Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 17 of 2021

Highlights of this week were the Crusades, the pantry overhaul, and picking our daughter up from college – not necessarily in that order!

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

MONDAY

I got up early this morning and turned on the attic fan and enjoyed a cup of coffee on the deck. Then, I came inside and worked on planning Tapestry of Grace for the week. I preplan a few weeks at a time, but every morning, I familiarize myself with what we’ll be doing that day and print any maps or worksheets we need.

READ >> How I Plan Tapestry of Grace for a Large Family

It’s supposed to be near 90 today (big change from last week’s snow!), so I took my walk before school and then dug up some dandelions and watered all the outdoor plants and my herbs on the back deck.

For Morning Time, we did GrapeVine stick figures, listened to a Folk Song from our Folk Song a Week class, did a picture study from Impressionism for Children, began learning about the High Middle Ages in Tapestry of Grace, and finished The Secret of the Swamp King as our read aloud! (The kids LOVE this series!)

After Morning Time, I helped Mercy in her ABC Book from Rod & Staff. She’s in the C book which is “counting,” and she does an amazing job at it!

Creed isn working on alphabetizing, and Aspen is working on calendars.

I also assigned Dante’s Divine Comedy to Melia (16) and printed off diagrams of Purgatory, Inferno, and Paradise for her to reference while she reads.

Ty came home for a quick lunch. He’s been working long hours, so it’s nice when he can run home for a bit.

I switched my laundry over to the dryer so the girls could start their load for the day. I was behind a bit from yesterday. Here’s our Laundry Schedule. (Note: Ty does his own military uniforms as needed.)

I finished reading Lost Connections since it needed to be returned to the library. Overall, it was a good book, but there were some socialist progressive leanings I did not agree with. However, the big thing I did agree with was the loss of community and the need to rebuild real, in-person relationships in order to heal our brains.

I gathered up the rest of the library books that needed to go back and made a quick run to the library. When I got home, my laundry was ready to be folded and put away, so I took it upstairs to my bed where I can lay it all out and get it put away quickly.

After that, I read a bit in a new book I purchased on the Christian liturgical year – Living the Christian Year.

I have been reading a lot about fostering a sense of community – particularly Christian community – and one way suggested was to learn more about the liturgical calendar and it’s rhythms and how that can bind us together in Christian-based traditions.

Often, evangelicals lack traditions that bind us together because we are fearful they will become “rules” or we are trying to avoid anything that smacks of Catholicism. But, much of the liturgical calendar has deep meaning we really ought to pay attention to.

Even if you church doesn’t follow the liturgical calendar, I would encourage you to find a church that has a strong sense of community!

For dinner, the 16 year old made homemade shells and cheese. When Ty got home, we sat on the deck while the kids played across the creek. When they came in, we gave them baths (because they were extremely sweaty!) and sent them to bed.

TUESDAY

Morning Time was the usual GrapeVine & Impressionism. We also filled out a map of the Crusades and read in Story of the World.

I had a Cheeseburger Wrap for a quick lunch and took the big kids to work. They spent the afternoon preparing a garden plot for elderberry bushes.

When I got home, our new Illustrated Bible Stories book for Tapestry of Grace Primer had arrived. I had thought about not getting it since we own other Bible Story books, but decided I wanted to follow Primer as closely as possible, so I could give all of you a good review here on the blog.

I’m hoping to start to start Primer next week with my 8 and under crew. We homeschool year round, so it’s no big deal to start whenever I’d like. While you wait for my review, be sure to grab a FREE SAMPLE of Primer!

Get a FREE SAMPLE of PRIMER HERE >>

If you are curious what homeschooling year round on a 4 day a week schedule looks like for us, read this post and the graphic below:

>> My Year Round 4 Day Homeschooling Schedule <<

After school, I thought through our incredibly busy week, and decided to change up our meal schedule. We just had too many intensive meals planned for how busy things will be here.

I also started some rye bread (a German Mennonite bread my great-grandmother used to make) for dinner tonight. Keian (15) was supposed to do it, but he ended up going to work today.

I took a short break in my bedroom while the kids played Legos. Then, I took Aspen out to the donut shop to pick up donuts for her Special Night.

When I got home, the bread was ready to make into loaves. While it raised, I took a walk and then worked on replacing all my old Peaceful Press affiliate links for the new ones. I apparently mention them A LOT because it took me a long time to fix all the links.

Interested in learning more about Peaceful Press curriculum?
Read my reviews!

• The Peaceful Preschool Review
• The Kind Kingdom Video Review
• The Precious People Review

When Keian (15) got home from work, he put the rye bread in the oven to bake and made a Cobb Salad to go with it. After dinner, Ty and I sat on the deck while the kids played.

