Jan/Feb 2012 · HOMESCHOOLING By Melanie Hexter 12 KEEPING FOCUSED ON CHRIST DURING THE HOLIDAYS By Katherine Loop 16 12 CREATIVE WAYS TO MAKE THE HOLIDAYS MEANINGFUL Compiled by

2 HomeSchoolEnrichment.com

Table ofContents

44 26 TIPS TO SIMPLIFY YOUR SEASON

By Marcia Washburn

66 TIPS FOR HOLIDAY HOMESCHOOLING By Melanie Hexter

12 KEEPING FOCUSED ON CHRIST DURING THE HOLIDAYS

By Katherine Loop

16 12 CREATIVE WAYS TO MAKE THE HOLIDAYS MEANINGFUL

Compiled by Jonathan Lewis

20 22 GREAT BOOKS TO ENJOY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

22 HOLIDAY HO-HUMBy Suzanne Broadhurst

24 WHEN WASHINGTON CROSSED THE DELAWARE

By Amy Puetz

26 CHRISTMAS FUN: THREE HOLIDAY PUZZLES

30 BRING THE CHRISTMAS STORY TO LIFE

By Jonathan Lewis

32 NO REGRETS, NO DEBTS HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS

By Marcia Washburn

34 SCHOOLING AROUND THE HOLIDAYS

By Bethany LeBedz

36 LIGHTEN UP FOR THE HOLIDAYSBy Annette Reeder

38 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAYS

40 PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

41 OUR SPONSORS

©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/SPerIx

3Jan/Feb 2012


The workload of a wife and mother more than doubles during December. In addition to all of her normal duties, she may add writing Christmas cards or letters, decorating the house,

additional cooking and entertaining, shopping for and wrapping gifts, attending music rehearsals and programs, arranging for special clothes or photography sessions, hosting overnight guests, and many other special tasks to her schedule. I once estimated that I added 60–80 hours of work during December to my regular homemaking and homeschooling responsibilities. No wonder I breathed a sigh of relief when school routines returned in January!

26 Tips to Simplify Your Seasonby marcia washburn

This year, determine that you won’t fall into the too-much-of-everything trap. Discuss with your family members what they feel are the most important things you do during the holidays.1 You may find that a tradition you’ve maintained for years is no longer especially important to any of you. Change is okay.

Try to narrow down your list to just three activities. What would you really miss if you didn’t do it this year? Decorating? Baking? Would you rather stay home more instead of running around to lots of pro-grams, concerts, and community events? Would you rather donate time or money to a local charity than spend lots of both while shopping in the crowds? Maybe you would rather give a birthday present to Jesus by purchasing a goat or steer or chickens for a poor family in a developing country.2

Browse through these ideas to simplify your season.

BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS• Set a budget. Seek creative ways to

stick to it.3• Cards. If you send cards or letters,

send them before Thanksgiving. Your children can address them as part of english class.

• Gift exchange alternatives. Large extended family but small budget? Draw names for an exchange or limit gifts to a certain amount. Or decide to enjoy a

big family outing together instead of gifts. Or do a white elephant exchange. each person brings any odd item, beauti-fully wrapped. Draw names to see who selects first. The next person may “steal” anyone’s opened gift or select from the unopened gifts. A teen boy may get Grandma’s canning jars, and Mom may get aftershave—it’s all part of the fun.

• Wrap it up. Wrap gifts as soon as pos-sible after you purchase them. Use them as decorations, placing them in small groups throughout the house.

• Work ahead. Bake and freeze goodies ahead of time. Do your deep cleaning in November. Iron tablecloths and hang them in your closet.

• Baking. Ask each family member to select one favorite treat and then only prepare those instead of endless platters of sweets. Tip: If you have a large fam-ily, don’t allow them to consult with each other on their choices. I caught my boys plotting to be sure they each selected a different cookie so there would be more sweets!

• Hospitality. Hosting a get-together? Plan these events well in advance: How many guests? Consider including friends with no local family. Select your menu and service style: Appetizers? A meal? A cookie exchange? A buffet? Any entertainment such as singing car-ols or sledding?

• House guests. Hosting house guests? Plan where everyone will sleep in advance, and check for bedding and towels.4

• Meals. Plan menus and do as much advance preparation as possible.5

• Relax. If you have a newborn, have just moved, or are remodeling, go easy on yourself. Let someone else do the tradi-tional open house this year.

DURING THE HOLIDAYS• Adjust your homeschool schedule. Cut

your homeschool studies to a minimum and use December to teach hospitality skills. Instead of doing all of the plan-ning yourself, involve your children. Ask them where guests should sleep, what foods to serve, etc. These are important life skills.

• Toys. Put away excess toys. rotate them back in when the luster of new toys has worn off.

• Give yourself permission to relax. Put your feet up for a few minutes. Take a break from the busyness. Feed the ducks at a local pond. Drive to see the lights in other neighborhoods. Sing carols to your neighbors. Take time to enjoy the moment. Don’t miss the cute things your little ones do or say because you are too busy hurrying on to the next task.

• Ask for help and then accept it. If some-one offers to bring dessert, let her.

• Emotions. Give yourself permission to grieve if you need to. Many people have difficult memories of past Christmases; talk with a trusted friend and spend time with the Lord.

• Music. Play joyful Christmas music. Play the radio, play the CD, or play the piano—just play.

• Remember the Reason for the Season. Use an Advent calendar to count off the days with your children. Find one that tells the Christmas story. Our boys liked to reread all of the previous days as well as the new one each night.

52011 Homeschooler’s Educational Gift & Resource Guide

of Thanksgiving and Christmas. even if you have boundless energy, don’t get side-tracked by projects that take you away from the Person of Jesus Christ. All of our sea-sonal activities should point back to the joy of the Incarnate Child.

© 2011 by Marcia K. Washburn, who homeschooled �ve sons for nineteen years. Visit www.marciawashburn.com to read more articles, sign up for her newsletter, and view her newest book, Homemade Convenience Foods.

1I say “holidays” to include both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many of the same strategies work for both.2See www.samaritanspurse.org and click on Gift Catalog.3request Marcia’s free article, No Debts, No Regrets Holiday Celebrations at [email protected] 4For tips, request Marcia’s free article, Cramped Hospitality, at [email protected] Homemade Convenience Foods for great ways to have meals on the table in less than 15 minutes. Available at www.marciawashburn.com.

what you’ve purchased.• Protect your memory keepers. Place

holiday photos in albums or burn onto CDs. Send hard or electronic copies to others as backups.

• Get organized. enter birthdays and anniversaries for the coming year into your planner.

• Get healthy. Freeze or trash the sweets and get back to a healthy diet as soon as possible. everyone will feel better!

• Summarize the previous year. As you prepare for the New Year, Doug Phillips of Vision Forum (www.visionforum.com) suggests that you evaluate the past year. Some suggested questions include: Where did you go? What did you read? What household projects did you accom-plish? Which children lost teeth? What Scriptures did your family memorize? Which loved ones died during the past year? How did we bless others in the past year? Add any other questions you wish. Then write special letters of thankfulness to those who have invested in your life during the past year. end the year on a note of gratitude.

Above all, focus on the true meaning

• Gift opening. Consider a new twist on gift giving: each person delivers his gift to the person he bought it for and stays to watch while the recipient opens it. The anticipation on the giver’s face and the joyful “thanks!” from the recipient makes gift-opening time a joy instead of a scramble.

AFTER THE HOLIDAYS• Write thank-you notes. When you

receive a gift, jot it down on a list so later you won’t have to rely on your memory for who gave you what.

• Evaluate what went well and what you’d like to change for next year. File your ideas under Christmas 2012.

• Reorganize. Find homes for all of the gifts that found their way into your home. Decide whether to keep, give away, or discard duplicates and items you will never use. Shop the sales for storage bins to hold Christmas decorations.

• Plan ahead. Set a budget for next year and begin contributing to your Christmas fund now. Begin purchasing gifts for next year. List them in a note-book or computer file so you remember

http://homeschoolenrichment.com/goodies/GiftGuide/2011/link.php?link=100


Tips for Holiday Homeschoolingby melanie hexter

s I sit at my computer pondering what it’s like to homeschool during the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the

New Year, it’s the middle of summer and 89 humid degrees. (Editorial deadlines will do this to you.) Sitting on my porch con-templating the holiday time of year, I admit that a slight sense of nervousness is coming over me, and anxiety is beginning to well up within. As I think about the often over-scheduled, demanding time of year that we call the holidays—and ponder how in the world I will manage to add the multitude of extras that they bring to the already demanding task of homeschooling my �ve children—it’s no wonder that I feel like I’m already running late and a few dollars short.

If this is your first year of homeschool-ing, you’re likely to face a learning curve as you go through your first holiday season as a homeschool family. Adjustments to your regular routine are almost inevitable, and learning how to balance all the extra demands is something that even long-time homeschoolers have to deal with. I know that as a Christian homeschooling mom, it is so easy for me to succumb to the contem-porary American church notion that I must do all the Christmas busyness—for the sake of the Lord. But where is that in the Bible? Whose marching orders am I following when I try to live up to that false notion? Certainly not my Lord Jesus, because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

If you don’t want the weight of the world on your shoulders as this year’s celebra-tions of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year draw near, find a comfy chair and join me as I think aloud about an easier and lighter way of doing school with my children during these celebrations, when the world around me seems to spin a few revolutions faster.

FOLLOW THE LEADERFirst of all, I want to join my husband in

asking, “Lord, what do You want me and my family to do this holiday season?” In the past, I have all too often allowed my neighbors,

extended family and in-laws, church leader-ship, or dare I say it, textbooks, to dictate the answer to that question. But now I deeply want the Lord to determine the flow of our celebrations, gift giving, and calendar, and show us what our “school” should resemble during the holidays. If I am yoked with God, I must be walking in the same direction that He is headed. As He has led us from year to year, it has meant that our family’s Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations have varied and probably haven’t looked like yours. He has lead us down different paths than He may have led you, working on our inner hearts and characters.

In the past few years, God has answered the “What do You want us to do?” ques-tion in a variety of ways. We have some-times had a Christmas tree, but other years, instead of a tree, we have opted for a life-sized nativity scene and fewer decorations around our house. (A large nativity scene in our living room, I might add, inhabited with stuffed animals from the kids’ bedrooms.) We have sent store-bought Christmas cards to our family and friends, then for a few years, opted for homemade cards designed with our children’s artwork and printed at a local copy shop, and now in recent years, no cards at all—all because we felt we needed to follow the Lord’s leading. We have had years of giving homemade gifts and other

years of giving more polished, store-bought gifts, another year with one large gift given to all our children (a game table), and other years with individual Christmas gifts for each of them.

