We are getting close to the holiday season and that means homeschoolers everywhere are getting ready to lean into the Christmas season and enjoy doing Christmas activities — sometimes in lieu of any other learning activities. On this episode of the podcast I am joined by Abby Stone, mom of five, to chat about how her family slows down to make time for Christmas traditions each year — often learning a ton of academics along the way. Let’s show you how.
Abby: I do feel for my kids in the sense that I say it’s off, time off, but I’m counting so much of what we’re doing toward their portfolio. You know, there’s, we do so much. For example, we’re doing Christmas around the world kind of stuff. They’re getting possibly more geography in December than throughout the rest of the year just because there’s so much to dive into in the holiday season and they’re more interested in reading and they’re so excited about the cooking and it’s so funny because to them it’s time off. But to me it’s just a shift in what we’re doing.
Pam: This is Your Morning Basket where we help you bring truth, goodness, and beauty to your homeschool day. Well, hello there, and I just wanna welcome you to episode 127 of the Your Morning Basket podcast. I’m Pam Barnhill, your host, and I’m so happy that you are joining me here today for the final episode of this podcast season before we take just a little bit of a break for December. And speaking of December, that’s what today’s podcast episode is all about. It is about leaning into Christmas traditions and kind of doing a little bit of holiday school to make your life easier around the holidays. And so super, super excited to have my guest, Abby Stone on. Abby is from Rooted in Rest, which is a YouTube channel where she encourages homeschool moms. And it was just a fun conversation that I can’t wait to share with you.
Now, before we get on with that conversation, I would like to invite you speaking of Christmas School to come on over to the website at pambarnhill.com/christmas. We have a free Christmas download for you. These are our Advent Morning Time plans that you can download and do with your kids at home.
Print ’em out. There’s a few weeks worth of activities, picture study, music study, wonderful picture book suggestions, and so many fun things to do for you and your kids. Now those are absolutely free. When you download those, you will get a special offer for our Camp Christmas. Camp Christmas is a lot of fun. It’s a way that we just help you bring these Christmas traditions into your homeschool and bring a little Christmas cheer.
And our goal is to make this so easy for you. When you sign up for Camp Christmas, you get live events and recorded events that you can share with your kids. So if you’re wanting to get in the kitchen and get a little bit of work done or if you need to wrap some presents, you can let your kids do a little bit of art or picture study or play with poetry or words or music appreciation and they are learning while you are working.
We also have Christmas bingo, which is something the kids get so excited about and it’s a fun way to make doing Christmas school a bit more of a game. And we also have text, daily text where we send you one fun holiday activity a day. It comes straight to your phone in the morning with the link that you need to make it happen and it’s easy peasy.
So come on over and download those Advent plans for free and check out the Camp Christmas experience. It might just be something you wanna add to your holiday. And now on with the interview.
Abby Stone is a Charlotte Mason inspired homeschooling mom of five. Born in Chicago and raised in Miami, she currently lives in a small Florida beach town with her husband and children who love all things sunshine and sand. Abby has a passion for sharing authentic and faithful motherhood on her YouTube channel, Rooted in Rest where she hopes to encourage mothers in their journeys as home educators. Abby, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
Well, we are so glad to have you here. We want to talk just a little bit about something that you have a particular gift in and that is bringing in some holiday traditions into your homeschool through your Morning Time and through other activities over the course of the Christmas season. But first of all, tell me a little bit about your homeschool and your family.
Okay, so I am a homeschooling mom of five. My kids are from middle school, eighth grade. I have a 13 year old daughter all the way down to a four month old. So we are all over the place. We’ve got kindergarten happening, we’ve got, you know, two in middle school. And one of the reasons that I particularly love Morning Time is because it brings us all together for the start of our day, given the fact that for the rest of the day we’re all kind of split up across the house. So that is, you know, my family, we’ve got five, my husband owns a business, so we have some flexibility there as a family and we like to travel and incorporate that into our homeschooling as well. And yes, we love tradition.
Yeah, does lots of things going on at your house. So many things. Wow. All the way down to four months. That is awesome. Well I especially thank you for taking time out of your day to talk to me.
