My Favorite Author is using this theme this month, too. Stop by that blog for interviews with authors and reviews of books related to this theme. “What can you do with a traditional literature theme?” you ask. It is one of my favorite literature studies because it is truly a rich topic. Today I am sharing a few ways to engage your children in this study with Nursery Rhymes and Fables:

Photo by aturkus

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes are very short, funny, poetic stories. They are often historically and politically significant.

• Your little ones can participate in this study by reading Nursery Rhymes. These funny rhymes build phonemic awareness and are easily
  memorized. Have your little ones choose a few to commit to memory.
• Make and Break words from the rhymes. Use words such as Jill/hill, down/crown. Use the onsets and rimes to build new words (spill, fill, mill, bill).
• You can have your children illustrate several Nursery Rhymes and bind them into a book. Those illustrations are a great way to teach visualization, and they help you see if your child comprehends the text.
• Teens can research the political and historical significance to each of the rhymes. Then they can write their own Nursery Rhymes that have political and historical messages cleverly hidden in them.

Fables

Fables are short stories that have a moral or a lesson at the end.

• Since fables are so short, you can use them to practice oral reading. Have your children read them aloud with the goal of making the reading “sound like talking”.
• You can focus on memorization skills with Fables. Choose shorter ones that your older children can memorize and have the younger children memorize the moral.
• The lesson can spark an interesting discussion about morals. Ask your children what they think is the right choice in each situation.
• Fables can help you gauge your children’s comprehension because they are short and have a moral. Did your child predict the outcome based on the clues in the text? Did your child make connections to other stories or situations?

Look for more posts about using folklore in your homeschool.

I used the Bible Lesson from Bible Kids Fun Zone called “The Best Christmas Gift of All”. I skipped the part about sin and salvation for my purposes, but you could certainly include that in your own lesson.

~Supplies: Coloring Page of Baby Jesus, scissors, wrapping paper, tape, small gift box, Jesus in a manger (I used the Little People figure. You could use the baby Jesus from your creche.)

~Scripture: John 3:16" target="_new">John 3:16

~Discuss the ideas in the first two paragraphs of the devotion, I talked about the joy of getting gifts on Christmas morning and how sometimes you get a gift that you didn’t expect and don’t really think is right. God also gives us a gift on Christmas.

~Put the gift box with the baby Jesus in a manger in it in front of your child. “This is from God.” Have your child open it. “The perfect gift that God gave us on Christmas is Jesus! Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. God gave Him to us, and we celebrate His birth on Christmas Day.”

~Have your child color the picture of baby Jesus. Then wrap the picture. I had my children cut a piece of wrapping paper the size of the picture and tape the paper at the top of the picture. You can lift the paper and see baby Jesus.

This Christmas I want C4 to memorize Scripture about Jesus’ birth. I think the experience will add to our homeschool devotion time and help her understand the Christmas story a little better. I also hope she holds the memory verses she learns close to her heart. One verse that I am considering is Luke 2:11" target="_new">Luke 2:11.

11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11" target="_new">Luke 2:11

The scene with the angels visiting the shepherds is a beautiful picture. You can find in Luke 2:8-15" target="_new">Luke 2:8-15. I am considering a few ways of presenting this piece of the Christmas story.

• I will present a puppet show of the scene using our Little People ™ or dolls.
• Act out the scene. I’ll have C4 assume the different roles each time we act it out. We’ll make our props, too.
• Make a diorama of the scene. I think this project will open up a conversation about each of the elements of the scene – the shepherd and their attire, where the angels are and what they look like, etc.
• Draw/paint a picture of the scene. This might make a beautiful piece of art work worthy of a frame.
• Listen to the Hallelujah chorus. We might also watch a video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing the Hallelujah chorus.
• Read Christ is Born by Layne Haacke. This book includes illustrations for the Christmas story found in Luke.

• Start with a lesson about the verse using something concrete to explain the meaning. For example, this summer we learned John 15:5" target="_new">John 15:5. I used a lesson the I found at First-School to teach the essence of the verses. We used grapes on the vine to demonstrate what it means to be the vine and the branches.
• Draw pictures, take photos, or use clip art to visually describe of the meaning of the verses. Hang the pictures next to your child’s bed so you can reference them when you recite the verses together. Make sure the pictures are good descriptors of the verses’ meaning.
• Incorporate some kind of motion to go along with the verses. When we learned Luke 15:1-7" target="_new">Luke 15:1-7, we played a shepherd game similar to “tag”. One person played the shepherd while everyone else played the sheep and wandered around. The shepherd had to herd the sheep.
• Make up or find a song that teaches the message of the verses. Kids love to sing songs and songs that teach the meaning of scripture will help them to own it.

I hope that your memory verse lessons become more meaningful! Do you have any tips that have made understanding scripture easier for your children?

I managed to find a Biblical connection in Make Way for Ducklings. Our memory verse this week is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39" target="_new">Matthew 22:39 (The little one is memorizing “love”.) I picked this verse out because Officer Michael is so kind to the Mallard family. In the story, he goes out of his way to help the ducks by directing the traffic and calling for other police officers to stop the traffic. He didn’t have to do this; he was just treating someone else the way he wanted to be treated.

During the week, we read other Bible stories that relate to the “be kind to others theme”. The story of Ruth and Naomi is one and the other is the story of King David and Mephibosheth. I connected the theme to these other stories. We discussed how the theme applied to the memory verse. We even talked about how the verse relates to our lives.

In order to help us remember the verse, we sang it to the tune of “Frère Jacques” and “London Bridge” adding “Just like Jesus” at the end. We sang the songs throughout the day all week long. At the end of the week, the kids were able to recite their memory verses easily. They even sang the songs to Daddy.

Then we made a book in the shape of a police officer’s hat (HT: DLTK) and glued the verse inside. We simply cut out the hat and a blank piece of paper in the same shape. I printed out the memory verse and cut it out. As my kiddo said, “We used a police officer’s hat because Officer Michael was kind to the ducks in the book. The hat helps us to remember that.”