Our Advent Calendar

  Each year around the Holidays I start to think about an advent calendar.  When the kids were younger I just went to Trader Joe's and picked up cheap ones, then a few years ago I started making my own.  One thing always remained the same, they all involved candy and they all involve the kids "getting" something.  Every year I try to keep my kids from the idea that Christmas is all about gifts but man it is seriously hard to compete with the marketing ploys going on right now.

  This year things are going to be different!  It all started with a cool idea that popped up on my Facebook news feed the other day.  I loved this idea of the advent calendar being about actions instead of treats from The Artful Parent, I thought this was so different but I wanted to take it a step further for my older children.  What we decided to come up with was a community service type of advent.  We have some pretty tall orders on ours, plus along with the fact that we are moving over Christmas and I have a new job we had to end our list at 15 but we plan on adding family events in to fill  the 25 day calendar.  Some of these family "events' might include driving boxes to our new place but that is ok.

  There isn't much point in decorating or getting a tree when you are moving so our advent will pretty much be our only decoration.  I thought what we came up with was pretty cool and we are excited to put our list into actions.

  Our list of Christmas doing includes:
          Pick up trash outside
          Make a meal for a family
          Donate coats
          Donate hats to a school
          Hand out homemade Holiday cards to strangers to help spread some cheer
          Visit with someone in a senior center
          Volunteer at a shelter
          Shovel snow for an elderly neighbor (if it snows)
          Make a care package for a soldier over seas
          Leave a small gift at a strangers house
          Raise money for a local charity
          Help a family in need
          Spread love through out the season and everyday (sounds simple, but this might be the most challenging
          Go caroling
          Call as many family members as we can (even the ones we haven't spoken to in years) and wish them a Merry Christmas.


  The list feels a little overwhelming but I know that if our family works together we can pull it off and really grow together in the process.  Happy Holidays!!!!


          

Lessons on forgiveness from child's book.

  Right now we are reading about Egypt in our Story of the World curriculum so last night when we went to the library we gathered up books on Egypt so that we could dive further as the kids are really into reading about the pyramids and writing messages to each other in cuneiform.

  I picked up the book Pyramids! 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt by Avery Hart & Paul Mantell,

and this morning I started flipping through it.  Aside from all of the very cool activities and facts, this book also gives some amazing life lessons that I am in need of learning!  Yesterday we read about how after death the heart was weighed against a feather.  The heart was full of the deeds the person had done...bad deeds added weight but good deeds, like forgiveness, kept it light.

    I am sure I am not alone in my struggle to forgive people that I feel have done me wrong.  I also know that I do need to let go of these feelings because the only person that they affect is me.  This page jumped up from the book and smacked me across the face and I feel I must share it for anyone else in need of a good face smacking.

  
  "The people of old Egypt believed deeply in the power of forgiveness.  In their religion, it was not good to hold onto bad feelings like anger or guilt.  If someone did something wrong but felt sorry about it, the ancients believed that the gods instantly forgave the person.  The priests and pharaohs also urged people to forgive each other quickly when things went wrong between them.

  Thinking about having a heart free of anger and hate is a useful and good thing to do.  Do you have feelings you are ready to set free?  Forgiving people who have done wrong to us makes our hearts light and free.
  Test your power of forgiveness by making a list of people who make you angry.  When your list is finished, ask yourself if you have been angry long enough and can now forgive the person.  (If you have a hard time even thinking about forgiving the person, try forgiving yourself for being so angry and upset.  That sometimes works just as well.)
  When you have gone over your list, look at each name, close your eyes, and murmur these magical words:  "(Name), we are even.  I fully forgive you and free myself now."
  Cross out the name on the list and go on to the next one.  When your list is all crossed out, roll it into a ball and throw it away.  Hey!  We can practically see the big smile of relief on your face already!"


  Such a simple exercise but yet so freeing and empowering.  

Bread 101...the teacher has become the student

    Some days I try to figure out what our homeschooling style is.  My oldest two attended a public Montessori for a couple years so I do love to incorporate some of those ideas into our days.  I see benefits from Charlotte Mason and Classical styles of learning and I love the whimsy of Waldorf.  I want to give them the freedom to explore their own interests and to follow their hearts so I do understand the thought behind unschooling.  With all of my thoughts on how I wish to homeschool my children I feel so blessed that in our state I sign a form stating that I will be homeschooling and that is it...I am free to choose how, when, and where and I do not have to answer to anyone.

    The other day as we walked into the library I asked the kids what type of books they would be interested in.  Ajay, said that he was interested in books about Colonial America.  OK, his actual answer was "Mom, I want books about that place that we went and played with the buckets to put out the fire."  I said "Uh, can you tell me more about this place?  I am not quite sure I know what you are talking about."  He rolled his eyes and said "You know, that place where people dressed funny and you complained that they didn't even talk about fermenting."  Ha ha, I knew...he was describing a small historic park in Green Bay called Heritage Hills.  Since I am an east coast girl I always describe it as a tiny Williamsburg.

    So we set off to look for some books on the subject and we found some pretty great ones.  Our favorite out of the stack was Colonial Days by David C. King, it is from the American Kids in History series and it is pretty great as it follows a fictional family of 6 (like us) through all of the seasons and the book includes recipes, games and projects.

     As we were reading we found a bread recipe that the kids really wanted to make.  I have enough problems with my sourdough so it is rare that I let the little hands in there.  Just two days ago I decided to try a different flour for my bread and I wound up with another bread brick that was sliced up and handed to the kids so that they could feed all of the birds and squirrels in the yard.  Anyway, I opened the book and said "Go to it, I am here if you need me".  I watched as Zola read the ingredients, Ajay and Taj gathered, and Peylyn yelled orders at all of them.  I stood in the kitchen pretending to be playing on my phone but I was secretly watching in amazement as they dove into their first baking experience with mom on the side lines.

Peylyn stole some of our dough so she could play and nibble.

    I was impressed as there was only 1 little mistake, they forgot to add the sugar to the water and yeast but I had them add it later and everything seemed to be fine.  They did such a great job working together and guess what...there two loaves were so much better than all of the loaves that I have made over the past 2 years.  Seriously, I quit!  I am going to increase their small allowance and make them the official bread bakers of the house.

    This is our favorite part about homeschooling...it doesn't matter what time period or culture we are studying, we love to take what we learn into the kitchen and really connect to our lessons.  The home used to be completely centered around the kitchen and this family is thrilled to be getting back to that.