Well let’s talk a little bit about what, what does homeschooling look like during the holidays and leading up to Christmas in your home? Does it change?
It does. It changes quite a bit. So we year round homeschool and the way that we have worked that out is we take, typically there’s about 12 weeks in a traditional school setting for summer. And so we like to take five or six weeks in the summer and then we like to take six or so weeks through December and the first couple of weeks of January.
And one of the reasons for that is because we do live in South Florida so our weather is fun in the summer, we love the beach, we’re at the beach all year round. So we definitely wanna have a good chunk of time, we can surf and do all that. But then it’s beautiful here in December and January and so we like to take time off so we can just enjoy the more enjoyable things without, you know, the swamp outside.
And one of the other reasons that we take time off in December as well, it’s just because there’s so much that is just so rich and beautiful about the holiday season. There’s so many traditions to be incorporated and books to be read that I like to take time off of the traditional science and history schedule and just spend some time investing in my family, just kind of working on our family culture and traditions and there’s just so much beauty to do in that season that I don’t like us to have too much of a checklist going with our homeschool. So it’s definitely different at Christmas time around here.
Okay. I wanna break this apart just a little bit because you’re probably blowing some people’s minds out there. So you school year round, is the term that you use, but you actually take your time off in two bigger chunks, one in the summertime. And then one at Christmastime. So you’re not like a Sabbath homeschooler who schools year round who takes a week off like every six weeks. You really do the two bigger chunks.
Right. We do two bigger chunks and it changes year to year.
Sometimes like this year we had a baby in the summer so I did take six weeks in the summer. Sometimes I take three or four weeks in the summer and they wanna get right back into routine. I can tell my kids need their routine and we’ll take, you know, last year we took all December and a good chunk of January off because we were traveling in January so we took a much larger break in the winter.
And so I think the schooling year round works for us in the sense of, you know, I can say our break’s gonna be whenever I want it to be. And so, you know, typically it’s a little in the summer and a little in the winter, but we give and take here and there, which I appreciate that flexibility.
I love that. I love that so much. So we are very similar in that, you know, we always took five or six weeks off in the summer because there were activities for the kids to do, you know, like there was like camps and vacation Bible school and all of those kinds of things. But then like you guys experience in South Alabama, I mean we’re just 10 miles north of the Florida line.
It is hot here in the summertime, it’s miserable. And so we’re ready to get back to school and you know, we’re still able to swim in the evenings or or whatever, but we’re ready to get back to school and and do that. And then yeah, there are other times of year which are just way more lovely for us. It tends to be more like late October, early November and March, you know, other than January it does get a little cold here. But yeah, I love that flexibility and I love that you’re doing that. And so how does that work with the state of Florida? Cause this is a question we get a lot from other people around the country is like how do you do that with your state? So I know in Alabama we only have to track attendance. What do you have to do in Florida?
Right. There are a few different ways you can do it in Florida the way that we choose to do it, I mean you can be a part of an umbrella school, which I think is fairly common across the country, different options for that. What we do is we do an annual portfolio review. So I just keep record of my students’ work throughout the year and then I have to have a certified teacher from the state review it and then they give a document that says that they reviewed it. So it can be a friend of yours if you don’t have a friend or somebody in your church or community who you know who can do a portfolio review for you, then you can go to the school board and they will assign you a teacher. And it’s very simple in our state, the only thing that you have to show is progress. So from the beginning of the year to the end in the portfolio there is some sort of progress that can be seen. There aren’t necessarily grade level requirements, especially in elementary and middle school.
And so we can just compile things, you know, throughout the year and turn that in. For me it has to be turned in by October every year and that’s it. So that’s what we have to keep record of. So no real like you have to do so many days or so many hours or anything like that so you have that freedom and flexibility.
Yeah, we do. And I think that initially that concerned me like oh am I gonna be, you know, self disciplined enough to do, you know, the right amount of days and hours when nobody’s really forcing that upon me? And what I’ve found is the lack of requirements in that sense has made me most likely do more than would be required because there’s so much beauty in the freedom of it. So we’re constantly, you know, we’re on vacation and we’re doing nature study and we’re reading books and it’s just, it’s because we’re not measuring it, it’s happening more times than not in our home.
