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Two words parents do not want to hear over the summer are “I’m bored!” The best way to tackle this head on is to have super fun summer activities ready to go! We’ve compiled our list of 101 Things into a 2018 version we know you’re going to love! Ideas for Summer Activities
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The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”.
This year, the season of Advent lasts for four Sundays leading up to Christmas - it officially begins Dec. 1 and culminates on Dec. 24. At that time, the new Christian year begins with the twelve-day celebration of Christmas, which lasts from Christmas Eve until Epiphany on January 6.
We have a perfect opportunity to use this Advent season to cultivate traditions and rhythms in our home.
In a world where Christmas begins after Halloween, and the season is marked by shopping, rushing, and a general feeling of stress, we can heed a greater call to SLOW DOWN, savor, and anticipate the birth of Christ.
Use this Advent season to celebrate truth, beauty, and goodness.
The spirit of Advent is countercultural to our world today.
(Want to learn more about Advent before you embark upon it with your children. I highly recommend reading this short article - What is Advent?)
The “Three Cs” of Advent Traditions
Rather than give you a HUGE list of wonderful Advent ideas, I am just going to give you a few.
Less is more.
These are traditions we have used in our home - traditions that have grounded and shaped our holiday season. Now that my children are both teens I feel like we got this part of parenting “right”… and hopefully, my children will pass some of these traditions along to their own families one day.
Calendars, Carols, and Candles
These three simple things will help your family have a peaceful Advent. It is my prayer that you can use some of these suggestions in your home this Advent season.
Calendars for Advent
An Advent calendar is a simple way to mark the days for the coming of Christ’s birth.
When my children were young I had an Advent calendar that hung in the hall outside their bedrooms.
It had little numbered pockets for each day of Advent - inside each pocket, I placed two Hershey Kisses. They could choose when they wanted to eat their kiss… one child ate it FIRST thing out of bed - the other child saved it for after rest time in the afternoon.
One year my son had a LEGO Advent calendar.
I’ve seen so many Advent calendars - just pick one and make it part of your family’s Advent tradition each year.
Carols for Advent
Learning carols to celebrate the coming of the Christ child is another way to make memories and deepen the meaning of the Advent season.
I’ve written two volumes of carols. These teach about the history of the carol and include activities for ALL ages to enjoy.
As a child, I remember my mother sitting at the piano playing Christmas carols. Each time I hear Away in a Manger I have a vivid memory of my mom’s hands on the piano. I know all of the verses by heart.
What a gift that was (and continues to be) to me… and it’s so simple to give that same kind of gift to our children.
Pick a few carols. Learn them. Sing them. Make them part of your Advent traditions.
Candles for Advent
Use an Advent wreath in your home to learn about the season and create an atmosphere of peace and anticipation.
Do you know the history of the Advent wreath?
The Advent wreath first appeared in Germany in 1839. A Lutheran minister working at a mission for children created a wreath out of the wheel of a cart. He placed twenty small red candles and four large white candles inside the ring. The red candles were lit on weekdays and the four white candles were lit on Sundays.
Eventually, the Advent wreath was created out of evergreens, symbolizing everlasting life in the midst of winter and death as the evergreen is continuously green. The circle reminds us of God’s unending love and the eternal life He makes possible.
Advent candles shine brightly in the midst of darkness, symbolizing and reminding us that Jesus came as Light into our dark world. The candles are often set in a circular Advent wreath. In Scandinavia, Lutheran churches light a candle each day of December; by Christmas, they have twenty-four candles burning.
The most common Advent candle tradition, however, involves four candles around the wreath. A new candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. Each candle represents something different, although traditions vary. Often, the first, second, and fourth candles are purple; the third candle is rose-colored. Sometimes all the candles are red; in other traditions, all four candles are blue or white. Occasionally, a fifth white candle is placed in the middle of the wreath and is lit on Christmas Day to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
It’s so simple to create an Advent wreath.
Keep the wreath on your dinner table. Light a candle each Sunday in Advent and read a devotion to go along with the significance of that particular candle. When Christmas morning arrives, light the white candle in the middle and celebrate the birth of the Christ child.
