Large Family Homeschool Life – Week 39 of 2021

Here’s what is going on this last week of September in our home and homeschool!

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

MONDAY

My 17 year old was up doing school on the back deck this morning, so Ty and I had gingerbread coffee on the front porch so we wouldn’t disturb her. It was a nice change of pace.

I had planted yellow and orange mums in the planter out front this past weekend, and we also worked as a family to remove some of the old landscaping out front, so it was nice to look at something new.

For Morning Time, we did GrapeVine Bible Study on the 7 Seals in Revelation. The older kids are studying Revelation at Youth Group as well.

Read >> Review of GrapeVine Stick Figure Bible Study

We did a lesson on Bach in Music in Our Homeschool. This is the time period we are currently studying in Tapestry of Grace. It’s so interesting to weave things like music, art, and history all together. This is something that was not taught in all my years of public schooling.

For history together, we read in Making Thirteen Colonies and finished labeling maps of and learning about the 13 Colonies.

To finish out Morning Time, I read to the children from Catherine: The Great Journey.

Before everyone went to their individual school work, I assigned all of their new literature and checked up on all the old assigned reading. We have 2 more sections of Tapestry of Grace Year 2, Unit 3 to finish before we move into Holiday Homeschooling.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to stop Tapestry of Grace for the rest of the year (boy, that sounds strange!) or simply weave it into our holiday activities.

I’ll be sharing my Fall Holiday Homeschooling plans via my email newsletter soon. You can sign up here:

I worked with my little girls for a bit. Mercy is nearing the end of the Rod & Staff ABC series of books. Aspen is close to finishing up her Kindergarten math as well. I printed off a skip counting sheet for her since she struggles with that. She was so happy to have the helpful page.

Learn more about our Homeschool Curriculum Choices this year!

Keian (15) has been doing his Pre-Algebra every day since his Teaching Textbook access started last week. He’s trying to get ahead with his schooling.

READ >> Teaching Textbooks 4.0 Review

Garin (11) finished The Courage of Sarah Noble and passed it on to his brother. His next book is non-fiction about life in a Colonial home.

I took lunch in my room because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed about a few things and knew I needed to take the time to do a Brain Dump. I realized most of my issues were blog related since I’ve been struggling to keep up. I want to offer great content to everyone, but some days that just isn’t possible because, well…life! But writing everything down on paper certainly helped me sort everything in my head and feel better about everything.

I decided to record a podcast since that was one thing that was bothering me. I had not put out a podcast in nearly 2 months! I wanted to do one on something that has been on my heart lately…Focusing Your Heart on Home.

Then, I went downstairs and did Tree Guide with the girls. We learned about trees and rainbows today – going over ROY-G-BIV for the first time with them. They made their own drawings of rainbows using the acronym to help them.

Dinner was from the pantry with the 17 year old in charge. We had Mexican Rice-a-Roni, cake cornbread, and green beans.

After dinner, Ty and I took a walk. When we got back I read some more in The Amish Cook at Home, my devotional (Jesus, Fill My Heart & Home), and The Benedict Option.

I also set up our accounts with ABCmouse.com® Early Learning Academy and Adventure Academy. I created the girls’ avatars on ABCmouse for them. I love that there is a glasses option for little Mercy girl! All of the kids are excited to try it out!

TUESDAY

Enjoyed a cool morning on the deck with the bluejays and downy woodpeckers.

For Morning Time, we did GrapeVine, Story of the World, Our Island Story, and read in Catherine. We colored on our United States map from Cherry Creek Lane. (They have some really great resources!)

We also listened to more of Bach and did a lesson on Connecticut from State Songs. And we did our first lesson from Morning Virtues.

These are Morning Time lessons from Gentle + Classical Press. I really like how the biographies for the artist and composer are based on virtues and are super interesting to the children! LEARN MORE HERE!

Ty came home for lunch and after lunch, I worked on a grocery list. Then, I headed out to shop and run some other errands with Creed (8). We mailed a dress to Megan at college and dropped off some library books.

When I got home, Keian (15) informed me he had ruined his favorite white shirt when he accidentally left a pen in the pocket of his jeans. So, I took him with me to shop at Walmart, so he could pick up another white shirt.

When I got home, the kids asked if they could do a lesson from the See the Light art DVD’s. We have had these for many years, but we haven’t done any of the lessons in quite some time, so it was fun to get them back out.

READ >> Art Supplies and Ideas for Small Spaces & Large Families

Keian and I discussed what foreign language he should do for his graduation requirement (my requirement, not the state’s), and landed on Latin since he’s a writer and so many words in the English language have Latin roots.

Dinner was sloppy joes made with elk burger we got from a friend. It had a bit of a nice, smokey flavor. We also had Caesar salad from Aldi.

I took Melia out driving and picked up Creed’s special night drink from Sonic. While he played games for his Special Night, I scheduled my podcast and took care of some blog work. I ended the evening snuggling with my little guy. So thankful for these Special Nights!

WEDNESDAY

I got up this morning and tidied the kitchen, then had a pumpkin bagel with salted caramel cream cheese – a little something special I bought at Aldi yesterday.

Morning Time was GrapeVine, Story of the World, and George Washington’s World.

We reviewed the 13 Colonies on our map, and listened to more Bach and learned about Maryland in our State Songs.