And I think that’s such a great point, especially for people who are new to homeschooling or new to the homeschool lifestyle is is just because you’re not tracking a day, like you’re talking about we are taking off school. But it sounds like a lot of the stuff you’re doing is learning, you know, and it’s very, right, it’s very educational and even, even if I had to track those days, even if I wanted to count those days as school, there’s a bunch of stuff you’re doing leading up to Christmas that that could be counted. Yes?
100%. I do feel for my kids in the sense that I say it’s off time off, but I’m counting so much of what we’re doing toward their portfolio. You know, there’s, we do so much, I know we’ll kind of break this down during this podcast, but for example, we’re doing Christmas around the world kind of stuff. They’re getting possibly more geography in December than throughout the rest of the year just because there’s so much to dive into in the holiday season and you know, we’re, they’re more interested in reading and they’re so excited about the cooking and it’s so funny because to them it’s time off but to me it’s just a shift in what we’re doing.
Yeah, okay. So we’re not gonna tell them, we’re not gonna spill the beans or anything and let them know that Yeah, you’re doing an awful lot of learning during this time off School.
Right.
Well the other thing I love that you said was, you know, there’s so many good things around the holidays and if we don’t shift our focus and take that time off, and I’m using my air quotes here, if we don’t shift that focus and take the time off, then we don’t have time for all those wonderful things. Like we never make time for it. So why is that important to you?
I just think that our culture is so fast paced now and when I think back to my own childhood there was still time that I would get home from school and my parents and I could do something fun or we could enjoy the season. But right now it’s just, there’s so many distractions and so to be intentional with the time, like you know, my kids are home during the day, their dance schedule and karate schedule is not demanding anything of them in the evenings yet because we have this little insulated time during the day.
And so I do have the control of we don’t have to do school right now, we can say this is a break and we can, I can kind of reclaim this time with you during the day that nobody can take from us and when we’re trying to do too much. And I’ve been very, you know, overzealous in many seasons in my life trying to do everything, trying to get school done, trying to do the traditions, trying to bake for everyone and it’s just not enjoyable. And so taking the time to be intentional to really work on building your family culture and really just and showing your kids that you want to spend that time with them, taking the time off of traditional schooling and enjoying that time with them is just so special.
And you know, we’ve been doing this in particular for about five years now, doing our schedule this way and it has been so life-giving for us then moving into the next semester of school in January.
I love it. I love it so much. Okay, so let’s get down to the nitty gritty. What are some of the traditions that you and your family do to make Christmas so special?
Well, we do love tradition, so, I’ll share a few things but I wanna kinda give the disclaimer that these didn’t all start at once. So these have just been things that have slowly built over, you know, the last 15 years of my husband and my marriage. So some of the traditions that we really enjoy in our family are, so when I ask my kids the first thing they said was Chinese food, which is so funny cuz that’s nothing necessarily Christmas. But we have a night where we decorate our Christmas tree and we order Chinese food when we’re doing it. And that started back when I was pregnant with my oldest. I must have had a craving for some, you know, Chinese food. So we got it and then the next year we did the same thing and now to my kids Chinese food and decorating the Christmas tree is the tradition that marks the holiday season.
And it’s funny cuz you know when you’re driving around town and you see Christmas tree tents up, my kids always be like, oh the tree tents are up already in October and November and when we drive by the Chinese food restaurant a couple of years ago, my son was six at the time and he said, Oh the Chinese restaurant’s up already. Like it’s only for Christmas
I love it, I love it.
It was so funny. He’s like, it’s, and then on that same night we give them Christmas pajama boxes we call it. And I saw this idea years ago online as something to do on Christmas Eve, but we do it the night we decorate our tree and I just give them clothing boxes and inside there are a new pair of Christmas pajamas and a book for them to enjoy for the Christmas season and then some hot chocolate and our little Christmas snack or something to kinda go along with our tree decorating night.
