Saturday morning was our long drive to return Makayla to college. My mom and I made the drive again and Jason and kids had a fun day together at home. Other than a lot of rain, it was a good drive that ended with singing Christmas carols because that was all the radio station was playing.
Sunday was the first day of December. The end of the year always feels like it is moving quickly, and this year is no exception. We started our very loose Advent plans. Basically, each day we will do something Christmas related together. It is not all planned out, though I have a list of ideas, because I like to be able to flex with real life each day. Here are examples of things on the idea list:
- Read Luke 2 and act it out.
- Sing Christmas songs together.
- Serve others.
- Act out the nativity.
- Make paper bag luminaries with glow sticks.
- Read stories from Christmas with the Prophets.
- Read a Christmas story from the Friend, New Era, or Ensign magazines.
- Watch the new Nativity video that was just released.
- Watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional online Dec. 8th.
- Read the Christmas story from the Nephite's perspective in the Book of Mormon in Helaman 16 and 3 Nephi 1:5-21.
- Bake treats and share with a friend.
Today our activity was playing "Wise Up!", a fun Christmas game from this month's New Era magazine. We were teams of wise men gathering our gifts for the Christ child, visiting Herod, and finding the young child Jesus. Along the way there were questions to answer and active games to do.
We also celebrated Emma's birthday with family today. Her 14th birthday is later this month, but today worked well for everyone to get together.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
I love your tree and ideas for advent! We are reading a short story each morning and opening an advent calendar. I hope to do a few of your ideas too!
ReplyDeleteI really like your advent. And I always like your science and school plans. :) You ever inspire me to work on creating family memories.
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