A Craft Advent Wreath

We are really trying to get into the Advent spirit here.  Sure, there is Christmas all around us, and if we don't work on things like shopping and cookie baking, there won't be anything come the 25th, but Advent is supposed to be a time of preparing not just the presents and the food but really our hearts for the coming of the Infant Jesus.

For his Advent project, Luke is copying and exploring Bible verses.  He is using this list, from Real Life Titus Two, that gives a passage a day to reflect on.

Jude and I are working on projects a little less ambitious with the writing.  We're doing crafts, starting with making an Advent Wreath.

Advent Wreath Materials:

Two paper towel or four toilet tissue cores
Two paper plates (see note)
green, purple, and pink paint
craft foam (yellow or orange)
scissors
a pen or marker
glue

For paper plates - you want something with a bit of a rim on it.  You'll glue the top of the wreath to the bottom plate and you want it to be able to adhere to the side, not the center.  You'll need to "splurge" a bit for these.  (You can use cheapie plates for creating a paint palette.)  We used Stalkmarket brand plates - they are made from recycled sugar cane so they take paint nicely.  

 Start by tracing the edge of the roll onto the back of the plate. 

 Cut out the circles.  Keep one of them for sizing the flames, but the rest can be thrown out/recycled.

Cut paper towel rolls in half.  If you have toilet tissue rolls, then you can skip to painting.

 Paint the upside down plate green to form your wreath/candleholder.

Then paint the cardboard rolls. Paint three purple and one pink.

Allow everything to dry.

While you're waiting, use the reserved circle to help you make your "flame."  Draw a base line slightly larger than the circle, and then the apex of a triangle.  (By making it slightly larger than the circle, the foam will fit snugly but still curl.)

 Cut your triangles out and set aside.

When your green plate is dry, apply glue to the rim of a second plate. Match the edges of this and the green plate (painted side up).  This will create a channel for your "candles," and a base for the "wreath."

To assemble your wreath, insert the candles into the holes.

 "Light" your candles by gently bending the foam so it slips into the top of the cardboard tube. 

"Light" one candle each week of Advent.  (We put all four flames on for the picture, then stowed the extra flames in the kitchen, so that we only have one candle lit currently, since it's only the first week of Advent.) 

 

O Lord, stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come 

that by Thy protection we may deserve to be rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins 

and saved by Thy deliverance. 

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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D is for DeSales

I first was exposed to St. Francis DeSales and his teachings by the Oblates who staffed Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, PA.  Judge was the the "brother school" to my high school, and through the many interactions the schools had, I learned about St. Francis and was intrigued by his steadfast belief that regardless of what happened in life, God was there for us.  St. Francis' words have long brought me comfort:

Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life; rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise, God, whose very own you are, will lead you safely through all things; and when you cannot stand it, God will carry you in His arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow; the same understanding Father who cares for you today will take care of you then and every day. He will either shield you from suffering or will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations. 

Though it took us several months to accept, it quickly became obvious that a formal school was not working for Jude, no matter how many pleas I made when I dropped him off: "Please, God, let this be the day something clicks!" "God, just for one day let him find his way."  "Lord, I need to take somebody else to an appointment this morning, so today would be a TERRIFIC day to not get a phone call at 10 am to come get him..."  It was a hard to accept that he just was a proverbial square peg, and no amount of coaxing was going to make him fit into a round hole.  As much as we wanted him to go to a "regular" school, and his doctors and therapists felt it was a setting where peer modeling would help him succeed, it became clear that he did NOT want to be there with equal fervor.  Not being in a formal classroom style school setting was clearly better for him, but we also felt he was ready to move beyond passively learning through television shows aimed at the preschool crowd. This meant the decision to not be in a group setting  "in a classroom school" meant we were "homeschooling" by default, so we easily made peace with the choice.  However, the process of actually homeschooling -- well, for someone who never expected to be doing this, it's a whole other issue.  

There are many days where I am afraid D really just is a D, and I am failing as a teacher.  Some days go exactly as I would like, and he picks up the concepts quickly and we zoom through what I have planned and are staring at each other saying "What now?" and it's only 9:30. Then there are days where it seems like lessons are taking forever and we are stopping to wait for him to re-focus more than we are actually working.  A month in to the "school year," and we have had two weeks where we spend part of every day at doctors' appointments and have to scale down expectations to "what can we fit into the few minutes we have here and there," topped off with a day like today where we spent 8 hours between the car ride and appointments at the hospital and we get no "real" schoolwork done at all.  I am afraid he's not learning enough, even though we spent breakfast discussing "If you had ten blueberries, and you ate five, how many are left?" for Math, and stopping at every car asking "Can you tell me what's on that license plate?" for letter recognition.  It's the best we could do, but I'm afraid he's going to fall farther behind than he already is because we missed a day of working in his books and the lesson plan I spent three hours carefully crafting has been tossed out the window. I worry that if someone were to evaluate him, they would find us severely lacking.  In theory, we should be able to do MORE around doctor's visits, since he's not missing days and days of "brick-and-mortar" school, but it seems like we get precious little actually done because of logistics.  "How to effectively homeschool when you are always on the road" was never gone over in the education classes I took in college.

