Recently, one of the Yahoo groups I subscribe to asked the question of how the holidays change our morning time together. My first thought was that they didn’t. Then I thought that perhaps they should. Then, after an endless stream of obsessive thoughts with which I will not burden you I decided to take us on a six-week break. Basically this is one-week off for Thanksgiving. Three weeks off of Ambleside, during which we will have extended Circle Time in the mornings instead. I want to focus on holiday learning, fun winter activities, and basically all the stuff I have always wished were incorporated into our lives but never have been. And then there is a week off for Christmas and New Year’s, during which time we will also throw a party and celebrate Q.’s second birthday.
I call it DecemberTerm, and I’m hoping it’ll become a tradition through which we build better, warmer holidays. Below are my plans for this year. Please note that all cookie recipes can be found in this wonderful little cookie cookbook. Also, if you have traditional books you or your family read during the holidays, leave the titles in the comments! I want to build a list from which I can draw new titles each year.
What are you planning to make this year extra special for your family?
Circle Time Weekly Schedule {DecemberTerm} Week 1
Monday
- Holiday Manner: Don’t compare gifts.
- Note: We should all be content with what we have and not do anything that could cause disharmony in the family. Each gift might not be the same, but it was picked out with exactly you in mind.
- Verse: Hebrews 13:5: Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: G. K. Chesterton’s A Christmas Carol
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Tuesday
- Review manner & verse
- Christmas Hymns: Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Good King Wenceslas
- Review Awana verses
- Read Christmas story from Luke 2
- Poem: Reread Chesterton’s A Christmas Carol
- Read Aloud: The Little Match Girl
Wednesday
- Review manner & verse
- Art study: Petrus Christus, The Nativity
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, A Christmas Carol
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Thursday
- Baking Day! Bake Rasberry Brownies. Drink herbal hot tea. Listen to Christmas music. Enjoy each other. Make plates of cookies to give to the neighbors.
Friday
- Review manner & verse
- Composer Study: Handel’s Messiah
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: Reread Coleridge’s A Christmas Carol
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Week 2
Monday
- Holiday Manner: Show gratitude for the food.
- Verses: Luke 22:17-19 “And when [Jesus] had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, ‘Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the Kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’” (emphasis on repetition of Jesus’ example of giving thanks)
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Three Kings
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Tuesday
- Review manner & verses
- Christmas Hymns: Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Good King Wenceslas
- Review Awana verses
- Read Christmas Story from Luke 2
- Poem: Reread Longfellow’s The Three Kings
- Read: Gingerbread Baby…take note of the house at the end as we’ll be making one with Daddy soon.
Wednesday
- Review manner & verse
- Art study: Piero della Francesca’s The Nativity
- Review Awana verses
- Read: Matthew 25:31-46
- Poem: Helen Steiner Rice’s The Story of the Christmas Guest
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Thursday
- Baking Day! Bake chocolate-pistachio sandwich cookies. Drink herbal hot tea. Listen to Christmas music. Enjoy each other. Make little plates to take cookies to the neighbors.
Friday
- Review manner & verse
- Composer Study: Handel’s Messiah
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: Reread Rice’s The Story of the Christmas Guest
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Week 3
Monday
- Holiday Manner: Say “thank you” for your gifts.
- Note: Don’t forget that someone cared enough about you to give these things to you. They spent time and/or money buying or making you this present. Please make sure you thank them and tell them how much to appreciate what they have done for you.
- Verse: Colossians 2:6-7: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, …overflowing with gratitude.”
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: L. M. Montgomery’s The Christmas Night
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Tuesday
- Review manner & verse
- Additional verse: Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”
- Christmas Hymns: Good Christian Men, Rejoice; Good King Wenceslas
- Review Awana verses
- Read Christmas story from Luke 2
- Poem: Reread Montgomery’s The Christmas Night
Wednesday
- Review manner & verses
- Art study: Norman Rockwell Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit: God Bless Us Everyone
- Review Awana verses
- Poem: Anne Bronte’s Music on Christmas Morning
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Thursday
- Baking Day! Bake Christmas cookies. Drink hot cocoa. Listen to Christmas music. Enjoy each other…
Friday
- Review manner & verses
- Composer Study: Handel’s Messiah
- Poem: Reread Bronte’s Music on Christmas Morning
- Read Aloud: Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
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