Make Your Own Advent Wreath (from Focus on the Family)
We Light the Candles: Devotions Related to Family Use of the Advent Wreath
The Season of Light: Daily Prayer for the Lighting of the Advent Wreath (a liturgical resource that is beautiful!)
Use your Advent wreath to create a tradition and liturgy for the holiday season.
These are just a few suggestions for your Advent celebrations. Whatever you do - stay consistent, make it something you can sustain for the entire four weeks of Advent, and let your children take ownership.
We have such a gift waiting for us on December 25 - enjoy the anticipation!!
Do you have Advent traditions in your home?
Tell me about them in the comments below.
You might also like:
5 Favorite Books for Christmas
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We’re on the final stretch of our first semester studies.
It’s hard to believe my youngest is halfway through his first year of high school.
Not to sound cliche, but time is going by so quickly - I made an Instagram post about that very thing yesterday. (I hope this encourages all of the mamas out there!)
As I drove endless trips to the local Christian school for basketball, helped with difficult math problems, and edited a paper about Franklin Roosevelt, I was reminded these things are my JOY and calling right now. Sometimes all of the day to day doesn’t feel like a joy - but our attitude can make all the difference.
Enjoy the findings for this week - I hope you can find at least one thing that is of use to you!
When Less Becomes More
This book, by Emily Ley, truly spoke to my heart. (In fact, it motivated me to stop using my personal Facebook until 2020.) I listened to the audio - which was only three hours. It was just the check I needed right now, and I know it will be encouraging to so many of you as well.
And, if you’re wondering when I get the time to read so much… I listen to A LOT of audiobooks. Between folding laundry, taking showers, and driving this week, this book took no time at all!
Equal Opportunity Players
This article is interesting to me. Because my son plays sports we are always on the lookout for opportunities in a school setting. Our state did not pass the Tim Tebow Bill , so we play at a local Christian school. The topic is of interest to me, though, and the above article was great.
It’s Time to Blow Up The Public School System
It’s been a long time since the concept of the public school was invented and a long time since school became compulsory. The world has changed a lot since then.
It’s at least worth asking if school should have changed, too.
5 Christmas Activites for Children of All Ages
This is a post from my archives, but it’s one of my favorites - with tried and true Christmas activities for kids of ALL ages.
Screen Time: 3 Reasons Why Your Daughter Can’t Stop
This free video series is excellent. Because I have an 18 year old daughter, I know what a hold devices can have on our girls, and how destructive screen time can be to their healthy emotional development. This series is a good resources for parents of girls.
I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m thankful for this community of homeschoolers!
We’re headed to the North Carolina mountains to spend the holiday with family. I’m looking forward to a few days away - largely unplugged!
As always, let me know if you’ve found anything interesting this week!!
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With two homeschool graduates now living independently, here’s another letter to my younger self reflecting on insights and thoughts of what important life lessons were required to complete our homeschooling journey ~
Letter 26 ~ True Skills
Dear younger Nadene,
In the beginning, when you began to homeschool your toddlers, it was all about exploration, discovery, and learning about life. You taught through play and read alouds, through experimentation and exploration. But as soon as you bought a very expensive curriculum for each child, you became stressed, anxious, and hyper-focussed to “do it all right”. You became “Mom-the-teacher” and you pushed, pressured, persuaded, pleaded and even punished your children to learn what “they were supposed to”. You silly, fearful, stressed-out mom!
You pushed aside real-life for school-at-home. Somehow, as your children entered junior and middle school, academics became the main focus and the measure of your and their success. Remember homeschool is “Learning Not School“. It is so easy to get bogged down with the curriculum, it’s schedule, your children’s academics and teaching school subjects. And in its place, these things are important, but always look at the bigger picture. What do your children really need to master by the time they graduate?
A real & whole education has very little to do with information — hello — everyone has Google at their fingertips! Education is not merely schoolwork or subjects found in curriculums. Of course, the importance of education is irrefutable. But as your teenagers prepare to leave home (and heads-up — your middle daughter will launch out at 17!), you will realize that there are many other essential life skills.
