More Homeschool Advent Sites

I found even more great homeschool Advent sites.

Thanks to Homeschooling Coach (@HomeschoolCoach on twitter) for letting me know about her wonderful Advent devotions.

Check out Piney Woods and her lovely Advent devotionals.

Homeschooling Moms blog also has a list of excellent Advent links.

Please take the time to look these Advent resources. Redeem Cristmas from the shopping madness/over-indulgence holiday it has become. You and your family will be glad that you did.

Advent Calendars

I know that I am blogging about this past the official start of Advent but I feel that our family has been so blessed by celebrating Advent that I would like to see other homeschoolers join in even now.

I ended up making an Advent calendar because I wanted one that had lift-the-flap with pertinent Scriptures underneath.

This creation of mine took place after I spent time at the library and online looking for Advent ideas.

I wanted to include some Advent calendar links to get you started. Remember, it does not have to be too fancy or perfect in every way, just a method to help you count down to the most important event in the history of the world- the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Lent and Beyond -very cute, innovative ideas (muffin tin advent calendar). You may need to be bit crafty for many of these.

BBC Online -an online calendar with poetry, music or Bible readings for each day of Advent.

Family Fun always has good craft ideas and Advent calendars ae no exception. If you wanted to, you could find a way to add Scripture to the project along with or to replace the candy suggested.

TeachingMom has (of course) a wonderful, very educational Advent calendar along with many links and great ideas for celebrating Advent.

Christian Book Distributors, my favorite Christmas and Advent store has Advent calendars you can buy and have in just a couple of days with rush shipping. I have listed a few below.

Advent Calendar on DVD 2: Christmas Carol Edition

Advent Calendars


I hope you find something you can use!

Related posts: Advent Products At CBD, Our Advent begins, Homeschool Advent sites

Homeschool Advent Sites

Want some great homeschool advent devotions and resources? I have found a few good ones. It is never too late to start your advent celebration, even if you are not in the very beginning. Any Advent devotions that you do will bless your family and enhance your celebration of Christmas.

Advent devotions and studies are a wonderful way to teach Christmas in your homeschool.

Here are some Christian Advent links:

Lent and More features the most comprehensive list of links for Advent that I have yet seen. From here, I found many other wonderful sites.

The wonderfully talented Miiko, a fellow homeschool mom blogger, has on her site a very comprehensive word-study based Advent devotional for families, Eleanor Zweigle's Advent Study, that I downloaded. Just amazing how gifted some ladies are with teaching God's word simply and helping others understand for themselves.

Finally, many of you know that I am doing a unique Advent series based on Handel's Messiah that I put together from the Stand Firm Site. If you have a chance, take a look at some of the Handel video posts on this blog along with the accompanying Scripture. This makes a nice evening devotional plus we are learning about classical music appreciation at the same time.

View our most recent advent devotion, day 8 My Redeemer Lives.

Advent Devotion Day 8 Video- My Redeemer Lives

More beautiful music from Handel's Messiah with even more beautiful words from Scripture.
Today, we will split the video and verses into two parts.

Part 1 Scriptures are Job 19:25

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth

1 Corinthians 15:21-22

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

The kids were especially interested in how the soprano voices were slow and quiet for v21 but very upbeat and loud for v22. What delightful music to end each day.

If you have not looked, I added a Handel music bar for your listening pleasure while you are reading this blog. It is in the left sidebar.

Have a blessed evening!

Advent Celebration: Handel's Messiah Video Day 5

Today's devotion was particularly moving. We watched part 4 of the 6 videos in this series. The main verse for today was Isaiah 53:4-5 (vocabulary- iniquities, transgressions; lessons-why Jesus came and died for us, the power of Old Testament prophecy- my kids were amazed that these verses in Is 53 were written long before Jesus was born). It is amazing that I have listened to Handel's Messiah for years and never even known what the words were! The words are so powerful that we are all being changed by this study. Reading the verses in two versions and then hearing them sung with such emotion is just indescribable.

Watch and enjoy.

Advent Celebration: Handel's Messiah Video

Today, we started our devotion with the third video in this series from the Messiah by Handel. We watched only the first part today, corresponding to Isaiah 9:6. How wonderful to hear the prophecy of our Savior's birth and triumph sung so powerfully.

I took this opportunity to teach my children the power of the Scriptures, even when one hears them in a language one does not know. You may have heard reports of the amazingly emotional response of the Chinese to a large performance of Handel's Messiah earlier this year. Many were bought to Christ as a result. I recounted the story of God's transforming love through music and then had to add this sad footnote to remind us of our freedoms- Handel's Messiah is no longer allowed to be performed in the country of China. Chinese officials also noticed what happened and the growing Christian church in China is viewed as a threat to the Communist leaders.

So as we sat in our cozy home, watching our lovely Messiah video for free and with complete freedom, we were reminded that there are others not so fortunate.

Please pray for Chinese Christians. May this video inspire you.



See our prior Advent Post with Handel's Messiah video, Day 1, here.

Advent Celebration: Handel's Messiah Video 2

Today's Advent devotion and accompanying Messiah video focus on two key Scriptures- Isaiah 40:5

And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

and Malachi 3: 2-3.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

I especially enjoyed the musical rendering of Malachi 3 and reminding me about the "refiner's fire" was appropriate for me. I spent some time explaining refiner's fire to Chase and I was surprised at how easily he grasped the concept of God's purification through trials sometimes. View the video below.



View our Advent devotions for Day 3 and Day 1 with the accompanying Messiah videos.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Advent Celebration Begins

This year, I felt the Lord leading us to commemorate his birth in a more meaningful way than in year's past.  We are celebrating Advent and it has already been a blessing. It is very helpful for our whole family, parents and children, to be reminded of the "Big Picture" of the story of redemption revealed in the Bible.  Now that Christmas is coming, we are mindful of the place of the birth of Christ in this glorious  tale of our salvation.

I have created a multimedia, musically-themed Advent celebration for our family.  From a unique study presented on the site, Stand Firm, I got the idea of tying some of our daily studies to Handel's Messiah.  Handel's signature work is a story of God's redemption of mankind and includes the singing of Scripture passages.

Each night, we lift the flap on an Advent calendar that I very simply created using foam-core board, construction paper, ribbon and stickers, to find that night's Scripture verse. I could not find a calendar that would allow me to incorporate Scripture. My son reads the verse from his NIV and then I read from the KJV (the language of Handel's Messiah ).

Next, we watched the video together which everyone enjoyed.

Our Scripture for last night was Isaiah 40: 1-5.

Although some of the videos of the Messiah referenced on the Stand Firm site are no longer available, I found others that conveyed the beauty and majesty of this grand story of redemption that I was looking for online.

Here is our first video from last night's devotion:

Look for our future "Advent Celebration" posts. Jump ahead to Day 3, Messiah video.

Advent Resources at CBD

Join me in celebrating Advent this year! As a child, we celebrated Advent. As I grew older, I forgot about the tradition of Advent as I avoided religious rituals of any kind.

Today, I realize the importance of some rituals and I want to pass down a reverence for the reason behind Christmas to my children. I like the Advent calendars and books from the
Advent Store at CBD.

Check it out and see if there is anything that might help you and your family celebrate Advent. I recommend you use the "look inside", "look close-up" and listen/watch previews to help you choose the best Advent products. Rush shipping is available.

Here are my top picks:

Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration By James C. Dobson, C.R. Swindoll, J.M. Boice & R.C. Sproul

Advent Calendar on DVD 2: Christmas Carol Edition

The Nativity Advent Calendar

Getting Ready for Christmas: A Daily Advent Prayer & Activity Book for the Family By Yolanda Browne