December 2014: Month-At-A-Glance

Another year’s end is upon us today, and we enjoyed the last month with some great holiday fun and learning. Our December was filled with special times that are starting to become Christmas traditions. I apologize in advance for the long post, but we really packed some great stuff into this month. Many, many times this month… I found myself with chills… literally FILLED with joy. This family God has given me… I love and enjoy them SO much. Our Christmas truly was filled with JOY. Thank you, Lord!

We enjoyed hosting a wonderful Christmas Brunch party with our neighbors. The kids loved playing host and hostess and we all had a great time getting to know the folks on our street and surrounding streets better.

Peanut and I had a fabulous Girls’ Day enjoying ice skating, lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, and The Nutcracker at the Performing Arts Center in Denver. What an incredible performance and what an amazing day with my sweet girl!

Christmas Eve and morning were so fun. The kids were completely caught up in the joy of coming downstairs in their new robes, opening presents, dinner with family, and Happy Birthday Jesus singing and cake.

His eyes got so big when tasting Jesus’ birthday cake

Bud read us the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2.

The kids did some great handicrafts during this frigid month. It’s sometimes hard to get outside to play when the temperature drops so we put on some fun Bing Crosby tunes and worked on creating beautiful things inside. Making a cranberry garland for our Jesse Tree

Making a Cheerio garland

Bud created this Police car with a command center inside and a jail

Homeschool

Reading / Literature

This month we read some wonderful books. I am reading Old Yeller with Bud and Little House in the Big Woods with both the kids. Peanut and I are reading The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. We also read several picture books depicting the Nutcracker which has become a beloved tale around our house.

I am excited to see a new spark for reading developing in Peanut. I have been slowly drawing out our read aloud times to include chapter books with less pictures. Her vocabulary is really expanding and I attribute this to the wonderful words that are passing into her ears from these living books. I’m excited for the day when she looks up at me with those big brown eyes and asks me to teach her to read!

Bible / Hymn Study

We did our advent devotions this month for our Bible readings using a Jesse Tree. The kids love taking turns opening each day’s ornament and hanging them on the little tree on our table. The stories go back to Genesis and follow the ancestry of Jesus. It is a wonderful way for the kids to get a big picture view of the nativity story and learn about the many prophesies that came true on that night in Bethlehem.

We sang and discussed the hymn Hark! The Herold Angels Sing this month. Many days, Bud’s copywork was an excerpt from this hymn. I love how he sings the line as he writes it. It’s almost like it is sticking like glue in his mind that way. I found him singing the carol to himself throughout the month while playing with Legos or walking around the house. Peanut would hear it being played in various places around town and say, “That’s my favorite song!”

Science / Nature Study

Although it can be harder to get outside this time of year, there is still so much to learn and see in God’s natural world in the winter. We took a frigid walk around a frozen lake. We could see bubbles and leaves frozen in the 12″ thick ice.

One of my favorite traditions is meeting up with friends and cutting a fresh tree at a fundraiser for Cal-wood, a wonderful organization that brings kids from the city to have an outdoor experience in the mountains.

We finished reading The Tale of Nimble Deer by Arthur Scott Bailey. This was such a wonderful natural history book that the kids loved, I purchased 3 more books in the series to read in the coming months. They are highly recommended!

The kids covered pine cones with peanut butter and sunflower seeds and we placed them on the deck to watch which animals would visit us. We were given quite a wonderful show. A magpie, squirrel, and crows all tasted our pine cone treat. It was such a neat thing to watch from the breakfast table!

Math

We are 10 lessons away from the end of RightStart Level A with Bud. The publisher always has a wonderful Cyber Monday sale, so I already purchased Level B. It has been a wonderful curriculum so far. I am transitioning the kids into adding math into our normal morning routine. Some of the days this month, we took a break from RightStart and played math games that I found on Pinterest and did Tangrams. Bud also loves Rush Hour Jr. which is a great problem solving/logic puzzle game.

Wow! Thanks for bearing with me through this long post! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season also. Please share some of the highlights you experienced. I would love to hear them!