CHRISTMAS: PRE-K 3

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Christmas blog: A season of fun
 
Jessica's Week

Before I pack up the last of the lights and decorations I wanted to write one last post on our Christmas fun. We did so much this season I don’t think I can even remember it all. Nevertheless here’s a few of our favorite things:

Christmas Sensory Bins: managed about one per week of these (check out the lesson plans to see them all!). Hot chocolate cooking dough was the favorite.

For our kid’s Christmas party, we started a tradition last year of inviting friends to help us decorate a giant gingerbread house. My husband built a simple frame, first from PVC and this year cheap lumber. He stapled on some cardboard boxes and voila instant play house for the kids to decorate. We made some huge ornaments from foam board, paper plates etc. and then invited lots of friends over to cover the rest with stickers, paint, and markers. I had gingerbread man cookies for everyone to decorate and we each made a thumbprint salt dough ornament to take home. T got to enjoy playing in the house all through December and adding to the art whenever the mood suited her. This has been our biggest holiday hit two years running and I see continuing for years to come!
 
 
Ana's Week

My first Christmas as a homeschooling mom was an absolutely joyful experience this year. Busy and stressful though the holidays can be, I cannot be more grateful that I get to stay home with Aria and see the joy of the holidays through her eyes. Not only was it fun to see her get excited about Santa and the birth of Jesus for the first time, but I felt like I was able to live vicariously through her and in so doing find some of the joy of the holidays again that got lost the older I got. If there was one “flaw” I could recognize in how I handled the lessons for the month, it was that we didn’t spend enough time on math and the alphabet, but we are entering a new year and I’m determined to continue to improve as a teacher! So, I’ll let you know how that goes as we start our January lessons!

This year, I tried two things that I have never done before: elf on the shelf and a homemade advent calendar. First, I will say that when it comes to elf on a shelf, while it can be dreadfully fun, those nights you hit the sack and realize you didn’t do anything with the elf can be a bit of a frustrating experience. Once you set a precedent with the elf (which, in my case, was generally having the elf do an activity of some sort), you really can’t stop. I remember one morning waking up, realizing that I hadn’t moved the elf, and avoiding turning on the lights until I could sneak a book into the elf’s hand and move him into a new position! But, Aria loved it and it became a really great way to introduce new activities (like creating s'mores or getting tickets to go see a play), while it can also be a reminder to behave because Santa is watching!

Now, when it comes to the advent calendar, I took the idea I found from this website (http://howsweeteritis.blogspot.com/2011/11/advent-calendar-teach-true-story-of.html) to create my own advent calendar. I cut out a verse, placed an item along the lines of what was recommended from the site, and a few m&ms into each box. I decorated my own advent calendar (bought a basic container with drawers from Hobby Lobby) with card stock and used sticker numbers to label each day. Aria absolutely loved her advent calendar. I would read her a verse while she ate her m&ms and then we would talk about the item that came in the box. While some of it may have gone over her head, I can reuse it over and over, and I have never been so crafty or proud of an item I’ve made before. The calendar also doubled as a way to practice counting, as we would count up each day.

Each year, the girls make ornaments for the grandparents, so this year Skylar made her own “mistle-toes” ornament using her toes (see previous post) that I then laminated, and Aria painted ornaments at Bare Ware pottery. We took pictures with Santa several times, including at the local library where he gave the kids free books! We visited the Fantasy in Lights at Callaway Gardens, taking the tram through the beautiful gardens one evening with friends. Even Skylar loved it! We painted a Christmas tree I found in the sale section of Hobby Lobby and a nativity scene. We made tree table decorations and a wreath from the Target Christmas section (probably too difficult and the quality was not very good; stick to Hobby Lobby for sure!) We decorated our own snowman ornaments from Hobby Lobby and Aria gave them out to her friends. She worked very hard at these and would not let me help! We picked out a Christmas tree and Aria helped put the ornaments on the tree. In Charlotte, we went to a German Christmas village and the Billy Graham library to ride a horse drawn carriage and see a live nativity scene. The icing on the cake was riding on a Christmas train in Gastonia to “Christmas Town.” While the train didn’t exactly visit anywhere beautiful, we had hot chocolate, cookies, met Santa and a bunch of fun characters, and danced and sang with elves. Also, Santa ended up ironically giving out to all of the kids on the train the only thing Aria asked for every time she saw Santa, a whistle.
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While Aria is not old enough to really understand the true meaning of Christmas, she did get a good early understanding this Christmas that it is Jesus’ birthday and we get presents to celebrate him. Some parents don’t believe in encouraging Santa, which is totally their prerogative, but personally I love that Santa is an early introduction for kids into the idea of believing something even though they don’t see it, which is really what faith is all about! I think that the Elf on the Shelf only enhances this concept further!

I have been beyond blessed by God with a little girl who finds joy in almost everything in life, and this Christmas unit only solidified my need to be grateful I get to live life and learning so closely with her. Can’t wait to see what the new year brings!