aking down the Christmas tree today. I know Quinn will be sad…he sits in front of it, almost hypnotized by the lights, pointing out the different decorations that he sees. The other boys though will be glad…they’ve missed watching their tv shows on the big screen (which was moved to my bedroom to make room for the Christmas tree, which meant my bed was always full of children watching tv, which means I’ll be very glad when it’s moved back downstairs and I have my bed to myself again!) in the living room.

I had meant to post photos earlier of the twins and their Christmas lapbooks and the gingerbread Nativity they made but forgot.  They really had a lot of fun doing the Nativity but, boy, did they make a mess of my kitchen!  *smile*

The twins are busy working on their Christmas lapbooks. We’re doing it a bit differently this year, instead of using standard file folders, we’re using small scrapbooks (one red, one green) that I picked up from the dollar store last year. The small booklets from the unit study fit perfectly on the pages leaving plenty of room for copy and art work. To make it a bit more colorful I went through the PDF file and using Photoshop colored some of the graphics. We’re using HOAC’s Symbols of Christmas and since it’s not written from a Catholic perspective the boys are doing the extra research to make sure it’s consistent with our faith’s teachings. To help they are using the Catholic Educator’s Resource Center and the online Catholic Encyclopedia.

Bits and Pieces Advent Christmas Unit Study and Homeschooling for Free: Christmas/Advent Links have a lot of great links.

Free Christmas lapbooks/notebooks/unit studies…

Homeschool Helpers Free Christmas Symbols Lapbook

Advent Lapbook

Nativity Lapbook

Create a Christmas Notebook

A Blessed Christmas - A Unit Study Approach to Studying the Symbols of Christmas

Christmas Unit Study for ages 13 and up

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Quinn and I watched a Christmas DVD yesterday.  For the month of December we’re working on “Christmas is the Baby Jesus’ Birthday” and germs/washing your hands to stay well.  He actually likes to wash his hands so this makes this one much easier than previously taught (and still being taught) life skills. 

One is For the Manger

One is for the manger
Where Baby Jesus lay.
Two is for Mary and Joseph
On that Christmas Day.
Three is for the wise men
Who brought three gifts of love.
Four is for the shepherds
And angel songs above.
Five is for the animals
Who stood guard in the shed
Over Baby Jesus
In His manger bed.

The twins and Quinn and I will be working on Christmas lapbooks for the next couple of weeks. Last year I picked up the Christmas Symbols and Christmas Cheer lapbooks from HOAC. I just need to go through them, sort out what needs to be printed on colored cardstock and get the printer rolling. Also, yesterday at Michael’s, I found a gingerbread Nativity kit from Wilton. The lapbooks have a “create a Nativity” page and in place of the papercraft we’re going to be making a gingerbread one instead.

For more ideas…

An Integrated Literature Unit for Advent and Christmas

O Night Divine

All About Jesus Christmas

St. Nicholas Center. org

Free Printable Nativity

Free Nativity Lapbook (PDF)

All About Jesus - Special Bible Study for December

Christmas Copywork

The Christmas Story Told by Great Art

CVC Christmas 2006

The Teacher’s Room - Christmas for PreK

Relax! Have fun this holiday season…make Christmas cookies, candies and fudge with your children, read some great Christmas stories…take time to just enjoy Christmas with your family.

Click on each preview image and then right click to save the PNG file. Print on 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock.

Kim suggested that I create a printable paper fairy doll…so I did and it’s now uploaded at All Things Fae (look for All Things Fae Printables). If you find this lens (or my lens on Nature Journaling) useful, please consider joining so you can vote for my lenses. It’s free and only takes a moment or two. Yes, I know, shameless self promotion but truthfully the way Squidoo works is the more votes, the closer you become to being in the top 100, which gets you more exposure…since I don’t sell anything it just means that more folks can find my really cute stuff. As of today Nature Journaling is at #708 and All Things Fae is #1,608 so I’ve got quite a ways to go yet. *smile*

Click on each preview image and then right click to save the PNG file. Print on 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock.

Click on each preview image and then right click to save the PNG file. Print on 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock.

Click on each preview image and then right click to save the PNG file. Print on 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock.

While going through my stats I ran across an interesting link about Notebooking that was full of great information and very nicely mentioned the graphics I create for my boys.  I did a search for Lapbooking and found another great page full of helpful information and links and so I decided to create one for Nature Journals.

  STOP BY AND TAKE A PEEK!

Click on each preview image and then right click to save the PNG file. Print on 8.5″ x 11″ white cardstock.

Our homeschooling co-op’s end-of-year program is tonight so we had to (temporarily) put together the twins’ spring nature journals. They won’t be finished until the end of spring but we bound the pages they had created, plus the pages I created on the computer, together with some sticks and twine. In the background are the reference books that we use, “The Decorated Journal,” “Keeping a Nature Journal,” “Peterson Field Guide - Eastern Forests,” “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds - Eastern Region,” “Handbook of Nature Study,” and “Learn to Draw Nature in the Style of the Edwardian Lady.”

Click on image to see larger view of their journals.

For the cover and bindings: sturdy, heavy-weight, textured cardstock, botanical stamps, twine and sticks.

And inside we have:

A map I created of the cove we live on à la Walden’s Pond…

Cade’s photo page, sitting on the back deck writing a journal page…

and a Spring poem that he wrote…

Connor’s photo page, writing a journal page on our pier…

and his Spring haiku…

Some examples from Cade’s journal. I really should have taken these before we bound the books. I created all the journal pages they used and they are available for download throughout my blog…

And from Connor’s…

The mornings are my favorite time…just before dawn or just as the sun starts to rise. Right now I’m listening to the call of a mourning dove, drinking my coffee and planning my day. I’m thinking about doing a couple of pages for the twin’s spring nature journals on the computer, digi-scrapping spring poems, photos of them writing their journal pages and maybe a page of them creating the fairy house they made for Quinn. I think it will make a nice addition to the books…especially since we’ll be showing them off at tomorrow’s end-of-year ceremony for our homeschooling co-op.

Last night we cut out the covers and punched holes…well, actually I did that since I didn’t trust the twins to align everything perfectly. Not that I did such a bang up job but I’m hoping that the addition of feathers and other organic materials will cover my boo-boos. *smile *

We’ll be having lunch guests today…my friend Dawn and her two sons are supposed to come over for a bit to relax, chat and let the boys play.

Homeschooling

Popular Spring Short Stories for Children - printables

Journey North Spring 2007 - interesting pages

It’s Spring

~Faye Glover Petersen~

Why is the sky so blue and clear?
Why is the robin’s song so dear?
Why is the sun so warm and bright,
filling the earth with glorious light?
Why are the fields so green today?
Why do the clouds all float away?
Why does my heart with gladness sing?
Only because it’s spring!