Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Teach ‘A Christmas Carol’ This Year (Or Should You?)

Pam Barnhill [00:00:01]:
Are you ready for homeschooling to feel joyful again? Do you long for support as you learn alongside your kids? Welcome to Homeschool Better Together, a podcast about building a homeschool experience that works for your family. I’m Pam Barnhill, and it’s time to step out of the overwhelm and into the wonder. Let’s do this. Hello. Hello. And welcome. Welcome. We are so glad that you are joining us here today.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:34]:
I am joined today by miss Dawn Garrett, who is our customer service manager, community manager here at Homeschool Better Together. Dawn, welcome back to the podcast.

Dawn Garrett [00:00:46]:
Because I always like to come and chat with you, and we we always have fun.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:51]:
Yeah. We do. And it’s it’s great to have you back because for so long, I was doing, like, solo podcasts, and it’s, like, really nice to have somebody to talk to again. So yay. Yeah. Well, today, we are talking about we have kind of a little tongue in cheek kind of title for you, and we’re gonna explain why we landed on that title, though I’m gonna say it was accidental, and then Dawn pointed out, oh, yes. This is the title that we need. Because at first, when I suggested it, it was like a working title.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:20]:
But it is 5 reasons not to do a Christmas carol in your homeschool this year, and we’ll tell you why that ended up being the real title in just a few minutes. But let me give you a little bit of background. So A Christmas Carol is kind of our gift to you. Not that we wrote it. We can’t take credit for that. That would of course, Charles Dickens. Right? But every year, the Homeschool Better Together team puts together a gift for homeschoolers out there. And, you know, we’ve done, like, our advent morning time plans in the past and our Christmas tradition morning time plans.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:58]:
We’ve got a couple of different explorations. Our help me out, Dawn.

Dawn Garrett [00:02:03]:
Well, they’re they’re Christmas traditions, so, like, traditions from around the world that we’ve given away.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:10]:
Around the world explore Christmas around the world explorations. That’s what I was looking for. And then we have another kinda Christmas traditions, explorations. We’re really big on those traditions.

Dawn Garrett [00:02:20]:
Well, like, the Advent ones are about Handel’s Messiah. Yep. The nativity. And the Christmas traditions are really fun with the Nutcracker. So Yep. We’ve always had kind of a a theme to center around Yes. Our Christmas gift.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:37]:
And then this year, we decided we were really going all in on a single work, and we decided on A Christmas Carol. And so this is gonna be our gift to you. This year, you’re gonna be able to come and just download for free, pambarnhill.comforward/christmas, our Christmas Carol Explorations, and they’re gonna kind of take you through the Christmas season with your Christmas school. Whatever it is you’re wanting to do with your Christmas school, this is just a resource that you could use and so much fun. So we’re gonna give you five reasons not to do a Christmas carol in your homeschool this year. We’re gonna convince you. We’re giving you this free gift, but, nah, you don’t need it. You don’t need to do these.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:19]:
Nothing. Alright. So let’s talk about the first one. And the first reason, Dawn, is what? Is is all your fault. It’s all because Pam does not like

Dawn Garrett [00:03:30]:
A Christmas Carol or didn’t like A Christmas Carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:34]:
I yeah. Okay. So let’s explain. Yes. You shouldn’t do A Christmas Carol because Pam doesn’t like it. So some of you may be listeners of the Scully Sisters podcast. Mhmm. And if you’re not, I highly recommend that you go over and listen to that podcast.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:50]:
It is fabulous for homeschool moms. And I was on that podcast, oh gosh, years ago. Right? I was one of the founding members of that particular podcast, and we did an episode that I’m really ashamed of now. It’s episode number 46, if you have any thoughts

Dawn Garrett [00:04:09]:
I did at Schole sisters Trip.

