“Jesus is the Light” Homeschool Advent Activity

Photo by Rio Calle

In our homeschool we had another successful Advent calendar activity today, and I just have to share it with you. I think that your children will enjoy this one just as much as mine did!

Supplies

Bible
Flashlights (one for each child)
Dark room
Lyrics to “Silent Night”

Bible Verse

“I have come into the world as a light so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46

Kids’ Activity

~Sing Silent Night.
~Talk about how you cannot see anything in the dark and that you can use a flashlight, nightlight, lamp, or a candle to see in the dark. Discuss how Jesus tells us that He is the light of the world. If we need help, He can light the way. He is just like the other things we use to light up the darkness. Jesus can show you what you what to do if you ask Him for help.
~In a dark room give each child a flashlight. Play flashlight tag. Walk around with the flashlights reciting the verse as you go. Have one child light a path for everyone else to walk. (The kids love doing this. Enjoy their laughter!)

Family Activity

~Put lights on the Christmas tree. Discuss how the lights represent Jesus. He is our light in the dark.

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Titles

During Advent, my family reads lots of books about the true meaning of Christmas. I think that reading these books helps the kids internalize the”Good News”. Each book also acts as a springboard for discussions about Jesus and the story of His birth. Here are a few of my favorite titles that help establish the foundation of the true meaning of Christmas:

• God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergren is one of my favorite books because it explains that Christmas is a gift from God. The book does not ignore the fact that many families keep Santa as part of their Christmas tradition, though. It stays true to the greatness of God and the miracle of Jesus.

• I love the simplicity and the authenticity of The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry. This book is bilingual, English and Spanish. It is easy enough for the youngest of readers to understand.
• The Christmas Story by Patricia A. Pingry is another book that tells about Jesus’ birth in an easy to understand format. The story is accurate as well.
• Another favorite Christmas tale is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss. I love how the Grinch learns that Christmas is not about the gifts. Instead, he finds that Christmas is about family and love.

A Few of My Favorite Homeschooling Things

There are lots of homeschooling blog posts about how to homeschool on a budget, but I haven’t seen any about the supplies that make things run smoothly. Here are a few of my favorite things to keep on hand for our homeschool.

1. Index cards - for making flash cards, for making games, for writing memory verses on, for making a changeable schedule with (to be placed in a pocket chart), to make into letter tiles for word building, and the ideas are limitless.
2. File folders - to make lapbooks (We need lots for these.), to make an easy-to-store board game such as “Roll to 100″, to make a sorting game with, to make a phonics game on, to amke small sentence strips with, and the list goes on!
3. Construction paper/Copy paper/Notebooks - to make cards, to make collages, to make anything crafty, to make homemade books, for the kids to keep a journal in, for you to take notes on your children’s progress, to write just about anything.
4. Glue sticks & White glue - We glue something almost every day!
5. Plastic zipper storage bags of all sizes - for storing homemade games & puzzles, for keeping hand wipes in (They are great for cleaning up after a messy project.), for storing journals used outside, to store play dough in, for crushing ingredients when you cook, for storing wet paintbrushes, to organize like items for counting & sorting, and a million other uses.
6. Scissors & Paper cutter - I have a variety: adult scissors, blunt scissors, & a nylon pair that only cuts paper.
7. Pocket Folders - I keep everything from printed worksheets to the work related to a unit study in these. I like to use different colors and different patterns to make them easily distinguishable.
8. Packing tape - to fix torn pages in a book, to reinforce game pieces, to adhere lapbooks together, to reinforce the binding on books, for taping large boxes for pretend play. Packing tape fixes it all!
9. Post-it Notes - for reminders for you & the kids, for bookmarks, for games, for cloze procedure exercises, to write a note about something in a book to discuss, and many other things.
10. Paper plates of all sizes - to use as a palette for painting, to make masks, for putting glue on, for cutting into fractions, for sorting objects on, to make a variety of crafts with, to make a clock, to make a spinner, and many for more projects.

Do you have any favorite supplies that you just have to have for your homeschool?

Homeschooling Method: Thomas Jefferson Education

There are lots of homeschooling methods out there. In pursuit of great home education ideas I found this report on CBS about homeschooling in general and specifically the Thomas Jefferson Education (aka Leadership Education or TJed)

Watch CBS Videos Online

You can also read more about TJed at HS Unlimited.

I am interested in learning more about this method from first hand experiences. Have you used it? What is your opinion about it?

A Christmas Tradition: Derick Dickens

Photo by respres

Today Derick Dickens shares one of his family’s Christmas traditions. He is a pastor living in Virginia with his wife and three daughters. He blogs about religion, philosophy, culture, apologetics education and about his life.

Each year, my wife and I celebrate Christmas in several unique ways, but the most precious to us requires merely time and thought.

When my oldest was just a baby, my wife and I began a tradition that only requires paper, pens, and stockings.  For the weeks prior to Christmas, each person is responsible for writing a character or spiritual quality about the other family members that is good and Godly. We write this in a personal note to the individual, to be read on Christmas day.  There is a final note we write to God, in which we express thankfulness or praise to Jesus in specific instances during that year.

No one knows what the others have written until Christmas day.  We all gather around, and after the Christmas story, each of us reads out what others in the family said about us. Finally, we read the stocking reserved for Jesus and often deep thanks to Jesus is enough to turn any person to his knees.

These are precious times in our family, and the notes are kept as precious treasures within our family.  Often, we read these notes in tears as they touch our hearts or express some deep emotion.

Try this tradition, and I hope you will find, as we have, that the Christmas presents are no longer the most “looked forward” time in your home.