At times my response to the Lord’s leading has been willing and joyful. Other seasons I have been more reticent, because in my pride, I wanted to be perceived as normal, going with the flow, and able to juggle all the aspects of schooling plus the addition of the holiday hubbub. I have also been concerned that my children might miss something if we disregarded “traditions.”Yet I have wit-nessed that the simpler years have not only lessened our financial obligations and light-ened my load, but often produced the most joy-filled holiday memories for our children and for us as parents. It seems the Lord is teaching us Micah 6:8: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

RELAX ON SCHOOLINGMy next lighter and easier conviction grows

with each passing holiday season: relax on formal schooling during the holidays! I am increasingly putting aside the usual curricu-lums and textbooks and doing something different during this busy season, from mid-November through early January. At times I have switched to a unit study, a multi-subject study on a single topic appropriate for chil-dren of all ages (in our case, ages 4-14). I’ve selected light-hearted unit study subjects, like chocolate or conifer trees or the history of sports, to up the fun factor a bit.

Another idea is to give each of the chil-dren a reading list of his own for the season and ask him to do some sort of project on it when he is finished. Or we’ve done an entire month of arts and crafts. Properly framed, we can give the finished works as Christmas gifts. (Think multitasking here!) One year, we visited a local garden center to stock up on supplies. The result? We created colorful

A


her to join us. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, so it’s a great chance to share its Christian origins and importance with her, in an evangelistic sort of way.

Finally, have your children write to an international missionary or missionary fam-ily you know to ask how the holidays are celebrated where they are living. Cook up a meal based on their responses.

SET SOME GOALSMy friend also reminded me that the

holidays are a great time for teaching my children to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year and set goals for the year ahead. The world at large calls it making New Year’s resolutions. However, without the Holy Spirit and a changed inner life, the world has no power to make many of those resolutions stick. As Christians, we can teach our children that our heavenly Father has big plans for us and for them,

“thoughts of peace, and not of evil” (Jer. 29:11). The Bible also has much to say about casting forth a vision, living in hope of the future, using our gifts, and making plans (see Proverbs 29:18, Proverbs 13:12, I Corinthians 12, and James 4:13-15 to name

that in our family, we always keep up our math lessons at least a day or two each week.

LEARN HOW OTHERS CELEBRATE

A friend has related how her family cre-ates an academic change of pace during the holidays: They study the holiday traditions and practices of different cultures or time periods. For example, to learn from The Little House On the Prairie books that a single orange or a stick of hard candy was the ultimate Christmas treat in the mid-1800’s could help any 21st century kid grow in gratitude and contentment for our contemporary gift-giving traditions, even though the presents in most single-income, Christian homeschooling families may not be as glamorous as the world’s.

Another way to learn about other cultures’ holiday celebrations is through internation-als who may be living in your area. Our family serves as a host family for an interna-tional student from a nearby college. When the dormitories close for Thanksgiving weekend, she has to temporarily move out and find another place to go. So we’ve added a plate to our Thanksgiving table for

ceramic mosaics (broken glass pieces are available at many discount stores), adhered with tile grout to the outside of clay plant pots. Once loaded with a bit of soil and a variety of spring bulbs, they made wonder-ful gifts for our grandmothers, aunts, and neighbors. We included written directions on placing the pots inside and providing them with a light watering. Then voila! The bulbs were forced to bloom in the midst of winter. It was a combination science, writing, and art project, packed with the purpose of gift-giving!

If you are concerned that your children may fall behind in their studies because you choose to relax their assignments—and your teacher duties—during the months of November through January, realize that children who attend public schools are doing the same thing. Holiday concerts, class parties, field trips, and two or more weeks off are a given for the school districts at this time of year; academics are not the emphasis.

One word of caution: If you relax your formal schooling during the holiday season, don’t give up altogether on working math problems. Math basics are lost so quickly



TAKE STOCK OFYOUR SCHOOL

Christmas break is a perfect time to assess how your school year is going for each of your children—and for mom—and to deter-mine if any changes need to be made. Take stock of where you are in schooling. What’s working and what’s not? Which of your chil-dren are thriving and which are struggling? Is the schedule working? Is there an attitude or behavior that needs to be lovingly addressed? I had one year where I didn’t even make it to Christmas before I realized that one of my children was “drowning” in his math program and a change was in order. Though I hated to waste the money by putting aside a math book, his progress and the peace it eventu-ally brought to our home were well worth the costs to transition. By late November, I had researched and ordered a new program, and he’s been using it ever since.

Another year, I knew that my daughter didn’t solidly have her multiplication tables memorized. There was no point in her pro-gressing through her math book to more difficult concepts until she had better learned her basic facts. So we spent an entire relaxed month reviewing multiplication facts in vari-ous fun ways (games, oral drills, playing

event on a Saturday morning or for your homeschool co-op group as a fellowship time, plan and host a birthday party for Jesus. At the party, act out the birth of Christ, decorate paper ornaments which represent the names of God (a candle shape for “light of the world,” a sheep for “lamb of God” ), let chil-dren share aloud what gift they would like to give the newborn King, and of course, have a birthday cake and sing “Happy Birthday to Jesus!” After all, Christmas is His birthday.

On the topic of socialization, prepare yourself for the conversations you may have with family members as you gather together for the holidays as a new home-schooler. Anticipate the questions you may be asked, and pray about your responses. If your family members aren’t so sure about this homeschooling route you have chosen for your children (or their grand-children), be prepared for them to question your successes and perhaps challenge your decision. How will you respond? If other family members have children of similar ages, will you play the comparison game to attempt to show that your children are just as academically able as theirs, or will you allow God to use the fruit of your efforts to speak for itself?

a few examples). The dawning of the New Year is a great time to work with our kids as they set goals aligned with God’s purposes for them. I remember one year when my daughter was much younger. She and I set a goal for her that she would learn to tie her own shoes. It was a simple goal, easily achievable, but she felt such joy when she reached it.

GET OUT AND SOCIALIZEremember the concerns you heard when

you first began to homeschool? “What about socialization?” was a question you probably heard and asked yourself over and over again. Well, the holidays are a perfect time to do plenty of socializ-ing! Take time to visit family near and far; involve your children in a church Christmas program or outreach; take your children’s music or artwork to a nursing home and get to know the residents. Open your home to others, extending hospitality. The more relaxed pace you’ve chosen in your schooling will naturally allow more time for having others into your home.

Another fun social option for younger chil-dren is a Jesus Birthday Party. Whether for neighborhood children as an evangelistic








skating, sledding, cross-country or down-hill skiing, or outdoor hikes. even in a warmer climate, a hike through a familiar spot will look different when seen on a wintry day. Take the time to study the trees, look for tracks, gather pine-cones, find animal dens, discuss the changing angle of the sun, or watch stars in a night-time sky. Draw what you see in a nature sketchbook. Once you get home, identify what you have seen via nature guidebooks.

The holiday season wasn’t meant by God to be a burdensome time. When it becomes a burden for me, I know that something is amiss and I need my heart to be reoriented toward Jesus. As the holidays approach, may we each choose daily to wear His easier and lighter yoke as we homeschool our children.

Melanie Hexter and her husband, Matthew, homeschool their six children in central Ohio, where they are presi-dents of the Knox County Christian Home School Association. Melanie has written curricula about the U.S. National Parks, literature studies, and Bible study formats for her family’s use which she makes available to others. Contact her at www.LEMILOEpublishing.com.

Child’s Learning by Cathy Duffy, for parents of children of all ages.

READ GREAT BOOKS ALOUDAs the daylight hours grow shorter and the

nights grow longer, gather the family togeth-er after dinnertime to read aloud great books of the season. Pop a bowl of popcorn, start a fire in the fireplace, snuggle together on the couch, and read aloud the Book of Luke, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, or the trilogy Jotham’s Journey, Bartholomew’s Passage, and Tabitha’s Travels. each of these suggested books contains a different and unique look at the birth of Christ. (To lighten your load during these evening read-aloud times, have the children sort socks, fold baskets of laundry, wrap presents, or address cards for you while they listen!) reading aloud during the evenings has been a great contribution that my husband has made to our homeschool. He tends to be much sillier than I when he reads to the chil-dren, and they love it when he tries to use accents to assume different character roles.

GET OUTDOORSenjoy your lighter days of schooling by

doing winter forms of exercise like ice

Yahtzee, etc.) in lieu of moving forward with daily math lessons. It was time well spent.

And how about you, Mom? How are you doing? What continuing education could be a blessing to you? Is there an area of parent-ing or schooling or God’s truth in which you need some growth? I would suggest that you take one of these holy-days to read a homeschooling book by a good Christian author to remind yourself of why you do what you do and to refresh yourself for the long winter months ahead.

Or perhaps you have a child who will soon be entering a new phase of school: Now would be a great time to begin your prepara-tion. Make time for yourself to read. Last year, I began to read Homeschooling High School by Jeanne Gowen Dennis to prepare for my then-13-year-old daughter’s transition to high school. It helped me grow in confidence for the courses, credits, transcripts, and larger academic hurdles that lay ahead. I’d also like to suggest parenting books by the Tripps, A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on The Gentle Art of Learningby Karen Andreola for parents of children ages toddler through 12, and 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your








Everywhere we go at Christmastime, we encounter the sights and sounds of the season—jingle bells, presents, food, tinsel, trees, lights, and more. Along with the sights and sounds, we encoun-

ter the prevailing idea that the Christmas season should be �lled with happiness—a happiness found in a host of different traditions.

Keeping Focused on Christ During the HolidaysPractical ways to keep our emphasis where it belongsby katherine loop

Isn’t it ironic that in the midst of all the traditions meant to bring happiness, the source of true joy—Christ Jesus—is so easily forgotten? Just look around the mall or a holiday party, and you will see frantic shoppers overwhelmed by their Christmas-gift lists, moms exhausted by all the season’s commitments, and children who can’t take their minds off their wish lists. even if we sing Christmas carols and read the Christmas story, it is all too easy to get sidetracked from Christ during the holidays! Yet it’s only in Him that we’ll find the true joy of which the angels sang when they announced His birth (Luke 2:10).