Pam Barnhill [00:04:12]:
We’ll link it for you in the description, in the show notes, in all of the places. And yeah. So basically, in the episode, Mystie Winkler and I gang up on Brandy Vensell. So Brandy Vencel loved A Christmas Carol. She loved, loved, loved it, read it with her kids every single year. And Mhmm. Another fun Christmas episode for you. We’re just gonna link a lot of Christmas episodes for you in this one because we’ve got don’t be the white witch, which I did with Schole Sisters, but also fantastic.

Pam Barnhill [00:04:43]:
A manners episode that Brandy and I did a few years ago on the Your Morning Basket podcast, all about how to teach your kid Christmas manners, which, you know, we all know that we need to do. But, anyway, so Mystie and I decided we were going to basically reign on Brandy’s parade by we read a Christmas carol. We decided to get together and talk about it. And I’m just gonna say now, you know, it’s Charlotte Mason who says, right, that you have to be humble to be taught.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:13]:
That’s true. So Yes. That’s absolutely the case.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:17]:
Yes. So I humbled myself when it came to a Christmas carol, and I allowed myself to be taught because I was just like, I just don’t like, there’s no real Christmas in here. This is just all about Scrooge pulling himself up by his bootstraps, and it’s like self help kinda stuff. And I don’t know. I was really down on I’m gonna blame Mystie. Like, I got caught up in the peer pressure and and just went along with her.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:50]:
I just figured it was you you anti feely people didn’t like the Christmas carol because my husband also just likes a Christmas carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:57]:
Yes. But you’re also the biggest likes anything British. I don’t know what the opposite of an anglophile is, but that is your husband. Right? He has even, like, pride and prejudice. But yeah. So I I don’t know. Maybe it was because I had only ever been exposed to kind of the secular versions Mhmm. Of A Christmas Carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:20]:
And then after we after the podcast aired, one of our beautiful, wonderful community members, and I never can remember who. Community members do great stuff for us all the time.

Dawn Garrett [00:06:31]:
They do.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:31]:
And I never I never can’t remember names. Sorry. You know who you are. She sent me a video from Anthony Esolen, who we just love. And I do. Now you know this is where the name of this podcast comes from because Anthony Esolen wrote 10 Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, which is one of the books that Dawn and I read together years ago.

Dawn Garrett [00:06:56]:
Right. A long time ago. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:59]:
Yeah. So that’s where we got the name of the podcast from. Dawn was like, oh, we have to call it this because of Anthony Esolen’s book. But, anyway, I digress. So we got she sent me this video by doctor Esolen, and he basically, in there, he just explains that you cannot read the Christmas carol without reading it through the lens of the gospel. And as I listened to him talk about it, I’m like, oh, you were so wrong. So I’m just saying it right here. I’m eating crow, Christmas crow.

Pam Barnhill [00:07:32]:
I was so wrong about a Christmas carol.

Dawn Garrett [00:07:36]:
You can have your pie in the corner and stick in your thumb. Yes. Yes. Yes. That, and we will link that, that video also in the show notes. It is fantastic. It’s I watched it in preparation for this and I was like, I like Brandy already loved A Christmas Carol. And so when I watched it, I was like, oh, yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:07:59]:
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That part. Because I also relistened to it. So Yeah. That dress

Pam Barnhill [00:08:04]:
is brilliant. He is brilliant. He is brilliant. And and then when he started pointing all the things out, you know, about the rebirth of Scrooge and becoming a child becoming childlike to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and just who the different characters represented in A Christmas Carol and just this whole idea, the, you know, the whole Christmas carol is the God rest you, merry gentlemen. I like I I was like, yeah. Okay. You were so wrong. So I was wrong.

Pam Barnhill [00:08:35]:
I was wrong, and I owe Brandy Vencel an apology. Brandy, this is your public apology. I probably should voxer her and let her know.

Dawn Garrett [00:08:45]:
Well, we should at least tell her it’s out there. Right?

