Todd and his wife Debbie have 8 children.  Todd is known for his humor, realness and straight talk.

Make plans to attend this meeting–you’ll be glad you did! Be prepared to laugh! Todd will provide lots of encouragement for dads and moms. He will talk about each person’s role on the homeschooling team.

Come early to sign up for field trips, care groups and homeschool portraits.

The Lord is my Shepherd–that’s relationship!

I shall not be in want–that’s supply!

He makes me lie down in green pastures–that’s rest!

He leads me beside quiet waters–that’s refreshment!

He restores my soul–that’s healing!

He guides me in the paths of righteousness–that’s guidance!

For His name’s sake–that’s purpose!

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death–that’s testing!

I will fear no evil–that’s protection!

For You are with me–that’s faithfulness!

Your rod and the staff, they comfort me–that’s discipline!

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies–that’s hope!

You anoint my head with oil–that’s consecration!

My cup overflows–that’s abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life–that’s blessing!

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord–that’s security!

Forever–that’s eternity!

Author of Elaborated Material Unknown

Zacharias goes on to say, “This broad but specific, sweeping but individual, assurance came from the pen of a man after God’s own heart. Only when you see this pattern for yourself can you see the breadth of God’s care for the cosmic scene and his personal care for your life. ” p. 51

The Nativity

“The first thing we do is put up our Nativity set the Sunday after Thanksgiving,” shares PEACH member Lee A. “It is the only thing we have for the first week.” Lee adds, “The next Sunday, we set up Advent candles and the light the first one with a reading. (The Nativity is in the living room and the candles are in the dining room.) Then the next Saturday we decorate our Christmas tree. I started doing it this way when my children were about 6, 4, and 2 because they would get SO excited over the tree and it suddenly hit me that what I wanted them to get excited about was NOT the tree.”

An Advent Calendar

Cyndy C., another PEACH member, shares that years ago she made an Advent calendar based on the names of Jesus. She used felt, sandpaper and a hot glue gun to make ornaments that represent the names of Jesus, such as shepherd’s staff, rock, gate and star. The back of the ornaments have sandpaper glued to them so that they will stick to the felt tree which she placed at the top of the calendar. The bottom of the calendar has 25 pockets that hold the ornaments. Each night a child takes a felt ornament and looks up the Bible verse that correlates with that name. The verse is read by that child or by someone who can read. Year after year the calendar remains a highlight in the Cusson family and the eternal benefit is memorizing God’s Word by the yearly repetition.

Blessing Basket

Another neat idea comes from a family Cyndy knows. They have a basket that is shaped like a manger and a doll representing baby Jesus that fits in it. Each night in December leading up to Christmas, they verbally share things that they have done that day to bless someone else. For every kind thing, they get to put three strands of yellow yarn into the manger, slowly creating a soft bed for Jesus on Christmas Day. The first strand represents God who is glorified through our kindness and the other two strands are for the people who are blessed by the kindness—the person doing the kind thing and the person receiving the kindness.

Give to Others

Lee A. also gave these ideas that her family has done. She feels that all of these activities have helped her kids realize that Christmas is God’s great gift to us and that the focus in on giving, not getting.

• Singing carols to shut-ins
• Buy a gift for a child in need
• Make fruit baskets for the elderly in your church
• With your Sunday School class, collect money all year long to purchase an animal through Heifer International for needy families.

Books and Online Resources

Family Celebrations for Christmas by Ann Hibbard

Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper

http://www.easyfunschool.com/Blessed.pdf a unit study encompassing the symbols of Christmas. Lots of activities and suggestions are included.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=23 a website that gives the story of who St. Nicholas was, traditions in other countries,  as well as activities, crafts, recipes and games all to do with the “real” St. Nicholas.

Wrapping it all up

In her book Treasuring God in Our Traditions, Noel Piper says, “Christmas is only one small part of a whole year of living, working and ministering in our churches and to our neighbors, of meeting our family’s physical needs, of teaching our children. Just one small part of the year—but with our hearts and spirits open in anticipation and excitement, what an ideal opportunity for remembering and teaching.” So, with prayer and planning, may you honor and glorify Christ this Christmas.