So how can we keep focused on Christ this time of year? This was a question I watched my mom wrestle with as we grew up. She began examining what we were doing and why—and as she did, Christmastime at our house began to change. We started with little things: bak-ing a cake for baby Jesus on Christmas Day and reading the Christmas story together. Later, the Lord led us to change our cel-ebrations more substantially.

In this article, I would like to share some of our family’s holiday journey. I do so not with the desire to lay out a formula for keeping focused on Christ during the

Christmas season or of how to celebrate Christmas (or even whether to celebrate it at all), but rather to offer ideas that may encourage you to examine how you cel-ebrate and spark you to seek the Lord for what He’d have your family do this year. I know many Christians have found dif-ferent ways to keep focused on the Lord during this time of year. Our own family has celebrated quite differently at different times. My heart is simply to encourage you to seek the Lord for what He would have for your family—and not to be afraid to follow wherever He leads.

DEVOTIONALSFor many years, we have done a special

devotional during the Christmas season to help focus our eyes upon the Lord. These devotionals have varied greatly in length and structure.

One year, a friend brought us “Advent Bags”—24 lunch-sized paper bags, each one containing a short Scripture and thought accompanied by a small gift to go along with the lesson (such as a pack of Life Savers to remind us that Jesus came to save us, or a container of play dough to remind us that He is the Creator, or a heart sticker to remind us of His love). each day of December leading up to Christmas,

my brother and I got to open one bag. On December 1, we opened the bag labeled

“1,” and so forth. We absolutely loved it! It proved a simple way for us to spend a few minutes every day reflecting on Jesus and scriptural truths.

After that, my mom began doing Advent Bags nearly every year, changing the theme and content each time. One year the devo-tionals followed the alphabet: we based each day’s reading on a different letter of the alphabet (A for “angels,” B for “Bethlehem” . . . ). Another year my mom put a different coloring sheet in each bag.

As we grew older, we began helping put the bags together to give to family and friends. This gave us an opportunity to really think through the message of Christ’s birth as we assisted in writing the little lessons and shopping for the gifts. These bags often served as our Christmas gifts for family and friends. eventually, the bags gave way to Christmas devotional kits that I still produce and offer through my website, www.christianperspective.net.

Some years we found ready-made devo-tionals we could use. One year we slowly read through John MacArthur’s The Miracle of Christmas. Another year someone in our support group put together short devotionals on heaven. However we did it, pondering lessons from the Christmas account each day helped set the tone for the holiday season.

DECORATIONSAs we began praying through our holi-

day decorations, the Lord led us to make some changes. We discovered we could


GIFTSAbout the same time we changed our

approach to decorating, we also changed our approach to gift giving. We realized that gift giving was sidetracking us from really focusing on Christ’s birth and was putting our focus on materialistic things instead, both leading up to Christmas and on Christmas Day itself. We also found that we were often giving out of obligation rather than because the Lord had really prompted us to give something.

Again, gift giving was a hard but very rewarding tradition to let go of. It freed up the whole season as well as Christmas Day itself. The whole spirit in our home during December changed.

This is not to say we never give or receive gifts at Christmas, but we began seeking the Lord and trying to listen to His leading about when and what and if to give. We will also often give gifts to people throughout the year rather than just at Christmas.

Whether or not your family does gift giving at Christmas, I’d encourage you to ask the Lord how you can work it in a way that guards against becoming consumed

The year my brother was learning wood-working, a homeschool dad we knew helped him build a life-size manger for our front yard. We put a floodlight on it and a cross with lights behind it as our outdoor decoration that year. It projected a simple but profound message to both the neigh-bors and us.

Ways to decorate are truly inexhaust-ible—and fully customizable for the needs of each family. Our family did the things we did because those were the ideas and skills God gave us at the time. There have also been years where we have hardly decorated at all. Your family decorations might look very dif-ferent from ours—and may differ from year to year! Whether or not you set up a Christmas tree, your decorations can be a wonderful aid in keeping you focused during the Christmas season.

You could even use the way you set up dec-orations as a tool to keep focused if you wish. One year, we set out our manger scene one piece each day, reading the corresponding part of the Christmas story and pondering each person’s response to Christmas. On Christmas Day, we added baby Jesus to the manger.

help draw our attention to Christ during the Christmas season through meaningful decorations.

One year we decorated our family room with lights and a manger at the foot of a gold throne (symbolizing Christ’s eter-nal reign), surrounded on the left by a purple cloth and a candle (signifying the Old Testament law) and on the right by a red cloth and wooden cross (representing Christ’s death). every time we looked into the room, we were reminded of God’s plan of redemption.

Another year we wrapped a large box with fancy gold paper and wrote the names of God on strips of ribbon coming out of it, reminding us that Jesus was God’s gift to us. Still another year we decorated a wreath with different symbols to represent the names of God. The year we did the heaven devotional, we set up a “throne” in our living room by covering a dining-room chair with a gold tablecloth and putting a crown on top. The throne served as a vivid reminder to us to let Jesus rule each detail of our lives. I remember get-ting quite convicted throughout the month as I passed by it!



with. Not everyone has family nearby—and sometimes hardships prevent families from really having time to put a Christmas cel-ebration together. There have been years when we have been tremendously blessed by having another family join us for Christmas.

CONCLUSIONAs the holiday season approaches, take

some time to ask the Lord how He’d have you keep focused on Him this year. Don’t be afraid to branch out of the box—the differ-ent things you can do are as unique as each family! It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord can give ideas when we ask Him. No matter how we celebrate or whether we celebrate at all, let’s remember to not lose sight of seeing and worshiping Christ each and every day of the year.

Katherine Loop, a homeschool gradu-ate, is the author of various homeschool resources, including books on teaching math biblically and Thanksgiving and Christmas devotionals that come with little books for children to decorate. Check out her website, www.christianperspective.net, for more information and to sign up for her free e-newsletters.

The sky is the limit for the different things you can do to celebrate Christmas together and to take advantage of the opportunity to share Jesus, especially with unsaved family and friends. Of course, how you celebrate

will depend on your children’s ages and your family’s preferences. Your celebration might simply be a time of prayer, Scripture reading, and singing together. Or you may want to set aside some quiet time alone with God on Christmas. Only the Lord knows exactly what will work for you.

Along with how to celebrate, another aspect to investigate is who to celebrate

with gifts instead of the Gift. remember to depend upon the Lord and seek Him for what He’d have you give or not give and not to let the weight of expectations press you down.

CHRISTMAS DAYPerhaps the largest change was Christmas

Day itself! We discovered there are lots of different things we can do on Christmas Day to focus our minds and hearts on all Christ’s birth means for us.

One year, my mom had us all dress up in old sheets and act out the Christmas story while my dad read it aloud. This could be done at different levels depending on ages and prep time—young children could do a very simple rendition of a few key events, slightly older children could act out the entire story while someone reads it, and older children could read or recite the main lines themselves.

Another year my mom wrote Scripture verses on gold paper stars, which she then hid throughout the house. We “followed the star” by finding the various hidden stars. Each star had a Scripture verse on it that gave a clue as to the location of the next one. Along the way, we also found “gold,” “frankincense,” and “myrrh” and discussed the significance of each.

“As the holiday sea-

son approaches, take

some time to ask the

Lord how He’d have

you keep focused on

Him this year.”





The weeks surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas ought to be a special time of family togetherness, re�ecting on the true meanings of these wonderful holidays, and teaching our chil-

dren important lessons in thankfulness and God’s love. Unfortunately, however, it’s easy to get so caught up in everything that needs doing that we forget the things that matter most.

So how do we cut through the busyness of the holiday season and recapture the true spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas? How do we make sure that our children understand what the holidays are all about instead of get-ting trapped in the commercialism with which society so often bombards us? To answer those questions, we asked the columnists and authors here at Home School Enrichment to share some of their favorite holiday traditions and ideas. Here are 12 of their ideas.

IDEA #1: COME YE THANKFUL PEOPLE COME

Cindy Puhek writes, “Last year my fam-ily spent the month prior to Thanksgiving learning the wonderful Puritan hymn ‘Come Ye Thankful People Come.’ We sang the hymn every night during that month’s fam-ily devotions. My seven-year-old daughter learned to play a simple arrangement of the hymn on the piano to accompany us. On Thanksgiving Day, copies of the lyrics were handed out to all our guests and we sang the hymn together prior to the meal.”

Other memorization ideas could include pas-sages of Scripture that focus on thankfulness or poems about Thanksgiving or the Pilgrims.

IDEA #2: STORY WRITING“Have children write their own thanksgiving

story,” suggests Gretel Deem. “Depending on the age and bent of the child, it might be fic-tional or non-fictional, funny or serious, long or short. They might prefer a research report or a poem. This is a great way to incorporate

english, history, geography, and handwriting into a holiday-themed unit. But don’t stop there. Perhaps your children would like to perform their story. Turn it into a skit and act it out with other family members on the day they gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. Or maybe they just want to read what they’ve written. Whatever the approach, somehow

share it with others. Maybe the adults could be challenged to some on-the-spot quizzes of how much they know about the first Thanksgiving story. Turn it into a game for everyone to enjoy!”

IDEA #3: MANY THANKS!For a writing project with a twist, Suzanne

Broadhurst suggests having your kids try writing a paragraph using the words thanks, thankful, and thankfulness as many times as possible. No cheating, though—the para-graph still has to be coherent and make sense!

IDEA #4: THE BLESSING BOX“One year,” writes Tim Palla, a pastor

in rural southern Ohio, “my wife, Jennifer, made a ‘Blessing Box.’ It was a small card-board box that she covered with material and cut a small 3” x 1/2” opening in the top. Throughout the year, when the Lord blessed us with something special, e.g. an unexpected financial gift, an invitation to go on a trip, produce from a friend’s garden, or help with a specific problem, we would record the blessings on a small piece of tab-let paper. The papers would immediately be folded up and put into the Blessing Box. On Thanksgiving Day, each one of them would be taken out and read. It was great to have the reminders of how God had provided for us throughout the whole year. Those records of God’s provision truly made our day a time of thanksgiving.”