There are times I doubt my ability to teach him. (Another "D" word.)  Sure, shapes and letters and basic math aren't that hard.  I mean, there are even blue puppies that understand the basics of the universe; even a particular blue omnivorous monster knows "C is for Cookie."  Our first thought was for Jude to stay home through kindergarten, and then move to a regular school next fall.  It's becoming obvious quickly that his other needs are not going to permit this, and we are now looking at a much longer commitment.  I am trying to take things one concept at a time, but I have to admit I wonder how we're going to do when things get harder. (Especially with math.  I am not kidding that there was a reason I did NOT major in Mathematics in college.)   I see him struggling so much now and wonder how on earth is he going to be able to manage later; if he can't figure out what sound a letter makes, how will he read entire words?  I will never, ever give up on trying to teach Jude, but some days I wonder just how much he will be able to learn, and is it really his medical issues holding him back or is it just me and I'm not very good at this?

St. Francis DeSales

I've never been opposed to homeschooling; it just wasn't something we felt was best for our other children, so it wasn't something I had researched much about.  To suddenly be thrust into it without notice is like being sent on to a high wire with no net below and hurricane force winds swirling about you.  

But St. Francis spoke the truth: the days where I wonder how I will ever manage this, God shows me I'm not doing without His help.  Sometimes it is when we are having a rough day and when I am praying for patience that I feel a quiet calm and think maybe this isn't so crazy an idea after all, and we're going to be ok.  Other times it is through friends who say "I have an idea that might work for you."  And there are moments where Jude says something that lets me know something "stuck" -- he tells a random stranger in the hospital cafeteria, "The sun made the water evaporate!" or he walks along the construction wall at the hospital and says each letter correctly as he points to N-e-m-o-u-r-s, or he just remembers more of the Lord's Prayer on his own than he needs prompting for.  

I don't know what each day will bring, other than to be almost absolutely certain that it will be full of surprises.  And I'm trying not to let my fears overwhelm me; I'm working on remembering the teachings of St. Francis: even if I still have them, with God's help it will all be fine. 

If you start talking about food, your kindergartener is going to want to make some!

Originally on today's schedule was the book, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff.  One of Jude's favorite books her "If You Give a Dog a Donut..." He really enjoys the silliness of the story, so I thought he might enjoy another of the books in the series. However, it turned out to be a food-themed day.



When we opened his math book, the next page was a subtraction page that had bake sale items for visual cues.  There were pictures of cookies, brownies, pie, and cupcakes.  He told me the SQUARE brownies were his favorite, but he liked cookies, too.  (Usually one or the other is his pre-breakfast snack -- when Daddy goes into the kitchen before work, Jude cons him into giving him one of those so he "won't starve to death" waiting for me to come downstairs a few minutes later.)  I think he may be smarter than big brother Luke, who always asks for "Breakfast Dessert."  Jude eats his dessert before the meal...making sure he has room for it before he fills up on silly things like yogurt or cereal.







 

 

Next up were letters. I copied down the letters p, s. n, j, h, and d - all letters from Book B of Explore the Code.  We have been working on sounding out letters, and then practicing writing letters into words.  P for pie was easy as...well, you get it.  But then S for snack followed, and then N for napkin, and by the time I got the whole page written, we had a theme going.  Before writing each word, he told me a few sentences about something about the word -- either "Could I have a snack?" or "You use a napkin to wipe your face!"  He shared that likes brownies better than pie, apple and orange juices are his favorite, and he thinks he should skip dinner and just eat dessert. 















On to our next installment of The Lord's Prayer.  We reviewed the first to pictures we colored yesterday, and while his speech was hard to follow, he did recall most of the sections.  Today we moved on to "Give us this day our Daily Bread." I thought that since he was able to recall the first two sections, maybe he'd remember this one, too.  He said, "Give us this day our..." (consults paper) "LUNCH!!"  Points for context decoding, but not quite, kiddo.  We reviewed the text of the prayer, and he got out his favorite blue crayon and went to town.


















As he was coloring, the dryer went off and I raced upstairs to move the load of permanent-press uniforms.  By the time I came down, he had colored in the entire picture, cut it out, and glued it to the next page! Proud student!  (And not too shabby cutting all by himself.)



















When we were done with our table work, we sat down on the couch, and read our story for the day.  We recently got the Mouse Cookies & More: A Treasury anthology, and it includes several recipes that go with the stories it contains.  One of the recipes was an oatmeal spice cookie. We adapted it to be safe for his allergies, and swapped the raisins for chocolate chunks.

Measuring out the oats.

Spooning the dough onto a cookie sheet.  

I think he has a future as a baker -- he's a mean spoon-scraper!

Taste-test!  Yum!

He already asked if we can read "If You Give a Dog a Donut..." again tomorrow.   And chances are, if we read that story, he's going to want to make a batch of donuts.