Pam Barnhill [00:08:48]:
Yes. Yes. Let her know that the public apology is out there. But, yeah, there’s so much in here. Now we want to stress if you are gonna do a Christmas Carol, and we really hope that you are with your children, that you don’t want to beat them over the head with all of these things. So talk to that for just a minute, Dawn.

Dawn Garrett [00:09:07]:
That’s actually part of what doctor Esolen talks about is how entering into A Christmas Carol. And I think entering into it when you’re a child reading it aloud with your family will, will be better than coming to it later. But reading it actually helps to baptize your imagination. It helps you to see more clearly what is going on in other classic works, because you have kind of this foundational peek into something that’s greater than our material world. It’s it’s a spiritual world it’s above and the supernatural above and beyond what we see and touch. There’s the seeing and touching in it too, which is, I think what’s amazing is, is Scrooge sees and touches, you know, graves and his bed clothes and his bed. And he sees the things that he did as a child and the things that he did as a young man. I mean, it’s all it’s all there.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:11]:
Yeah. It really is. But don’t feel like you’ve got to say, okay, children. Now do you see how tiny Tim is a savior figure? Like, don’t do that. Just read the story and enjoy it with your kids. You know, that’s what you want to do, and they will begin to pick up on those things. You can ask some questions, you know, not too leading, but you can ask some questions. You know? Does this remind you of something else? Have you seen this somewhere else? You know? Does this remind you of the gospel in any way? But I think that’s probably about as far as you go.

Dawn Garrett [00:10:44]:
Yeah. Leave the the mind blown, oh my goodness. It all comes together for us them as adults. I think that is also a really a really good thing because we we can understand on one level as child, but then on on a different level as an adult, and that’s and that’s fun.

Pam Barnhill [00:11:03]:
Yeah. Yeah. 100%. Okay. So we got the hard part out of the way. See, that’s why we had to do that part first, not just so we could explain the name, but so I could eat the crow.

Dawn Garrett [00:11:16]:
So that is the first reason

Pam Barnhill [00:11:17]:
you should not do a Christmas carol with your kids this year. And now the second reason that you yeah. Yeah. You shouldn’t do the Christmas carol with your kids this year is that it’s just completely overdone. Like, it’s been done everywhere. Everybody does it.

Dawn Garrett [00:11:33]:
Right? Yeah. So my husband is an anti anglophile, but this is actually his reason for disliking The Christmas Carol is that it’s just everywhere and you cannot get away from it. And it’s, it’s in all the movies. You’ve got all the different movies going on out there. You’ve got scrooged and you have like retellings yet on the homework channel where it’s Ebby Scrooge and it’s a female. We go to the Ohio village, and they have a Dickens of a Christmas, and they have Scrooge characters and ghosts wandering about the, historical village where you could take your kids to see what life was like in the 1800, and everywhere you go is a Christmas carol, and you cannot get away from it. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:12:22]:
Yeah. I find that to be true too. Okay. So let’s talk about this for just a second. Do you think that well, first of all, I mean, the reason it’s everywhere is because it is such a timeless, endearing story. Right? 100%. Like, there is truth there whether the secular world wants to admit it or not or whether they try to hide it or couch it in the in the kind of, like, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps or, like, just becoming a better person. And one of the things I love that doctor Esselin said in his talk was he he’s like, ask a secular person.

Pam Barnhill [00:12:57]:
They’re singing about joy. Where where is your joy? You know? And so the truth of this comes shining through, and I think that’s why one of the reasons that it is everywhere. It is so enduring and I also think endearing, you know, to people. But what what do you say about some of these more secular versions of it? Do do they have, like, where they take it and they make Scrooge a different character, you know, they make Scrooge a woman or, you know, there’s the old Bill Murray movie, Scrooge, which I would not recommend for anybody, like, watching TV.