IDEA #5: PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATIONS

A number of U.S. presidents have issued Thanksgiving proclamations over

12 Creative Ways toMake the Holidays Meaningfulcompiled by jonathan lewis

“Memorization ideas

could include passages

of Scripture that focus

on thankfulness

or poems about

Thanksgiving or the

Pilgrims.”


late November, we pull one card out of the basket and pray for its sender. Sometimes we need to tell the kids who sent it or how we know the sender, or even show the kids a photo of the sender. We try to pray very spe-cifically, based on what we know about the spiritual, physical, financial, and emotional needs of the card’s sender; certainly we pray for salvation for our unsaved friends. Not until we’ve prayed for the sender do we throw the card away. Sometimes it takes months to make it through our stack of cards, but it’s a great family prayer project.”

IDEA #8: TEACHING OUR CHILDREN THE REASONFOR THE SEASON

“We love Christmas,” Cindy shares, “and try to make the most of the season to teach our children about Jesus and to reach out to others that are more open to the gospel at Christmas than at other times. Because we try to seize every teachable moment during the season, we do not have Santa Claus at our house. The kids know that the historical Saint Nicholas was a generous man who reached out to the poor, but that Christmas is all about Jesus. I don’t want another

special meal. Another possibility would be to have your kids illustrate favorite scenes from the story of the first Thanksgiving, and turn those into placemats.”

IDEA #7: NEW USE FOR CHRISTMAS CARDS

Melanie Hexter shares this interesting idea to turn the tradition of Christmas cards into a meaningful experience for you and your family: “We save all the Christmas cards we get in the mail in a basket on our kitchen table. each dinnertime beginning in

the years. Cindy writes, “Before eat-ing our Thanksgiving meal last year, we read a copy of Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 ‘Thanksgiving Proclamation.’ It was a beautiful reminder of what the holiday was really supposed to represent. A copy of this document can be obtained from www.infoplease.com/spot/tgproclamation.html.”

Building on that idea, try doing some research about other presidential Thanksgiving proclamations. As a fam-ily, find and read as many as you can. Then, have your kids write a Thanksgiving Proclamation for your own family, listing reasons why you should be thankful this year. To make it more fun, they can try to imitate the formal style of the old-fashioned presidential proclamations.

IDEA #6: CRAFT TIME!For a fun craft project that can be enjoyed

by kids of all ages, try making personalized homemade placemats to use on Thanksgiving.

“Make a placemat of thankful memories,” says Gretel. “What do your children have to be thankful for this year? Is it a list of things? They could draw them, laminate the paper, and place it at someone’s place for the

“Each dinnertime

beginning in late

November, we pull

one card out of the

basket and pray for

its sender.”



Good wholesome literature or DVDs are welcome as well—adventure and humor are good choices.”

IDEA #10: BALANCING SCHOOL AND LIFE

Many homeschoolers take creative approaches to balancing schoolwork with the extra scheduling demands of the holi-day season. Melanie writes, “Some years we’ve taken one month off from our usual studies of history, science, and language arts (no breaks for math). I let my older children each pick a topic they want to research, read about, and then work on some related project we agree upon. For example, this year they each picked out a lapbooking project from www.handsofa-child.com. These unit studies come with a study guide and learner-oriented direc-tions. Other options for your child’s unit study could be a head start on a 4-H project, a unit study on a period of history or a scientist, a hands-on building or handiwork project, or even a month’s worth of culinary work (meal planning, shopping, and cook-ing for “home economics” credit). The indi-vidualized topics mean less involvement for mom at the busy time of year and more flex-

ably praying for whoever the recipient of that letter is: not just a one-time prayer, but prayer for him and his whole base and mission success and wisdom for leaders and relaxation of tension between service

members. Kid-made items are also fun, like homemade picture frames or prayer brace-lets. You can also send booklets that are made by Christian servicemen and women for service members to encourage their faith. You can find these at your local bookstore, but keep them positive and helpful and brief.

story to compete with the true meaning of Christmas. We decorate our house with the goal that anyone who comes through our door will know what we are celebrating. Dozens of nativity scenes are distributed throughout the inside and outside of the house. Banners are hung on the walls that remind us of the names of Christ and the prophecies about His advent.”

IDEA #9: SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE

Tamara Willey writes, “Remember our military. We may not know right now where our troops will be come Thanksgiving and Christmas, but we do know that there are men and women serving so that we can have a restful, worshipful holiday. Consider sending care packages to service members who get no mail as well as those who are already on the prayer bulletin boards. Personal words of hope from Scripture, and especially notes from children and young people, healthy and fun snacks, and pictures from home to paste on their all-neutral brown tents or walls are especially appreci-ated. If you would like a reply, send a Self-Addressed, Stamped envelope (SASe) with it. Also let them know that you are depend-

“Consider sending

care packages to

service members who

get no mail as well

as those who are

already on the prayer

bulletin boards.”



tree with spots to Velcro into place 24 felt ornaments, and the patterns for these things are contained in Hibbard’s book. The ornaments have pictures to symbolize the names of Christ, the prophecies He ful-filled, the Christmas story, and the gospel message. The book gives suggestions for daily Bible reading, Bible memorization, and a Christmas hymn to sing that follow the theme of each ornament. We use this calendar December 1 through December 24 for our family devotions.”

IDEA #12: THE ADVENTWhatever your family’s traditions might be,

try to take some time this year to slow down and enjoy some restful time together. In the midst of all that goes on at this time of year, let’s do our best not to forget what we’re really celebrating this holiday season.

Jonathan Lewis, 28, is a homeschool grad-uate and one of the founders of Home School Enrichment Magazine, of which he serves as editor. In the spring of this year, Jonathan was married to another homeschool graduate after a courtship relationship. They are expecting their �rst baby next June.

salvation testimony.” Melanie also shares this possibility: “We are involved with reaching out in Christian love to visiting international students from a nearby college all year long, so for us that may mean a couple extra guests at our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table. Most stateside stu-dents return home for the holidays, but due to cost and distance, that’s not true for many foreign exchange students. Give your local college a call and ask for their Office of International Studies. Tell them you’d like to host a student for the holidays and see who the Lord may put in your path. It’s mis-sions without the travel!”

IDEA #12: THE ADVENTMelissa writes, “We always read through

one of Arnold Ytreeide’s Advent stories (Jotham’s Journey, Bartholomew’s Passage, or Tabitha’s Travels) daily through the advent season. The children look forward to this time and begin asking weeks before-hand when we will begin.”

Cindy adds, “The Christmas before my husband and I were married, my sister presented us with an advent calendar and a book called Family Celebrations by Ann Hibbard. The calendar is a large felt

ibility for the children as the hectic holiday calendar fills.”

IDEA #11: SHARINGTHE REASON

“We try to take advantage of evangelistic opportunities this time of year,” Cindy says.

“Plates of homemade cookies are distrib-uted to the neighbors annually, and the kids enjoy helping with this. Cookies are baked, packaged, and frozen for weeks before Christmas in anticipation of our Christmas eve cookie distribution. Spreading the bak-ing out over an extended period of time makes this project reasonable even during this busy time of year.”

Melanie agrees that this is a good time of the year to share the gospel with others.

“Reaching out evangelistically to neigh-bors is something we emphasize during the holidays. Many non-Christians, who have no apparent spiritual interest most of the year, seem to at least have some spiritual sensitivity at Christmas. We’ve prepared gift baskets of homemade cookies and a copy of a Christian film to deliver to neighbors. We’ve hosted a Jesus birthday party, complete with singing, a birthday cake, crafts, and someone sharing their



22 Great Books to Enjoy With YourFamily This SeasonThe holiday season is here! What better way to spend some of

the long evenings ahead than with a good book? We asked some of our friends here at Home School Enrichment for their top

suggestions and compiled this list for your enjoyment. So gather the family with your favorite snack and some hot chocolate, and enjoy a great book together!

THE LISTJotham’s Journey by Arnold Ytreeride. Ten-year-old Jotham travels across Israel search-ing for his family, who think him dead. After encountering thieves, robbers, and kidnappers, Jotham rejoices in his encoun-ters with wise men, shepherds, and inn-keepers, until at last he finds his way to the Savior in Bethlehem. This book breaks the story into portions that can be read each day of Advent, including Christmas Day. Also check out Bartholomew’s Passage and Tabitha’s Travels by the same author. The three books form a trilogy which can be read in any order.

The Light at Tern Rock by Julia L. Sauer and George Schreber. This book is a great first chapter book to read aloud to children (ages 6+). It tells the story of volunteer lighthouse keepers and has a lot of interest-ing information about lighthouses and the duties of their keepers. But most of all, this book teaches that Christmas is Christmas wherever you are.

America’s First Christmas by Hertha Pauli. The story of how Christopher Columbus and his crew spent their first Christmas in the New World.

The Advent Calendar Pop-Up Book by Meryl Doney. This book has a flap to

open and a short portion of the Christmas story to read each day from December 1 to December 25. The great thing about this book is that it starts the story in the Old Testament—with the prophecies concerning Christ’s birth. Each flap reveals a little more of the Christmas story. (Susan Lemons, who recommended this book, notes, “There is one sentence I edit for accuracy.”) The final pages include a beautiful pop-up scene of the Nativity.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara robinson. They say you can’t judge a book by its movie, and that seems to be true of this classic Christmas story. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will make you and your family laugh, but it will also help you look at the birth of our Savior in a whole different light.

This Is the Star by Joyce Dunbar. The art-work alone is inspiring! A gentle, rhythmic reminder of the birth of our Savior.

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski. Jonathon Toomey, a woodcarver, is a very bitter man who is shown Christ’s love by a widow and her son. Highly recommended by three friends of HSE who described it as “amazing” and “a sweet, sweet story.” Warning: it may cause some teary eyes before you get to the end!

Christmas in My Heart by Joe Wheeler. A compilation of timeless stories of those who reach out to others in love at Christmastime. each story leaves a tug on your heart and a message to ponder.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Helen Haidle. This book shares the religious mean-ing behind the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” During a time of persecution, Christians used this song to remind each other of the basic tenets of the faith. For example, a partridge in a pear tree repre-sents Jesus, the two turtledoves represent the Old and New Testaments, and so on. Beautifully illustrated, this book is appropri-ate for children aged 5–10.

Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins. The author takes you inside the making of over 30 favorite songs and carols, introduc-ing readers to people we’ve never heard of and stories we could never imag-ine. each account gives new meaning to the Christmas songs we sometimes sing almost blindly. Also check out The Carols We Love: The Story Behind the Story of Twenty-Two Classic Christmas Carols by Daniel Partner.

