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Holiday Homeschooling | Advent Activities + Tips for Keeping a Christ-Centered Christmas
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Jun 19, 2024
Looking for meaningful Advent activities for your family? These are my favorite resources to help you teach your kids the true meaning of Christmas and prepare your hearts for celebrating Jesus. If you’d like even more Advent activities and printables, check out my homeschool resource shop: https://blessedhomeschool.com/product-category/holidays/ MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO: 🎁 Not Consumed Bible Studies – https://store.notconsumed.com/?aff=489 🎄 Sonlight Advent Unit Study – https://blessedhomeschool.com/simple-advent-family-activities/ 🌟 Truth in the Tinsel – https://truthinthetinsel.com/shop/ref/sradginski/ ✨Check out my Amazon shop for more homeschool resources and recommendations: https://blessedhomeschool.com/amazon ********************************************* Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’m a teacher-turned-homeschooling mom to 4 kiddos (including a set of twins!). I balance homeschooling while working full-time from home, and am so thankful you are here. I love sharing about homeschooling on my blog, Blessed Homeschool, where you’ll find tips, resources, and curriculum reviews. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, I hope you will leave inspired and equipped with what you find.
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Holidays are right around the corner
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So now is the time to start prepping any Christmas homeschool resources you plan on using
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In this video, I'm going to be sharing with you advent resources we love
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that you might like to try with your kids this year. Hi guys, welcome to my channel
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If you're new here, I'm Sarah. We are in our seventh year of homeschooling
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I have four kids and I've learned a few things along the way that I love sharing with you here
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and on my blog, blessedhomeschool.com. Like I mentioned, today I'm going to be sharing
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some advent resources with you that I think are perfect for teaching our kids
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all about the true meaning of the Christmas season. So I get asked a lot what we do
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during the holidays in our homeschool. And honestly, not much changes. We do take some time off, usually a week in November
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and about two weeks in December through the new year, but we stick quite a bit to our regular routine and schedule
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And then during our time off, we spend time on holiday traditions, baking, crafting
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service, all the fun holiday things. The only other big thing that we really add in
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curriculum wise is some sort of advent lessons and activities, and maybe some other read alouds
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if I come across something that I really want to read together
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Plus December in general is kind of a crazy month for us
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Three of our six birthdays are in December, and this year is especially crazy
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as my husband and I are taking a vacation to Hawaii for one of my marathons
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So I've learned to be flexible this time of year in general, but this year will be especially different
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Okay, so back to advent. One of the primary reasons we celebrate advent is to embrace the anticipation of Jesus's arrival
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It reminds us of the hope that Christ's birth brought to the world, a hope for salvation
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redemption, and a new beginning. It's a time to remind ourselves of the prophecy
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promise, and preparation that led to the miraculous birth in Bethlehem. Advent is also a great time to focus on
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the values that Jesus embodied, love, peace, joy, and hope, which we should do all the time
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but especially during the holidays, you know, the business of the holiday season
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it provides a counter-cultural opportunity to pause and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas
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When I was little, we had an advent calendar hanging up in our kitchen throughout the month of December
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And then from December 1st through Christmas Eve, my brother and I had this little mouse
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that we would move each day to a new pocket, and we would find a couple of coins in each one
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that we could keep. While I loved this as a kid, and I think there are so many fun advent calendar
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and countdown options available these days, now I also love looking for Christmas activities
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that go a bit deeper for my kids, rather than just simply counting down the days to Christmas
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So these three products that I'm going to share with you, I think are wonderful resources to use
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to disciple your kids during Advent. The first one is called Truth in the Tinsel
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Truth in the Tinsel is a PDF ebook that you can purchase
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and it will take you on a journey of reading scripture with your kids and crafting Christmas ornaments each day
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to represent different aspects of the Christmas story. I have used this twice in the past
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both times when my older kids were about five and six years old, so it's been a few years, but we really, really loved it
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And if you have kids that love to craft, this would be especially good for them
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So there are 24 days of activities, and I really love that it provides an easy way
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to take time with your kids to pray, read scripture, and reflect on Jesus's love during the season
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Okay, how it works. Each day, there's a small picture or word clue
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that you'll print out, and you can actually put this in your own Advent countdown calendar if you have one
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If you don't, there's an option to print out a paper chain that you can add to each day
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So you'll share this daily clue or word with your kids, then read the scripture passage
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and have them listen for that clue. Then there is an ornament craft to make
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to go along with that daily focus. The main thing is not to get stressed out
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if you can't do all of the activities. 24 is a lot, and some days you're probably gonna miss
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and that's okay, but the main focus should be reading and meditating on God's word
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and spending some sweet time with your kids. And there are suggestions in the eBook
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for alternate schedules if you wanna modify or shorten this Advent activity
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I actually had forgotten how much I enjoy this because it's been a few years
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We might pull it out again next Christmas so my youngest can make his own ornaments
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When we did it in the past, I actually found some small Christmas trees on sale
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at Michael's that I grabbed for each of my kids, and they kept these little trees in their rooms
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as decoration and then added their ornaments to their trees each day
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But you could also hang the ornaments you make on your family tree or find somewhere around the house
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to display them. Another fun idea that we did one other year
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is we had an event at our church where all the moms who had purchased Truth in the Tinsel
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and were going to use it got together and all brought in certain supplies
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So there's a supply list at the beginning of the eBook so you can gather all of your materials at once
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and have them on hand and easy to grab each day. So what we did is we set up a little assembly line of sorts
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and we put little baggies together that had all the supplies we needed for each day in them
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And then we had fellowship and food, of course. So that was just something a little extra
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that you might like to do if you have a small group of friends using Truth in the Tinsel together this season
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with their families. It made it just a lot more easy having all those supplies prepped and ready to go at once
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Okay, onto resource number two. This year I was actually sent one of Sunlight's
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Advent Unit Studies to share with you. And I was really excited about using it
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but I think I'm going to have to wait on this one because of my husband and I going out of town in December
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I'm just not sure we can make it work how I really would like to make it work
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But earlier in the year, we enjoyed celebrating Lent using another one of their unit studies, Amman's Adventures
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And my kids really loved this book. The author does an amazing job
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of creating engaging storylines and weaving those into the biblical timeline. So Sunlight actually offers three Advent Unit Study options
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based on other books in that same series. The one here is Jotham's Journey
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And if this is your first year doing these studies, it's recommended that you start with this one
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Throughout the Advent season, this unit study leads you through readings from the book Jotham's Journey and related scripture verses
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along with crafts, music, discussion questions, and baking activities. So looking through the lessons
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you'll find that they are short, but they're meaningful. And I love how everything is already planned out for you
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So in true Sunlight fashion, it's very much open and go aside from needing to grab
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some of the craft and baking supplies. So let me open it up and show you
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exactly what's included in the package and what this unit study looks like
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in case you wanna use it. All right, so let's take a look at what is included in this unit study
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Okay, this first part, this is gonna be our lesson plans. So we'll look through those in just a minute
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And then you do have some craft supplies that are included, not everything, unfortunately
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So you will have to pick up some materials, but we've got some twine, some glue, glitter pack
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Not sure how I feel about that, but there will be glitter involved
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some recipe cards, blank recipe cards. We have some little tea lights, and then here is the book
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And then there's some orange paper right there, okay? So let me show you, again, this is the book
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that we're going to be reading through. We loved our Lent study, so I'm really excited
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when we do get the chance to go through this book with the kids
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I know they're going to love it. And then let me show you the lesson plans really quick
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They come whole-punched, so I just typically will stick them in a binder
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And it gives you a little bit of an introduction. There are QR codes in there for extra resources
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music, things like that, but this is just for you to read, talking about how to use the schedule
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And then it actually gives you a weekly schedule. So it'll tell you for day one, in the different rows
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you'll see the parts of the book that you're going to be reading
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the scripture you're going to read. Library books are optional, but they are given
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in case you want to pick some of those up and include them in your unit study
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Craft, other activities, and then if there is a baking recipe, it will give you the recipe
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in the lesson plans, and then it'll tell you what you're going to make here
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It gives you a weekly calendar. You don't have to plan anything out
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You just want to make sure you look at it ahead of time and gather any of the supplies
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So they'll tell you what they provide and what you might need to use
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So then when you actually flip to the daily lessons, again, it kind of spells everything out for you
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So broken down by day, you've got day one, and it tells you what to read
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It tells you how to do the craft. Anything that you need to do, it's all right here
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scripted out for you. So I love how these are just very low prep
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Gives you the recipe right there, and most of the things that you're going to need
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are going to be included. It's not a lot. These don't take a ton of time, but they're very meaningful
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and it's just a really great resource. So I encourage you, if you're looking for a unit study
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that is based on a great piece of literature, has some crafts, has a lot of well-rounded resources
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this is a great one to check out. Okay, so there's my second recommendation
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My third recommendation for Advent is actually new to me this year
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but I'm really excited to give it a try. It's something that my kids are going to be able to work through more independently
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and they'll be able to use it even when I'm out of town, which is a big bonus this year
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So I picked up a couple of resources from Not Consumed Ministries
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This one is Uncovering Mercies at the Manger, and I also picked up their Christmas Countdown Cards
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They also have a devotional called Adoration at the Manger, which is a Christmas hymn study
