“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.” – Romans 15:13
Homeschooling Today Holiday 2020 cover logo in white and red
Holiday 2020
Good Tidings of Great Joy typography
Christmas typography

often includes both incredible wonders and intense challenges. For some, this Christmas will be one without a budget to spend or without the ability to travel and visit family, or it could be the first Christmas missing a loved one. For still others, it will be a joyous holiday gathered together as a family and treasuring this time. Whether or not you anticipate joy as a part of your holiday season, let me encourage you with this thought:

Of any people on the earth, we really have something to celebrate! Whether or not there are external things to be joyful about right now, we will always have this:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
— Ephesians 2:13 NKJV
Christmas in cursive
An excerpt from the unit study by Amanda Bennett
J

ust as the stars lit the sky on that night so long ago, we can use this study to light our way back to that time, to walk the streets of Bethlehem, and to stand in its shepherd fields. With this study and the Internet, we can visit some of these places and see the actual sights. We can study the history of the Roman government and the tyranny of Herod, who was put in his position with the help of none other than Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

What was the world like when Christ was born? What were the Jews and the Romans dealing with in those days? Hundreds of years of prophecy and anticipation were fulfilled with our Lord’s birth, following centuries and generations of waiting and sharing the prophecies—waiting and waiting for this one event that changed history forever. It began the chain of events that would change the world’s history and our future. With His coming, we were given the chance to be saved—for eternity. God always keeps His promises!

Close your eyes and imagine the brightness of that star in the heavens almost 2,000 years ago—can’t you see the anticipation and eagerness of the faces of the Wise Men? Like those weary travelers, we, too, seek the King as we approach the celebration of His birth.

This book is divided into four weeks of study. Designed for all ages, from early elementary through adult, each day has a basic structured learning plan for Elementary Grades (Lower Level) and one for Jr./Sr. High Grades (Upper Level). Depending on the ages and needs of your children, you can choose to use all or just a few of the daily assignments.

Work Study Ribbon
Work Study Sale Ribbon
water color painting of a red tree ornament
Savor the Holiday Season title
Make Memories, & Inspire Learning—Through Children’s Books!
Make Memories, & Inspire Learning—Through Children’s Books!
reflective gold star
Carrie Lambert Bozeman
If you’ve ever read a book to a child, you’ve likely heard, “Just one more chapter, please?” or, “Read it again!” A great children’s book often brings joy through the sweet, sometimes rhyming or lyrical text, and the beautiful illustrations! During the Christmas season, one of our family’s favorite traditions is to pull out our collection of Christmas books and keep them in a basket near the fireplace for easy access throughout the chilly days and long evenings of December.

Excellent children’s picture books offer joy for everyone—or as one of my favorite lines from The Christmas Song says, “to kids from one to ninety-two!” Humphrey’s First Christmas is particularly joy-filled with its beautiful, realistic, yet hilarious illustrations of a camel named Humphrey. Author and illustrator Carol Heyer chose to illustrate Humphrey’s face in ways that you likely have never seen, nor will ever see a camel…up close and personal, and this choice brings immense humor to the sweet story.

Read Humphrey’s First Christmas out loud to your children before jumping into the learning activities below. You can purchase Humphrey’s First Christmas and add it to your family’s Christmas book collection, or you may access it through your local library. You can even watch it as a read-aloud video online if you aren’t able to get a copy of the book (all go-along books can also be found this way via an internet search using the title and “read aloud”).

Joy to the World: Mixed Media Tutorial
Emily Copeland
Joy to the world; the Lord is come! Art is a wonderful way to share that joy and connect your kids with the heart of the Christmas celebration: Christ.

If you haven’t explored mixed media art before, the Christmas season is a great time to start and can be done with all of your children. This Joy to the World project is perfect for beginners because it doesn’t require precision, yet it provides practice with several different art elements.

Mixed media art is a good option for kids because it allows them to take breaks between the steps. Even young children can work for a few moments and then run off to play during a drying stage.

Water color pine trees
Choosing Joy in Suffering title
Brook Wayne

… for the joy of the LORD is your strength.Nehemiah 8:10b

When 2020 started, I had no idea what a challenging year lay ahead. I picked a “word of the year” to help me stay focused, and I chose “intentional.” (Okay, it was actually the third year in a row, but you moms understand, right?) I wanted very much to be more intentional with my children, particularly with four teenagers and their life-launch looming ahead.

