Join us this week as we study the Reformation, have tea with Alice in Wonderland, and enjoy our annual St. Patrick’s Day feast!
This past weekend, we traveled back “home” to mourn the loss of Ty’s uncle. This particular uncle literally helped raise him, and Ty considered him one of his heroes. He left behind his wife of 63 years, who happens to be one of my heroes. She loved Ty’s uncle and cared for him with the love of Christ. I used to say I wanted to be Aunt Chris when I grew up – I still do!
While we were there, our 13 year old clotheslined himself (literally) and ended up with a concussion from hitting the ground so hard. It was super scary because he didn’t remember where we were and why (he didn’t know his great uncle had passed away), and he kept saying the same things over and over (looping, they call it). He had a big gash on his forehead from the clothesline too.
On the way to the ER, we texted my mom and my Bible study group to be praying, and as soon as they got the message, we began to see a change in him. He remembered a few new things, and finally while in the ER, we saw the light come on in his brain when he suddenly remembered why we were there.
Slowly, over the next several hours it all came back to him. He still doesn’t remember the actual accident or the ride into town to the ER, but everything else has come back and he’s doing really well! Praise the Lord!
Our 21 year old daughter came up to spend the week with us while her husband was working out of town. It’s been hard not having her here with us, so I cherish her trips up. She seems to be settling in well to married life.
This week in our homeschool, we studied the Reformation for the second week in a row. Some of the men we read about included Zwingli, Luther, Calvin, and the Anabaptists (the heritage of my mom’s side of the family). Most of their biographies came from this book:
Famous Men of the Renaissance and the Reformation
We also learned about Henry VIII and his 6 wives and how he is considered a reformer despite the fact he never truly embraced Protestantism. I also taught the kids the rhyme to remember what happened to each wife:
Divorced, Beheaded, Died
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived
I printed off these two fact sheets on the wives:
1 – Henry the VIII’s Six Wives
2 – Scholastic’s Wives of Henry the VIII
We talked a bit about his daughter, “Bloody” Mary, and her short reign and just touched on Elizabeth I taking the throne as she will be our main topic next week.
We have been studying Shakespeare for several weeks now with lessons from Music in our Homeschool’s – 10 Weeks of Shakespeare.
>>Read my review of 10 Weeks of Shakespeare:
And yes, I do include all of my children in these lessons (ages 9-17).
Tapestry of Grace had a book suggestion for reading Shakespeare for children, but I found it and many of the others I have tried to read from to be rather cumbersome. So, while I do require my children to hear and watch Shakespeare to see how it really sounds, I also wish for them to understand the plays. The best summaries I’ve found that still retain the quality of the story (and keep it PG rated!) have been from Nesbit’s Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare which can be found for free on the Gutenberg website.
We also studied art by Rembrandt and Vermeer (I just pull up the artwork online for the children to look at and take note of) and listened to madrigals from Music in Our Homeschool’s Middle Ages class.
We always finish our Morning Time with a read-aloud. Our current read-aloud is Book 1 of The Wingfeather Saga.
When we first started this book, we were coming off a long line of read-alouds NO ONE had enjoyed, so at first, there were mixed reviews of this one. But, now that we are halfway through the book, I believe most of the kids are enjoying it. By the way, Angel Studios has the series available for free (I think), so we may watch it after we finish the book.
Recently, we revamped how we do dinner because I needed to find a way to share the load. The 5 younger kids have 1 day a week that they cook, and just recently, I gave each day of the week a theme to make it easier for me to plan the meals.
So here’s what we had this week…
Monday – “Brinner” – 17 year old made Waffles and Sausage patties
Tuesday – Usually Baked Potato and Meat, but this week was our Irish Supper (more on that in a bit…) – 11 year old helped with that meal.
Wednesday – “Sandwich Night” – 9 year old grilled reubens made with leftover corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, thousand island dressing, and marble rye.
Thursday – “Tex Mex” – 13 year old made a Mexican Salad I found on Instagram and Nachos.
Friday – “Bowls” – 15 year old made Big Mac Bowls with fries
Many of you know, every year we have an Irish Supper and I even have a free menu plan you can download:
This is something we started as a family the year after my Dad (who was full-bloodied Irish) passed away and shortly after our daughter Emmy’s death. This year, we had our son and his family plus our newly married daughter in attendance. I put 4 corned beef briskets in the crock pot and made the cabbage in a separate pot. We were tired of never having enough corned beef, and this also gave us plenty to do reubens with the next night!
I also chose to make the Irish Soda Bread in small buns so everyone could just grab their own. I made half the recipe with no raisins since I have a couple of kids who aren’t fond of the raisins.
Throughout the week, there were also a couple of doctor’s appointments in the city – one for my mom and one for me, and our son had martial arts class. And on Friday, my two older daughters and I took the two little girls (ages 9 & 11) to an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party!
Aspen dressed as the Queen of Hearts with a black and white striped dress and red cardigan and this heart crown:
Mercy dressed as the Cheshire Cat with a pink dress and this cat stocking hat:
Alice read to them and they got their photo with her. They also had cookies, fruit, and lemonade and did a Mushroom craft and got a goodie bag to take home. So much fun!
This weekend, we are actually home for once! It’s been a busy time for us with funerals (Ty’s stepmother passed away last month and then his uncle this month), travels (picking up the muskox and visiting with friends in Nashville), and spending time with our older children at their homes. I think we are all a bit weary and in need of a weekend at home.
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