It's January 10, So Why Is My Christmas Tree Still Up?

The house smells like gingerbread!
We have a warm fireplace (heater that looks like a real fire) going!
The sounds of Christmas are in the air.....But, wait! It's January 10! So, why are we celebrating Christmas today?

This year Chritmas got off to a good enough start in our household with the tree being up even before Thanksgiving ready and beautifully in place in time for my parents to come enjoy Thanksgiving with us. Then, we celebrated Hanukkah (yes, we're an odd household that enjoys Hanukkah as well as Christmas). Then, we went into celebrating an early Christmas with my husband's side of the family. They came over here. Then we had the real thing. Then, a late Christmas celebration (on New Years' Day) with my side of the family.

Perhaps it was the late Christmas celebration that threw my kids for a loop thinking the season was still upon us. But, I FINALLY got around to taking the ornaments off of our tree last night only to be met with - "What are you doing?" "No, don't take down the Christmas tree!" "It's just not winter without that tree up." You get the idea. These were not just simple notes of a tinge of sadness but deep, gut-leveled jeers that began to tug at my heart as I placed each ornament into a tub to storage. I got to the point of having less than 10 ornaments hung when I decided - "I have an idea!"

I told the kids that on Monday, instead of doing typical English, Math, etc. that they could say their good-byes to the Christmas tree. So, this morning when they woke up one by one, one child plugged in the Christmas lights on our bare tree, and then they began to weed through the Christmas movies which they had missed this year. We are having a Christmas movie marathon before taking down the final ornaments, lights and branches to store away our artificial tree (severe pine allergy on that one) for another year. We are baking gingerbread cookies (though, we did shape them in the shape of hearts for a more up-to-date holiday - Valentine's Day!)

Now, if and how I can log this day of farewell to Christmas has taken some thought. I will incorporate the benefits of ginger and the history of it with our cookie making and allow the children to design their own cookies. I even brought up the story book we have that tells the Christmas story using cookies. So, I can definitely log as Religious Studies through the telling of the actual Christmas Story. Though, the watching of the Grinch and Strawberry Shortcake Christmas may take a bit more imagination as to how they are applicable to the Three R's.

And, from a glance out my window; tomorrow looks as if it will be a day of snow learning complete with sledding and maybe some more snowflake investigations!

Sound of Music Homeschooling

On Tuesday, December 28, 2010, Agathe Von Trapp passed away at the age of 97. She was portrayed as Leisl on the movie, 'The Sound of Music.' Her real name was Agathe.

When watching the Sound of Music, it struck me with how carefree Maria was with sharing her love with the children. Her education was very Montessori and hands-on, carefree as she assigned each one with a note and taught them how to sing by having each one pop up when their note was spoken. Then, she went down the line - Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do! Eventually, they were singing beautifully. During that same day out, they tipped over in a boat, hung from trees and ran through the fields beneath gorgeous mountains. This, I thought as I watched it, is how I want to homeschool.

I want my children to know discipline, but I want them to know most of all that they are loved and they have a purpose in this life. I want them to have a love for learning. I want them to discover all they can discover and run through mountains singing that the hills are alive with the sound of music - Whether figuratively or literally! I want them to learn while they embrace life.