Dawn Garrett [00:13:34]:
For the first time last year and no

Pam Barnhill [00:13:37]:
Yeah. Like, definitely an adult movie. You know? Maybe. Yeah. Maybe. We don’t even necessarily recommend it at all. I’m trying to think of some other adaptations. You know, there’s, like, the Patrick Stewart one, you know, single person play

Dawn Garrett [00:13:53]:
at A

Pam Barnhill [00:13:54]:
Christmas Carol.

Dawn Garrett [00:13:54]:
See that. That sounds amazing.

Pam Barnhill [00:13:56]:
So, like, are all of those kind of interpretations to be avoided altogether? I mean, I don’t know. Like, I don’t know enough about them. I mean, Scrooge probably for sure.

Dawn Garrett [00:14:09]:
Yeah. I suppose I don’t entirely see how they can take the bones out of what makes the Christmas Carol, because it is, you know, going back. And I, as I relistened to it, I just heard like at the very end, he goes to church before he goes and does the things. And he like, and it, and, and tiny Tim and his dad go to church. I like to go to church so that they see me and maybe they’ll think about the man who made the lame to walk, you know, because there are just little chi moments all throughout that make you think. And if you pull all of those out, I don’t think you have the story, even if it is, you know, the 3 ghosts, The the 3 ghosts are doing the work of examining a life, and and, you know, we have an examined life in the Christian faith. So

Pam Barnhill [00:15:08]:
Definitely not with younger kids, for sure. But there are some fabulous, fabulous versions out there. There are a number of great picture book versions, which we do include. We recommend those in the plans. We’ve picked out some of the the best ones for you. And then Merry Beggars did one kind of as a radio show past couple of years. That was one that a number of people in our community had recommended and listened to, and I think you sign up for free. And we’ll get the link for you, on their website, and they send it to you.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:41]:
I don’t know if the Patrick Stewart version is available, but the the Tim Curry reads the audiobook.

Dawn Garrett [00:15:47]:
Oh, and that’s the one I listened to, and he is amazing. Yes.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:51]:
Right. And so, you know, he’s definitely a secular actor, been in secular things, but he is simply reading the audiobook. So this is a wonderful version, but it has been done so many times. And this brings us to the third reason you might not want to do a Christmas carol in your homeschool, and it is because the absolute best top notch, most true to the story adaptation is done by

Dawn Garrett [00:16:20]:
The Muppets. I love the Muppets. So I shouldn’t I I I said it like that to make it sound like you shouldn’t watch it, but I love the Muppets in general, and I love the Muppets Christmas Carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:32]:
The Muppets Christmas Carol is absolutely the best, the the most awesome. Yes. 100%. Hands down, my favorite version to watch. Yeah. Just imagine it imagine it ghost of Christmas present.

Dawn Garrett [00:16:47]:
Yes. Yes. And yes. But when I imagine the ghost of Christmas present, it it would muppet.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:53]:
Yeah. Yeah. So 100%. So, yeah, I think oh, gosh. I can’t even think of when that came out. It had to have been more than 20 years ago. Right?

Dawn Garrett [00:17:03]:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I would think in the nineties, probably. I don’t I don’t remember. But, yes, I I love the The Simpsons Carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:13]:
And it is the one that sticks closest of all of the you know? Now, obviously, somebody reading the audiobook is going to be reading the audiobook. But as far as movie adaptations go, it is the one that sticks closest to Dickens’ actual text. And so that’s a really great one. And then it just has the added benefit that kids love it because it’s the Muppets.

Dawn Garrett [00:17:38]:
Yes. And in some of the movies, I think the ghosts can be really scarily. Marley at the beginning can be really scary and the surrounding ghosts when Marley leaves. But when they’re the Muppets, they’re not nearly as frightening. And so kids can really enjoy participating and yeah. Even even your kids who are tenderhearted and easily frightened, they can manage the methods, which is which is a lot of fun.

Pam Barnhill [00:18:04]:
Yeah. Yeah. And then it’s just, you know, it’s bright, it’s colorful. There’s a lot of stuff going on. You know, you have the Cratchit family as, you know, pigs and frogs. And frogs. And so, you know, it’s great. I love it.