Can they look after themselves? Can they relate well to others well? Do they cope with difficulties, navigate huge challenges, or make big decisions? Have they learnt how to manage their time and their money? Do they know how to apply for jobs, sign for leases, open accounts, fill in tax forms? Are they healthy and managing their eating and cooking? (See more specific life skills in the lists below this letter.)
As you watch your young adult children, you will joyfully witness that they have learnt amazing life skills as they were growing up. They are strong and mature. They are wonderful, supportive friends, and are committed and loyal to their communities. They have loving, stable relationships with their partners. They can cook amazing, nutritional meals on a shoestring budget. They make and keep a beautiful, clean house, and are wonderfully hospitable. They work hard in their respective jobs, managing job performance with professional attitudes. They handle conflicts and difficulties in relationships with maturity and grace. They manage their money, making ends meet and living within their means. They have a living faith in the Lord and entrust themselves to His word and ways.
And as for the rest, you will watch with a joyful expectation as they learn what they need to as they go along, growing in experience and competence as they figure things out.
Don’t lose sight of the big picture! It is so much more than mastering algebra or chemistry equations or acing the exams. Real-life stuff cannot always be tested in the classroom. Life will test what they really learnt!
And, by God’s grace and mercy and lovingkindness alone, you will see that you have done well.
With compassionate love and grace from your older self,
Love, Nadene
If you Google, you will find many lists of life skills your children need to learn before they graduate. Here’s a compilation of many life skills needed ~
Emotional intelligence =
- Mental health
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Empathy
- Coping with stress and failure
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem-solving
Communication & Relationships
- Effective communication
- Manners
- Conflict resolution
- Dating & Romantic Relationships
- Marriage
- Family & Raising kids
- Professional Etiquette
- Communication on the phone, SMS, texts & emails
- How to Apply for a job
Financial literacy
- Managing Money
- Budgets
- Savings & Investments
- Credit Cards, Hire purchase & Debt
- Buying & Selling Car and Home
- Taxes
Nutrition & Health
- Understanding nutrition in food & its impact on health
- Wholesome attitude to different eating plans & diets
- Meal planning
- Food budget
- Cooking skills
- Weight management
- Self-care
- Exercise
- Supplements
- First Aid & CPR
- Family planning, Sex, STDs
Other
- Time Management
- Housekeeping
- Management & Maintenance of home
- Laundry
- Survival Skills
- DIY and Repair skills
- Social Media
- Addictions
- Civics
- Community
- Politics
Some of these life skill lessons should start while your children are very young, while others are more important in high school. Some topics may not apply to your family or values, but most are vital skills your children need once they leave home.
I’d love to hear your views and thoughts on this topic! Would you share yours in the comments below?
In case you missed any of my previous “Letters To Me” in this series:
- 1 Learning Not School
- 2 Ideals and Compromise
- 3 Unique Individuals
- 4 Toddlers
- 5 Let Be
- 6 Husband
- 7 Action
- 8 Friends
- 9 Wait
- 10 Come to Pass
- 11 Teens
- 12 Casual Classical Music
- 13 Dare to be Different
- 14 Send Homeschooler To School?
- 15 On Track
- 16 Don’t kill it!
- 17 Perfectionism
- 18 Memories
- 19 Have Fun!
- 20 Trust God
- 21 Time
- 22 Striving
- 23 Fears
- 24 Failure
- 25 Change
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As I reflect on my more than 23 years of homeschooling, I believe that creativity is the most wonderful gift you can give your children! Here is the next letter to my younger self — Letter 27 ~ Creativity
These new collages are from images of our many creative moments over the years. Warning ~ This post is chock-a-block full of links to previous creativity related posts; proof of my emphasis on creativity! I recommend you bookmark this letter to come back to read all the links.)
Dear younger Nadene,
Your children’s happiest moments in homeschooling revolved around your creative approach which included frequent hands-on activities. Realizing this joy, I want to urge you to provide daily creative opportunities such as arts & crafts and doing regular hands-on activities such as lapbooks, making models and paper projects, and allocate time for lots of dramatization. 