TheTinySnowflake by Arthur Ginolfi. The story of a little snowflake, created by God, seeking her purpose in life amidst many other kinds of snowflakes. A childlike look at the manifold grace of God!

An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco. A wonderful book! Set in rural Michigan in the early 1900s, it tells the story of Frankie, a little boy who learns lessons


gratitude, and contentment. Look for Bible characters your children can relate to who exhibited these qualities. And of course, don’t forget to read the Christmas story! See the sidebar for another Christmas Bible study idea.

A WORD ON FINDING OUT-OF-PRINT BOOKS

Some of the books mentioned in this list may be out of print, and perhaps difficult to find. One great source to locate out-of-print books is www.abebooks.com. Independent book dealers list their inventory on this site, allowing you to search through liter-ally millions of books in one centralized location. The search features are easy to use, making it practically painless to search for books.

There’s nothing like reading a good book together as a family, so choose a few titles that sound enjoyable and get ready to build some warm holiday memories together!

Happy reading!

Many thanks to everyone who helped compile this list. We appreciate it!

Originally written and privately published in 1887, The Birds’ Christmas Carol found success as a play, and as a result, a revised

“dramatic version” was released in 1914. A beautiful read-aloud from a popular author of yesteryear!

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by robert Barry. A wonderful picture book for Christmastime, appropriate for ages 3–8. Written in delightful rhyme, this story tells of a rich man and his Christmas tree. His huge tree is too big for his front parlor, and so Mr. Willowby directs a servant to cut off the top. The treetop is passed along, each new owner chopping off the top, until the tiny treetop is just the right size for a family of mice. A must-read!

Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Ideas from A to Z by Sharon Jaynes. A beau-tifully illustrated book of ideas for celebrat-ing Christmas through foods, stories, and traditions old and new.

Last, but certainly not least, don’t for-get the Bible! For Thanksgiving, spend some time doing a study of thankfulness,

about kindness, giving, and obedience. It also reminds readers of the tradition of put-ting an orange in stockings for Christmas (something many modern kids don’t under-stand).

Treasured Stories of Christmas: A Touching Collection of Stories That Brings Gifts from the Heart and Joy to the Soul, compiled by the editors of Guideposts. A collection of poems and stories by authors such as Billy Graham, Norman Vincent Peale, Catherine Marshall, and others.

Countdown to Christmas: Memory Making Stories and Activities for Every Day from December 1st to the 25th by Amy Puetz. Written by our very own “Adventures in History” columnist, this book is broken up into daily sections. each day has a story and activity that should take about 30–45 minutes to go through. Many activities are included in this book, including games, crafts, cooking, riddles, quizzes, and singing carols.

The Birds’ Christmas Carol (The Dramatic Version) by Kate Douglas Wiggin.



Jingle whatever. Jolly ol’ whoever. Fa la la la ya right. Merry who cares. Thanksgiving. Christmas. New Year’s. Blah, blah, blah. Oh, how draggy the holidays became. Me as a mama all snug-

gled under a mishmash of wrapping paper and a bedlam of gift bows; he as a papa all strung out on bills, which �oated around like half-blown Christmas lights on a windy night. The kids all in bed dreaming of goodies and more junk to stuff in their rooms, junk which, come the middle of July, would lead to “dialogues of dynamic nature” con-cerning cleaning up. What to the public eye did we appear? A happy li’l family, so lively and quick, but we knew in our hearts it was just an ol’ trick.

So what did we do for holiday fun? We turned ’round the tables and had a confes-sion. We shared all our dreams and all dis-appointments; we shared all our hopes and wishes for less going-out-ments. We just wanted peace—on earth and at home. We were tired of running, of parties, of cookies; we were tired of malls, of shopping, of tum ookies. We wanted to stay home, by candles of ours, to snuggle, to read, to listen to music, to watch Christmas shows, to cuddle, to bundle up pretending it was cold.

We set aside schedules and running around. We looked up a few (maybe two?) activities in town. And then we scheduled our fun ’round our fireless place, and even found time for an outdoor fire pit space. We roasted marshmallows, cooked hot dogs, played croquet, and when Christmas came, we actually enjoyed the big day!

Homeschooling is great, they say all around. But when holidays came, I used to want to live underground! Too much busyness! Too much pressure. Too much to do. Too much heartburning while too much heart-living I just “had” to share. Too little sleep. Too much food. Too much money (or maybe too little, to keep everyone happy and feel all the love I too was supposed to be feeling). Too little “peace on earth”—and if you’ve ever been shopping on Black Friday, a severe lack of “good will toward man.” That was what the winter holidays began to feel like to me.

And then I realized, “I’m not in public school anymore!”

I would venture to suggest that elementary

school is where I learned how to panic over a not-so-perfect turkey, give gifts out of fear, and compare Christmas trees. “My turkey is colored prettier than yours! What did you bring for the gift exchange? I brought a silver-plated hairbrush, with matching diamond encrusted hand mirror. Oh, that’s your tree? I thought it was an elephant.” I can hear the seasonal sarcasm now.

About three years into homeschooling (so make that five or six years into parenting), the holidays made me feel less like being jolly and more like strangling myself or oth-ers with holly. What a relief it was to real-ize we could celebrate holidays—not just do “school”—differently as homeschoolers. Away went the boring routine, off came the pressure suit, trimmed was the calendar, to new heights leapt communication, as our homegrown family of four actually talked

about what “holiday fun” meant to each of us. We determined who we wanted to love on and how, we set a budget for giving (and receiving), and we even planned annual Snuggle Nights so we can read stories, share our holiday talents in the confines of our cozy cottage, and eat cookies ’til we are on the brink of bellyaches.

Can it be different as homeschoolers? Do we even want it different as homeschoolers? Should it be different as homeschoolers? These are great questions to ask . . . your fam-ily! If you fall asleep under mounds of wrap-ping tape and bows or turn up the volume on

“Jingle Bells” to drown out tears of frustration, maybe it’s time to give yourself permission to Holiday the Homeschool Way!

Peek in the windows of a hypothetical family where siblings care for one another in their own home, encourage one other in their artistic endeavors, and look for ways to give and love out of a natural (and super-natural) sense of compassion, rather than overextending themselves (and their pocket books). Ah, how lovely the picture is.

Are your holidays just right? Then cel-ebrate on! But if you could use some real downtime in what should be a real up-time, communicate with your crew to discover what is truly important to them. Just be sure to add your own needs, wants, and thoughts to the family casserole. No sense burning the meal by overcooking the chef!

Through all of this communication, heart talk, and realistic expectation establishing, we may just find a bit of that “peace on earth” Jesus came to give, even during (inject

“sense of impending doom” music, please) the Holidays. We may even have enough love and energy left over to share some good old-fashioned “good will toward man” at the mall.

Tweaking the holidays year by year has brought Suzanne Broadhurst full circle to her original recipe for the holidays this year: Have fun and celebrate Jesus—now complete with teenagers rather than tod-dlers! May your holidays be holy, may your fruitcake be unmoldy, may your laundry be foldy, and may your heart be jolly!

Holiday Ho-Humby suzanne broadhurst

“About three years

into homeschooling,

the holidays made

me feel less like being

jolly and more like

strangling myself or

others with holly.”





It was Christmas day in 1776. The American soldiers in the Continental Army crowded around camp�res trying to shake off the chill of the bleak December day. A cloud of despair hung over the

men. Missing their families, the soldiers felt the war for independence was already lost. In the distance the Delaware River �oated by. It was the only thing between them and the English. Discouragement and despair seemed to envelope those in the �ght for freedom in America. The men in George Washington’s army never guessed they would soon be engaged in another battle, only this time they would be victorious.

The campaign of 1776 resulted in one defeat after another for the Continental Army. At New York they barely escaped complete annihilation, and from there they lost battles at White Plains and Fort Washington. As they retreated, the British pursued them like hounds chasing a fox. Miraculously, the fox in this case always managed to escape. Congress was disheart-ened by the progress of the war and began discussing replacing Washington with General Charles Lee. Lee was an ambi-tious, unreliable, and untrustworthy man, but before Lee was made commander-in-chief, the British captured him.

Washington knew his country and men needed a victory, and when Cornwallis made the mistake of stretching out his army, Washington knew he must act. Since Cornwallis needed the men to live off the land, he divided his force and garrisoned them at Bordentown, Burlington, Mount Holly, Princeton, and Trenton. Many of the American soldiers were nearly done serving their enlistment, and Washington knew he must proceed quickly—while he still had an army. He decided to attack the Hessian troops at Trenton. The Hessians were a German mercenary force—foreign soldiers employed by the British.

On Christmas eve Washington commu-nicated the final plans for their assault

to his generals. They would cross the Delaware river at three places and sur-prise the enemy. General John Cadwalader and Adjutant General Joseph reed were to cross at Bristol with 1,500 men and attack Burlington. General James ewing and 700 men were to hold the bridge at Assunpink Creek, which was at the end of Queen Street in Trenton. Leading the third part of the attack would be Washington himself. He, along with Generals Greene, Sullivan, and Stirling and 2,400 soldiers of the Continental Army, would cross the Delaware at McKonkey’s Ferry. Closer to Trenton they would divide their force and attack the town from two sides. Operations would begin on Christmas Day, and if all went well they would reach Trenton at five o’clock on December 26, 1776.

As the disheartened Continental Army formed ranks, they were told the password with which they could distinguish friend from foe. It was Victory or Death. each man received enough food for three days and 60 rounds of ammunition. Marching through a frigid rain, they arrived at McKonkey’s Ferry around dusk. The Delaware river was higher than usual and congested with ice. Soon a storm was roaring. Although the squall helped cover their noise, it also slowed their progress. While Henry Knox managed the crossing on the Pennsylvania

side, Washington oversaw the troops as they landed on the New Jersey side. The passage was made in Durham boats, which had flat bottoms and high sides. In charge of the boats were Colonel John Glover and the experienced sailors from Marblehead, Massachusetts. (These sailors had come to Washington’s aid before, when he and his men were cornered at Brooklyn. John Glover and his men helped them escape under cover of darkness.) Since the boats were somewhere between 40-60 feet long, nearly 40 men could be transported at a time. Getting the horses and cannons loaded and across proved to be the most difficult part of the night. Finally, at three in the morning on December 26, 1776, all of Washington’s army was on the New Jersey side. By now they were three hours behind schedule and could never reach Trenton before daybreak. Yet Washington was determined to advance!

