Penny’s Christmas Jar Miracle by Jason F. Wright (for Ian)
Tonight’s Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge was really tough. The boys were supposed to build a crown and a scepter, but it’s hard to make circles with LEGO bricks. Elijah was finished in about 30 seconds with a very simple crown and scepter. Ian took a little longer and (as usual) created a more elaborate scene, with a crown resting on a pillow next to the scepter.
Who is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate (for Arianna)
The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado (for Elijah)
We skipped last night’s Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge, but we let Arianna hang the ornament for David’s anointing on the tree tonight when Ian hung the one about Elijah. The story of Elijah and the showdown on Mt. Carmel is one of my favorite parts of the Old Testament, so I enjoyed telling this one to the kids again. Ian built an elaborate altar with a trench full of water as I read through both nights’ readings in Jotham’s Journey.
Books:
The 12 Days of Christmas illustrated by Laurel Long (for Elijah)
Mary’s First Christmas is one of Ian’s favorites, but it’s pretty long, so it will take us a couple days to get through.
We attended a beautiful carol service tonight and got home late, so we didn’t do our Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge or read from Jotham’s Journey. I guess we’ll just double up tomorrow.
We Three Kings traditional carol illustrated by Gennady Spirin (for Arianna)
The Last Straw by Paula Palangi McDonald (for Ian)
After reading the story of Ruth, the boys built baskets of wheat for the Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge.
We closed with “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” but it’s not the kids’ favorite. They keep begging for “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” I think they like having a repeating refrain to sing over and over again
Books:
Away in a Manger illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo
Our story today in the Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge was about Rahab. Elijah built a rope like the one used to lower the two Israelite spies from Rahab’s window.
Elijah took the assignment very literally. He carefully counted out 10 tablets to represent the 10 commandments, and made a nice symmetrical mountain.
The Animals’ Christmas Eve by Gale Wiersum (for Arianna)
The Candle in the Window by Grace Johnson (for Ian)
I really enjoyed Ian’s story, though there were a couple spots that made me feel like I’d missed a page. Based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, it’s about a German cobbler who’s not really celebrating on Christmas Eve because he misses his wife and child. When special visitors put a candle in his window and tell him the Christ Child will visit homes with the candle, he gets excited and prepares to welcome Him. As the evening passes, several people in need stumble into his shop, drawn by the candle in the window. Full of joy in his anticipation of seeing the Christ Child, he generously gives to them, though by the end of the night he wonders if Jesus didn’t come because the cobbler had given away everything intended for Him. The mysterious visitors return and help put his heart at ease by reading to him from Matthew 25, explaining that whatever he did “unto the least of these,” he did for Christ.
The story lead to a good discussion with Ian about how we can give to Jesus by serving the poor. I’m thankful that our church has several ways we can be involved as a family in helping those in need. It makes it easier to talk about “giving gifts to Jesus” when the kids can make this connection.
In the Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge we read the story of Jacob’s dream, and the boys enjoyed building ladders while we read from Jotham’s Journey.
Then we ended the night singing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Daily Theme: sacrifice
Books:
J is for Jesus by Crystal Bowman (for Arianna)
The Candy Maker’s Gift: The Inspirational Legend of the Candy Cane by David and Helen Haidle (for Elijah)
The candy cane books seemed like a good way to tie in the idea of sacrifice on the day were were talking about Abraham going to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, the story in the Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge. Today they were supposed to build a pile of wood, but we decided to elaborate a little by making altars. Ian even built a ram to go on his, and Elijah of course had to add a tree for detail.
The Legend of Saint Nicholas: A Story of Christmas Giving by Dandi Daley Mackall (for Elijah)
Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer (for Ian)
Today is St. Nicholas Day, so we learned a lot about this Christian saint of long ago, both with our books and by watching the Veggie Tales episode St. Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving.
For the Jesse Tree LEGO Challenge we read about Sarah having Isaac, and the boys built cradles while we read from Jotham’s Journey. I loved Ian’s Abraham and Sarah hovering next to the cradle, as well as Elijah’s roof and door into the room with the cradle. It’s so much fun seeing their individual creativity each night.
For the two weeks before we break for Christmas, we’re going through the ten lessons in Walk With Me to the Nativity: A Journey to Bethlehem by Karen Harper. This week we covered the time from Isaiah and Micah’s prophecies about Jesus’ birth through Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem. This was a book I’d added to our library a couple years ago, and I think it’s a good fit for us right now. It has some great information without going too deep for a first grader. I also love that most of the lessons incorporate picture study with classic paintings.
We also used our morning circle time to read the Advent books the kids unwrapped each day.
Ian worked through lessons Mathematics Enhancement Programme 81-85 (Year 2). With Elijah, I switched over to the new version of Year 1, which has less pages in the practice books because the Friday revision lessons are separate. Since Elijah is really quick at math, I’m going to skip the revision pages unless it looks like he really needs them. He often wants to complete 2 lessons in a day. My hope is that eventually he’ll catch up with Ian so we can work together on math.
We were weeks behind on Ambleside Online, Year 1, but this week we managed to get caught up on most of our books. (Woohoo!) I’m hoping by the time we start school again after Christmas break that we’ll be back on track.
I’ve been trying out some of the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. I’m not entirely comfortable with them (due to the light treatment of magic and elements of pagan religions), but for now I’m willing to give them a chance with a lot of discussion. We checked out some audiobooks from the library, and Ian is loving listening to them in the car (though I won’t let him take them into his room to listen by himself).
Ian’s a good reader, but he’s usually reluctant to read on his own, so I was pleasantly surprised when he decided to read through Stallion by Starlight, about Alexander the Great (which is next on our schedule for history). That’s one of the reasons I’m sticking with the books for now, though I think we’ll only use them as related to things were studying for school.
We also read 2 chapters about Alexander the Great in A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer. Ian liked knowing so much of what was going on in these chapters since many of the details had been included in the Magic Tree House book.
God’s Design for Life is the one curriculum I’m using that is structured enough to make it hard when we get behind. This week we did science every day to catch up, making it through lessons 13-21 in The Human Body, covering the brain, reflexes, and the five senses. Ian completed the pages on the senses in The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book.
The boys really enjoyed these lessons and the activities that went along with them (although Ian keeps asking if any of the lessons will let him build a model, like we did in the animal lessons). We tasted bitter cacao powder, which wasn’t nearly the treat they thought it would be until we added some sugar. They also checked out how pupils adjust to let in just the right amount of light.