Pam Barnhill [00:18:21]:
I just love it so much. So yeah. This this is actually definitely a plus in our book. Okay. Yes. The 4th reason you might want not wanna do the Christmas carol this year is, you know, you don’t want your kids to enjoy great classics, great stories.

Dawn Garrett [00:18:36]:
Yeah. We kinda touched on this a little bit earlier, but it is one of those entry points. It does draw on fairy tales and mythology and, and the Bible and, and kind of all of those foundational in a really, it’s a short book. It’s really easy to listen to in like 3 hours. So when you’re driving around in your car, it can be on, you have a captive audience, keeps the kids quiet in the car. That’s also a benefit at Christmas time, but it’s like, it is kind of a really good entry point into the classics, especially as you have kids who are getting older and, you know, it’s a great starting point if you want to read more Dickens, which I recommend.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:22]:
Yeah. It is a good starting point to Dickens for sure, which, you know, he’s not always the easiest read. And I think you touched upon something there that is so valuable for homeschoolers, and that is put this on in your car as you’re driving around in November December and you’re running errands and, you know, you’re heading back and forth for those last few weeks of coop or you’re doing some Christmas shopping or or something like that or you’re traveling to grandma’s for Thanksgiving or you’re traveling home from grandma’s, you know, and put this on in your car and use one of those either, like the merry beggars. That one is like a radio show. So there are sound effects and there are different actors reading the different voices, or like a Tim Curry where you have this professional actor who is, you know, doing the story in ways that I, as just a mom, you know, don’t have those voice talents. And so this is gonna be the easy way to do it. And if you’re at home, if you’re like, well, jeez. We’re not going anywhere, then have your kids color.

Pam Barnhill [00:20:25]:
Have them play with Christmas Play Doh. Have them do put together a puzzle. Have them do something with their hands while they’re listening to this story. Serve them hot chocolate. Decorate cookies. Yes. Yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:20:40]:
I mean, there’s, you know, all those fun things. And if you like me, we always drive a lot around December. If you need another audiobook to follow along, can I recommend the best Christmas pageant ever audiobook? It is awesome. Excellent. And go over and take a look at our language arts together plans for the best Christmas pageant ever.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:04]:
Yes. And, actually, I’d like I know this episode is coming out in early November. Dawn’s telling you go over and look. You can’t see them right now, but on Black Friday, they are available for free with any other purchase in the shop. So this is kinda like another gift. This is like a a double bonus gift episode because if you come and shop with us on Black Friday, we will be adding, best Christmas pageant ever, language arts together to your order just just for buying anything during the whole Black Friday sale period. So yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:21:36]:
I think those 2 audiobooks pair well together because the stories are similar enough that you can make a lot of comparisons for how people are treating one another and thinking about other people who are around them, and those are just parts of Christmas at my house. So I always do both.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:54]:
Yeah. Okay. And so then I have to say, I have not seen this movie yet. I do not know It’s a new one. Yes. How it’s going to turn out. But Dallas Jenkins, who is the director of The Chosen, which is one of Pam’s favorite series, he is doing best Christmas pageant ever as a brand new movie this year. He was so excited for the project.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:15]:
And I can remember it was last year. We were driving around in the car one day, and I can’t like, they just announced it on the radio or it was a podcast we were listening to or something like that. Thomas was in the car with me. He was so excited. All of my kids are so excited to see because best Christmas pageant ever is one of our favorite Christmas books. Mhmm.

Dawn Garrett [00:22:35]:
So yay. I’ve seen the trailers, and it looks like it’s gonna be good.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:40]:
Yeah. Yeah. So this is definitely one we’re gonna be hitting in the movie theater. And we don’t go to the movie theater for much. I’m not gonna lie.

