Homeschooling Through the Holidays: What We're Up To These Days

First of all, I apologize for my absence. When I started writing here, I envisioned posting several times a week with new and exciting content that everyone would be thrilled to read. Unfortunately, sometimes life gets in the way of that. This time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so busy. However, I thought I'd give you a glimpse into what we're doing in school these days.

We've continued our normal language arts and math program at www.timeforlearning.com We're actually about to finish the third grade lessons with Boo; so I'm going to have to figure out something new come January. Then, usually for history, geography, science, and art we use the units from www.layers-of-learning.com. However, we've decided to do some Christmas focused work for the month of December.

First, we've just started listening to The Cinnamon Bear which is a children's radio dramatization from the 1930's. This is the first year we've done this, and we're really enjoying it. You can find the program for streaming or download at Homeschool Freebie of the Day. The story centers on two children who go up to their attic in search of the star for the top of the Christmas tree and end up having great adventures with the Cinnamon Bear as they chase the Crazy Quilt Dragon who has stolen the star. Homeschool Freebie of the Day also has a lapbook available for purchase to accompany the recordings.

Next, we've been exploring Christmas around the World with a free unit study available from Homeschooling in Detroit. The unit includes online information for each country as well as a suggested craft, recipe, and a notebooking page. We, unfortunately don't have time to complete all the projects, but we'll be picking one craft and one recipe to use as a culmination to our unit. I'll let you know how that goes.

We're also reading one story a day from The Children's Book of Christmas Stories from Project Gutenberg. You can either read the book online or download it in a variety of formats. The book includes over 30 stories, many written by well-known authors. The stories are marked to let parents know whether they are suitable for younger or older children, making this a great book for the whole family. Boo and I are taking turns picking the story we read each day, and it's really putting us in the Christmas spirit.

Finally, we're completing a 12 days of Christmas art pack available free from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. The pack encourages kids to copy free hand a drawing of each day of Christmas portrayed in the popular carol. Boo sometimes worries about her art ability, though art is one of her favorite subjects, so I'm hoping this packet will boost her confidence. So far, she's really enjoying it and is doing very well with it. The packet also includes handwriting practice which is an added bonus.

Over all, we're really enjoying all of our Christmas projects. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that we all keep the true reason for Christmas at the center of our hearts and minds.