So that’s a fun kickoff. It’s like the first gift of Christmas that they get these pajamas and then they have them throughout the season. Some other things that they really enjoy, we call it secret sibling, which you know, it’s like secret Santa but it’s among the siblings we are, we have over the years tried to scale back on the gift giving and you know, we’ve followed that little rhyme with something you want, something you need kind of a thing. But the secret sibling gift, that’s where they really get the gift that they’re excited about. So somebody gets them a toy or something that my husband and I would be like, Oh that’s just junk, we don’t need that. But they love getting that for each other and then it’s extra special that, you know, it’s the only big plastic battery operated thing that they get that year and it comes from a sibling. So that’s a really fun thing. And they’re always quiet about who got who and you know, one of the large family benefits I guess because you know, nobody knows who got each other. Although we did have a year where it was very obvious, you know, we had three kids and if you got them they couldn’t get you cause the other person couldn’t get themselves but they never figured it out.
So I was gonna say, I don’t think this would work with my three kids.
Right. Well yeah there’s A strange number for that one but it’s so, it’s so much fun.
Yeah, Yeah it’s just, just the idea of them shopping for each other instead of, you know, asking us for everything. It just makes it more of a connection for them. And then service, we do a lot of service in the Christmas season, which is so fun. And last year we were able to participate in the actual delivery of the angel tree presents with the Salvation Army and that was really special for my kids.
I think we’re gonna do that again this year. We tried to always be a part of some service project specifically during the Christmas season, which is really fun. And then there’s little things, there’s, there’s a, we do live on the ocean so there’s a little Oceanside Christmas parade that was my husband and my first date. And so now I bring our kids there every year and actually now they bring us there because they’re in it every year for one thing or another.
And so we almost have a date again cuz all of our kids are in the parade now. So there are little things we try to make sure are marked on our schedule and then there’s things on our schedule that are flexible. Like maybe we’ll go to this Christmas tree lighting or maybe we’ll try to go, you know, see the lights in this neighborhood. But we try to not overwhelm our schedule as well.
I love that. And you know, very first idea out of the gate was having Chinese food while you you put up your Christmas tree, that’s not hard like you have to eat. Right. And actually it makes your life easier because somebody’s buying Dinner. And This is not an unattainable Christmas tradition that we’re talking about.
Right. Yeah, it’s so funny. Yeah, I love it so much that you’ve taken these just seemingly little things and made them into something big because you just do them year after year. And that’s basically what a tradition boils down to being is just doing something year after year. My friend Brandy Vencel reads A Christmas Carol with her kids each and every year.
And so, you know, that’s just become their tradition and I think that’s the important things for moms to take away is there are big things and there are little things that you could do. You know, obviously the pajama box sounds like a fabulous idea. I’m thinking like, why did I not think of this? You know, can I start it now when my oldest is 17? Right. That’s a little bigger. But you know there are some, some things that are just so much smaller and still just as meaningful, you know, going to the parade, eating the Chinese food. So much so what are some of the more schooly things that you do with your kids around the holidays? Cuz you said you count some things as school.
I do, when we take our breaks in the summer and at Christmas time we still do like a morning gathering and that, you know, in the summer it’s typically just our family bible study. But at Christmas time I have a whole Christmas basket and it’s just the fun Christmas books. There’s a Christmas around the world book that we always have in there.
We, because I’m very protective of our schedule, I try to not put too much on it. And so there are things like a Jesse tree or an Advent study that I tried for years to kind of squish into our evening as a family. And what would happen is we’d wanna go look at lights or we’d wanna go, you know, see this Christmas play.
And so then every third day we were trying to read three of the devotionals together and I realized pretty quickly I could just do this with the kids in the morning. It doesn’t have to be at night, you know, so things like that go into that basket and we get to enjoy things a little more slowly at our little morning gathering with breakfast. So we have things along those lines.
You know, we have the geography things and I bring the geography up because years ago I had a girlfriend in our little homeschooling group who had the idea of starting a Christmas Around the World presentation. So with homeschool, a lot of times you don’t have many opportunities for public speaking. And so Christmas time she thought would be a great way to have every kid pick a country and talk about the Epiphany or Advent traditions in that country and make a dish from that country.