Figure out how to fit in hands-on activities into your schedule, and these activities will become your children’s favourite homeschool memories. Your Fabulous Fine Arts Fridays will save you and your children from burnout and stress! Over these years you will produce many creative projects.
Your children will create cute finger puppets for narrations, cut and colour Lego-punched dioramas for poetry, make models of Laura Ingalls’ Little House, dress up to act out their History narrations, re-create famous paintings in 3D, create their own sets of paper dolls. Amazing mobiles will adorn your schoolroom for different themes and study topics. Every year you and your children will make puppet shows such as the Nativity Play and Esther play for Purim and their art will cover the walls in your home.
Your young children love to be creative every moment of the day! In their free time, they love to dress up and you will even sew them boned corsets! You will make them a rag doll family to replace their Barbie dolls, and your middle daughter will use her skilled fine motor skills to create her own Polly pocket in a soap dish!
Join Sketch Tuesday and do art every week. There are so many advantages to sketching weekly! This simple weekly Sketch Tuesday activity will produce an enormous skill set and build confidence! Not only will it be the most welcome time of enjoyment and respite in your week, but it will offer regular opportunities to try new mediums and styles and your children will excel in all their artistic activities.
Because you provide them with a creative space and creative materials, they will also make jewellery and beautiful gifts. Your daughters love creating beautiful flower arrangements. They will create beautiful rustic decor for their brother’s weddings. Your daughters will become experts at home decor. You will teach them all to sew and knit and your teenage daughters will start their own beautiful pyjama clothing range called La Lune.
Your eldest daughter Tess will become an incredibly talented seamstress at just 15-years old, sewing dresses for weddings and Matric farewell functions. She and her best friend will put on and host several fashion shows. When your daughter graduates, she will work in the hospitality industry for a season. She will marry and her home will be filled with beauty and loveliness. When they move Sedgefield, she will renovate and restore the old family seaside home into a lovely Airbnb. Her homemaking, cooking and creativity will spill into every area of her life.
When your middle daughter Kate graduates, she will continue to create her own unique styled art, create professional designs and logos, and develop her digital art. She will hone her photographic skills and assist her boyfriend Mathew with photography at weddings. She will assist him in developing his website, his marketing and social media. Kate loves food and she will enjoy cooking Masterchef-type food! She will become a singer and musician, teaching herself to play musical instruments.
Your youngest daughter Lara will do art every day. Her Instagram feed is full of art, art and more beautiful art! 
Lara and her talented wood craftsman boyfriend will start their own collaborative online art business called Collection Shed. Joshua will make beautiful custom frames for Lara’s paintings!
Your children’s creativity and handicrafts skills will become great assets. They have so much creative talent that it spills over into entrepreneur and job opportunities. They will start businesses, sell products at markets and online, work for art and animation studios, sell art via social media. All of them will develop wonderful unique artistic styles and their regular creativity will generate wonderful rich art portfolios. Your family will be known for its creative flair!
You, too, will find great joy in doing creative projects, regularly sketching, painting, sewing, knitting, gardening and doing decor and DIY projects. As your homeschooling journey nears the end, your lifestyle and time will allow for much more art and creativity, so it is a good thing to take part in arts and crafts with your children while they are still young. Maintain your creativity as a hobby lifestyle, or as Charlotte Mason describes it as “Mother Culture” and you will have a fulfilling and joyful transition post homeschooling.
And very importantly, don’t be afraid of your children’s occasional boredom. This time is the essential ingredient that is necessary for them to discover and develop their creativity! In this day and age of constant stimulation and distraction, quiet undistracted time is a gift for creativity.
Keep a simple schedule and avoid rush, stress and over-committed extra-mural activities. Plan for days at home, free afternoons and long, unrushed weekends.
Creativity also requires grace to learn, to experiment and to make mistakes. Offer your children and yourself gentle encouragement and avoid any comparisons. Compliment and display your children’s art and keep trying new materials and techniques.
