December 03, 2003

December Daze

We all know that school is different during the month of December. Whether it's public, private, or home school, this month is just different. Rather than try to force the proverbial square peg into the Christmas tree shaped hole, I have learned to adjust our schedule, our curriculum, and even our work load.

For instance, this December, instead of working through the history curriculum week by laborious week, we are putting it on hold until after the new year. Instead, for reading, we are choosing from a delectable variety of Christmas stories accumulated over the years. We started reading Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol yesterday, and while the language is a bit challenging for our students, I found they are still able to keep up with the story. (Plus I have a feeling it will stretch their vocabulary and their minds as we go!)

Additionally, this is the perfect time to give them a break from some of their more tedious work (such as outlining, cursive, etc.) and allow them to participate in some charitable causes. For example, we started a tradition a few years ago of taking gifts to the children who have been removed from their homes (for whatever reason) and are residing in the state shelter. This has proven to be a very rewarding exercise, and is a wonderful opportunity to show Christ's love to those who are in less than desirable circumstances at such a critical time of the year. This year, our students will assemble gift tags for each gift, complete with a Scripture that reflects the true meaning of Christmas.

Some other activities our students participate in are: