20 Years of Homeschooling a Houseful

15 November 2007

Christmas Do's

Every Christmas I dread the influx of "stuff". With 12 people living here, a little becomes a whole lot in no time. For years I have focused on gifts that get used up, or don't take up physical space. Examples of these would be any type of lessons, art or handiwork supplies, gift certificates for movies, skating, or the zoo. This year, though, I want us all to focus on gifts that come from a heart of servanthood. For financial reasons, I also wanted to focus on "doing" instead of "buying".

Here is a list of a few "do's" that I'm giving (or wanting!) this Christmas:

1) A completed "honey do" list....this is what I'm telling my husband I want most of all.

2) Cookies of the month club for my brother with a sweet tooth...with a certificate listing the types and which months they will arrive.

3) I'm saving a "meal" each night with our current supper and freezing it for our daughter away at college. She can take a month's worth of home-cooking back to school.

4) My teen daughters are giving free babysitting coupons for a friend with young children

5) My two oldest boys are giving our elderly neighbor the gift of a shoveled walkway this winter.

6) My husband works for the county plowing snow in the winters and one man always meets him with a treat...coffee and cookies, hot chocolate and brownies...sometimes even a Diet Coke. The thought means a lot to my husband. I know he works extra hard to do a good job at their house.

7) My mom likes to light her fireplace and was buying expensive "fire starters". My kids made her some sweet smelling starters from cardboard egg cartons, filled with cotton dryer lint or sawdust, and poured melted leftover candle wax on the top. We stick in a little piece of wicking or kitchen string.

8) With so many sweets around holiday time, it always amazes me how happy people are to get a loaf of homemade whole wheat bread. It's a simple gift, but tied with a piece of ribbon you have lying around, people really love it.

9) I'm an avid bread baker and I'm giving away "lessons" to a group of friends that have been asking for years to learn all the secrets. We can all get together for a fun day of fellowship, and I'll teach them at the same time. Most everyone has a skill they can teach to someone else.

10) My teens are making a "tree" house (doll house) for my little ones by cutting rings from a large downed tree and using them as "platforms" for rooms. They used part of a branch with a fork for the main base and then nailed on the platforms. They left the bark on, but then sanded and sealed it all. We got the idea from a Doug & Melissa doll house. Then they made acorn people for them to play with (some look like fairies). Very cute. I realize not everyone has access to the woods...but gifts from nature are fun for little kids. A corn cob doll is more of a novelty than a "real" one.

11) My husband hates cold winter mornings while I'm refreshed by them. I'm giving him the gift of a warm car by going out to start his car before he gets in for a long morning commute.

12) A gag gift for a young man who drives a lot (perhaps not the most tasteful!) is a can of Bush's Baked Beans and a convenience store gas card...with a note that says we are giving the gift of gas.

One other fun family activity that we do every Christmas is to play the game "Pass the Pigs". We each bring a wrapped "white elephant" and whoever wins the round chooses a gift. When the gifts are gone we begin "borrowing" from others. It is so funny to see the gifts opened at the end. One particular elephant gets creatively rewrapped every year to disguise its true identity.

I hope these inspire you to give from the heart this season.

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About Me

When I was a young mother and homeschooler over 20 years ago, I searched for a mother of many as a mentor. I found a few women along the way that helped me with parenting, but I was blazing my own trail for the most part with homeschooling. I see now how God used that situation to draw me closer to Him. It also forced me to develop my own vision and legacy of homeschooling, rather than simply copying the plans of another. Other than simple teaching experience, I have been mostly heavily influenced by the philosophies of Charlotte Mason and Thomas Jefferson Education (Oliver DeMille). I have read extensively about all kinds of homeschooling, and have enjoyed or endured brief forays into other methods. Later, as more books were available, and especially when I went online in 1993, many doors for fellowship and sharing ideas were opened. Now that I have moved into a new stage of mothering (no babies or toddlers, children moving out and marrying), I wanted to capture some of those things I most wished I had known when I had a houseful of small children. I want to encourage other moms to "stay the course". I have never regretted these years spent homeschooling. It was the best decision I have ever made. I now know that choosing a philosophy and curriculum need not be the basis for educating my children. God gives the vision, and we just need to get out of the boat and start walking toward Him.