The march to Trenton was treacherous. A furious storm with alternating rain, snow, sleet, and hail hindered every step, and a bit-terly cold wind ripped at their faces. Many soldiers had only rags instead of shoes on their feet and suffered terribly. Along the march two men froze to death. Of the three-pronged plan, only Washington was able to advance because of the storm.

The commander of the Hessian troops at Trenton was Colonel rall, who dis-played great valor and bravery at the bat-tles of White Plains and Fort Washington. Although Colonel rall received warning of the Americans’ intended attack, he did not take them seriously. He even received a message from a Loyalist shortly before the battle but put it in his pocket unread. On Christmas Day the Hessians celebrated the holiday in the flamboyant German fashion.

Despite the delays, the Continental Army was able to make a surprise attack. At approximately eight o’clock in the morn-

When Washington Crossed the DelawareA turning point of the Revolution—and it began on Christmasby amy puetz


had reached its lowest point. The war seemed hopeless and defeat inevitable but the daring crossing of the Delaware and the subsequent victory at Trenton was a balm to the reeling and weak nation. Convinced that Washington was the most able leader of the army, Congress wisely kept him in that capacity until the conflict ended. Many men now began to enlist, and filling the ranks was not difficult. America suffered many other setbacks during the conflict with Great Britain, but never was the war in such a state of despair as it had been before Trenton. If the bold surprise had not been undertaken at such a critical time, it is quite possible that the United States of America might have lost the revolutionary War.

Amy Puetz, a homeschool gradu-ate, loves history. She is the author of Uncover Exciting History: Revealing America’s Christian Heritage in Short, Easy-to-Read Nuggets and Costumes with Character: Make Your Own Costumes from Eleven Time Periods with One Dress. Visit her website at www.AmyPuetz.com to see many resources relating to history. Join her mailing list and receive a free e-book!

over 900 were taken prisoners. Only 500 Hessians escaped. Taking the baggage of the vanquished, the Americans added six cannons and 1,000 muskets to their supplies. The British were stunned when they learned of the American victory at Trenton. When Lord Cornwallis received the news, he was on the verge of sailing for england to see his sick wife. Instead, he journeyed back to New Jersey with the intent of defeating Washington and the rebels. Soon all of the United States was praising Washington and his Continental Army for their glorious vic-tory. Discouraged people began to hope that the war could be won, and Congress was happy to retain Washington as commander of the troops.

After the victory, the army marched back to McKonkey’s Ferry again and re-crossed the Delaware. Nearly a week later Washington led a surprise attack on the British at Princeton. Again the Americans tasted the sweet fruit of victory.

The American triumph at Trenton was the turning point of the American revolution. Having held the patriots in contempt, the British were now forced to respect them. In early December of 1776, the young nation

ing the first fighting began when General Greene and his men met guards on the Pennington road. The storm was blowing into the faces of the Hessians and gave the advancing Americans the advantage. In an orderly retreat the Hessians made their way to Trenton. The town of Trenton had two main roads going through it: King Street and Queen Street, which ran parallel to each other. By the time the startled Hessians assembled, Knox’s artillery held positions at the head of both King and Queen Streets. A grueling fight began. The element of sur-prise added to the confusion. The Hessians placed a field gun on King Street and might have done real damage to the Americans, but the patriots seized the gun and used it against the Hessians instead. Colonel rall rallied his men who were enduring heavy fire. Under a shower of bullets the Hessians retreated to an orchard southeast of town. After Colonel rall was mortally wounded, the Hessians surrendered. In less than forty-five minutes the battle was over, and the jubilant Continental Army was victorious.

Washington had won the day without the loss of one man in battle. Of the Hessians, 21 were killed, 90 were wounded, and



ChristmasSearch-a-Word

Find the hidden words in the grid below

Solution on page 40







PuzzleItUnscramble each word, and write it in the blank to the right. Then,

use the circled letters to discover the hidden phrase.

Solution on page 40


Wise Men to Jesus Help the wise men follow the star to �nd Jesus

Solution on page 40


Looking for something to do this Christmas that’s not only a fun family activity, but also celebrates the true Reason for the season? Check out Christmas Town! Organized and hosted by Answers

in Genesis, the prominent creation science ministry of Ken Ham, Christmas Town is a fun and meaningful activity for the whole family.

Held on select evenings during December, Christmas Town can be found at the Creation Museum in northern Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati, Ohio. If you’ve been thinking of visiting the Creation Museum, now would be a great time to do it, when you can see all the usual sights of the Museum, plus their Christmas festivities!

Christmas Town is far more than just a live nativity, although that element is present. For starters, they have a special show in the Museum planetarium, discussing the Bethlehem star and what it might have been. Also inside the Museum are special live drama presentations telling parts of the

Christmas story from a unique perspective. You’ll hear elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, tell about her experiences. You’ll hear a temple guard tell about his involve-ment in Herod’s reign, and how his life was changed by the Messiah. Anna, the widow in the temple the day Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Lord, tells of seeing the Christ Child. Outdoors, you’ll hear one of the wise men tell about their journey to find the Messiah. These dramatic presentations are exceptionally well-done and help the evening come to life in a creative, imaginative way.

Also outdoors you’ll find Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus in a replica of a first century

stable. Here you can also listen in on anoth-er dramatic presentation, this time from an archeologist explaining some of the historical details about life at the time of Christ’s birth.

Another fun part of the evening is the Garden of Lights—an impressive and beau-tiful walk through the Creation Museum’s nature trails decked out in thousands of lights.

Admission to Christmas Town is free, except for the planetarium show. If you wish to tour the Museum while you’re there, you can come earlier in the day and go through at the regular admission rate. Or, if you wait until 5:00, Museum admission is only $5.00 on Christmas Town nights, with the last entry at 8:00.

Christmas Town is open eight nights (5:00PM-8:00PM) throughout December: the 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 26th, 27th, 30th, and 31st. You can find more details about the event at www.CreationMuseum.org.

My family and I have had the opportunity to visit Christmas Town twice, and have had a wonderful experience both times. It’s a memorable addition to the Christmas season that will help you focus on Christ in a way that so many of the glitzy Christmastime activities fail to do.

If you’re a fan of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, you’re sure to enjoy Christmas Town. If you live close enough to make the drive (or if you’ll be passing through the area this Christmas season) drop in and have some fun—and catch a fresh glimpse of what Christmas is all about.

Jonathan Lewis, 28, is a homeschool grad-uate and one of the founders of Home School Enrichment Magazine, of which he serves as editor. In the spring of this year, Jonathan was married to another homeschool graduate after a courtship relationship. They are expecting their �rst baby next June.

Bring the Christmas Story to LifeA fun family activity that celebrates the Reason for the seasonby jonathan lewis





Thanksgiving and Christmas are a rich time in a family’s life, but they can be a real drain on the family’s budget. Here are some tried and true ideas to maximize the meaning of your celebra-

tions while minimizing your expenses—rich times for minimal dimes!

No Regrets, No Debts Holiday Celebrationsby marcia washburn

DECORATINGIf your budget is tight, or even if it’s not,

make this the year to include your children in decorating the house. Decorate in such a way that everyone who enters your home will know who is the focus of the season. • Before buying new decorations, check

to see what you already have. Then think about where you will store any new ones after the holidays; this will help you curb your enthusiasm for browsing the stores.

• This is not the year for a magazine-perfect decorating scheme. Use simple decorations—candles, greenery, glass balls in a bowl, popcorn and cranberry strings, or paper chains.

• Eat your decorations. Gather or buy nuts in the shell, and scatter them on your Thanksgiving table or sur-round a fat candle with nuts. After Thanksgiving, place the nuts in a bowl (tie a ribbon around it for fun) and snack on them through December. A bonus: no storage is required.

• Children often enjoy selecting table decorations to match the menu of a meal. Put them to work and watch their creativity blossom. Napkin rings add to the fun and needn’t be expensive; at different times we have tied raffia, thick yarn, twine, and curling ribbon around cloth napkins for a festive look; add stick cinnamon for Thanksgiving or a candy cane for Christmas—more edible decorations!

• Tear leftover fabric scraps into 1–2-inch wide strips; tie together pieces to make them six feet long. Twist and drape wherever you need garland—on the tree or mantle, or perhaps over a

doorway. Accent with pinecones, wire-edged ribbon tied into bows, jingle bells, or candy canes.

LEARNINGUse the holidays to upgrade writing and

research skills, as well as enjoying the arts. • Write a family Christmas letter togeth-

er; post it on pretty e-mail stationery and send it to tech-savvy family and friends. Print out copies to postal mail to others.

• Purchase or make a sturdy Nativity set for younger children. They will enjoy retelling the Christmas story dur-ing playtime. A set of Pilgrim figures would be useful at Thanksgiving; you might laminate pictures to blocks of wood or stitch them from felt.

• An older student can research the histo-ry or traditions of the holiday online or in an encyclopedia (World Books have great articles on holidays). Instead of writing a report, have him design a crossword puzzle or hidden-word puz-zle for a younger sibling.

• Read holiday stories together. Your local library is a great starting place. [editor’s note: See page 24 for a list of 29 holiday book suggestions.]

• Learn the words and stories behind familiar Christmas carols or other sea-sonal music. Your children will under-stand what they are singing at church this year.1

• Teach the meaning of Thanksgiving by making place mats with words or pictures of things your child is thankful for. Laminate and use them throughout November. each year your children will enjoy looking at these masterpieces

they made “when I was a little kid.” • Make Christmas place mats by mounting

old Christmas cards on card stock and laminating them. Another option: copy a Bible verse and make a pretty border around the edge. A set of these would be a welcome gift for a grandparent.

• During December, teach the joy of being a secret server by allowing each person to secretly place a piece of straw in the manger of your Nativity whenever she does something nice for another family member.

GIFTSChoose one or more of these options for a

simple but satisfying Christmas. • Instead of lots of individual presents,

consider a gift for the whole family—an experience gift, such as a trip to Grandma’s, visiting a national park, or a short-term mission trip.

• Give gifts of art supplies, curriculum, or teaching aids—globes, a magnifying glass (what boy wouldn’t love one?), or a microscope. Perhaps grandparents will contribute toward music or draw-ing lessons.

