Homeschooling My Kinetic Kids

It's December, which means it's time for Christmas cookie baking!  It's also a great time for some adorable, Christmas math work!  Continuing my cookie theme for yesterday, I've got some fun cookie math activities for you.  Like many of my other themed math printables, these little counters should fit in an Altoid tin for easy transport to Grandmother's house or anywhere else your travels take you.



The PDF includes Christmas cookie counters in three styles- trees, gingerbread men, and snowmen.  Kids can use the included numbers to build a number line and place the correct number of counters under each number.  If the child is expected to add counters for the numbers 1-5, they'll need 15 items.  If they're doing 1-10, they'll need 55 counters.  Be sure to give kids the correct number, so they can figure out how many go under each number without any extras.



The three different counters mean that it's very easy for kids to work out three-digit additio…

Supplies
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- 2mm thick felt in cream and red

- 1mm thick felt in white and brown

- scraps of 1mm thick felt in orange and black

- sewing threads in black, orange, white, cream, and brown

- hand sewing needles (or sewing machine)

- straight pins

- packaging tape

- sharp fabric scissors

- polyfil stuffing (optional)

- printed pattern (scroll to download)


Cut the Pattern
After printing the pattern pieces, cut each of them out individually and lay them on the table in front of you.  I like to use the packaging tape to adhere the pattern pieces to the felt before cutting them out.  It makes it so much easier and the tiny parts don't get warped by using pins.  If you're more comfortable using straight pins, then use them.  Cut them out according to the following guide-

RED- cup sides and bottom (1 per cup)

WHITE- cookie frosting (1 per cookie) and marshmallow (q per cup)

BROWN- don't cut anything yet

CREAM- 3 cookie rounds for each cookie




Snowman Cookie Faces
To make the ado…

We don't have snow on the ground yet, but my kids are anxiously awaiting that day.  Now that it's almost Christmas, they're getting even more impatient.  It's a great time for some snow learning activities, while they're still eager to spend all day inside.

This snowflake building activity is perfect for a busy bag and helps kids strengthen their pinch grip.  Because it uses Q-tips as a creative material, it's cheap and easy to reproduce for a large group, too.  Bring a baggy of them to a restaurant, family dinner, or appointment to provide some easy STEM work whenever you need a few minutes of fun.

It's such a simple activity, but one that allows kids to use their imaginations to make different things.  Challenge them to make faces, shapes, letters, objects or whatever you can think of.  The kids can make something for you to guess.  When the q-tips start getting worn or dirty, just replace them with new ones!




> > > Click Here to Download the Prin…

I am a huge fan of My Froggy Stuff, a doll collector and crafter on Youtube.  She has been inspiring me to create (or make lists of things to create) for several years.  I am always eager to check out her channel and see what she has created recently.  I'm never disappointed with her creativity and skill.

Since it's almost Elf on the Shelf season (December), I thought this would be a great time to post a big roundup of Froggy's videos that can be used for elves as well as dolls.  If you're like our family and use a Barbie doll for an elf, then you're even more golden, because you can make the items without any need for resizing.  I've broken down the content by type: Food, Clothing, Accessories, and Doll Rooms.  Click the colored text and pictures to go to the content.




Christmas Cookies
Whether you're setting up a homey cookie baking scene or leaving milk and cookies for Santa, a set of miniature cookies is almost a requirement for a Christmas elf.  Froggy&…

// Gather 'round, ye children, come Listen to the old, old story Of the power of death undone By an infant born of glory Son of God.  Son of Man // - Andrew Peterson
The four weeks before Christmas is usually a very busy time of parties, concerts, events, performances, shopping, baking, wrapping, planning, eating, bustling, mailing, and more.  The busyness of the season is one of the biggest reasons why our family has chosen to count down the days with an Advent Wreath.  We sit in the dark, quiet our hearts, light the candle, and sing a hymn.  It's a beautiful remedy to the materialistic focus of the month.

Today, I'm guest-posting at the Hess Un-Academy to talk about our Advent Wreath tradition.  I have also given a suggestion of Bible readings to correspond to each Advent candle, so you can gather with your family every night until Christmas.  To get all my Bible reading suggestions and grab a free printable for your family, click the link.

> > > Get the Free Printabl…

My husband has been telling us for weeks that we wouldn't be getting Disney Plus, since he didn't think we needed another video streaming option in the house (perhaps you've had similar discussions in your family).  Then, he started hearing about Mandalorian, the D+ exclusive Star Wars series, and how well done it is.  He signed us up for the free trial, and we watched the first two episodes as a date night.  He was hooked!  The next day, he bought the Ruku stick to watch Disney Plus on our TV.

Since it's almost Thanksgiving, I thought this would be a great time to make a list of Christmas movies that you can watch on Disney Plus.  Besides, we already have our tree up, so we're ready for some snuggly family movie nights.  Scroll to the bottom of the post for more movie night ideas!




Santa Buddies
My kids enjoy movies with puppies in them, so this video is exactly the thing they like to watch.  Addition videos in the series include Search for Santa Paws and Santa Paw…

This year, our family has been enjoying "Our Star Spangled Story," a living history style curriculum for early elementary kids.  Every day, Skimmer (age 7) asks to do history class and is disappointed when I tell him we only have a few lessons a week.  All three kids are remembering quite a bit of history.  We have a large US map on the wall of our kitchen classroom and have been working on geography a bit as we learn about each new place.


We're now in about the 1840's and did a chapter about the Industrial Revolution.  The book focused on cotton and the process of getting cotton from the plant to the fabric and contrasting the labor of working by hand vs the efficient mechanization of factories.  Since we live in a part of the country where cotton isn't grown, we watched a few Youtube videos.


Handpicking Cotton

The above 1948 documentary shows sharecroppers picking cotton and how important "King Cotton" is/was for the automobile industry.  There's …