One of our favorite Christmas carols is Angels from the Realms of Glory. Notice how wonderfully it tells of the reactions of the different witnesses to the Messiah's coming: the angels, the shepherds, the wise men, even Anna and Simeon in the Temple. This is Rembrandt's Simeon and Anna in the Temple. Angels from the…
As we mentioned the other day, one of our Thanksgiving traditions is to talk about the things we are thankful for during the feast. Today was kind of different. Usually there is a slow start, then an increasingly interactive conversation about all of God's blessings. Today when we asked the question, "What are you thankful for?" everyone…
Yesterday while I was writing about our Thanksgiving traditions for this blog, I looked up George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation in preparation for suggesting you share it with your family. As I read it, I felt increasingly sad. George Washington thanked God "for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed." I thought…
We just love Thanksgiving! What a wonderful holiday! Leading up to the day, we teach our children great hymns of Thanksgiving, such as "We Gather Together," "Come Ye Thankful People, Come," "Count Your Blessings," and "Now Thank We All Our God." We particularly love "We Gather Together," because it was a Dutch song of the proper…
This is probably the most popular of the Thanksgiving hymns! Come, Ye Thankful People, Come Words: Henry Alford, 1844 Music: George J. Elvey, 1858 Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be…
A few years ago, we used the book Jotham's Journey during the Advent season to build up anticipation for Christmas. The children loved it, so the next year, we used the sequel, Bartholomew's Passage. That one seemed a bit more contrived to me, but it was still a lot of fun for the children and…
This is another favorite. This is a Dutch hymn written in 1597 to celebrate a great victory, 23 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth! Since the Pilgrims lived for a time in Holland, it's especially appropriate to include in our Thanksgiving hymnbook. We Gather Together Words & Music: Adrianus Valerius English Translation: Theodore Baker,…
Get Encouraged as the Holidays Approach Hal & Melanie are the final speakers for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo: Fall Event, November 11-13th! This seminar series is Christ-focused with talks that will inspire and motivate you to prioritize, organize, and create lasting memories with your family. With 35+ speakers and 50 seminars this set is…
We've got a lot of veterans in our family, myself included, so we like to recognize them on Veterans' Day. Someone asked a question recently about this particular veteran, so I thought I'd share the story today in honor of intrepid young men doing their duty all over the world! We talk about Admiral David Farragut…
I was just listening to the 1812 Overture on WCPE-FM, our local classical station (you can listen online - I've tuned in from Saudi Arabia before). It struck me that even if he doesn't like "classical" music per se, that's one piece most males connect to. Any orchestra with an artillery section is worth a…