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    Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled
    Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled
    Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled
    Ebook141 pages2 hours

    Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled

    By Rachel Starr Thomson

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    About this ebook

    What do you get when you throw 20 children, four parents, several cross-country trips, and a sense of humour between the covers of one book?

     

    Lots and lots of big family fun that will tickle the funny bones and warm the hearts of your entire clan.

     

    Rachel Starr Thomson is the oldest of twelve children. Carolyn Currey, her second cousin, is the oldest of eight. Not only are their families huge, they also homeschool! Drawing on some of their favourite memories, Rachel and Carolyn have written a book of essays that will make you laugh, think, and thank God for family.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLittle Dozen Press
    Release dateDec 12, 2015
    ISBN9780986597138
    Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled
    Author

    Rachel Starr Thomson

    Rachel Starr Thomson is in love with Jesus and convinced the gospel will change the world. Rachel is a woman of many talents and even more interests: she’s a writer, editor, indie publisher, singer, speaker, Bible study teacher, and world traveler. The author of the Seventh World Trilogy, The Oneness Cycle, and many other books, she also tours North America and other parts of the world as a speaker and spoken-word artist with 1:11 Ministries. Adventures in the Kingdom launched in 2015 as a way to bring together Rachel’s explorations, in fiction and nonfiction, of what it means to live all of life in the kingdom of God. Rachel lives in the beautiful Niagara Region of southern Ontario, just down the river from the Falls. She drinks far too much coffee and tea, daydreams of visiting Florida all winter, and hikes the Bruce Trail when she gets a few minutes. A homeschool graduate from a highly creative and entrepreneurial family, she believes we’d all be much better off if we pitched our television sets out the nearest window. LIFE AND WORK (BRIEFLY) Rachel began writing on scrap paper sometime around grade 1. Her stories revolved around jungle animals and sometimes pirates (they were actual rats . . . she doesn’t remember if the pun was intended). Back then she also illustrated her own work, a habit she left behind with the scrap paper. Rachel’s first novel, a humorous romp called Theodore Pharris Saves the Universe, was written when she was 13, followed within a year by the more serious adventure story Reap the Whirlwind. Around that time, she had a life-changing encounter with God. The next several years were spent getting to know God, developing a new love for the Scriptures, and discovering a passion for ministry through working with a local ministry with international reach, Sommer Haven Ranch International. Although Rachel was raised in a strong Christian home, where discipleship was as much a part of homeschooling as academics, these years were pivotal in making her faith her own. At age 17, Rachel started writing again, this time penning the essays that became Letters to a Samuel Generation and Heart to Heart: Meeting With God in the Lord’s Prayer. In 2001, Rachel returned to fiction, writing what would become her bestselling novel and then a bestselling series–Worlds Unseen, book 1 of The Seventh World Trilogy. A classic fantasy adventure marked by Rachel’s lyrical style, Worlds Unseen encapsulates much of what makes Rachel’s writing unique: fantasy settings with one foot in the real world; adventure stories that explore depths of spiritual truth; and a knack for opening readers’ eyes anew to the beauty of their own world–and of themselves. In 2003, Rachel began freelance editing, a side job that soon blossomed into a full-time career. Four years later, in 2007, she co-founded Soli Deo Gloria Ballet with Carolyn Currey, an arts ministry that in 2015 would be renamed as 1:11 Ministries. To a team of dancers and singers, Rachel brought the power of words, writing and delivering original narrations, spoken-word poetry, and songs for over a dozen productions. The team has ministered coast-to-coast in Canada as well as in the United States and internationally. Rachel began publishing her own work under the auspices of Little Dozen Press in 2007, but it was in 2011, with the e-book revolution in full swing, that writing became a true priority again. Since that time Rachel has published many of her older never-published titles and written two new fiction series, The Oneness Cycle and The Prophet Trilogy. Over 30 of Rachel’s novels, short stories, and nonfiction works are now available in digital editions. Many are available in paperback as well, with more released regularly. The God she fell in love with as a teenager has remained the focus of Rachel’s life, work, and speaking.

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      Book preview

      Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled - Rachel Starr Thomson

      Part One:

      Make Way for Living

      Chapter 1: Ontario

      The Journey Begins

      Rachel:

      Carolyn Currey and I had emailed for two years without ever having met. She lived in British Columbia, I lived in Michigan. We grew close in heart despite the distance, so when the Curreys announced that they were moving to Waterloo, Ontario (a scant four hours north of my house), we were overjoyed. And when it became clear that first, getting together was harder than it sounded, and second, their move would be short-lived and they’d soon be heading west again, we were determined to meet somehow.

      So it was that I found myself in Waterloo the night before the Curreys were due to set out across Cafnada, ready to pack myself into the van along with my aunt and uncle, eight cousins, two dogs, a hamster, a guinea pig, and a rabbit. When I arrived in the dusk, the house was a-twitter with activity. We went through whirlwind introductions (Rachel, meet Carolyn, Janice, Dana, Christa, Sara, Andrew, Naomi, and Elyssa... family, meet Rachel) and then plunged back to work, packing and cleaning till the wee hours of the morning.

      After a few hours of sleep, we were set to wake up again and receive visitors: old friends of the Curreys who had procrastinated their own visit until moving day. They pulled up in their fifteen-passenger van late in the morning and unloaded another tribe of ten children. The movers were due to arrive in an hour or so.

      So there we were: ten Curreys, twelve friends, one Thomson (laughing up her sleeve at the familiar absurdity of the situation), a myriad of pets, and a few other friends and family members who’d come to say good-bye—all of us prepared to meet the movers. The movers, I think, were not quite so prepared to meet us.