Here are some wonderful creativity quotes ~
- “Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world.” Brene Brown
- “Creativity is experimenting, growing, taking risks, making mistakes & having fun!” Mary Lou Cook
- “Creativity takes courage.” Henri Matisse
- “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Albert Einstein
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou
- “To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce
With fondest love from your older and creative self, Nadene
I’d love to hear your views and thoughts on this topic! Would you share yours in the comments below?
In case you missed any of my previous “Letters To Me” in this series:
- 1 Learning Not School
- 2 Ideals and Compromise
- 3 Unique Individuals
- 4 Toddlers
- 5 Let Be
- 6 Husband
- 7 Action
- 8 Friends
- 9 Wait
- 10 Come to Pass
- 11 Teens
- 12 Casual Classical Music
- 13 Dare to be Different
- 14 Send Homeschooler To School?
- 15 On Track
- 16 Don’t kill it!
- 17 Perfectionism
- 18 Memories
- 19 Have Fun!
- 20 Trust God
- 21 Time
- 22 Striving
- 23 Fears
- 24 Failure
- 25 Change
- 26 True Skills
Subscribe Click to receive all my new posts packed with practical tips, projects, plans, pages & art ideas by email
Facebook Follow Practical Pages on Facebook
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Life is busy and learning is spent more and more on the go. Too, learning should be flexible and can happen anywhere. Whether you want to change the place your kids learn like to the park or are planning a vacation, you’ll love these 10 best ways to easily transport homeschool curriculum. ONE/ Not just […]
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In the early 1980s, my mom homeschooled my youngest sister. Then, folks thought homeschooling was illegal. It wasn’t, but it felt that way. As my mom researched about homeschooling, I read the same research as meager as it was, but I came to appreciate that homeschoooling is a superior education for many reasons. I was […]
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I made some free Owl Printables that I want to share with you today. 🙂
Have your kids dissected owl pellets? This is such a great hands-on activity if your kids are studying forest animals or the skeletal system… or even if you just want to do something exciting to add into your homeschool day! This project is wonderful with any age!
My youngest daughter finished a big unit on the skeletal system and really wanted me to order some owl pellets for her so she could look for bones. We chose the jumbo owl pellets (affiliate link) and were really happy with what we got. ED found four skulls in just one pellet!!
She wanted to know a bit more about the difference between some of the animals barn owls eat. I made these blank notebook pages for her. I also included some Montessori 3-part cards for those of you with younger kids. 🙂
There are also some Owl Lapbook – Interactive Notebook pieces that your kids might enjoy!
These owl notebook pages, 3-part cards, and activities are free to download!
Click here to download the Free Owl Printables and Lapbook
If your kids are studying forest animals, here are some free forest sorting cards I made a while back. Visit this post for the
Are your kids interested in studying animals? You can find out more about our 100+ page Animal Packet or the big Animal BUNDLE here:
Find out more about our Skeletal System Unit here:
See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! Don’t forget to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter. You might also want to check out some of our resources pages above (such as our Science, Language Arts, or History Units Resource Pages) which have links to dozens of posts. You might want to join our free Homeschool Den Chat Facebook group. Don’t forget to check out Our Store as well. 
I’ve chosen not to use pop-up boxes at this point, but you can click here to Subscribe to our Homeschool Den Newsletter! You’ll hear when we have new posts, packets and other homeschool-related news! 🙂
Happy Homeschooling!
~Liesl
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
The post Free Owl Printables appeared first on Homeschool Den.
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We hope that you have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday! ~Liesl and the Kids
The post Happy Thanksgiving! appeared first on Homeschool Den.
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Great Summer Resource: Two words parents do not want to hear over the summer are “I’m bored!” The best way to tackle this head on is to have super fun summer activities ready to go! We’ve compiled our list of 101 Things into a version we know you’re going to love! Ideas for Summer Activities1. Visit a drive-in theater. Movies are exciting for kids to do with their families but sometimes, Redbox gets old and the theaters are too expensive. Instead, visit your local drive-in theater and enjoy a new experience for moviegoing. 3. Eat a whole lobster with your hands. A perfect idea if you live near water! Look for places nearby that offer fresh seafood.
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