{SQT} A Quiet Week

This was a quiet week. Next week will not be a quiet week.

1. Margaret's Birthday Celebration

On Sunday, we had a couple of families over to talk and play to celebrate Margaret's eighth birthday. I'm not an accomplished hostess, would be risking disaster if I baked my own cake from scratch, don't know the first thing about fondant, have only done a "theme party" once in my life. My parties do not make appearances on Pinterest.

I served simple food--dare we say 'cooked'? probably not--slow cooker pulled pork, boiled hot dogs, deli cole slaw, chips, simplistic green salad lacking in enough color, plain pasta, and potluck contributions of beans and corn casserole. I put out paper plates and served brownies made from a box mix. I managed streamers and let the kids just run around, making their own fun (balls, swings, street hockey, climbing trees, playing dress up). Just doing that still takes me a couple of solid days of preparation, so I really don't know how on earth to do more, but I hope my wee ones still have fun.

Adding two families to ours meant we had 33 people here, so I chuckled when Mary (10) remarked, "Wow, 33 people are coming! That's more than usual! I mean, if it were 29, we could handle that fine, but 33 is big." (We handled 33 fine, too!)

2. Scholastic Scenes

School is chugging along and this is when I'm counting the weeks till our planned end (last week of May), calculating our progress in books to see if there are any subjects we will finish early or any we have to double-down on in order to complete, and I'm writing out summer academic and fun plans. I already have solid rough draft plans of next year's curriculum for four grades.

Spelling and penmanship

Thomas (3) regularly says, "I want to do bunches of school!" If I am too busy and fail to give him attention, he protests loudly, "Nobody did any school with me today!"

Tracing

Geography

These several weeks in History are covering both the Reformation and Shakespeare.  I find it magical to watch how children of all ages gravitate to Shakespeare (and I am reading aloud children's versions, such as by Nesbit and Lamb). I've seen it year after year, and this year I got to see my 6-year-old get up from his seat and have to stand squished next to me, in rapt attention to what would happen next, and then asking each day if we would be reading more Shakespeare.

Shakespeare

Joseph finished the second of three volumes in his first year of phonics!

Phonics

3. The Young Artist

Joseph (6) has decided that he would like to draw art sketches, as his older brother does daily for Sacred Art class. "Write it into my schedule, please, Mama."

This week, he chose hands as his subject, drawing one per day. I'd be getting together materials to teach math or something, and he'd say with seriousness, "Well, I'll do my art sketch while I wait for you."

4. Making a Connection

In a large family, it is easy to let everyone be treated as a group instead of connecting with individual children.  Sometimes, one of us parents will see that a child is struggling and Mama or Daddy will invite the child to eat alone with that parent in the dining room. I was reminded of how useful a technique that was this week when a certain 6-year-old was melting down emotionally and I invited him to eat his breakfast alone with me. He beamed and began scuttling about, filled my plate, and made us place settings with utensils and napkins. He was so happy just to sit quietly with me!

In a large family, one has to find really simple ways to make one-on-one connections, as it's not possible often for a parent to actually leave the house for an hour, two, or three with one child, do some big event, and so forth. Simplicity is the name of the game.

5. Outdoor Play

The sun was shining this week, temperatures in the mid-60s, and WITHOUT RAIN! This past year was at least our top ten wettest year on record.

The children played outside a lot, including every day by 7:00 a.m. before school. They sketched out in chalk an ornate town on our driveway and rode and skated all over the roads. They even drew up Laws for their new Township, and all the "citizens" had to sign their agreement.

6. David

Nineteen months old!

7. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, The Easy Way

I am generally slow on the uptake about cooking, so I finally learned that there is a method to make grilled sandwiches all at once for a large family instead of standing at the griddle for at least half an hour assembling, cooking, and stacking a pile, such that the first sandwiches are stone cold by the time I make the tenth or eleventh sandwich.

I remember as a child being astonished that the neighbor mom would regularly make her son a grilled cheese sandwich (a rare delicacy!) when he got home from school because I'm pretty sure my dear mom (may she rest in peace) didn't know how to cook even that for me, her lone child. For those of you who come by lack of cooking skills as honestly as do I, here is the latest trick I learned:


Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Butter one side of each slice of bread, and place butter-side down on a baking sheet. Arrange cheese on each slice of bread. Spread butter on remaining slices of bread and place them buttered-side up on top of the cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for 6 to 8 minutes. Flip the sandwiches, and bake an additional 6 to 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

My workhorse pans are old and well-worn, but these sandwiches were a perfect combination of soft, gooey insides encased in golden, crispy perfection.

For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.