Celebrating Advent in Your Homeschool

   *Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission for any purchases. However, all opinions are my own.*
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    As a Christian, I want my children to remember that the real point of Christmas is to celebrate when Jesus set aside his deity to become our Emmanuel (God with Us). The fact that he humbled himself and came as a vulnerable human baby, and a poor one in a manger at that, is the greatest example of his sacrificial love for us besides the cross. During this season, I want to point my children to Him. 
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    Years ago, when I used to go to MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers), I heard a children’s pastor share how to center our children on Christ during the holidays. She recommended a book called The Family Book of Advent. A few weeks later, I saw it on sale for only $1.99 in the Christian Book Distributors Catalog. I wasted no time in ordering it. Unfortunately, it is no longer being printed. (I guess that’s why it was so cheap!) You can, however, still find a few copies on Amazon, ranging in price from $12-$16 new or $3-$8 used. Here’s a link: 

Family Book of Advent

    If you can get this book, I highly recommend it! If not, I want to share with you the very first activity in the book. Get a bottle of clear colored soda. Whisper to your children that you have a surprise and take them outside. Then tell them this: “The children of Israel were waiting for a Messiah (shake bottle really hard), and they waited (shake the bottle) and waited (keep shaking). They were so, so excited (shake some more), and they kept asking, “When? When will he come?” (shake bottle every time you say when) They waited longer (keep shaking), and waited some more (shake again). Finally, it was time for the Messiah to come!” Now open the bottle and let the surprising mess delight your kids!

    The point is to let your kids know that you understand their excitement - and so does God! The most exciting thing about Christmas though, is that Jesus came!

    That’s just one example of the great activities in this book. Along with the book we also do an advent wreath. I grew up Methodist and have fond memories of lighting the advent wreath every Sunday. In our house, though, we light the candle every day at every meal. You can easily make your own advent wreath if you have a Hobby Lobby nearby. They sell advent candles with the appropriate colors as well as inexpensive table wreaths and embellishments. If you are unfamiliar with the colors in an advent wreath, they are:

    Week One:  the hope candle (purple)
    Week Two: the peace candle (purple)
    Week Three: the joy candle (pink)
    Week Four: the love candle (purple)
    Christmas Day: the Christ candle (white - ours is larger and sits in the center of our wreath)


    The order can vary, and sometimes the love candle is called the faith candle instead, so make changes if you’d like. The point is to celebrate Christ throughout the month of December. 

    In our family, we read that days’ devotional from The Family Book of Advent at breakfast, then we light the first candle as we say a little rhyme. I wish I could tell you where I got the rhyme, but I don’t remember. My mom used it when she taught kindergarten at a Christian school. Since I can’t give credit, I won’t include it, but a simple Google search brought up many prayers you can say with your kids as you light the candles. Then, we sing that old children’s Sunday school song “Peace Like a River,” because the verses all correspond with the Advent candles! “I’ve got hope for the future . . . I’ve got peace like a river . . . I’ve got joy like a fountain . . . I’ve got love like the ocean.”

    At lunch and dinner, we don’t do the devotional, just the candle lighting, rhyme, and song. Every single year, I am skeptical that the hope candle will make it, but every year it does! (Kind of fitting, isn’t it?) When my entire family, including my parents and siblings, sit down for Christmas dinner at our house, we light the wreath, finally lighting the Christ candle. 
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    I’m always surprised at the number of people I know who have never done an advent wreath. Maybe it’s because I have a lot of friends who grew up Baptist or in a non-denominational church. Rest assured that you don’t have to be Catholic or Methodist or any other specific denomination to try an advent wreath with your family. Lighting one used to be common practice in many cultures, especially in Switzerland and Sweden. 

    However, if you don’t want to mess with making a wreath or lighting candles, another option is a Jesse tree. I have many friends who have done a Jesse tree, though I have never done one myself. Ann Voskamp has a devotional to go along with a Jesse tree called Unwrapping the Greatest Gift that looks really good:

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift

    To make a Jesse tree, you can get an actual tree (I know some families who get a small, table top tree) or you can make a poster of a tree. Recently, there have also been kits for sale to do a Jesse tree. Here’s a helpful youtube video:

    Another idea is, instead of doing Elf on the Shelf, do one of these options instead: (Disclaimer: I am not anti-Santa, though some of these products may have that flavor. Each family should do what they feel is best according to their conscience. We do Santa in our house, though we don’t do Elf on the Shelf. I do not judge anyone for how they choose to handle Santa one way or the other. However, I firmly believe you can do Santa and still keep the focus on Christ. It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other. That’s my two cents on the matter.)

Shepherd On the Search

Angel on Assignment

    Finally, there are advent calendars. These can be made of simple cardboard, felt, or they can be more elaborate and made of wood. Each day, you open a door to find an item inside. We all probably know about the ones with candy inside, but there are also faith-based ones in which each door reveals another piece of a nativity scene. 

Kurt S Adler Wood Advent Calendar

Felt Nativity Advent Calendar

    No matter how you choose to do it in your home, all it takes is a little planning to point our children to the true “reason for the season.” Merry Christmas to you and yours!