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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
