“Deck the Tree” with Applesauce Ornaments This Advent
We had some homeschool friends over to do our Advent activity today, making cinnamon applesauce ornaments. They smell so good! The best part of this project is that all of the ingredients are non-toxic, so this is perfect for young children. However, if your children are very young, I recommend having another adult with you to supervise since my friend and I found this activity difficult to do alone. I also advise you to let the children play with the dough before you cut out the ornaments. I set up all of my supplies ahead of time, too. This project is well worth the planning and time that it takes to do, though.
Supplies
Lyrics to “Deck the Halls”
“Tree Ornament – Spicy Apple Sauce” recipe from Craft Bits (Note: I added 1/4 cup more applesauce than this recipe calls for. The dough was too dry otherwise.)
Bible
Your Favorite Christmas Storybook (I used The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry.)
Objectives
~To understand that our Lord is beautiful.
~To make the connection that since God is creative and beautiful, we are and people enjoy being surrounded by beauty.
I wrote the following on the index card inside the Advent calendar.
Bible Verse
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4Psalm 27:4
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after, That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, To see Yahweh’s beauty, And to inquire in his temple.
Kids’ Activity
~Sing “Deck the Halls”
~Read your Christmas storybook.
~Read the Bible verse. Explain that this verse tells us that the Lord is beautiful. Since He is beautiful and Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth, we are making our Christmas tree beautiful.
~Make the cinnamon ornaments.
Family Activity
~Decorate your Christmas tree.
Filed under Devotions, Educational Strategies, Holidays, Homeschooling Life, Lesson Plans | Comment (0)An Advent Calendar Activity Lesson Plan
We have started our Advent calendar activities in our homeschool! I have searched the blogosphere and seen a few different ideas for calendar activities. This is an example of a lesson plan for one of my Advent calendar activities.
Supplies:
Lyrics to “O Christmas Tree” (We only sang the first verse.) Or try these two sets of translations of the lyrics
Green paper cut into a triangle
Scissors
Glue sticks & white glue
Paper circles
Tissue paper
Pictures of Christmas trees
Yarn
Index card
Bible
Objective:
~To understand that God is ever-present & everlasting.
~To understand that we use an evergreen as our Christmas tree because it reminds us that God is always with us and will always be with us.
I wrote the following information on half an index card and put it into the Advent calendar.
Bible Verse:
~”Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.” Psalm 41:13Psalm 41:13
English: World English Bible - WEB
13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
From everlasting and to everlasting!
Amen and amen.
Kids’ Activity:
~Sing “O Christmas Tree”. Discuss the meaning of the lyrics – the Christmas tree is always green and known as an evergreen. God is also ever-present. He will always be with us ans always love us. Use the following motions when you sing the song:
- Arms in a triangle over your head for “O Christmas Tree”.
- Stretch arms out for “How lovely are your branches.”
- Keep arms stretched and sway to the rhythm of the song for the rest of the lyrics.
~Make a Christmas tree. Look at pictures of Christmas trees and explain that the shape of the tree is a triangle. Use circles for the ornaments. Use yarn for the garland. Glue the Christmas tree onto another piece of paper: white for a snow scene, black for a night scene, or blue for a day time scene.
Family Activity:
~Choose a Christmas tree together.
Filed under Devotions, Lesson Plans | Comment (1)Fun Thanksgiving Day Activities
I know that Thanksgiving day can pose a few challenges for my family. We have two very active young children, and we also have a nephew who will join us. I have been thinking carefully about how to structure the day so that every family member, including each child, is happy and entertained. It is difficult to strike a balance, but I think I have a few solutions.
- My nephew loves to throw balls and just about anything that looks like a ball. I am going to use that to my advantage and create a bean bag toss game. We already have bean bags that we made for A2’s birthday party. (We used mismatched socks that don’t fit the kids anymore and filled them with dried beans.) We’ll make a flat board with pictures of the foods included in a Thanksgiving meal. The kids will toss bean bags on the board. Each time the bag lands on a picture the child will collect a card with a picture of that food on it. The child will place that food card on the corresponding picture on a place mat to complete the meal. If a child has already added a particular food, s/he can give that food to another player.
- There are great Bible verse coloring pages at A Kid’s Heart that we can color together. We can also memorize a verse!
- Kaboose has Thanksgiving Day pictures to color. We’ll turn them into coloring books for each of the kids.
- All of the adults want to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. We’ll play Thanksgiving Day parade BINGO while we watch it.
- We’ll play a Thanksgiving Concentration with these cards from ABC Teach.
I hope that these ideas help you to make this Thanksgiving enjoyable for everyone!
Filed under Holidays | Comment (1)Winter Preparations in Our Homeschool
I was inspired to write this post after visiting the Homeschool Bliss Channel at Blissfully Domestic. The post “Age Appropriate Chores” reminded me of how our family has been working together lately.