And so for years we would gather and the kids would have an opportunity, you know, young as they want to. My daughter participated when she was in preschool, their own version of a presentation. And so what I love about it is that there were no standards. It was by family. So if you wanted it to be a report, it could just be a report if you wanted it to be a project display board or a performance, it could be that. But we would gather in the middle of December and have this Christmas around the world presentation and now that all of our kids are older and they’re all middle and high school and everyone’s kind of chosen different directions, everyone’s in different co-ops. We don’t gather any longer with that group, but we are in a smaller Charlotte Mason co-op and we’ve tried to continue that tradition because that’s just one that my kids love so much.
So having some time in the mornings that they can work on their country, reading about their country, talking about their country, practicing the recipes from that country, that’s one of the things that we really enjoy in that Morning Time. That’s definitely more of a schooly thing.
The other thing I would say that I would consider to be more homeschool is whatever handcraft we are doing that year, we try to incorporate it in the holidays either as a way to serve, as a way to give gifts. And so this year our handcraft is watercolor, so my kids will be spending time this coming December working on watercolor gifts for their grandparents, for their friends, maybe making some cards, things along those lines.
Last year our handcraft was gardening and with living in Florida, we could still do that in December. It was actually a great harvest time for us in December last year. And I cannot for the life of me grow a thing. And so we actually volunteered at a community garden last year and that was how we learned gardening because he would just tell us, pick this, do that, plant this. And I’d be like, Okay guys, he’s gonna tell us what to do. So in December last year it was a very, very much a harvest season. So we were out there quite a bit pulling sweet potatoes and kale and that was a way to use our handcraft to serve because that fed the homeless community. So that was last year.
This year we’re using it to give gifts, but it’s a great time to work on, you know, beeswax, candles as gifts or you know, if you’ve learned how to knit something, maybe knitting little stockings for someone. So it’s a great opportunity in the holidays to really use those handcrafts or the skills that you’re teaching. It’s like the, you know, the big moment for those handcrafts gift giving and serving.
So we do like to do a lot of that as well in our Morning Time and advent picture studies, every now and then I’ll bring that in. We like to sing Christmas hymns, do a little hym study, so really is quite a bit of school that we’re packing in, but it totally goes unnoticed by my kids.
I love that sneaky school is what we like to call it.
Sneaky school. Yeah.
And I love how adaptive you are because that’s the word that just comes to mind because you’re talking about, you know, not being able to garden, that’s your handcraft. You’ve chosen something you don’t feel like you are good at doing, and yet you have found a way to bring it home to your kids, you know? I love that.
And then also the fact that you have this opportunity to participate in this pageant each year and instead of like cramming it in the night before and doing everything the night before, you’re like, we’re gonna work on it a little bit at a time, you know, during our Morning Time. Yeah. And so it’s just fabulous how you like look at those little things and say, how can I figure out how to make this work in my homeschool? This is something I wanna do. I don’t want it to completely and totally stress me out, especially during the holiday season. What little things can I do to make this work for my family this year? And so I just absolutely love that.
Yeah, I, I call it protecting our schedule because I just, I have gotten very protective of that as time’s gone on, you know, I have a 13 year old now, I can’t believe she’s gonna be in high school next year and the days do go so quickly. And so homeschooling is a wonderful gift in the sense of you have this insulated time during the day that you can do so much and nobody can tell you, you know, you need to be here at this time because it’s a typical school day for most. And so it is such a gift to be able to just be protective of that time and, and enjoy that extra time with your kids and give them time to do what they need to do and not stress everyone out. I don’t want that to be the memory that they have of the holiday season.
You know, we were running here and there and everywhere and it was fun when we were there, but the, you know, the, the point of getting there was very stressful and that’s just not what I want for my kids.
Yeah, yeah. Okay, so a couple more questions. So you mentioned geography quite a bit. What other skills are your kids picking up during this time of year that, for the mom out there who’s new to the homeschooling lifestyle and who’s like, you know, how can this be school?
