December is such a fun month for off-curriculum school studies. At our house, we try to wrap up our regularly-scheduled school rhythms by the end of November so that we can fully embrace our enrichment studies. This year, we kicked things off with Hanukkah studies (which has been a favorite with this crowd since our first year of home schooling).
We read some fun books this year, but the girls absolutely LOVED Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. We got it from the library, but I ended up buying it because they read it at least four times and retold the story to any unsuspecting listener countless times. We also read The Miracle Jar: a Hanukkah Story by Audrey Penn, which was a very sweet (and very educational) story for understanding cultural practices, as well as the history of Hanukkah. Not pictured: the dreidels we made and played with.
A few days later, we studied and readied for St. Nicholas Day. We studied the history of St. Nicholas Day, spent a day studying the Netherlands, and we made a lot of crafts and the appropriate snacks. I haven't found a St. Nicholas Day book that I love, but I'm working on finding the best one.
Gran and Grandpa were visiting and got in on the fun.
So did Hal.
We also made the traditional Dutch cookies that children in the Netherlands make for St. Nicholas. We have some good friends here who are Dutch, and they so kindly shared their special recipe with us. We had a blast making them! And they are DELICIOUS.
Please enjoy Brynna's face in this one.
We dutifully set out boots, cards, and carrots for St. Nicholas and his horse.
Traditionally, boots are filled by St. Nicholas with gold-wrapped chocolate coins and oranges. In our house, I put in a few pieces of chocolate (confession: at Halloween, I pulled out some gold-wrapped Snickers bites the girls had from their Halloween haul and put them aside for this very moment), as well as new white nightgowns (looking toward what would be needed for St. Lucia's Day the following week).
I found this sweet note that Claire had left in her boot for St. Nicholas.
Breakfast while wearing their brand new gowns from St. Nicholas!
St. Nicholas Day is December 6, and St. Lucia's Day is one week later on December 13. I did something on a whim this year that I was a little afraid I would regret but ended up being so thankful for: I invited the older kids of two other families over to study and prepare for St. Lucia with us. I shepherded 6 kids (ages 3-8) in making sweet buns from scratch for St. Lucia morning. We didn't make the traditional recipe for Lucia buns (it calls for saffron...); we went with sweet orange rolls with icing. While we waited for rising and baking times, we read the American Girl book Kirsten's Surprise and made St. Lucia crowns (from construction paper and craft sticks). We sent our friends home with pans of rolls for their families to enjoy on St. Lucia morning (I got pictures from both moms), and we had a really great time preparing with friends.
The full affect on St. Lucia morning! Lily was upset that Brynn has blonde hair and looks more like Kirsten from the story.
You can't make these things up.
We had prepped all of the supplies for the morning the night before, and Claire got the girls up and got everything ready for Brad, Hallie, and me.
Hallie was a fan.
Lily rallied after her upset over Brynn's blonde hair and was able to enjoy her breakfast.
We read Kirsten's Surprise every year for St. Lucia's; it's a really great book for it (albeit longer than a typical picture book). The other book that I like to read (for cultural traditions- not for history) is Lucia Morning in Sweden Ewa Rydaker.
Our last holiday/cultural study for December was of Las Posadas. We haven't studied this one together before, but we definitely will from here on because we loved it! We invited some friends over to join us, and we started by reading Tomie dePaola's The Night of Las Posadas, which set the backdrop for us. Then, I explained to them how Las Posadas is observed and acted out.
So obviously, we dressed up and acted out the story! Their mom and I took turns opening doors to the crowd (meaning we stood in the coat closet, the half bath, the laundry room) and going through the script together. The kids LOVED it, and we did it many times over. We also made a craft and put together hot chocolate mixes.
This was one of our favorite school days of the year!
There were a few other enrichment studies we did, but I don't have pictures of everything (and going through my lesson plans to remember everything will take too much time). We truly had the very best time during December, and I've already been plotting for December 2022...
No comments:
Post a Comment