• Instead of placing gifts under the tree, consider a treasure hunt. even inex-pensive gifts take on a flair when cre-atively wrapped and hidden

• Wrap gifts in something useful or recycled such as a baby blanket or a paper sack.

• Decide that you will only exchange homemade gifts this year. You will be amazed at the creativity your fam-ily members exhibit. One year when finances were tight, we decided on a $5 limit on all gifts. My husband’s gift to my dad? A tax shelter—he built a six-inch roof on poles, complete with shingles made from the ends of tongue depressors, then he pounded tacks into the floor of the “tacks” shelter. Others


ily celebration. Invite international col-lege students to join you; campuses can be lonely during the holidays, and many students spend their entire col-lege career never having been invited into an American home.

Simplify your celebrations this year. Focusing on the simple pleasures of the sea-son will lead to the riches of a No regrets, No Debts New Year.

© 2011 by Marcia K. Washburn, who homeschooled �ve sons for nineteen years. Visit www.marciawashburn.com to read more articles, sign up for her newsletter, and view her newest book, Homemade Convenience Foods.

1Joni eareckson Tada has co-authored a book, Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart, which includes stories of twelve Christmas carols and a fully orchestrated CD; she and the children sing together.2For more ideas, see Marcia’s articles, Holidays and Holy Days (Nov/Dec. 2007) and Cramped Hospitality (Nov/Dec 2008). Order these back issues of Home School Enrichment by calling 1-800-558-9523.

• Give a family gift to an organization such as Operation Christmas Child, Angel Tree, or World Vision.

• Collect the Christmas cards, letters, and e-mails you receive, and pray for one sender each day after Christmas. Keep the cards until the following year, jotting the sender a note each time his card is drawn for prayer; you might invite him to share prayer requests with you. This is a gift that keeps on giving.

MEALS, PARTIES,AND CELEBRATIONS • Don’t try to do it all—you and your bank

account will both be exhausted. Have a carry-in dinner instead. The hostess decides on the entrée, and guests each bring one or more side dishes.2

• Instead of hosting a neighborhood gathering, bake up some cookies and hand them out while you are caroling the neighbors. You might tuck in a per-sonal greeting or an invitation to attend Christmas services at your church.

• Ask your pastor for the names of people who might be alone for the holiday and include them in your fam-

gave garage sale finds, items from their own closets, or something handmade. The family still talks about that unfor-gettable Christmas.

• Give gifts of service or time to each other: a foot rub for Dad, breakfast in bed for Mom, a tea party for Susie and her friends, help with batting practice for Johnny. Our boys sometimes gave coupons to do each others’ chores for a day.

• An idea for extended family members: each one purchases a gift for someone of the same gender. The gifts aren’t labeled. Guests take turns selecting a gift. The next person may “steal” that gift or select one from those still wrapped. Part of the fun is to see the men getting perfume and the adults getting kids’ toys. eventually it all gets sorted out amidst much merriment.

• Take your time opening gifts. Have each child hand-deliver his gift and watch while the recipient opens it. The joy and anticipation on the giver’s face is wonderful to watch, and thank-you hugs are readily remembered when the giver is standing right there.



Schooling Around the HolidaysHandy tips for keeping organized through the busy seasonby bethany lebedz

Is it possible to homeschool sanely and still celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas? Yes! How? My two best tips are to make lists and start planning early.

I do try to make the kids’ workloads a bit lighter during the holidays, starting about mid-November and going through the end of December. Many curricula have only 32 or 34 weeks of lessons, so instead of starting later or finishing earlier in the school year with these subjects, we opt not to do them around the holidays. Instead, we make sure that we focus on the vital sub-jects with 180 lessons. Of course, we don’t do any school on Thanksgiving Day (if we do school at all that week, it’s only for a few days). And we take off completely for two weeks around Christmas and New Year’s Day.

If you school year-round or use unit stud-ies instead of packaged curricula, this might be a good time to check out some of the fun, holiday-themed unit studies instead of wal-lowing in the rocket science lessons. Many, many unit studies are available that detail the history of the first Thanksgiving, holi-day traditions around the world, and more. This way, you can still check off a day of school, but have fun and relax some at the same time.

I make sure my lesson plans are done right after Thanksgiving so that my children know what to expect. All the parties, cookie

baking, decorating, and shopping trips are good incentives for the kids to finish their schoolwork early. As far as housecleaning and other chores go, we do things the same way we do the rest of the year: everyone has assigned chores. A few things do get left undone, but even the very organized home-school mom can’t do everything (sshhh!).

That covers school, but what about the holiday stuff?

I love lists! I make lists of my lists (yes, really). Here are a few of the lists that preserve my sanity during November and December:

I keep a running list in my BlackBerry (a small notebook would also work) of every person for whom I regularly buy gifts. As I hear hints or think of gift ideas, I make a note of them. I check off the item after I’ve bought it, but leave it on my list so that I’ll remember I have it. This works for birthday presents as well as Christmas gifts. Throughout the year, I buy gifts for family and friends as I see things that would be appropriate. Since none of our family lives close by, all of their gifts are bought and wrapped early in the fall. All the rest of the gifts are bought by the first week in December. I usually wait until the weekend before Christmas to wrap

the gifts because I don’t like to put them under the tree too early, but it’s written in my planner.

People who receive our annual Christmas letters/cards/pictures (depending on the year) are on a master database on my lap-top. every year, I update the list for cards received and sent the previous year as well as whom we’ll be sending cards to this year, then I print it out to check off names as new cards roll in. In early November, I print out address labels for the cards (I update my computer’s address book as needed through the year). By the end of the month, I’ve writ-ten the letter or pulled out the cards I bought at the after-Christmas sale the previous year. The cards are in the mail the first week of December.

As soon as I know when we’ll be host-ing family and friends for various events throughout November and December, I make sure those events make it onto the calendar. Then I start planning my menus for each meal. Menu lists and the calendar are updated daily, and the food/necessity shopping lists are updated as needed.

In the midst of all this, we need to remem-ber to slow down long enough to be thankful for our many blessings and to celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas season. Two of our favorite traditions are taking time to read the Christmas story from Luke and singing traditional Christmas carols around the piano.

From our homeschool family to yours, may you have a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas season!

Bethany LeBedz has been married for 17 years, homeschooling for 10 years, and organizing forever. She homeschools her two girls in North Carolina. She blogs at Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom: www.bethanylebedz.blogspot.com.

Deck the halls with boughs of school books, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la.‘Tis the season to be busy, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la.Don we now our anxious faces, fa la la la la la la.Sing of lapbooks, handmade orn’ments, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la!

See the piles of laundry ’round you, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la.Strike the doorbell, chase the toddler, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la.Follow me for every minute, fa la la la la la la.While we sing of wistful summer, fa-la-la-la-la la la la la!





Ihave had my turkey in the freezer for a year and a half. Will it take longer to thaw?” This innocent yet humorous question from a viewer was read aloud on Jeff Smith’s Frugal Gourmet show

recently. Perhaps the holidays are perplexing to you, too. Hopefully not, but let me share some of my favorite tips to lighten up for the holidays in our meals and our memories.

Lighten Up forthe Holidays!by annette reeder

To lighten up our holidays we first need to identify what weighs us down. Too much food? Too much or not enough time with our families? Too many expectations placed upon us? Any one of these burdens can steal the joy away from the true meaning of each holiday. The word holiday comes from the original meaning of two words: holy day. Let’s put the holy back into our holidays and lighten up at the same time.

LIGHTEN THE CALORIESThe first area to lighten is our calories. A

typical Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner loaded with turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, candied sweet pota-toes, cranberry sauce, roll with butter, pump-kin pie, coffee with sugar, and cider, tallies a full 3,000 calories! Add to your caloric consumption the second or third serving of your aunt’s favorite cheesecake and appetiz-ers you ate while waiting for dinner—no wonder we need a nap afterward!

How can we lighten up our holy day?

Select smaller portionsIf you love to sample everything that

comes through the kitchen door, simply select smaller portions. Or you might prefer to find your favorites, yet still control the urge to overindulge. Keep in mind, extra servings lead to extra pounds.

Scatter snacksIf snacks are included in your holy days,

scatter them around the house. This will save you money and people will eat less.

When snacks are located in one area, in large bowls, guests tend to eat more. Use decorative, small bowls and arrange them around the room or different rooms.

Satisfy your bodyDrink water. Add fresh or frozen lem-

ons. This eliminates the unnecessary hidden calories in flavored drinks and is more sat-isfying. The more satisfied your body feels the fewer calories you will consume.

Stretch yourself beyond the foodBe mindful of what you are eating.

Slow down to observe your food. Colors? Texture? Presentation? Is it in season or prepared differently? As your mind takes time to appreciate what you are eating you will eat more slowly and therefore eat less. Notice who is with you and enjoy their company. Feast on the fellowship more than the food.

LIGHTEN UP WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

How else can we lighten up our holy days? Family members sometimes come with a heavy weight. It is time we lighten up with those that are important to us. If you have no family, start a new one. Invite new friends to join you for these holy days or if you are invited to someone else’s home, go.

ListenMany people are hurting and going

through troubled times. They want some-one to listen to them without offering advice or to be reprimanded. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak . . .” says James 1:19.

Be thankful for othersTell others how thankful you are for

them. Before arriving at an event or invit-ing others to your home, take time to write down one positive thought you can share with each person to communicate how they have touched your life. For some family members or friends this may take a lot of prayer to come up with the right words, but God will bring to mind what He wants you to say. Then ask the Holy Spirit to prompt you for the best moment to share your bless-ing. Preparing for an event with an atti-tude already committed to be thankful will change your mindset and the outcome of the holy days. When you are dealing with a dif-ficult family member or friends remember Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.”

LIGHTEN YOURSPIRITUAL LOAD

Finally how can we lighten our load spiritually? Many well-meaning Christians

“The �rst area to

lighten is our calories.

A typical Thanksgiving

or Christmas dinner

. . . tallies a full 3,000

calories!”


nize that their body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, find new meaning in eating and fellowship?

enjoy the Holy Days. enjoy those around you. enjoy the food, but remem-ber God has brought you this far in your journey. We need to worship God—not the food. Being thankful for what He has done in your life is a grand reason to be worshipping. We don’t want to be just grateful enough but become a radically thankful person. Nancy DeMoss wrote:

“Gratitude changes the way we start the day, spend the day and look back on the day. It defines us as people who value our relationship with God and with those He’s placed around us.”