It looks really neat and I only had time to look at one or two links.  I can’t vouch for all the links but I hope you get some good ideas and resources out of it.

I started using Galloping the Globe with my 2nd grader and it’s good. My oldest (in 8th grade) would like to do something similar except on a deeper scale.  I’d like to add in Window on the World, which came recommended by missionary friends of ours.   I really like to incorporate history/social studies and geography together. I’m looking for ways to do that without “reinventing the wheel”.

{Maybe this would be a good place to insert the following information: I need to change what I’m having my 8th grader do for history. I think we will be able to come back to what she was doing (hopefully), however it’s not working at this time. I’m learning that it’s okay to change, even though I really like the curriculum. }

Resource Central has this extensive list of geography links.

Do you have good resources–books, ideas, sites, etc. for social studies, history and geography? Please share them in the comments…then I’ll know you stopped by and we can all benefit from your ideas.

Here are some resources that you may want to use with your family.

Teacher Vision has a list of printable resources.  With this site, you get 3 free printables, then they want you to join for a fee. I just get the free ones.

Preschool Coloring book–fire safety coloring pages

Fire Safety Coloring book

Apples4theteacher–printables and worksheets

U.S. Fire Administration for kids has lesson plans that will help you teach fire safety, including escape planning.

Scholastic lesson plans for different age groups.

Firesafety.gov–fire safety for homes, printables and different levels for different ages

Have fun and practice fire safety.

And while different families have different dynamics (obviously), hopefully we can glean good ideas from each other. Please leave your ideas in the comments section or next week my 4 year old may just drive me bananas!

Here’s some links to ideas that others have used:

Preschool Activities–good ideas tucked into ziploc baggies

Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations has a whole category of “Preschool Corner” posts

Walking by the Way has a section on Preschool too! Check out these activities for younger ones.

Okay…I’ve got more to share, but I’m out of time. Your turn to share some ideas.  Leave a comment; I’m sure we’ll all appreciate it.

I’m working through a Bible study and today there was a list of ideas of how to praise Him before going into battle.  You may be thinking that it’s strange to praise Him, but really that’s what He wants from us. Praise and thanksgiving…

So here’s some ideas:

• find a quiet place to pour out your heart to Him. Spend time in solitary worship, sing to Him, praise Him and make your heart glad in Him.
• study through the hymns and make a regular practice of singing hymns and praise songs
• learn to use every temptation from the evil one as a stimulus to turn your heart toward Him.
• Practice worshiping the Lord when you are hit with bad news. Over time, let it become an automatic response to instantly worship the Lord.
• know your struggle times and have a pre-plan in place
• count your blessings, read His promises
• listen to music that lifts your heart up in praise to God.

You will find strength to obey God when you worship Him.

I love that last line…I will find strength to obey Him when I worship Him! Yahoo! So, like the little children’s song says “Praise Him, Praise Him, all you little children.”

Leave a comment and share with us how you praise Him and the difference this has made in your life.

I do want to give you the link for the update about Vicki Harris
Visit this site to find out how we can better pray for her.

Hope this PEACH blog will be an encouragement to you all. Leave a comment if there is something you’d like to see covered in a post. Or leave a comment saying you’ve been here.

Have a great day!

Well, I thought I’d share how I handle them partly to let you know,

1. you are not alone, and
2. as a testimony to God’s goodness, faithfulness and provision.

First, I have to say that I did not always handle these bad days very well. Sickness and fatigue can wear down a person.  Discouragement can set in and spread to the rest of the family like an infection.

Through the hard days, I quickly readily gradually learned that God is the only One who can be my constant companion. Yes, my hunny is there to support and encourage and my friends can offer to bring a meal or run an errand, but when it comes down to it…only God can be there with me ALL the time.

I’ve also had to adjust my expectations for the academic side of homeschooling. With hard times comes a realization that the plans I made, the goals I sighted, are probably not going to come to fruition.  Leaning on the wisdom God promises and the experience of seasoned homeschool moms, I have re-evaluated and set new goals. It is a difficult balance–character and academics. I want to teach my children perseverance and diligence, at the same time acknowledging that hard days take a toll on all of us.

Overall, God’s gentle shepherding–leading me, teaching me and loving me has been the greatest lesson that I continue to learn during the hard days.