We covered Christmas in a new way… we found some lapbooks and some mini units and worked our way through some interesting topics. I feel like I should include some of the links and a brief overview of what we used:

• The history of Wassailing…. this was a booklet topic in our lapbook series and something that we had never discussed. You can find a good link HERE. Most of these are from the site WhyChristmas.com
• The history of the Christmas Cracker. We had these one year at my mom’s and they were a hit. You can find this one HERE.
• Holly (and Ivy). Greens and their part in Christmas is actually rather interesting. Read some more HERE.
• Christmas presents. Why do we give presents? HERE
• Just what DO kids leave for Santa around the world? This was an especially fun one for the boys who laughed at some of the ideas. We may just have to leave something different out next Christmas ourselves! This article is from the site Mother Nature Network HERE.
• Christmas in Sweden. This was a suggestion from our lapbook… the diversity of other Christmases is amazing and one I think we need to focus on more. Our own traditions are fun but to implement some others… could be an adventure! Back to the WhyChristmas.com site HERE.
• The history of the Nativity plays. Why are they so popular and universal? HERE
• Saint Nicholas Day in Europe. Another unique tradition. Link thanks to TimeAndDate.com HERE.
• Mince Pies, a British tradition. Link thanks to Project Britain HERE.
• The history of Christmas Cards… I don’t know why but I enjoy these histories of ideas. And Christmas Cards was interesting. Link thanks to WhyChristmas.com HERE.
• The history of Christmas Stockings thanks to ChristmasWithLove.com HERE.
• We had to go to Wiki for a couple topics… Christmas Trees (HERE) and the Star of Bethelehem (HERE).

Useful materials:

• Christmas Symbols… a lapbook you can purchase from Currclick HERE.
• I could not find out Candy Cane unity that we originally purchased from Currclick up for download but this lapbook from Homeschool Share looks like a fun one that we will have to try out for ourselves another year. HERE

I know this is super brief compared to other entries but I especially wanted to share the webpages we found with all the somewhat obscure knowledge the kids found entertaining! For books… well sky is the limit! We do have our family favourites of course but there is so much out there that is informational at the libraries! 

Only a couple months late! But I did want to share some nice shots of the kids! So enjoy. They grow up so quickly!!!

Echo age 4!

Trinity age 6

Just the girls.

Emanuel age 8 (almost 9)

The three “littles”

Gavin (not his best shot to be sure) age 10 (almost 11)

Zander age 10 (almost 11)

Zander and Gavin

The over done “bookends” shot

Just the boys

All 5

Silly pose

All 7! Merry BELATED Christmas

Where it all started

November 25-26

The 4th day of a 4 day weekend feels very surreal to me. I felt absolutely LAZY and it was ever so slightly driving me crazy. Ken and his dad spent a large chunk of the day rearranging the garage so that one of the cars could fit in it. Which also had us drag out and sort  through the Christmas items. I am only using our Advent items and Christmas stockings. It is simply not worth having out our decorations this year only to have to sort them back out when we put everything away. It is an odd feeling, this is the first time since I was 19 that I will NOT have my own tree…

BUT We DO have our Little People Nativity set to have out for entertainment and decoration. Of course Baby Jesus is waiting for Christmas Day hidden away.

Emanuel with part of the “Jesus town” as they call it

Miss Echo is in LOVE she does not remember this set AT ALL

The kids are STILL over the moon with the new snow. I am wondering how long it will last but definitely glad they are still jumping to play out there together.

Out in the sunshine!

In fact, this upcoming week is set aside to finish as much unfinished items going for the kids as possible and get our Christmas and Advent themed learning organized and ready. There are presents to make, Advent calendars to set up and of course songs to learn for our mini concert that we will post up on YouTube. 

Monday ended our 4 day weekend and started our Thanksgiving etc wrap up. We also had a START up… Gavin decided he wanted to make his godmommy back in Canada a book… so paper was cute and ideas discussed and he was off! I gave him the 5 days of the week to work on it so that after the weekend a cover could be made and then the entire thing shipped off. 

Hard at work

Miss Echo has become an iPad pro. Just don’t take it away from her! EVER!

She loves her electronics

We did our last fall themed drawings from Art for Kids. SCARECROWS! I am saving all of these instructions and making them into a binder, they are the best I have seen around! 

Scarecrows

Don’t forget our 5/5 with Gavin and his spelling! Zander didn’t disappoint with only 2 wrong when he did his test as well. 

Well done Gavin

We have given up dinosaurs for the week, just need to get as much done as quickly as possible with a BIG surprise for the kids on Wednesday. 

So sweet and without the war wound look :)