What if you could be more intentional about how you and your family spend the holiday season? As you prepare for Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas, I'd like to encourage you to take advantage of one of the biggest benefits of homeschooling: flexibility. Here's how to do holidays, homeschool style.
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Pressures run high at Christmas. But the season of Advent is coming first —that season when we wait in hopeful expectation for Christ. Take a deep breath for Advent and see what the Lord will do to meet you.
Continue readingI'd love to help alleviate some of your Christmas stress. I learned this lesson the hard way. I had to first have a stressful Christmas in order to learn how to have a no-stress Christmas. Let me share a story so you know where I am coming from.
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What does church history have to do with Christmas? Well, for one, it tells us that Santa Claus did not originate as a way for Macy’s to sell more jewelry in December.
Though the historical record is sketchy, we think that The Real Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Myra (in modern-day Turkey) in the 300s. He might even have defended the doctrine of the full divinity of Christ at the Council of Nicea, though that might just be legend.
This little tidbit gives us a taste of what church history is like: it sheds light on our modern traditions, worship styles, and how we talk about doctrine.
The idea of Santa Claus, for example, didn’t pop out of thin air. Even the very notion that Christians should or could celebrate Christmas is something that our predecessors wrestled with before accepting it into common practice.
Far from a dry list of dates and names, church history is the story of people trying to follow Jesus and figuring out what that means for their doctrines and how they live in the world.
It’s the story of how the Gospel spread from a tiny Jewish community in the Middle East to the largest faith in the world. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, but it sure has been interesting!
So if you’d like some fascinating fodder for Christmas school this year … or if you’d just like to learn some interesting history with your children this season, why not dig into a little Christmas history? The Saint Nicholas link above also includes intriguing short articles on the origins of Christmas trees and why we celebrate on December 25 instead of, say, May 20.
But aside from curiosity’s sake, why should we teach our children about historical Christian figures and the old councils of the church?
I believe our children deserve to know the broad strokes of Christianity’s past. I want our children to know
I want children to see their lives in the context of the bigger story God is telling. We live in the exciting chapter between when Jesus came to earth the first time and when he returns. We are co-laborers with Christ to bring his work of redemption, truth, love and healing to the world!
Sonlighters naturally pick up church history along their way as they read missionary biographies throughout the years. But the real depth comes in high school, with Sonlight 200: History of the Christian Church as we spend a dedicated year looking at world history through the lens of church history.
Even if high school is years away for your children, I encourage you to skim the description of Sonlight 200 to get excited about why we tell our children the story of our faith. Let’s let them know how Jesus of Nazareth has truly changed the world forever.
Each kit comes with a novel, discussion guide, activity ideas, recipes, and many of the craft supplies you'll need.
I am a lover of all sorts of music (old and new, different styles), but I especially enjoy listening to tried and true musical arrangements and researching the stories behind them. When you are going through hard times at Christmas, it brings much comfort for Christmas to listen to hymns of old. The messages found in them are of hope, despite the hard times.
Continue readingThe Christmas season is the perfect time to curl up on the couch with some great Advent books. When the weather outside is frightful, you can make your living room seem bigger by exploring new places and meeting new people through the pages of a holiday story.
Continue readingI have very fond memories of cutting paper snowflakes around our dining room table the weekend following Thanksgiving. This was just one of many traditions that wound their way through our holidays every year. In addition to holiday decorating traditions, many families add Advent activities to the weeks leading up to Christmas. What a wonderful way to add depth and understanding to the true purpose of your holiday celebrations.
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