Family History Friday

I wanted to restart the tradition that never really got going anywhere but my own mind.  Every Monday, we are studying history and as part of that we are talking about our own ancestors that were alive in that time and place.  I have just dipped a toe into family history work, so this will be a fun project for me to discover not only names but put a historical context with the facts and piece together their stories a little more.

This coming Monday, we are talking about maritime travel and exploration.  My 10th great grandfather, John Flowers II, was a merchant ship captain in the early 1600's.   His father built ships and I wonder how many afternoons he would spend in the shipyard dreaming of sailing one of his own.  I wonder if he could have fathomed during those daydreaming days on the Isle of Dogs that he would one day own plantations on three contents, a mine in England, and sail as captain for decades.  Captain Flowers sailed aboard his ship, Dorset in the 1630's from Kent to Virginia to Barbados, carrying passengers, goods and even fleeing Royalists.

This picture of John was drawn around 1630

He and his wife Anne lived on the waterfront in Figtree Park in London with their nine children.  They grew up outside of London, in the small hamlet of Ratcliffe, but moved to Fig Tree when their children were young. (Well, some.  Their children were born over the space of twenty years.)

I wonder what it was like to be Anne, a sea captains wife.  Did she know his ambitions when they met in Ratcliffe, married and had their first child? Raising nine children with a husband who was gone most of the time can't have been easy.  Especially in a new town.  I wonder what kind of support the captains wives gave each other.  Many lived in Fig Tree Park with the Flowers.  Being quite wealthy must have helped compensate, though.  Obviously money can't take the place of a husband, but having all the creature comforts taken care of, and the means to hire a governess, and laundresses (oh the joy that would bring!) and maids would certainly help ease stress.  I wonder what she thought of two of her boys moving to Virginia to run the farms they had there.  I suppose that was her life and the life of many people she knew.  She came from a shipbuilding and sea-going community and moved to another one for adulthood.  She must have been used to saying good-bye.

Anne died in 1647, and John died a decade later, in 1657.

Well, I'm off to study up on what the daily life of a mariner was like during the 16th and 17th centuries.  Good times!

And So It Begins

I am exhausted.  That bone-deep weariness that I've felt every first day of school as far back as I can remember.  But, just like on those old first days, an optimism is warming me underneath it all.  This is my new life, and it is good.    I am optimistic, not because I naively think every day is going to be amazing with halos abundant, but because I see the magic that is happening and the joy we are just starting to tap into, in spite of the reality that is life with six kids between the ages of one and eleven.

Today was not perfect.  All three girls were sick with sore throats and headaches.  Will was super grumpy after I woke him up for an 8:00 breakfast.  Ben is nearing the end of potty training, but still training.  And, Kate was up until 11:30 last night.  But, I was able to see the support beams under all the crazy.  We have a good plan.  We have a good foundation.  Everything else will take care of itself.

Last night, I was collecting my thoughts one last time before jumping feet first into this crazy world of homeschooling four school-aged kids with a highly mischievous preschooler and clingy toddler (I only wish she was toddling yet!) in tow.  I realized that my goals are pretty simple.  What I want to give my children is a deep-rooted thirst for knowledge, and a solid foundation on the gospel.  That's it.  All the r's and p's and q's will need to necessarily come in some form or other in order for those things to fully happen, but as long as I keep coming back to those foundational ideas, I think everything will turn out.

My favorite thing in our curriculum so far: The Brain Box.  It really is the key to smooth mornings.  When the kids first wake up, they can eat breakfast and then start on the Brain Box.  It has puzzles, chess, games like Memory, Spot It, Ticket to Ride and Checkers; word searches, I Spy pages, Sudoku, and crossword puzzles.  All things that help jump start those brains in a fun and gentle way.  The kids loved it and it freed me to get breakfast cleaned up and Kate taken care of before the kids are out of the school mode because they've had too much time to sit around or get started in a "non-learning" game.  I love it!  

So, Kate is asleep, and I'm exhausted (like I said), so I am off to sleep!

Will drew this picture of me. Love it!!