Derick Dickens
www.ebc-verona.net
www.thedickensfamily.org

A Christmas Tradition: Kim Hardy

Photo by Kelp

Kim Hardy shares her family’s Christmas tradition. She has two young daughters.

We are not raising our children to believe in Santa. We want them to understand that the reason for Christmas is Christ. However, our children understand that other children do believe in Santa, so we are careful not to spoil that tradition for other families. This is a picture of our Christmas day.

Every year the children wake up to the Hallelujah chorus. The beautiful music fills our home, and we all join together to read the story of the birth of Christ. This serves as a reminder to us that Christ is at the center of our celebration.

In many homes there are loads of presents under the Christmas tree. However, we give each child 5 gifts under the tree. Three of these gift represent the gifts given to Christ from the Wise Men. We try to give gifts that are of a significant value, but the total of all three need to cost approximately $75 to 100 per kid.  The other two gifts are from Mom and Dad and their sister. We believe this helps to put the focus on Christ instead of on the gifts.

A Christmas Tradition: Eric Felz

Photo by Digitoxin

Today Eric Felz shares his family’s Christmas tradition with us.

Our Christmas tradition was to go to the candlelight mass on Christmas Eve. Many Catholic churches have a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, but our church had a couple of masses. The candlelight one wasn’t always at midnight, but we made a point to go to the candlelight mass. There was just something about the the warm glow of the candles and the beautiful music that made this tradition special. Oh the music was wonderful. The choir sang, and their voices were angelic. The organ, which I really only heard at church and baseball games, also played. The whole experience was what people envision when they think of Christmas.

The candlelight mass was a truly reverant experience. I treasure the memories of being in church with my family on Christmas Eve.

My Christmas Tradition: Reading the Christmas Story

Photo by krisdecurtis

This is the first in a series of posts about Christmas traditions.This is one tradition that my family has started.

My husband and I, for the most part, are the only Christians in our family. We are trying to be salt and light to our families, especially around Christmas. It is important to us that our children understand that the reason for Christmas is Christ’s birth and not Santa Claus coming to our house.

On our third Christmas together as a family I decided that I wanted a very real way to express the reason for Christmas.

I actually got the idea for how to bring Christ into our Christmas from a powerful Christmas celebration put together by the church we were attending at the time. During this celebration, the entire Christmas story was read from the Bible as the orchestra played and the choir sang Christmas songs. There were even dancers behind a screen using creative movement to express the meaning. After seeing that, I decided that we were going to read the Christmas story in its entirety from the Bible. Unfortunately, I cannot provide the same kind of presentation that our church had, but at least my family can marvel at Christ’s birth every year.

I used Bible Gateway to locate all of the Scriptures. Then I printed them out and made booklets for each person in the family. I also added a nativity scene on the front cover. We took turns reading a few verses at a time. It was the first time my extended family had heard the real Christmas story. They always felt like they knew it, but after reading the actual story from the Bible, they realized that they were missing pieces. I felt like it was a huge success!

This will be the fourth Christmas that we read the whole story together. As the children get older, I hope that they grow to love hearing this story and anticipate it every year.

Homeschool Visual & Kinesthetic Checklist

Photo by Tony Crider

Are there parts of your homeschool routine that are frustrating you and your children? In a previous post I mentioned creating a visual agenda or checklist to help with difficult times of the day. I have been working with C4 to create a few checklists for a few challenging times during the day. So far C4 has found the checklist for getting ready to leave the house helpful and it has made that process less trying for us. She really likes having something to help her focus.

I wanted to share the process of making the checklists and show you pictures of ours.

• One afternoon we discussed the problems we were having with getting ready to leave the house, and I suggested that having a checklist would help. C4 agreed that it sounded like a good idea.
• We wrote a list of what she needs to do in order to be ready to leave. (shoes, coat, hat, mittens, backpack, & sit)
• We used catalogs and parenting magazines to find pictures of these items to cut out. These tend to be the most appropriate magazines to use with young children.
• I drew a line around the picture that we wanted, and C4 cut along that line.
• C4 glued each picture onto an index card.
• I had intended on putting the cards into a pocket chart, but C4 wants to manipulate the cards. So we keep them in a hanging folder on the door. She pulls them out and files through them as she gets ready to go.
• We repeated the process for the morning routine. We looked for the following pictures: the potty, brushing teeth, brushing hair, getting dressed, & eating.

Shoes

Mittens and Hat

Jacket

Backpack

Sitting

Homeschool Mom: Persevering or Proving Herself

I just read a great article in “Christianity Today” about “dropping out” of homeschooling. It got me thinking that home education is a huge commitment and perfectionists like me might wrestle with the decision to continue homeschooling. As I was reading this article, I kept thinking that I often do not show myself any grace, and the mother in the article didn’t either. She talked about her struggle to let go of homeschooling. She wanted it to work even though nothing she was doing made things improve, and she clearly heard God telling her to send her children to public school. It can be difficult to distinguish between perseverance and the need to prove something to everyone else. Perseverance is good, but proving yourself to others is not.

My husband and I have decided this:

• We will think about and plan school one year at a time. It is impossible to think through all of the possibilities and determine what will be best for our children beyond that time frame.
• We will remember that each child is unique. Home education may be good for one child, but not good for another.
• We will work together as a team to educate our children. Ecclesiastes 4:9 tells us that we need each other. Hopefully that will help us make better decisions about our children’s education.
• We will pray about the direction of our home school. Right now we feel called to home educate our children next year full time, but God may have different plans after that. I want to follow His plan!

Show yourself some grace and pray. Homeschooling is hard work and rewarding. But if you find that home education is not working for your children, then investigate alternatives.