Before we broke for individual school work, we had our Family Meeting for October. I like to go over what we did last year and then ask them what they would like to do this October. Of course, a trip to the pumpkin patch made the list, and a few special treats were also on there, like our Scotcheroos!

Then, I helped Creed make a marble bag as a Colonial craft. He did a really great job on it!

I put a pork roast I purchased yesterday in the crock pot, so we can have BBQ pork tonight. Yum! Then, I headed out with my 15 year old to add some top soil and plant some grass where we took out the landscaping this past weekend.

After that little yard project, Melia and I headed out to run a few errands. We stopped at Aldi for a couple of things I forget yesterday, then to a roadside produce stand I like. We also stopped at another supermarket to pick up some different kinds of apples for our annual Apple Taste Testing.

Do my Apples and Cinnamon Unit Study!

I also picked up some Granny Smith apples to use for natural pectin in a new-to-me strawberry jam recipe (that didn’t end up setting up quite as well as I would have liked, but we’ll just call it strawberry syrup and move on!).

I decided last minute to put potatoes in the oven since we really like to have BBQ pork over baked potatoes. I also put the sweet potatoes I purchased last week in the oven so I could put together the base layer of my Sweet Potato Casserole for Thanksgiving.

Yes, I’m prepping for Thanksgiving already. That week is going to be quite busy and I want it to be as relaxing as possible, so the base layer is going into the freezer so I have one less thing to do Thanksgiving week.

THURSDAY

Got up this morning and did my usual routine. I made coffee and iced tea, and opened up the house and turned on the attic fan to draw in the fresh, cooler air.

Ty arrived back home from Physical Training (PT) with the military. He stayed home for a few hours before heading back to the college for the rest of his work day.

Our friends arrived for a visit and we had lunch together. They had brought Wasa crackers and spread cream cheese and Everything But the Bagel seasoning on them. They were so yummy, and most of my kids loved it! I’m definitely going to be doing this again!

We also had cucumbers and tomatoes, a taco dip with chips, and Honeycrisp apples.

The big kids left for work at the bee farm, and my friend and I spent the rest of the day solving the world’s problems while the kids played! Some of the things we talked about are Fall and Advent plans, meal planning, pantry stocking, gardening, and homeschooling. So many great conversations!

After our friends left, Aspen and Mercy played with some Eco-paint finger paints on freezer paper.

We had pork nachos (leftover BBQ pork!) for dinner along with some Spiced Peach Salsa and cream cheese a friend of ours made. It was super yummy!

Melia gave the little girls a bath for me, and then Garin (11) soaked in an epson salt bath because his legs were hurting from a full day of playing and running around.

Later that night, I redid our Table Chores because I realized tomorrow is October 1st!

FRIDAY

I got myself and Mercy up early to head to her annual cleft surgery clinic appointment. I had to take the big van because our smaller vehicle has cratered. That meant backing into the larger spaces at the main level of the parking garage. Fun fun!

Then, I got a wee bit lost after we got through security and had to back track. Now that we are down to yearly visits, I forget where to go nearly every time!

When we finally got where we were going and got settled into a room, the doctors started their rounds. They all take turns coming to us so we get to stay in one room.

Read >> Pierre Robin Sequence and Stickler Syndrome (Mercy’s diagnoses)

First, we saw the nutritionist and talked briefly about Mercy’s distaste for fruits and vegetables, but she said what we are doing (having her take a bite of everything) is the best way to keep her trying new things.

Next, Speech came in. They checked the sounds she was unable to make last year and those were all on track. She also had no nasality from her surgery, so good news all around!

Then, her plastic surgeon came in. He was pleased with her jawline, but did say her upper jaw is a bit small and she might need an orthodontist consult when she’s 8 or so. He took some photos and we chatted about the older kids and what they were doing.

I also asked him if we could talk to Genetics so we could figure out a game plan to help Mercy as she gets older and starts to have pain from her Stickler Syndrome. He gave the Genetics department a call and they came in a few minutes later.

We decided that rheumatology would be the best place for Mercy to go because they also run the Pain Clinic at the hospital. So, we’ll hopefully have a consult with them soon.

Then, we agreed to a hearing test. We have had no less than 6 hearing tests over the years and NONE of them have been conclusive. A couple of years ago, I started refusing the testing requests from ENT because I was tired of the hassle and Mercy wasn’t showing any signs of hearing loss. She had passed her newborn screen, but because of her diagnosis, the hospital was adamant she probably had hearing loss. So, when she was little, we tried twice with the probes on her forehead and ears and didn’t get a solid answer. Then, we did 2 under anesthesia when she was under for another procedure. Again…no conclusive results. And then, we tried twice in a sound booth, but all she wanted to do was play with the barking puppy that was supposed to be her reward for listening to all the beeps. *sigh*

As you can tell, we were just plain tired after all that.

But…Mercy seemed like she could handle a hearing test in the booth this year, and she said she wanted to try, so we headed over to ENT and did the test. And guess what?!

The test was conclusive – her hearing is perfect! Praise the Lord!

On the way out of the hospital, I bought her a hot chocolate and we sang praise songs all the way home!

Then, we packed for a quick trip to our lake cabin to dump some rock at the shoreline. The lake is eroding away at our shoreline from the wake of all the jet skis on the little lake.

We also picked up some barn wood from my dad’s farm. My nephew tore down the old shop and saved the wood, so I’d like to make a headboard for our bed from it. I think it will make a neat heirloom piece, and I’m so happy to have a piece of the farm.

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