Advent | Still Learning Something New

Are you extra busy this time of year? We are! Our calendar is filled with Christmas program rehearsals, a holiday workshop, caroling, and parties. We’re decorating, crafting and baking. And of course, there’s light displays to drive by, extra shopping, and gifts to wrap and deliver. Oh yeah, there’s homeschool lessons, too.

Not only are we counting the days down until Christmas, we’re counting the days left in our semester. I know some homeschooling families that take off the month of December, as nice as that sounds, it isn’t for us. We keep on learning through December, and we have about two more weeks of homeschooling before we’ll be ready for a break . However, with the added busy-ness, regular lessons won’t give us the time we need to pursue the activities that make this time of year so special.

Below are the online links to Advent and Christmas countdowns that we are using for quick lessons that are helping us check off our daily subjects. Not only have the kids been liking these (probably because it’s extra computer time and the studies are short), I like them too. It’s wonderful to have a break in lesson planning and to devote my “teacher time” to all the activities December brings. It’s fun knowing that we have surprises waiting for us to learn about each morning. And since these resources are brief, we have the afternoons for all those extras.

For Bible references and a little related trivia each day until Christmas – http://www.jamtrust.org/resources/adventcalendar/AdventCalendar.html

Learn Something “Christmassy” every day for 25 days – http://www.whychristmas.com/adventcalendar/

Countdown with Math – secondary grade levels (6-12) – http://nrich.maths.org/11330

Countdown with Math – primary grade levels (1-5) – http://nrich.maths.org/11078

For Science, a Chemistry Countdown – http://www.compoundchem.com/2014advent/

Unlock a New Game Each Day Until Christmas – http://www.santagames.net/calendar/index.htm

World Geography and Cultures – Read about Christmas traditions around the world (We used this as a study link last year and it’s great!) – http://projectbritain.com/Xmas/calendar/index.html

Liverpool Museum has a historic display to share each day – http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/christmas/advent/

For even more Christmas Advent and Countdown resources

I hope you enjoy your final learning days until the holiday break. I wish you Merry Homeschooling!

betty jo

This first week in December has been all about counting the days until Christmas. I am just as bad, if not worse than the kids when it comes to the rush and excitement of the holidays. Also, we look forward to surprises each day and a welcomed break from learning as usual.

We’ve had special activities each day this week. We dug out the box of Nativity collectables from the garage and cleaned off our school shelves for them. We made a couple of trips to the grocery to buy cookie and treat ingredients for baking/cooking projects. We have also visited the craft store to stock up on the supplies we’ll be needing for our holiday art creations. There’s been old favorite Christmas movies watched. And of course, we loaded our bookbags up with stacks of library books with holiday themes. Finally, there were web sites with holiday studies that we have linked to each day. Below are the best of the online resources we have kicked off our learning through December with.

For our daily Bible devotions we have started the Advent Chain from this site. It’s simple to print and assemble but meaningful and thought provoking http://www.spelloutloud.com/advent-chains-easy-christmas-craft.html

Daily Christmas countdown activities for both my teens and younger boys . One is a calendar which features an interactive game or activity for each day and another calendar with a different Christmas themed geography and history lesson. Both calendars are found here http://primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/teacher/christmas.html#advent

NORAD also has a site with a new interactive activity each day as well as some other north pole and Santa activities and resources http://www.noradsanta.org/

The teens also have an interactive calendar to link to each day. This one offers a new secondary level math video each day http://nrich.maths.org/10472

Even more Christmas Countdown and Advent resources

I haven’t made this yet, but plan to. This mamma NEEDS a countdown activity too! Candy Countdown Calendar! http://www.franw.com/2011/11/make-your-own-candy-countdown-calendar.html

More Christmas Resources https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/11/23/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/

And More Christmas Resources here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/11/29/free-christmas-themed-teaching-resources/

https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/12/13/how-holidays-are-made-and-other-christmas-science-lessons/

Hope you are having a wonderful time counting down the days till Christmas!

betty jo