      Carolyn:

      The movers carefully backed the truck down our long laneway, dodging half a dozen children under the age of ten. The supervisor marched into the house, took stock of the situation, and opened her mouth to issue orders. She’d barely had time to say, Look lively, boys, there must be a zillion beds here somewhere. There are eighteen kids in this house! before five of the girls (all dancers, small but surprisingly strong), grabbed two fifty-pound boxes or a bookcase each and charged out again. That was the beginning of the end. The hordes descended upon the work. We emptied the house in record time, and the overseer staggered out at the end with her eyes still popping.

      The rest of the afternoon was filled with last minute cleaning, visiting, and packing. Once the disbelieving movers had left, more friends and relatives showed up to say good-bye. A few more showed up for supper, and then quietness descended as the population dwindled to a mere eleven.

      My dad, the master packer, filled our van with sleeping bags, tents, animals, suitcases, and (most dreaded of all) small stuffables. Mom and a few of the older girls stood out in the field as the sun set.

      I feel like the words ‘End of Chapter Whatever-It-Is’ ought to appear in the sky right about there, Mom chuckled.

      The peace was quickly shattered by a loud bellow. Are there any more small stuffables? Last call for small stuffables! No? All right, then... everybody in!

      Accordingly, we crammed eleven people into the overstuffed vehicle and set off for parts unknown.

      Chapter 2: We Wish You a Currey Christmas

      Carolyn

      Christmas is a time -honoured tradition in our family. Christmas carols are wonderful in December, but another song might express it best: Tradition! sings Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.  Tradition! sings our family as we pull out the home-made decorations and recipes we’ve used for two decades—and especially as we hunt for the yearly foliage.

      The Great Christmas Tree Hunt is an important part of Currey tradition. A particular weekend arrives, and my parents hold council to decide whether they should bring home the Christmas tree or wait another week. Excited little children prevail, and the discussion ends several hours later with the entire family pulling on winter paraphernalia as the sun sets. (It’s not that Mom and Dad take hours to decide anything, but there have been a few interruptions.)

      We reach the tree farm as the last light fades and whip out flashlights. After an hour or so, in which people get lost, fall in the mud, and name half the Christmas trees on the lot, we select one. The tree is christened—Sir Bulstrode or Oswald Bosley or some other ostentatious title—and is ceremoniously cut down. We haul it back to the van, realize we have no way of getting it inside the vehicle, and somehow secure it to the top with ropes. By the end of the evening the tree stands securely tied to the living room wall, and ten contented Curreys munch cinnamon buns around it.

      One Christmas was an utter disaster in the way of shrubbery. After we found and adopted a massive tree, we decided that we would just prop it up in the corner, rather than tying it back as we usually do. Bad plan. No sooner was the tree decorated then it fell over, flooding the living room with the contents of the tree-bucket (large rocks and inordinate amounts of water) and breaking several ornaments.

      Disaster ensued as all ten of us tromped around in the newly created lake, getting in each others’ way and trying to salvage the ornaments. Oh, did I neglect to mention that my father was stuck underneath the tree? We eventually tied it back, but by that time it had acquired a habit of toppling. It continued to do so throughout the holidays. We tiptoed around the tree whenever we had to go near it. Putting presents under it was like building a delicate puzzle. Every Christmas after that, we have hoped for a better-behaved tree!

      Then there is the matter of baking. About twice a year, the baking fit falls upon me. When that happens, nothing can stand in the way of my wooden spoon. Conveniently, Christmas happens to be one of those times. I stalk into the kitchen with a determined look and proceed to crank out about three dozen sweet breads, twenty-four dozen sweet rolls, hundreds of cookies, and copious amounts of candy and cake. This ensures that we don’t run out over Christmas. It also lasts us for months. I call to witness the fact that Christa pranced past me on this lovely May day gurgling, I found another loaf of cranberry eggnog bread from Christmas! How wooooonderful!

      Then comes the mass present attack. We do not do this like most North American families. My father, ever neat and orderly, passes out one present at a time, and we all politely watch the recipient open it. After sufficient oohing and aahing, we pass out another one.

      Once a few presents have been opened, Dad calls a halt to the proceedings so we can clean up the wrapping paper. We carefully sort through the paper to make sure nothing of value gets thrown out. Then the paper is piled into two boxes. Two, because my father always unwraps his presents very carefully so the wrapping paper can be reused. The rest of us are not so thrifty, so our shredded paper goes in the other box. We hear that many families get through the pile in an hour or so, but it takes us all day.

      For a lot of people, this is what Christmas is all about. The exterior things—the presents, the getting, and that feeling of not being quite satisfied because you already have too much. But this is just like focusing on the wrapping paper rather than what’s inside. We often get stuck with the glitz because we’ve missed the real thing.

      The real thing is carefully wrapped up in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. The whole point of Christmas is the salvation that came into the world so many years ago. Christmas is such a wonderful time to reflect this in our own families. The handmade gifts and bits of folded, coloured paper carry a dear message of love. They are like a mirror reflecting the greater love. Immanuel: God with us.

      Chapter 3: Freezing At 85 Degrees

      Rachel

      One day in June I walked two miles, came home, vacuumed, and did stomach crunches for ten minutes. I opened every window in the house and went to get myself a drink of water. When I came back to the living room, Deborah was standing there in a jogging suit, slamming the windows down. "It’s freezing in here."

      God is a perfect planner. He knew people would be lonely, so He put us in families. He knew we’d need to learn the virtue of compromise, so He set each person’s internal thermostat differently.

      It’s not as though we’re programmed according to our environments. If this were true, all people in a given location would be hot or cold at the same time, and

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