...and yet so often it feels like it must be.  I'm having a scheduling epiphany of sorts.  Funny that it's happening at this point in the school year.  We have only 6 weeks of Tapestry of Grace left which is the bulk of our curriculum.  And our official school day count is at 169 out of the required 180 days!!  Funny.  Kind of, but I do wish I had figured this out sooner.  Like before I got to a near breaking point of saying I can't do this!  Thankfully, the Lord has put a deep determination in me to do this.  To not "give up" on what we believe is the ideal education for our children.  So here's what I've figured out.  I can't do it all.  I know, that is pretty obvious.  I thought I knew it and yet I was sort of trying to do it all- as in, cover all subjects all the time.  But seriously, it just doesn't work that way.  And since we homeschool all year round, I don't have to cover all subjects all the time.  So for the next 6 weeks of Tapestry we are going to focus on that (which covers History, Literature, Geography, and Church History).  We'll also do math and music.  I'm going to lay aside the "formal" phonics, writing, grammar, and spelling.  We'll pick those back up again when we are done with Tapestry and we'll continue them through the summer, taking a few weeks completely off.  Tomorrow we are finishing up our science curriculum (YAY!) which is perfect timing to add the Constitution study that is part of the Tapestry unit we are on.  Part of me gets scared to stop those subjects but the thing is, we'll still be covering them.  It will just be in a different way.  The kids will be writing because I have them do narrations of their History and Literature.  And as I check what they write, I will be helping the four youngest with their spelling and grammar.  I'll have the two youngest read aloud to me from some of our Tapestry books which will allow me to review phonics with them. 

I'm busy coming up with a new schedule for these "last" six weeks of school.  Then I'll make a new schedule up where they just do school work in the mornings for plenty of summer playtime- playing outside, swimming, crafting, etc.  Then sometime around the middle to end of July we'll start our new school year.  I am excited about Year 3 of Tapestry of Grace now that I've figured out that during the Tapestry weeks, we'll put aside the other things!  Then during December and summer I can hit those other things hard.  What a relief to give myself permission to stop trying to cover all subjects all year! 

Here is the schedule we'll be following.  Most of this is what we've already been doing but I was cramming a lot of other things in.  One of the best parts is that I've fit rest time back into our days (including for me). 

5 Mama up, exercise, COFFEE, shower, devotions, emails etc


7 kids up, get dressed, breakfast, do chores, practice piano (all by 8:30)


8 baby up, breakfast

8:30 family devotions and character training (right now-for the second time- we're reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by the Mally's) During this time Silas sits in his high chair, finishes his breakfast, and has his own character training as he learns to be QUIET.  It's a challenge, for sure, but very important!

9 Kids do personal devotions (this is also when they review catechism) and I spend time with Silas reading him a Bible story and then playing with him

9:30 Tapestry reading and math time (Silas has floor play, Crib time, and watches a music dvd for 30 minutes each activity)

11 Snack

11:30 Finish up morning work, clean up, play outside

12:30 Lunch

1:00 Silas story, nurse, nap

1:30-4 I haven't completely figure this out yet, but the kids will be rotating between Constitution study, memory work playlist, Tapestry projects, basement play, and at some point, a one hour rest time for all of us.  During that hour I will either read, do meal planning/grocery listing, knit, sleep, or anything else I may want to do in blessed QUIET.

4 Silas up, snack for everyone, "free" time (basement play, outside play, or using a ticket)

5:30 Supper prep (with a helper team of 2 that rotate as daily kitchen helpers)

6 Supper, family devotions

7 Silas to bed, read aloud time

From here, the kids go to bed between 7:30 and 8:45, based on their ages and I CRASH.

Looking at that schedule I feel like it's intense enough.  How funny that we were doing most of that AND phonics, logic, science, grammar, writing, and spelling.  What was I thinking?  Burnout was inevitable.  And so for the past several weeks I've been feeling incredibly burnt out but didn't know what the answer was.  I think this schedule tweaking is going to help tremendously!

Better late than never?  We had internet and phone problems for nearly a week so I wasn't able to do this over the weekend.  Well, here goes...