My husband has been speaking at churches and conferences for over twenty-five years and, as a family, we have sought to travel with him whenever it is feasible. This often means a lot of interesting and unusual experiences. We’ve seen more gas station bathrooms than we ever cared to. We’ve carefully scoured fast food menus for the “healthiest” options. We’ve carted our Instant Pot across the country to eat simple and nutritious meals when possible in hotel rooms. We’ve stopped at free historical spots for educational field trips.

Footprints in the snow
Title
An Excerpt from Galloping the Globe
by Loree Pettit & Dari Mullins
Illustration
Christmas is the most celebrated holiday in the world. Plan on taking the month of December to relax and enjoy learning about the different and wonderful ways Christmas is celebrated around the world. Every country’s celebrations vary according to the climate, beliefs, traditions, and folklore of that country. Some countries enjoy some of the same practices and symbols.
A fun activity to consider is setting up a small Christmas tree in your school area. When you study a different country add an ornament to remind your children of the way that country celebrates Christmas.

A very brief description of how ten different countries celebrate the holiday season follows. Choose the ones you would like to learn more about, then check out some of the reference books suggested to find recipes, activities, and music from that individual country.

Title
An Excerpt from Galloping the Globe
by Loree Pettit & Dari Mullins
Illustration
Christmas is the most celebrated holiday in the world. Plan on taking the month of December to relax and enjoy learning about the different and wonderful ways Christmas is celebrated around the world. Every country’s celebrations vary according to the climate, beliefs, traditions, and folklore of that country. Some countries enjoy some of the same practices and symbols.
A fun activity to consider is setting up a small Christmas tree in your school area. When you study a different country add an ornament to remind your children of the way that country celebrates Christmas.

A very brief description of how ten different countries celebrate the holiday season follows. Choose the ones you would like to learn more about, then check out some of the reference books suggested to find recipes, activities, and music from that individual country.

How to Keep the Joy in Your Homeschool During the Holidays typography
Dachelle McVey
“Joy to the World, all the boys, and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.”

This might not be the first tune that comes to mind when thinking of adding joy to your homeschool. But, for a kid who grew up on Three Dog Night while her Dad “danced” in the living room, it’s the first that comes to my mind.

Maybe I’m just sentimental, but those moments are ones that make me look back on my childhood and smile. They remind me of the simple joys of family. Joy that could be interrupted by schedules and plans.

Many years ago, I discovered that Homeschooling and Holidays were often a recipe for disaster and exhaustion. I couldn’t have the perfect homeschool, do all the things, and keep my sanity. Not to mention, I became overbearing and not the parent who was dancing in the living room with her kids.

How to Keep the Joy in Your Homeschool During the Holidays typography
Dachelle McVey
“Joy to the World, all the boys, and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea. Joy to you and me.”

This might not be the first tune that comes to mind when thinking of adding joy to your homeschool. But, for a kid who grew up on Three Dog Night while her Dad “danced” in the living room, it’s the first that comes to my mind.

Maybe I’m just sentimental, but those moments are ones that make me look back on my childhood and smile. They remind me of the simple joys of family. Joy that could be interrupted by schedules and plans.

Many years ago, I discovered that Homeschooling and Holidays were often a recipe for disaster and exhaustion. I couldn’t have the perfect homeschool, do all the things, and keep my sanity. Not to mention, I became overbearing and not the parent who was dancing in the living room with her kids.

Joy to the World the Lord is Come typography
Kay Chance
A Christmas Devotional
“Today, if you ask a group of Christians, ‘What does joy mean?’ most will grope for words, with only one emphatic opinion: that joy is different from happiness. This is like saying that rain isn’t wet or ice isn’t cold. Scripture, dictionaries, and common language don’t support this separation.”
— Randy Alcorn
Kay Chance
A Christmas Devotional
“Today, if you ask a group of Christians, ‘What does joy mean?’ most will grope for words, with only one emphatic opinion: that joy is different from happiness. This is like saying that rain isn’t wet or ice isn’t cold. Scripture, dictionaries, and common language don’t support this separation.”
— Randy Alcorn
What is joy?
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines it as:

  1. the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; the expression or exhibition of such emotion
  2. a state of happiness or felicity
  3. a source or cause of delight.

As Christians, we know that joy is deeper than our circumstances, so in throwing out the first definition, we often negate the words happiness and delight as well. We see them as almost unbiblical, but that is simply not true.