Well I mentioned the handcrafts and I think that a lot of times handcrafts are very, they are concerning for most, they were, for me initially, they made me very worried because I do not know art. I felt like I had no skills going into teaching my kids. But one of the greatest joys of our homeschooling journey has been learning with my kids. So if there’s something that you don’t know or there’s something that you would like to teach your kids, but you’re like, I don’t know anyone who could teach, you know, my kids this and I can’t do it, YouTube it and learn it with your kids.
There’s so much joy to be found in doing that alongside with your kids. If there’s recipes you’ve never tried. Many of the new skills that I’ve developed as a homemaker have come because my kids have asked to learn something and I’ve had to learn it to help them learn it.
And so, for example, sourdough, that was one I really was avoiding. And my daughter got to the point where she really wanted to make sourdough. So we’re learning that right now, and that might be what everyone gets for Christmas this year. So there’s a lot of opportunity to learn and to develop new skills. So we have the geography, we have different forms of art or handcraft and baking and things like that.
There are so many wonderful things you can find online, different, you know, Christmasy STEM projects and experiments and unit studies and books. We love audio books and a good puzzle just, oh yeah, doing a puzzle with your kids while you’re listening to a holiday audio book or, you know, it just, it brings in Christmas is its own feeling.
Yeah.
You don’t have to do much to cultivate the experience of Christmas. So just enjoying something simple like that, a puzzle and a Christmas audio book that is a wonderful rich school day as is and a point of connection because there is this automatic feeling that tends to go along with, with Christmas time. There’s hymn studies, there are, you know, like I had mentioned earlier, Advent picture studies. If you aren’t doing picture study or an artist study throughout the year, Christmas time’s a really fun time to just do a little sampling of that and try something new.
I love it. I love it so much. Such, such great ideas for all of that. And a lot of the learning comes in the conversation, you know, Christmas manners and writing thank you notes and yes, having conversations about doubling recipes or tripling recipes and it’s so funny. Absolutely. You just reminded me like, oh, I don’t think I’ve fed my sourdough starter in a couple weeks, so I need to go do that.
Oh yeah. The sourdough has been a whole thing. It’s been a whole thing.
I’m like, I need to learn, learn how to use a kitchen scale. And we’re talking about grams now. Okay. We’ve not done that very often. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it’s funny, there are, there are so many just skills and the math and the science, so just making sourdough and spiritual conversation that can come from that too. So there’s a lot involved there.
I love it.
I’m not thriving, I’m not thriving with the sourdough. If you can’t tell, it’s not my, it’s not my strong point. If you don’t be fooled, I’m not loving it, but we’re learning it, But the food is so good, so there you go.
Yes, it’s worth it.
Okay, so how will things look different this year? Because you said at the beginning of the podcast you have a four month old, and so, we’re talking about Christmas with a five to six month old. So how will all of this look a little bit different this year?
Well, she is our fifth, and so we have maybe for every one really strong Christmas season, we have a baby Christmas season, so we’re a little, you know, we’re familiar with adding a new family member in the holiday season. And so like I have mentioned a few times, just protecting our schedule. My kids don’t expect us to be doing every single thing that comes our way. You know, we keep conversation open with them quite a bit,
you know, what are the things you really wanna do? What are things you would like to do if we have the chance to, And they’re very aware of the fact that we can’t do everything that’s a running theme throughout our lives the rest of the year as well. So Christmas is no different. And I think that I’m the one who can set the tone for that.
So if I’m trying to do everything and I’ve got the running lists and I’m not prepared, then that can be the feeling in our home. So there’s a lot of preparation that, you know, goes into it throughout the year. For me, there’s a little shopping here and there, so December’s not about shopping. And we can take that off of our plate and there’s some organizing here and there, so I’m not having to do that during Christmas time so we can just slow down and enjoy the things that time does allow us to enjoy.