A few days ago, I put out our hummingbird feeder and we saw our first one of the year tonight – a ruby-throated hummingbird!

The rest of the evening, we spent upstairs in our bedroom with Aspen for her Special Night!

WEDNESDAY

I ate breakfast and read in my news app while the little kids played in the basement. I got the older kids up shortly after so we could do school.

Morning Time was GrapeVine, Impressionism, and Folk Songs. And we added in something new!

Sound Words Theology for Kids!

I know this says PreK – 2nd grade, but I definitely think this would work for older than 2nd graders. I hope to have a review of this for you soon!

We also read in The Story of Europe about the Crusades and how they changed Europe.

After that, I helped Mercy and Aspen with their school work. Mercy (4) is constantly trying to work ahead – crazy thing is, she get the problems correct without my help!

During lunch, the two big kids and I met in my bedroom to eat and watch a Crusades documentary I watched and enjoyed years ago (see below)! We didn’t get it finished, but we’ll keep working at it during lunch time or I’ll assign it for them to watch on their own.

That afternoon, I took the 15 year old to have some cavities filled. If you remember from a previous post, he had not been flossing and some cavities had formed between his teeth.

Ty asked if I wanted to go on an impromptu date night, so I quickly did my hair and makeup and we headed out to a Tex-Mex restaurant and then Cabela’s for some shopping, before heading home to watch a movie.

At Cabela’s, I bought a couple of t-shirts and this Betty Crocker Cookbook – which is totally worth it for well-rounded “normal” recipes, plus fun extras. AND, it would make a fabulous wedding gift if you have any weddings this summer!

I also think this is going to be great for all the new cooks in the house since we changed up our cooking schedule to include everyone 12 and up!

THURSDAY

We started school early this morning because we have company coming this afternoon and the big kids have work at the apiary. We did GrapeVine, Impressionism, a Folk Song, and then talked about the Jewish diaspora and Richard the Lionhearted. I also showed the kids some examples of Gothic art and read in The Fallacy Detective – a great way to teach Logic to your children! It’s been years since we’ve gone through this book, so I thought I better read it before my 15 and 16 year graduate homeschool.

I mentioned this book in the podcast below because it is such a fun and simple way to teach your kids to understand and use Logic – something our culture sorely lacks!

Before our company showed up, Melia (16) and I worked on putting together this hearty Winter Vegetable Oven Stew >>

My friend and her 8 year old daughter came over around 1pm and spent the afternoon playing and talking. We had a great time!

Ty spent the day in meetings for his new military assignment – I’ll share more about that in the future, but it means we are NOT moving like we thought we were!

For dinner we had the rest of the rye bread and the stew. Everyone in our family loves that stew and gobbled it up!

During the evening hours, we watched Star Trek and the kids made and ate Vita-Mix Ice Cream.

FRIDAY

Today is an exciting day! Megan (20) is coming home from college for the summer!

I had a great discussion with my 15 and 16 year old this morning out on the deck before we started Friday House Cleaning. They have always been called “the middles,” but now that they are the oldest ones in the house, I call them “the bigs.” They are only 16 months apart, yet so different! And so fun!

We tackled all the house cleaning (or Home Blessing, as we like to call it) pretty quickly. If you read this post or listen to the podcast below, you’ll understand better what this looks like for us. I also have an entire house cleaning series on the podcast, so check that out!

While the kids worked, I cleaned out the baking cabinet and moved the food that has been in the garage pantry to the inside extra pantry in the laundry room just off the kitchen. This has been on my to-do list since it is getting too warm in the garage for me to feel comfortable keeping many of the overflow pantry items out there.

As I was finishing up, I noticed a lovely drawing of a dog in pencil on the wall. I’d recognize Mercy’s artwork anywhere!

After reprimanding her (and finding several more wall drawings – all of these lovely dogs), I set to washing down the walls and removing her delightful artwork – but only after sending a text to daddy to show off all her drawings!

After getting the house spic and span, Ty and I headed out to pick up Megan from college!

She had her last final of the semester this morning, and ended up with a solid 4.0 and a note from her professor saying he’d never had anyone score so high on the final! WOW!

Megan had an incredible amount of stuff to bring home, but Ty is an expert puzzle packer (he can make things fit beautifully, where I tend to just throw it all in and hope for the best!).

The worst part of it all is the fact that her room is on the 3rd floor and it was HOT today! The best part of it all is that once back home, we had LOTS of helpers to unload!

Before Megan headed to bed, we chatted and looked through the Betty Crocker cookbook I mentioned earlier since she will be added to the cooking rotation while she’s back home for the summer. Yay! Another cook!