Why not lighten up this holiday season?

Annette Reeder, a Biblical Nutrition Consultant, is leading people all around the country on an adventure with the power of food to change lives one meal and prayer at a time. Annette is a gradu-ate of Liberty University and Huntington College Health Sciences and the founder of Designed Healthy Living, a nutrition consulting ministry.

stance in your life, even sensitive ones you don’t understand, matter to Him. No matter what someone says to you drop it all at His feet and be thankful.

Did you know that people who are happy, healthy and thankful to God for what He has done in their life and recog-

are still carrying around excess baggage. excess baggage that weighs you down can be lightened by an attitude of gratitude. God has given us a choice—have gratitude and be worshippers or choose ingratitude and be whiners. How are you going to experience the holy days?

Celebrate With ThanksgivingBegin to let your salvation be more than

a once-upon-a-time event and become a daily cause for celebration. Do you remember the joy you experienced when you asked Jesus into your life and began a personal relationship with Him? Make every day a celebration of what God has done in your life and continues to do.

“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).

Make each day an opportunity to watch for His blessings, great and small: from the ultimate, awesome gift of His saving grace to the privilege of gathering together for the holy days. Play the I Spied God game. at the dinner table. Share how you saw God in action during the day. Offer up every situ-ation to Him. every situation and circum-

“Make each day an

opportunity to watch

for His blessings, great

and small: from the

ultimate, awesome

gift of His saving

grace to the privilege

of gathering together

for the holy days.”



e’re excited to announce the “12 Days of Christmas” giveaway spree! We’ll be giving away dozens of great prizes between December 1st and December 12th, with an individual value of up to $475!

Entering is easy: just visit www.HSEmagazine.com/12days and select the prizes you’d like a shot at winning. We’ll draw random names for the winners each day. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to come back every day to enter. You can enter for any prizes you’re interested in all at once.

We’d like to thank all of the sponsors who made these giveaways possible. If you don’t win, you can always stop by the sponsors’ websites to learn more about the products or to make a purchase.

Enough of the details—let’s get to the list of prizes!

The 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

DECEMBER 1ST• Set of three books from Moody Publishers: Parenting with

Scripture, Drummer Boy at Bull Run, and Help! I’m Married to a Homeschooling Mom

• Milltown Pride DVD from Showforth • 30 piece bucket from Lock robots • $20.00 certificate from Truth Quest History • Pack from Figures in Motion, including Famous Figures of:

Ancient Times, American revolution, Medieval Times, and Dinosaurs on the Move. Also includes long reach punch and extra fastener pack

• Christian ethics for Youth from Bechtel Books

DECEMBER 2ND• Set of three books from Moody Publishers: Parenting with


• 7th Grade Lightning Lit Pack from Hewitt Homeschooling• Ocarina and Learning to Play the Ocarina curriculum from

Mountain Ocarinas • The Gift of Love Christmas CD from See the Light• Foundations Series DVD set from Answers in Genesis • Times Tales DVD with Mini Flip from Trigger Memory System

DECEMBER 3RD• Set of three books from Moody Publishers: Parenting with


• Milltown Pride DVD from Showforth • 30 piece bucket from Lock robots • Life of Washington from Freedom’s Heritage • One year’s worth of Literature Guides (choose grade from 1st

through 6th) from Memoria Press• Logos Science Lab Kit from Logos Science

DECEMBER 4TH• Set of three books from Moody Publishers: Parenting with

Scripture, Drummer Boy at Bull Run, and Help! I’m Married to

a Homeschooling Mom • Girl’s graduation necklace from Cornerstone Graduate Supply• Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione by Chuck Black from

Perfect Praise Publishing• Yussuf the Guide from Salem ridge Press• School Days Devotional Praise from Bechtel Books• Complete-A-Sketch Technical from Insight Technical



• Sir Bentley and Holbrook Court by Chuck Black from Perfect Praise Publishing

• electronic Snap Circuits Set from elenco electronics• School in a Box from JoyceHerzog.com• To Bethlehem Game from Familyman Ministries



• You Can Sew Curriculum from Modesty Matters• Sir Dalton and the Shadow Heart by Chuck Black from Perfect

Praise Publishing • Archaeology and Fossils Theme Bucket (3 projects—12 of

each—great for co-op or large group) from Tandy Leather• A set of First Form Latin from Memoria Press• Clean ‘n’ Flip Combos (set of 3) from Trigger Memory System



• Milltown Pride DVD from Showforth • Ocarina and Learning to Play the Ocarina curriculum from

Mountain Ocarinas • Spanish 1 curriculum from Bechtel Books

W


Remember, it’s fast and easy to enter, and there’s

no obligation! Just visit

www.HSEmagazine.com/12days

Stop by today!

• Young Beginner’s Guide to Identifying 18 Common Feeder Birds, and The Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly from the Your Backyard DVD series from Crowes Nest Media

• Logo Adventures Curriculum from Motherboard Books



• 30 piece bucket from Lock robots • Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue by Chuck Black from

Perfect Praise Publishing• First Start reading and Classical Phonics curriculum from

Memoria Press • Complete-A-Sketch Technical from Insight Technical• Clean ‘n’ Flip Combos (set of 3) from Trigger Memory System



• Milltown Pride DVD from Showforth• Sir Quinlan and the Swords of Valor by Chuck Black from

Perfect Praise Publishing• Complete-A-Sketch Technical from Insight Technical• School in a Box from JoyceHerzog.com• Famous Men Set (can choose between rome, Greece, Middle

Ages, and Modern Times) from Memoria Press



• Big Book of History Timeline from Master Books• 30 piece bucket from Lock robots • A Sea-Queen’s Sailing from Salem ridge Press • Logos Science Lab Kit from Logos Science• Times Tales DVD with Mini Flip from Trigger Memory System



• Milltown Pride DVD from Showforth • Sir Rowan and the Camerian Conquest by Chuck Black from

Perfect Praise Publishing• environment Theme bucket (3 projects—12 of each—great for

co-op or large group) from Tandy Leather• A set of Latina Christiana I from Memoria Press• Sharpen Up—Extra Practice in Building School Skills from

Bechtel Books

DECEMBER 12TH• Spiritual Warfare (framed art print) from Tapestry Productions



Puzzle Solutions


Our Sponsorse would like to thank all of the sponsors who made the 2011 Homeschooler’s Educational Gift

& Resource Guide possible. Take a few moments to check them out—you’ll �nd a host of fun and educational gift ideas, as well as quality products for your family and homeschool. And hey,

why not share the list with grandparents, too?

hewitt homeschoolinG resources 25% Off of Junior High Lightning Lit & Comp program - 7th and 8th Grade - until 12/22/2011.See their ad on page 5

FlowerinG baby 10% off a fun and effective developmental curriculum for birth to five. Use coupon code HSE10. See their ad on page 7

moody publishers “Help! I’m Married to a Homeschooling Mom”: refreshingly funny perspective for dads to support & encourage their homeschooling wife.See their ad on page 8

tandy leather Factory Tandy Leather Factory offers Free videos and lesson plans to teach an ancient craft. See their ad on page 9

birch court books, inc. Offering educational and rewarding products to enrich homeschooling for both parents and children.See their ad on page 9

crowe’s nest media enjoy $5 off nature gifts that will last your child a lifetime!See their ad on page 10

the creation adVenture Family Christian Family radio Dramas and educational and Adventure products; made by Homeschoolers for Homeschoolers.See their ad on page 11

FiGures in motion Buy any 2 books in our history series and receive Dinosaurs on the Move free! (Type ‘HSe Gift Guide’ in comments box when ordering)See their ad on page 11

keyboard enterprises Choruses on CD that will brighten your day and bring back memories of your childhood. See their ad on page 14

bechtel books Spanish curriculum to fit your family needs. Also find Christian ethics and character building books.See their ad on page 15

rainbow resources Free shipping on Christmas catalog orders $25 or more (48 contiguous states) – Nov. 15th through Dec. 12th.See their ad on page 17

showForth Milltown Pride DVD has the appeal of 1920s baseball and the message of the prodigal son.See their ad on page 18

answers in GenesisFoundations is the newest DVD series from Ken Ham, founder of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum.See their ad on page 19

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moody publishers “Drummer Boy at Bull Run”: Teen friends Jeff & Leah wrestle with faith while separated during the Civil War.See their ad on page 27

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the kinGdom series by chuck black Up to 20% off sets of books and audio dramas! See our website for details!See their ad on page 33

lost classics Take 15% off either of our classic english textbooks when purchased before January 1, 2012See their ad on page 35

moody publishers “Parenting With Scripture”: Handy topical guide for teaching children to apply God’s Word in their daily lives.See their ad on page 15

tapestry productions Save 25% on all orders until 12/15/11 with the discount code “giftguide.”See their ad on page 13

homeschoolFreebieoftheday.com Four delightful Christmas Audio programs plus a great “Homeschool Ideas for the Holidays” ebookSee their ad on page 35

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Give yourself a giftthat will give all year.(And we’ll throw in alittle something forthe kids, too.)Give yourself a subscription to Home School Enrichment Magazine this Christmas,

and you’ll want to write yourself thank-you notes all year long. That’s

because subscribing to Home School Enrichment is one of the nicest things you

could do for yourself (and your kids). What could be better than signing up for

a whole year of encouragement, inspiration, and ideas that will make you a

better homeschooling mom than ever before?

And you don’t have to feel guilty about buying yourself

a Christmas gift. That’s because when you subscribe to

Home School Enrichment, we’ll throw in something for

your kids, too (besides all the smiles they’ll

have because you’re a more awesome

homeschooling mom than ever).

We’ll give them a complete audio book

of G. A. Henty’s historical �ction novel Under

Drake’s Flag, compliments of the ever-popular

Jim Hodges. How’s that for a deal? You get a gift that keeps giving all year,

and you’ll be giving a fun and educational gift to your kids all at the same time.

Smiles for everybody . . . all year long. Merry Christmas.

HEY MOM,

www.HSEmagazine.com/smiles

ENRICHING YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR HOMESCHOOL


Documents

Jan/Feb 2012 · HOMESCHOOLING By Melanie Hexter 12 KEEPING FOCUSED ON CHRIST DURING THE HOLIDAYS By Katherine Loop 16 12 CREATIVE WAYS TO MAKE THE HOLIDAYS MEANINGFUL Compiled by