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and I have not done that one. So I will put all the links in the description below so you can check them out for yourself
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We've really enjoyed using the Not Consumed devotionals during our regular school year
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so my kids are familiar with them, and I think they're gonna be really great to use this year
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So I did buy three of them, one for each of my kids, and I'm going to open these up and flip through one
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so you can see exactly how they're laid out and what you can expect from them
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Okay, so let's go ahead and open this up. I got one for each of my kids, and I got the junior level
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They actually have four different levels of these studies. They have primary, junior, youth
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and then they actually have a parent study as well. So you can get one for yourself
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and do them along with your kids and then have even more meaningful discussions
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But all my kids are close in age. I've got two 10-year-olds and a 12-year-old
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so they're gonna do the junior level together. Okay, so inside
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looks like we have sticker collection. So just a book of a lot of beautiful stickers
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All right, and these are 25-day studies. So you would essentially start them
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right around the beginning of December, okay? So here shows just each day what the different topics are
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All right, and then there is usually about one, well, two pages per day, okay
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So it's pretty similar to, looks pretty similar to the other studies
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that we have done with them before. They have different reading, devotional
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something where they, a space where they can write out some answers and do some reflection
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There's scripture reading and response, a spot for them to record prayer
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Okay, so if you have used these devotionals in the past, you'll notice it looks pretty similar
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but it's very, very well done, very well thought out. I'm always impressed with the quality
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of the not-consumed devotionals. So I think this will be really great
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for my kids to be able to use and to reflect on, and then for all of us to
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on the days that we are home, my husband and I are home
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that we can discuss these together. Okay, so it goes all the way through to day 25
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All right, and then in the back, it looks like we're gonna use the stickers
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somehow during the devotional as part of this. So that is a quick look at the Uncovering Mercies
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at the Manger Christmas Bible Study for Kids. All right, the Christmas Countdown cards
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are not included with the devotionals. They're something that you have to buy separately
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but I think they are a really fun add-on. So opening this box right now
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to show you what is included here. Okay, so in the box, here is what it looks like
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We have our cards over on one side, and then we've got some twine
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that we're gonna use to hang up, and then some little mini clothespins
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to attach the cards to the twine. And we have, let's see
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25 different cards, of course. So on the front, they just have the stars on them
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with the numbers one to 25. And there is an info card on how to use them
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So you're first going to hang the twine up, and then you're going to start with star number one
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and then you're gonna keep going until you get to 25. So it says, each day as you complete the study
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turn the card around so you can see the story unfold. So essentially, you'll start with hanging the one facing out
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and then when you turn it around, this is what the back looks like
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What you would do is read the passage. I don't know if that's a little blurry. So we've got John 1, one through three on here
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You'll read the passage and talk about how you can see God's mercy
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through each part of the story. This goes through all the way through the Christmas story
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Just a couple of the cards that you can see. I think they're really pretty
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and they're gonna be a great addition to our Christmas decorations or any Christmas decoration, really
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In addition to this box, when we got the countdown cards, we got a couple extra little clothespins
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and then there was a fun little sticker that came in the box
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and then also some cute little postcards with scriptures on them that you could either use as postcards
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or just fun to kind of stick up around your house. So there you go
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I'm excited to give this one a try. Okay, so this is what we will specifically be doing
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during Advent this year. My kids will be working on their devotionals
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and we will be using the countdown cards, and I'm really excited to try out this new resource
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and see how we like it. I know there are so many Advent resources out there
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along with Christmas unit studies and activities, so I hope this gives you some ideas
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for celebrating the Advent season with your kids. It doesn't have to be super fancy or stressful
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There's enough going on during this season already, but I think each of these resources
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have a great emphasis on scripture and the hope, love, and true reason
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that we celebrate Christmas. If you're looking for more Advent printables or Christmas-themed printables for your homeschool
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to supplement your learning this season, I'm going to be dropping links to some popular items
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from my blog down below, and I would love to hear from you in the comments
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I want to know what are some of your favorite Advent homeschool resources
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Let me know, or share which one of these three you are most excited to try and might be picking up
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Thank you so much for watching. Again, if you're new here, I would love for you to stick around
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so please hit that subscribe button, hit that thumbs up so you don't miss out on future content
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and it also really helps out my channel so more people can see my videos
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All right, I'll see you next time. All right, I'll see you next time
#Holidays & Seasonal Events