On Tuesday this week the girls and I sat down and discussed our plans for the month.
I realised recently that when things get busy, especially when it feels like we’re just going straight from one thing to another, my husband and I can sometimes forget to give the girls much of a heads up of what is happening more in advance.
So knowing December would be a busy month and that we’d need to set aside time to fit in a few of our special traditions, I decided to print a copy of our month-to-view calendar for December for both of the girls and I, so that they have their own copy to make notes and come back to.
After breakfast, I went through the calendar on my phone and we each jotted down the events and plans we’re already committed to and when we would fit in our Christmas baking!
One of our favourite traditions is baking a gingerbread house. Last year that fell by the wayside amidst unpacking and settling into our new house, but my youngest especially is determined to make sure we made it happen this year!
The girls also jotted down when we’d finish table time for the year (table time is our more formal/sit-down learning). Whilst we’re not planning to finish until the week before Christmas, I knew we’d be winding down a number of our subjects before then, alongside focusing on advent and tying in a number of read alouds and activities.
As it’s worked out, this week we’ve managed to finish a number of our subject plans for the term whilst kicking off advent with the activities in week 1 of our advent resource.
We read the last two chapters of Prince Caspian today (our read aloud for Language Arts) and we will finish our last read aloud for Sweden tomorrow (we are travelling through Europe for Geography this academic year).
In terms of the other subjects, the girls are almost at the end of their student books for Math With Confidence (part A), and are on track to finish them in time for the end of term. We will also continue with our animals topic for Science, looking at amphibians tomorrow, then fish and reptiles during the last two weeks.
We have two more Grandma Moses paintings to enjoy together for artist appreciation, one each week, and we will continue to enjoy A.A. Milne’s poetry until the end of term too. For history we are currently following the Story of the World (Ancient History), which I may pause until the start of the new year, I haven’t quite decided yet.
Otherwise though, I have decided to use a number of Christmas books as our focus for Language Arts until the end of the term, and from this include a number of other activities for us to do, which I am really looking forward to!
Our first read aloud will be The Jolly Christmas Postman by Alan and Janet Ahlberg which is a childhood favourite of mine. After many years of good intentions, I finally got round to purchasing it in time this year! Horray!
I plan to read the story to the girls and then invite them to use the winter letter writing templates I created last month to write their own letters, or perhaps create their own board game or something similar to gift to someone!
I’ve made a little postbox of our own (using a shoebox) to post our letters into which the girls are already enjoying making use of!
As for our other read alouds, I have a number for us to enjoy together, some of which are new to us this year and some we have read in previous years. I hope to read these alongside some handicrafts, Christmas card writing and potentially some more baking for gifts!
Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman
The Christmas Mouse by Toby Forward
A Very Noisy Christmas by Tim Thornborough
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
The Christmas Promise by Alison Mitchell and Catalina Echeverri
Humphrey’s First Christmas by Carol Heyer
Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot
The Snow Angel by Christine Leeson and Jane Chapman
Buster by Linda Jennings
Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt (we have watched the film in previous years) whilst I don’t agree with some of the views expressed by certain characters in this book, I see them as an opportunity for discussion)
The Nutcracker by Valeria Docampo
The Story Orchestra The Nutcracker
What are your thoughts and plans for the weeks ahead? Have or will you wind down the more formal work completely and fully embrace the festivities? Will you work until the very end of the term or something in-between like us? I’d love to hear!
Also, if you or your children have a favourite Christmas story/ies, I’d love to hear those too!
Lucy <3