Child praying
God’s Got This! The YES that Brings Hope
Sara Butt
A Note from the Editors: During the Christmas season the idea of gift giving is ever present. We asked Sara to share her story about an extraordinary gift she gave this past year. We think the lessons she’s learned will encourage you as you give to your children and others throughout the year.

It was a slow walk beside a large man down a long hall to a small cubicle that contained one hospital bed and a few mysterious machines.

The nurse asked why I was there. I guess after a whole year of wading through the donation process, they were checking one more time to make sure I wasn’t crazy and wouldn’t run away. “I’m here to give my left kidney to that big guy in the next room,” I said. I spoke it for the last time before it became a final reality. I felt at peace, happy, resolute, and yes, just a little weak, like it took some effort to force the words to actually make their decisive journey past my lips and into the common airspace after all.

Holiday Strip
Badge
Text
Isaac Watts (1719)
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

saac Watts, born in the late 1600s, was an English minister and a gifted hymn writer. He wrote between 600-800 hymns over the course of his life, penning one of our most famous Christmas hymns of all time, “Joy to the World.” When singing this hymn at Christmastime, it’s hard not to smile and rejoice in the gift of Jesus. If Watts could see the people who, all over the world, are clapping their hands and raising their voices with this hymn every year, what delight it would bring him!

He was disgusted by the lack of enthusiasm he saw in the church of his day, stating, ”To see the dull indifference, the negligent and thoughtless air that sits upon the faces of a whole assembly, while the psalm is upon their lips, might even tempt a charitable observer to suspect the fervency of their inward religion.” His point was, where is the passion? What has happened to us if we can’t gather together and sing to our Savior with just a tiny drop of the fiery passion He has for us?

One of Watts’ most popular hymns, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross,” is considered by some to be one of the best hymns in the English language. Here is an example of the powerful words he wrote:

Holiday Strip
Badge
Text
Isaac Watts (1719)
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Text
Isaac Watts (1719)
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

saac Watts, born in the late 1600s, was an English minister and a gifted hymn writer. He wrote between 600-800 hymns over the course of his life, penning one of our most famous Christmas hymns of all time, “Joy to the World.” When singing this hymn at Christmastime, it’s hard not to smile and rejoice in the gift of Jesus. If Watts could see the people who, all over the world, are clapping their hands and raising their voices with this hymn every year, what delight it would bring him!

He was disgusted by the lack of enthusiasm he saw in the church of his day, stating, ”To see the dull indifference, the negligent and thoughtless air that sits upon the faces of a whole assembly, while the psalm is upon their lips, might even tempt a charitable observer to suspect the fervency of their inward religion.” His point was, where is the passion? What has happened to us if we can’t gather together and sing to our Savior with just a tiny drop of the fiery passion He has for us?

One of Watts’ most popular hymns, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross,” is considered by some to be one of the best hymns in the English language. Here is an example of the powerful words he wrote:

illustration of bouquet of holly branches
We hope
you Have
Enjoyed this
Free Holiday
Edition
Merry Christmas!
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Stealthy-elf learning activities
Kay Chance
December is a great time to set aside the normal routine and enjoy some fun learning activities. It’s kind of like being a stealthy-elf homeschooling mom. Your kids will think they are getting a break from school, but you’ll know they’re still learning. Bonus: No questions like, “It’s close to Christmas! Do we have to do school?”
6 Learning Activities for the Stealthy-elf Homeschooler
Read, Watch, and Compare a Classic
Choose one of the following to read aloud with your family: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis or A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

When you’ve finished the read aloud, plan a fun family night to watch the movie version. By both reading the book and watching the movie, you’ll open up a great opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between the two. Ask questions like,

Stealthy-elf learning activities
Kay Chance
December is a great time to set aside the normal routine and enjoy some fun learning activities. It’s kind of like being a stealthy-elf homeschooling mom. Your kids will think they are getting a break from school, but you’ll know they’re still learning. Bonus: No questions like, “It’s close to Christmas! Do we have to do school?”
6 Learning Activities for the Stealthy-elf Homeschooler
Read, Watch, and Compare a Classic
Choose one of the following to read aloud with your family: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis or A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

When you’ve finished the read aloud, plan a fun family night to watch the movie version. By both reading the book and watching the movie, you’ll open up a great opportunity to discuss similarities and differences between the two. Ask questions like,

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