive through – at top speed – down a hill!

After a couple of rounds around the backyard, her battery ran out, so I decided I’d change it out. I pinched my finger trying to the get the battery out, and right about that time, Ty called…and yes, I answered the phone. (why do I do that?!)

I was completely unable to mask the pain in my voice, but he couldn’t stop to comfort me because he needed me to send a photo of my military ID so he could pick up a prescription for me.

So, whilst still in pain, I ran upstairs, took a photo of my ID and texted it to him and then went back down to the backyard to try to replace the battery, only to find my 16 year old had EASILY done it for me.

Guess I should have asked her first!

After I recovered, Ty and I went for a walk on post and then picked up Chicago style pizza and Crab Rangoon pizza (yes, it’s good!) from a local pizza shop that has a military discount on Mondays.

That evening, Melia and I sat down and made another yarn gnome from the leftover yarn my mom bought when we made one for her.

We also had a friend from “back home” bring a load of pork we had purchased. We bought ham (for Easter!), pork chops, sausage, and bacon – all grass fed and nitrate free! Yum!

We talked LATE into the night and ended up offering our friend our guest bedroom so he didn’t have to drive any further. He gladly took us up on the offer. I am so thankful I had the guest bed ready!

TUESDAY

Our overnight guest left before anyone was awake so he could continue dropping off pork orders. It was so nice to see him again!

For Morning Time, we did a lesson in Stories of the Resurrection. I am really enjoying these lessons! So meaty and interesting!

Our hymn study for the week is A Mighty Fortress. These lessons are so neat! There are several versions of the hymn to listen to, the story of the hymn, a singing lesson, a devotional, coloring pages, and copywork (which we don’t do). It is a full week of material!

We also learned about Pope Gregory and tried our hand at calligraphy using the traceable downloads found HERE.

For lunch, I made myself a Sweetie on Steroids from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook. It’s a sweet potato with lots of goodies mixed in, and I love it!

Now, I’m not really eating THM style as evidenced by the fact that I made a Shoofly Pie for dessert!

I had never made a Shoofly Pie before, and wanted to taste it. I can’t say I loved it, but the kids gobbled it up.

During the afternoon, I worked on Ancestry.com family trees and a grocery list. I also walked around the neighborhood to get my exercise in.

For dinner, the kids made soup and Ty and I took Miss Mercy out for her Special Night. She wanted beans and root beer from a local Mexican restaurant. She ate the entire plate of beans!

That night, the big kids and I finished Bleak House on BritBox. I’m kind of sad to be finished with it. We had some fun memories watching it together!

I also finished Stepping Heavenward during my bath that night. Such a good book!

Here is one of my favorite quotes from the book:

Now I am sure if you could once make up your mind in the fear of God never to undertake more work of any sort than you can carry on calmly, quietly, without hurry or flurry, and the instant you find yourself nervous and like one out of breath, would stop and take breath, you would find this simple, commonsense rule doing for you what no prayers or tears could ever accomplish.

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss

Can you imagine if we as moms would follow this advice from Kate’s husband? We should all be aware enough to SLOW DOWN before we reach the point where our words, actions, and attitudes become ugly to those in our care!

WEDNESDAY

This morning, I made myself cottage cheese pancakes – they were surprisingly delicious! I smothered them in frozen fruit I warmed in the microwave.

While the kids ate breakfast and did their Morning Chores, I put away the little girls’ laundry. Melia (16) does all the girls’ laundry, but since the little girls’ clothes are stored in my room, she folds them all and puts them in a laundry basket and puts the basket on my bed so I can put them away. I should probably show her where they all go, but I really don’t mind putting the clothes away, so I’ve never bothered.

During Morning Time, we did a lesson on John the Baptist in GrapeVine, more in our hymn lessons, read in Story of Europe (a new book we are really enjoying!), and The Secret of the Swamp King.

Late morning, I took Mercy to the Optical Shop at the PX (post exchange – a shopping center on military installations). They are having a special that helps us reduce the cost of getting her super high prescription glasses. We decided on a pair of tortoise-shell glasses that make her look so much older, but we only have so many options because of her prescription. It will be a couple of weeks before they come in, so I’ll post a photo then!

We headed home and I ate a quick salad and took Melia to her dermatology appointment. Ty was able to come home and sit with the younger kids, so I also took her for a 30 minute driving lesson and then to grab groceries at Aldi on our way home.

While at Aldi, I heard a large family question/comment I’ve never heard before…

“Are you shopping for a Food Bank?”

Ha! Nope! This is for my family…for ONE week! He was pretty shocked!

That evening, Ty and I took a 3 mile walk before dinner – it was cold and windy, so I didn’t really enjoy it!

I spent the rest of the evening setting up my new MacBook and helping Ty with some more family tree stuff. It’s been fun (and interesting!) working on this with him.

THURSDAY

This morning we read about St. Patrick and made a chalk stained glass church window using a lesson from You ARE an Artist. This lesson was one from the Easter set that is available in the Clubhouse Membership. I LOVE having a membership to these wonderful chalk art lessons! They are great for a large family of varying ages!

Today, we finished the life of John the Baptist in GrapeVine, plus did a unit review. I think we’ll set aside GrapeVine until after Easter so we can do Stories of the Resurrection. I just don’t seem to be managing to get it done during Family Worship Time.

I also bought another year of Reading Eggs for several reasons – one of which is that I want to start using the Mental Minute math drills on the MathSeeds part of the app to drill the kids on their math facts. I’m really glad that is included in the subscription!

For lunch, I made Cauliflower Cheese Sticks and dipped them in a sugar-free marinara sauce I buy from Aldi. The recipe comes from the Cooking with Joy cookbook found here.

I took the big kids to work at the Bee Farm and then ran a few errands. One of those errands involved picking up a copy of Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier via Interlibrary Loan. I had to wonder over the conversations that were had by the librarians when they saw my request. This book has been banned in some places!

By the way, the author is NOT a Christian, so her perspective is a bit different from my own, BUT it is a well documented and a quite insightful read. I’ve had a lot to chew on since cracking open the book.

Dinner tonight was rotisserie chicken, corn and salad – a very simple and yummy meal! I should remember to pick up a rotisserie chicken more often.

FRIDAY

This morning, I ate breakfast and read a bit of the news before starting a reset of the house for our Friday house cleaning. The kids all have their regular chores, and I usually declutter while they clean. My project for this week was the coffee bar. It often becomes a catch all or “hot spot” as FLYlady calls it.

My sinuses have been a bit painful since the weather warmed up, so I ended up resting in my chair and drinking Breathe Easy tea. I also got a head and neck rub from my talented 12 year old – everyone should have a resident massage therapist!

For lunch, I opened a bag of Sunflower Crunch Salad and shared it with my husband, who came home for lunch. Later, he and I went to coffee at a local homeschool-owned shop, and then grabbed potting soil and grass seed for this year’s Resurrection Garden.

READ >> Make Your Own Resurrection Garden

This evening, I worked on perfecting my Bakery Soft Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. I’ve been trying to make chocolate chip cookies that taste just like my favorite bakery cookies, and I think I’ve finally done it! GET THE RECIPE HERE >>

But the highlight of the evening was finding out Ty’s grandmother’s lineage goes all the way back to William Brewster – as in THE William Brewster from the Mayflower! WOW!

Read all of the Large Family Homeschool Life posts HERE.