Dawn Garrett [00:22:47]:
Us either. Yeah. I agree.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:50]:
Yep. We kinda got off topic, but, yes, great entry. We have talked about all the Christmas things. Great entry into the classics with your kids. Okay. So the last reason you should not do a Christmas carol with your kids this year is because we’re just making it so easy on you to do it. Like and we know you don’t like easy. We know homeschool moms just wanna make everything as hard as possible.

Pam Barnhill [00:23:16]:
Actually, there’s some truth to that statement.

Dawn Garrett [00:23:18]:
Says the little bit. Just the little bit.

Pam Barnhill [00:23:22]:
But this year, we are 100% making it so easy for you to do a Christmas carol with your kids. The explorations, they have art. They have music. We have some wonderful book recommendations. We have a fabulous just some fabulous crafts and all different kinds of things. And we have an opportunity to upgrade for a very small fee to our entire camp Christmas experience, which includes a number of different craft videos and our voyages as well, which allows you to if you’re feeling the need, check the boxes for history and science. And I believe maybe not so much science because lady and I had these big conversations about the voyages for Christmas carols. She’s like, Pam, there’s just no science here.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:10]:
Like, we could study geese and ducks, but I’m not sure. And I’m like, no. No. No. Like, we’re not going to stretch that far for connections for this. And so stewardship is actually what she included. So it has some history, a little bit of geography, and it has stewardship in there as well. So those are the voyages, and that’s that’s kind of the additional add on purchase, but we’re gonna make you a very special offer on that part.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:39]:
But then you get the

Dawn Garrett [00:24:41]:
and you get the Christmas planner that we have. Yes. Yeah. I used that last year and it was so helpful to me because I’m kind of I didn’t wanna do all the things at Christmas time. So Yeah. That was helpful to pare down and make it a little bit more relaxing.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:59]:
Yeah. Yeah. So paring it down. And I love that little Chris I forgot about that. We added that one last year. So Mhmm. Yeah. Great.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:06]:
Camp Christmas includes that Christmas planner, some video activities that you could just turn on for your kids while you are doing other things during the Christmas season. We do have a live event that you can come to as part of camp Christmas where where we kind of kick off the Christmas season. Haven’t planned it out yet because we’re recording this in October, but I will get it it’ll be fun. I promise. And then also those voyages that go along with the Christmas carol. So you could do the free level Christmas explorations. We’ve made it so easy just to bring some delight to your Mhmm. School day, or you can add on for 10 extra dollars and get all the other stuff as well.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:49]:
And, yeah, we would just love to have you join us in any way. And I’m sure there’s gonna be all kinds of conversation in the community going on about these explorations, and, also, we usually have a little contest.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:03]:
You fill

Pam Barnhill [00:26:03]:
out your bingo card and you submit it. And in December, it’s fabulous because it’s a $100. So you can get a $100 Amazon card.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:12]:
Yep. I think we’re doing color by number instead of bingo this year, which should have some really. I’m excited to see what the kids do with the color by number as a little bit different for the game this this year.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:24]:
I love it. So as you do activities, your color spaces in Okay. We’ll post in the community, hey. Come and

Dawn Garrett [00:26:32]:
Share your pictures.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:33]:
Share your pictures, and then you’ll be able to, we’ll just do a random drawing. We do not judge these.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:39]:
We just do a random

Pam Barnhill [00:26:40]:
drawing, and somebody will win. So yeah. Well, Dawn, thank you so much for joining me. This was a lot of fun.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:48]:
Thanks for having me, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everybody does with The Christmas Carol.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:53]:
Yeah. Me too. I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun this year, and I’m looking forward to just dusting off the old audio book and push and play again. So it’s always great for your homeschool. That’s our show for today. Be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave a review so you never miss out on the wonder of home schooling better together. To stay connected and learn even more about the home schooling better together resources and to join our free community, visit hsbtpodcast.com. Until next week, keep stepping out of the overwhelm and into the wonder.