Christmas Workboxes - Pt. 2

Two books featured prominently in the kids' workboxes over the last week or so.

DD (8) throughly enjoyed Christmas around the World, by Mary D. Lankford. In the first section of the book, the traditions of twelve different countries are highlighted, with each country receiving a two-page spread. The countries covered are Australia, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, The Philippines, Sweden, and the United States (Alaska). The second part of the book features crafts from window stars to pinecone pine trees (to be attempted this week--wish us luck!). A glossary of terms from advent to yule, a pronunciation guide, a list of Christmas superstitions (e.g., wearing new shoes on Christmas Dy will bring bad luck), a bibliography, and an index fill out the remainder of the book.

I gave an unabridged copy of A Christmas Carol--Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, by Charles Dickens, and gorgeously illustrated by P.J. Lynch, to DS (11) to read over the course of last week, and it made its way out of the workbox up to the top bunk in the boys' room, which is always a good sign. When the book was finished, DS read a short biographical sketch about Dickens from abcteach and answered some reading comprehension questions to go along with it. Now I'm searching to see if there is a "real" biography of Dickens out there that is both engaging to and appropriate for an almost-twelve-year-old. Two I'm looking at are Tales for Hard Times, by David R. Collins, and Dickens (The Great Writers), by Nicola Barber.

A couple of read-alouds this week: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, by Frank L. Baum (oh, the rich language in this one!), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, by Dr. Seuss, to prove to DD (8) that the Grinch is not as scary as Jim Carrey's creepy interpretation in the live action movie, which she has never seen except in commercials. But she did get completely freaked when the Grinch slithered his way across the screen in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade one year, and that was it--no more Grinch for her. I'm hoping that the read-aloud combined with the gentler animated version from 1965 will get her past her prejudice, as the story is one of my all-time holiday favorites.

Workbox Wednesday, Christmas edition, Pt. 1

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds,

While Mom ran around, going out of her head. . .

A familiar scene to many homeschooling parents, and workbox users in particular, I'm sure. ☺

Tonight my mission was to get Christmas copywork up and running, and, by tinsel, now I can rest . . . for the moment.

For this round of copywork, I gathered quotations and parts of poems, Christmas carols, and prose to use for DS (12 in January) and DD (8). While I pulled largely from the internet, I did check sources when I could, and included authors and publication dates as available. The font size is larger than the Thanksgiving copywork I posted for some reason--Microsoft Word tells me both documents use the same size and font, but I beg to differ. Anyway, if anyone would like to use these secular Christmas selections, please do so, and let me know if you have any problems downloading them.

Christmas Copywork

Workbox Wednesday, Columbus Day edition

They're not all related to Columbus Day, but here are some highlights from last week's workboxes:

Kumon Let's Cut Paper pages

Melissa & Doug World Map Floor Puzzle

Three ships coloring page

Asterix the Gladiator (soon to be followed by others in the series)

The Discovery of the Americas tells more than just the story of Columbus (authors: Betsy and Giulio Maestro)

Draw Write Now, Volume 2

Animals Christopher Columbus Saw by Sandra Markle

Latin worksheet and flash cards

What serves for logic these days: Mind Benders from Critical Thinking Press

Workboxes are still making our days run pretty darn smoothly, though the almost-five-year-old has lost a bit of interest, unless there's play-dough or Playmobil in his boxes. But he did come running when he heard Jim Weiss reading Story of the World this afternoon (Rome finally fell today, YEAH!), and his conversations are still full of words like "illustration" and "adjective," so I think we're okay.