Countdown to Christmas

Here are some lovely ideas from a chat we had on the topic of Holiday School last December:

-Holiday School is a break from the “normal” rhythm of school to enjoy the holiday season

-Can be all of December, Thanksgiving-the new year, a couple weeks before the holiday, or the 12 days of Christmas (Dec 25- Jan

-There’s no wrong way to do Holiday School- just take time to enjoy time w/ your family and enjoy this special season

-Time to enjoy holiday-related activities like cooking, baking, making decorations and gifts (great handicraft time!), learning to play or sing a carol or hymn, make wrapping paper, help write and address the family cards, play games and make puzzles, listen to music, create art, watch holiday movies, etc

-Enjoy holiday activity books like hidden pictures, holiday-theme word searches, crossword puzzles, and lots of coloring pages

-Work on holiday-based words in whatever foreign language your kids are studying

-Try to learn a carol or hymn in another language

-Lots of families read a book per day

-Some families keep the “core subjects” or do one main journal per day and lots of extra fun holiday activities

-Do Holiday theme copywork, recitation, and dictation

– Learn about how places around the world celebrate

-Learn about other winter holidays besides what you practice

-Dive into some of the legends of the season

-Memorize a different version of the Christmas story in the Bible each year

-Memorize a passage of a famous book

-Create a holiday play

-Let your kids script a play of Christmas Carol, The Night Before Christmas, or the 12 Days of Christmas song

-Also a great time to relax and refresh after a busy year

-All ages can enjoy Holiday School. Tap into what your kids are interested in and see where it leads

-Some families choose to do a special unit study around the holidays too

-Teens are often really tired by the end of the year and may need extra time to just REST

Enjoy this little video of our family Christmas caroling in Italy, a decade ago! Merry Christmas!

It’s so much fun to share the Christmas season with my family! Having a house full of children is such a blessing too. How beautiful to celebrate the endless gifts of God, life, redemption, grace, healing, salvation, freedom, hope, peace, and liberty in Jesus Christ – my Lord. God is so good. Psalm 37. Use this journal to add a special heart focus during this season, or use it for “holiday school” this year!

“This is a perfect way to countdown to Christmas with kiddos! I loved that it started with a blank December calendar to fill in as you count down the days until Christmas. Each day has an assortment of the following: fun little poem, a coloring page to add your own touch, recipe to make together or a fill-in puzzle. There are places to illustrate poems, write prayers, and just overall document your hopes, dreams, and prayers during this holiday season! I love this time of year. I think this is a perfect way to spend time with my kiddos getting them in the Christmas spirit and making sweet memories together! I want to use this to share the joy of the season with them. I love that this is a fun way to spend time together, creating special memories as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus!” ~Creatively Crunchy Mom (Amazon review)

“We loved this journal for December homeschooling! My seven year old doesn’t color much, so instead I wrote math word problems relating to the illustration on the page, or directions for drawings to add to the pages. Together with the poems, writing and recipes it made for a delightful, fun December workload. We are a secular family and although it’s listed as a Christian resource, references are minimal and it’s mostly focused on family and traditions. We will definitely get another one next year!” ~Live2Learn (Amazon review)

“This is not a typical journal!!! This is ADORABLE in every way possible!! I really didn’t know what to expect but this is just great. The art work is so cute but still leaves plenty of room for the kiddos creativity to add scenes or backgrounds. I love how it does not concentrate on the commercialization of Christmas but instead the family life. The recipes are not too complicated which I find quite a bit in holiday type books. Another thing I really like is the author keeping it a CHRISTmas book and not a holiday book. It has writing activities but they are based on a child’s favorite thing such as a song, a memory, or a story so nothing kids will be too upset about doing!”~Dacia C. (Amazon review)

You can also grab our “Simply the Bible”: The Story of Jesus (New Testament text) with the Christmas cover to give as gifts this Christmas. This is an easily readable translation, given in the Dyslexie font we use for our Fun-Schooling journals.

Also, check out Anna Brown’s musical, His Story! Now is the perfect time to get this as an MP3 here! For more details, go to the site here. And keep an eye out for some very exciting news that is currently under wraps but will be released publicly soon! Featured below is Anna singing “Arrive” about the birth of the Messiah.