Our Christmas ADVENTures

Our family celebrates the Advent season in a few different ways. This year we will have some activities that are annual traditions for us and at least one new tradition.

One of our favorite Christmas traditions in the advent calendar that my mom made for me when I was a child. Each day we add on ornament to the tree and by Christmas day it's all decorated. It's simple and charming. I am especially fond of the rick-rack on it:)

This year I have hung the advent calendar in our learning room so we can add our ornament each day as we do our *morning board*.

Another Advent tradition for us is to read through the Christmas story each night using The Advent Book, by Jack and Kathy Stockman.

This book was a gift when our kiddos were much smaller and is a very well-loved and much-anticipated book each December. The illustrations are amazing and each page (day) has a new door to open that reveals the next part of the Christmas story. We read from the beginning, adding one new door each night.

A note of caution: this book can become so well-loved that competition as to who opens the new door can ensue. I suggest taking turns:)

Another book that we enjoy is The ADVENTure of Christmas by Lisa Welchel. It's a wonderful resource for the *rest of the story* behind our modern-day customs, great activities and ideas, even recipes.

Something new for us this year is to create a Jesse tree. I've been reading/hearing about them for a few years now~it seems like such a wonderful way to teach your children more about the Scriptures and the background to the familiar Christmas texts in Matthew and Luke.

I was SO excited to find this beautiful resource from A Holy Experience (whose blog I love!). If you subscribe to their daily updates (and you'll want to!) they will send you the link for the free download.

I've been busy preparing mine and we are set to start this morning. I know my kiddos will love this activity~and I'm hoping it will become one of our treasured traditions.

Tell me how your family celebrates Advent.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

One Way I Refresh During the Summer as a Homeschool Mom

As our homeschool takes some time off this summer, my mind almost never stops thinking of and planning ahead for the upcoming school year. This is probably because I'm Type A and an obsessive planner...lol Whatever the reason, I do enjoy this season of planning. But I also need to be refreshed as a homeschool mom. Homeschooling can be incredibly exhausting and all-consuming. It's not easy and it's a lot of responsibility. And I take that very seriously when I am researching curriculum and planning toward the next school year. So also taking some time to rejuvenate and refocus myself is very important. How do I do this? Each summer I take some time to read something inspiring and motivating that speaks to me as a homeschool mom. Some of my fave reads from past years--that I have nearby on my shelf and refer to often--are Educating the Wholehearted Child, The Well-Trained Mind, The Charlotte Mason Companion, A T...

Arkansas' Crimson Clover

One of my favorite things about Spring is the crimson clover that grows along the highways and interstates here in Arkansas. I say Arkansas because this is where I first grew to love it. We actually saw some in Mississippi on our way here and I saw it in our town in Alabama for the first time this year. But it spreads like that, each year it grows and looks even more beautiful. I'm not sure who decided to plant it in the medians of the interstates , but it was genius! It seeds itself and just comes back more lush the next year. I always want to take pictures, but of course it's almost always in the median of a very busy interstate~which is a little dangerous for photography. However, the other day I found the perfect patch of it on the side of a not-too-busy highway, so Vince obliged me and pulled over:) Isn't it beautiful? I just had to share it with you...

my blessed life

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