December 20, 2021 - Monday
JOY
During December I intentionally slow down and strive to enter the rest of the season. My hope - to surrender to the Lord, lay aside my agenda and the agenda of my curriculums, and simply follow Jesus. Advent is an important part of that slowing down.
Each December has looked different for us. We have used various advent studies over the years. I hope to share those soon.
The overarching theme for our advent season this year was joy, and my desire was to infuse joy into all we did.
Memory verse:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13, NIV)
Advent:
As I was praying for fresh manna for advent this year, a beautiful devotional arrived in my inbox from The Keeping Company. They are the makers of the Cradle to Cross Advent Wreath we have used for years. This year they released a new devotional that focuses on the twenty five names of Jesus. It is beautifully done. We particularly enjoyed the beautiful art that accompanies each day, and used it for December art study. (Recommended for older children.)
Science and Nature:
In addition to our daily advent study, we have been journeying through the book All Creation Waits: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings, by Gayle Boss. Each day focuses on a different animal and how God created each one to prepare for and survive the winter months. This book is very well written and full of awe inspiring facts about the wonders of nature. (Recommended for upper elementary children and older.)
Nature walks continue to be part of our weeks as we enjoy the fellowship and the adventures of our Wild and Free group. We have been blessed by warm December days – something we are not taking for granted. One of my favorite hikes was through a wooded preserve where we found a variety of winter treasures, from Hedge Apples, Black Walnuts and giant oak leaves. For the pièce de résistance - we had a Christmas party complete with a hot cocoa / snackuterie board. You can read more about that here…
Hymns:
Each year we pick a new Christmas hymn to learn and study. This years I chose Joy to World (it goes well with my joy theme). We used the lyrics for copy work*. In addition to copy work, the children learned to play the carol on the piano, and study the history.
* Did you know that you can create your own handwriting worksheets at www.worksheetworks.com?! I love this site!
Children’s Literature
December is one of my favorite months for read alouds. There are so many fantastic Christmas books we enjoy year after year.
LIST OF FAVORITE CHRISTMAS PICTURE BOOKS – coming soon
LIST OF FAVORITE CHRISTMAS NOVELS – coming soon
As I reorganized my bookshelves this fall, I stumbled upon the book The Christmas Doll. You can read my full review HERE. It was one we had never read, so I set it aside for December. It was a beautiful story, and nicely complimented the books we read in November - A Place to Hang the Moon and the Railway Children.
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Our primary study for December was Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. The book stretched the children slightly, but I found they adjusted to the language and literary style as we progressed through the story. We chose to listen to the audiobook by Tim Curry (available through Audible), and enjoyed his narration. I was uncertain if my children (9 and 11) would be too sensitive for the material, but I found it to be age appropriate. The book itself is written in a manner that did not invoke fear (in my children). What I have discovered is that novels like the Wizard of Oz or A Christmas Carol rely on children’s imaginations, as opposed to picture books and movies that do the imagining for you. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE picture books! And we did enjoy A Christmas Carol picture book by Brett Helquist, and the graphic novel by Sean Wilson. The images did create some uneasiness, but overall they felt appropriate. We also enjoyed The Muppets Christmas Carol movie, which was nicely done for younger children. For the grand finale our family attended a theatrical performance of A Christmas Carol at a local University. As you can image... by the end of December, we all knew the story inside and out; though there are layers upon layers to still be discover with future readings.
In addition to the novel A Christmas Carol, I took this opportunity to introduce the children to Charles Dickens. We really enjoyed Who was Charles Dickens by Pam Pollack, and A Boy Called Dickens by Deborah Hopkinson. If you have not yet discovered Deborah Hopkinson, I highly recommend you make her acquaintance. Her historical picture books are some of my favorites - including Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen.
When I asked the children how they would rate the novel, my oldest gave it a 5/5 and my youngest a 4/5. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much they enjoyed this timeless story. The novel sparked many delightful conversations and memories. It makes me excited to read some of Dickens other books with my children like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
Character Development
We flow from gratitude in November to giving in December. As we cross over into December – our posture of gratitude should become more pronounced as we prepare our hearts for the coming of our Savior. A foundational element of gratitude is giving. As parents, we get a lot of practice giving in December, and our children become experts at receiving. My hope is that they would also develop the skill of giving, not just to those they love, but to those in need.
Thankful for You
Together we created a "thankful for you" list - where we listed the people in our lives that we are thankful for. From there we embarked on a different craft each week, creating gifts we could give to the people on our list. This year’s package included Canna Lily bulbs from our garden in burlap bags the children sewed, and homemade felted wool bookmarks. We were able to combine art and giving - both of which bring us joy! Felted wood bookmarks are so much fun to make. There are various tutorials on youtube you can follow if you are interested in trying your hand at this fun craft.
A Gift to Give
In addition to giving to those we know and love, there are many ways to bless those less fortunate at Christmas. Gifts to Give at Christmas has a collection of ideas on how to incorporate a tradition of giving in your family.