Winter is fast approaching, so we are busily trying to get ready for it. It is a big job. We have wood to stack, and there is raking that we never seem to finish. We decided to put our kiddos to work this week in order to teach them that everyone helps out in our family and to teach responsibility. Here is what they did.
- They cleaned out the car. They did everything from emptying out the trash to scrubbing the seats with hot, soapy water. Using water is always fun for the kiddos!
- The kids also put away the foam alphabet puzzles that we sit on when we do school work outside. This is a bigger project than you think!
- We cleared out our sand box and the pool and put them away. We’ll use the sand toys in the snow this winter so we stored them with the other outside toys.
- We recycled broken toys.
- We swept the leaves off of the deck.
- They helped Daddy put fire wood into the wheelbarrow.
It is great to see our children taking pride in their contributions to the family. It also has been a relief for me since I am able to get things donewhile I am with the children instead of finding child care or shooing them away while I work. They are also learning a valuable lesson about working together.
Filed under Homeschooling Life | Comment (0)Building an Extended “Family” Network
One challenge that my family faces, and I know many other families do too, is the need for a family support system. In the past a young family lived close to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Moms could rely on the extended family who sometimes lived with them to help out with caring for the children. These days families do not always have that kind of connection with extended family. That means that moms have to be creative about their options for child care. I think it can be a very real challenge for homeschoolers whose children do not leave home on that yellow bus in the morning allowing mom a few minutes to not worry about who is taking care of the children. It means you have to be resourceful.
I have tried to be resourceful by joining mom groups and play groups and getting to know neighbors. I wanted to cultivate friendships that would give me and my family the support and companionship that we need and crave. I have asked God to live nearby dear friends. I have wanted a best friend who lived so close we could walk to their home and live life together. I have to tell you that I have been truly blessed by a family that we have gotten to really know recently and who may very well turn out to be the kind of friends I have prayed for. This family has invited us to their home to play, watched our children when our child care fell through, and prayed for us. This is the kind of friendship that I have been praying for!
I think all families need to have an extended “family” network. You need tp be able to rely on someone who lives close to you, someone who you can call on one of those days when you really need some help. You need a network of folks who will rock your babies so you can take care of yourself or who will make a meal if there is an emergency. You need friends who will watch your kids for a little while or teach you a new skill. You also need another adult to talk to during the day about everything and anything. I am talking about building a community for you and your family.
It takes time and energy to build a community these days. It means that you have to put yourself out there to meet people. I have met my closest friends at church and through mom groups. I have had to make the phone calls to invite people over to play or to meet us at the playground. I often offer to help another family our first. Building a community requires spending time together. You have to commit to taking the time to get to know these folks and offering your help even when you don’t think they will want or need your help. Add prayer to your time commitment, and you will soon find your community growing.
I hope that you take the time to build an extended family network, a community of families. You and your family will be blessed in countless ways if you do! Please tell me what you have done to build your own community.
Filed under Homeschooling Life | Comment (0)Homemade Books
Do you have tons of old photos hanging around the house from your days before digital photos or ones that were printed for a scrapbook but they didn’t quite make into the album? I have boxes of pictures that I am storing right now. I really want to put those photos to good use. How about you? Enhance your home school reading curriculum with this great idea.
My daughter is on the brink of reading right now, and I am trying to give her lots of learning materials that will help her along. We created books that she can “read” with old baby pictures. This project requires at least two sessions that last about 45 minutes each (depending on your children’s ages). You will need glue, mounting paper, construction paper, stapler, and a permanent marker.
I gave my daughter a few old photos to select her favorites from. Then we mounted the photos onto scrapbooking paper, and I organized them into categories that made sense for a few short books. We put each group of photos in order and glued them onto construction paper. We talked about what was happening in each of the photos and came up with a sentence for each picture that I wrote in permanent marker on each page. Then we stapled the book together and added a paper binding to cover the staples. Finally, we read the book together pointing to each word on the page. Presto! Now she has books that she “wrote” and made, and she can read them!
The key here is that making books is getting my daughter interested in actually reading the books. She is intimately involved in the process of illustrating and writing the books. Plus the books are all about her and the familiar things in her life. She is more likely to return to these books now because they are her books. Practice makes progress, so the more I can get her to reread and practice sight words, the better able she will be to apply that in other books.
When you write your own books with your children, be sure to include repetition of sight words, your child’s name, and the vocabulary that s/he uses. Your child will reread these books time and again so s/he will have plenty of practice with those critical words. The project lends itself to teaching reading strategies, too, like using the picture clues to understand the book and figure out unknown words.
Older children also enjoy making their own books. You can try having your older child write the story that goes along with the photos. You could even use the computer to type the words. There could be more than one photo on each page with much more text. You could require your older child to use particular spelling and vocabulary words in the story, too. Use your imagination and have fun making books about your family together!