In Tapestry of Grace (Year 2) Week 2 we covered The Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church.  Here are a few pictures from the week-

Teshome's project- a Triptych, which was a picture made in three sections and used in churches or as a religious alterpiece.  His is a picture of (saint) Patrick praying.

Maddie's triptych- some monks (and a smiling sun).

Kate's favorite story of the week was about the Lombards, a cruel and vicious German tribe and the last to find a settlement within the Eastern Empire.  She wrote, "It was said that a Lombard king once killed his enemy then lined his skull with gold and made his wife drink out of it.  His wife was the daughter of the enemy her husband had killed.  She was so angry and grieved that she had a man murder her husband."  And why was this Kate's favorite? (yikes.)  She says it was one of the only things she found exciting in that book (The Story of the Middle Ages).  Okay then, yes, there's much gore and blood in the Middle Ages. 

Even though I've been out of school for a "few" years now, new school supplies make me a bit giddy.  So I guess a perk of homeschooling is that I get to shop for new markers and binders and notebooks AND I get to actually watch my kids learn and create with their new tools.  Some of my favorites are good old fashioned composition notebooks (used for narrations), washable markers (this year the kids are enjoying the fun fruity smells of Mr Sketch which I loved as a little girl), and Crayola twistables. 
Monday marked the beginning of our new school year.  Sunday evening I couldn't sleep.  It wasn't because I was excited, but rather because I was nervous that I had forgotten something or didn't have my Tapestry teacher's notes straight in my head.  I gave up and got out of bed and started going over my plan, looking through my notes.  Then Pete heard me up, saw my insomnia induced tears and convinced me to take melatonin.  So I did and I slept great- for 5 hours.  Our first day started with me dragging and trying to hide the fact that my head was pounding.  Then Maddie added her stomach sickness to the fun, Silas spit up and pooped everywhere, and I just kept going, convinced that I was not giving up on our day.  Pete offered to bring home dinner and I thanked him and so no because I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to at least pull a simple dinner together.  The week got better from there.  Here's a little summary from Peter about where our Tapestry of Grace studies took us this week-

"We started with a lot of review of the last 2 weeks of year 1. We learned a lot more about the different barbarian nations, the Huns, Goths, and farther north, the Angles and Saxons. We also learned about early Britain and King Arthur. During the reign of King Arthur's uncle, Stonehenge was believed to have been set up by Merlin the Magician. The early Britons believed this to be true, even though Stonehenge was probably set up before that." 

Also, here are some pictures from our week-

On the needles, another baby sweater!  The picture doesn't do the color justice.  It's a really pretty green called Sweet Pea.  The pattern is wonderful as it's knitted top down with very little seaming at all.  It just needs about another inch on the bottom, the sleeves added, and the roll neck.  The pattern is available here. I've made it 3 or 4 times now and I love the way it comes together. 
This week I've been reading Alexander the Great by John Gunther to the children.  This is for our last week of Unit 3 of our Tapestry of Grace curriculum.

10 1/2 weeks.

That's the amount of time I have before my due date.  All of my babies were late except for Charlotte who decided to come 3 weeks early and totally mess up my "routine."  I was thrilled to have her early, but also shocked and not exactly prepared.  In fact, I had to send a dear friend to Target with a list while I was still in the hospital because I didn't even have some of the necessities yet.

So, I have 10 1/2 weeks, more or less, to be ready for this blessed event.  I am so excited to meet my tiny little man.  I am so excited to dress him in the cute little orange and blue things I've been collecting and the things I've been knitting for him.  I am so excited that I get to experience having a baby BOY again after all these years of girl babies.  I am so excited to wear him in my sleepy wrap and keep him to myself.   


But in the midst of all of that excitement, I'm feeling a bit of stress too.  I have 10 1/2 weeks to complete 9 1/2 weeks of our Tapestry of Grace curriculum.  I REALLY want to finish it before baby comes so I can feel right taking a true BREAK from teaching.  The kids will still have work to do each day that they can mostly do without my help, but our bulky, wonderful, intense school days will be done.  But in that time our house will be ready (2-3 weeks from now) so we'll have to take some time off from school to move.  I want to be NESTING.... not UN-NESTING!!