Thankfully this Christmas season with a five or six month old will be a little easier than next Christmas when we have a two year old. You know, that’s, that’s where it’s hard cause then you can’t really decorate and you can’t really, yeah, do a lot of the, a lot of the crafts or somebody’s got glitter in their mouth or things like that. But I think it’s just the idea of keeping yourself from getting too overzealous, which I’m preaching to the choir because I’ve learned this the hard way by many years, you know, trying to do, this is a great Advent study and that’s a great Advent study. So we’re gonna do this one in the morning, we’re gonna do this one in the afternoon and sorry if there was anything else you wanted to do, but this is what we’re doing.
You know, so just being mindful of the fact that so much more life happens during the day than the things that you’ve written down on a schedule and not over packing that schedule so that you leave room for the life to happen.
I love that. Such words of wisdom right there. It’s very funny. My kids, like I said, I had one year, two years ago where I, I found so many great advent studies and I didn’t pace myself. Now I know, like I saw one last year and I thought, okay, I’m going to put it aside for next year.
That’s the one we’re gonna do next year, but we’re gonna focus, we’re gonna stay in our lane. This is the one we picked for this year. And so the year that I had done many Advent studies and you know, picture studies and crafts and all this, I asked my kids in January like, what was your favorite thing about Christmas?
And my son said, Do you remember that day you got Taco Bell and we watched a Christmas movie? And I was like, What? That is the thing that you remember the most the day that mom was defeated and drove us to Taco Bell for dinner and we watched a Christmas movie. That’s your favorite memory. And it’s like, of course it’s the connection, it’s the time together.
It’s not in the plans. So a baby helps because it helps you reprioritize things and there is a forced slowing down and that can be a gift.
I love it. I love it so much. Abby, thank you. Thank you. Such wisdom you’re speaking here and so much fun and so doable. Like this is something repeatable that we could absolutely do and bring to our family this Christmas time. So tell us where we can find you online.
All right, well I am on YouTube. You can find me at Rooted in Rest on YouTube. And I also have an Instagram where I like to share as well. That’s pretty much my internet footprint there.
Awesome, awesome. Well, we will include links to Abby’s YouTube channel and her Instagram in the show notes for this episode of the podcast.
So do go over and check her out. She has a lot of great wisdom and great goodies over there for you to just consume. I am kind of a late comer to watching YouTube, but I have started watching and I don’t know, like I’m kind of digging it. And yeah, I love it. It took me a while, but I like it now.
Yes, it’s a fun community. You can find a fun community of homeschoolers on YouTube. It is quite a gift.
Love it. Love it. All right, so go check Abby out over there and thanks so much.
Thank you.
And there you have it. Now if you would like links to any of the resources that Abby and I chatted about today,
you can find them on the show notes for this episode of the podcast. Those are pambarnbarnhill.com/ymb127. Also there you can find a link to those free advent plans and more information about our very own Camp Christmas experience, which you are not going to want to miss. I will be back in January. I will be back with some more great Morning Time episodes. Until then, keep seeking truth, goodness, and beauty in your homeschool day.
Links and Resources From Today’s Show
- Advent Morning Time Plans
- Month of Morning Time
- Seasonal Morning Time Plans
- Geography Morning Time Plans
- Literature Inspired Morning Time Plans
- History Morning Time Plans
- Preschool Morning Time Plans
- Catholic Morning Time Plans
- Abby’s Instagram, @rootedinrest
- Rooted In Rest YouTube Channel
- A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol | The Original Classic Story by Charles Dickens
Key Ideas about Christmas Traditions and Morning Time
- Taking time off during the holidays to slow down in your homeschool allows you to focus on building a family culture around special traditions.
- Shifting from traditional schooling during the holidays creates special memories and can be life giving in your homeschool.
- Morning Time is a great place to do special Advent or Christmas traditions as a family.
- You can also use the time “off” of school to work on skills you’ve learned that year to make gifts.
- And, you can find sneaky ways to incorporate learning by having them do a Christmas related project that invites them to learn about other countries, music or art.
Find what you want to hear:
- 3:32 meet Abby Stone
- 5:16 how school changes at Christmas time in Abby’s home
- 12:09 the importance of traditions during the holidays
- 14:04 Abby’s family traditions
- 20:22 educational Christmas traditions
- 30:17 Christmas school with an infant
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