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Jen Merckling

life.unimaginable

Christmas

Samples of Free Christmas Planner Printables

Free Christmas Planner Printables (+ 5 Top Planning Tips)

I’m so excited to share 5 of My Top Holiday Planning Tips with you! And I’ve created the cutest FREE Christmas Planner to help us prepare with less stress! I hope you love it & are blessed by it too! By tackling just a few tasks daily, we can be sure our homes and hearts…

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Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Homeschooling, Lifestyle Tagged With: Affiliate, Christmas, Free Planner, Holidays, Planning, Thanksgiving

The Wise Men Journey Searching for The King is a perfect new Christmas tradition for your family! Countdown to Christmas with this exciting new devotional!

The Wise Men Journey — A New Advent Tradition

You know when God puts someone on your path and they just ooze Jesus–and you are flat out humbled and amazed by the whole thing to your core?  Well that is exactly what happened to me when I met my friend, Lynette Meintjes, while waiting around for my kids at ballet class!  She is amazing….

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Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Homeschooling, Lifestyle Tagged With: Advent, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Countdown to Christmas, Faith, Family Traditions, Gifts, Wise Men Journey

Jesse Tree Post Image

Jesse Tree Christmas Tradition

Preparing for Christmas **Updated from the original 2017 post… I love Christmas–all the decorating, the baking, the entertaining, all of the things… We start preparing 2 weekends before Thanksgiving…that way I have time to put all the boxes away before the weekend of Thanksgiving preparations.  For years, getting our Christmas decor out before Thanksgiving felt…

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Filed Under: Family, Holidays Tagged With: Advent, Affiliate, Christmas, Christmas tradtitions, Jesse Tree

12 Favorite Christmas Books for Kids (and kids at heart)

I love everything about Christmas. All the traditions…all the food…all the music…movies, decorations, lights, parties…All. Of. It.  And of course–all the books! Like the smell of Christmas trees or sugar cookies, Christmas books have an amazing way of whisking us back to childhood–the vivid pictures and words bring it all rushing back. And of course…

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Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Homeschooling Tagged With: Advent, Affiliate, Christmas, Favorite Books

We are all looking for ways to keep Christmas stressfree and joyful! Here are 3 Simple Christmas Traditions to enjoy with your family throughout Advent!

3 Simple Christmas Traditions

  The Holidays.  Why is it that those two words can stir two completely opposite emotions: Joy and Stress? Oh how I want to grab all the joy and leave all the stress behind.  As kids–the holidays were all joy.   It was cousins and cookies and toy catalogs and Christmas carols.  As adults–I think…

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Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Homeschooling, Lifestyle Tagged With: Advent, Christmas, Christmas Traditions, Faith

Check out these free homeschool printables! There's 14 handwriting worksheets of Christmas themed copywork printables for multiple age levels (Kindergarten, Elementary, and Middle School). Even better, the worksheets include coloring pages! Get your homeschooler some writing practice over the holidays with these amazing free resources!!

Free Christmas Copywork Printable–A Heart for Christmas

  The Christmas excitement is tangible at our  house…and a little bit distracting!  It’s hard to stick to traditional lessons, and I know many homeschool families take a lengthy break this time of year. We will be schooling through mid-December—but I like to add in special activities that incorporate the wonder and beauty of Christmas. …

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Filed Under: Holidays, Homeschooling Tagged With: Affiliate, Christmas, Copywork, Free Printable, Homeschool

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Hello! Welcome--I'm Jen! I've got 6 kiddos (including sweet twins) --lots of laundry and always dirty dishes! I've been Jason's wife for 26 years, a mommy for 24 years, and a homeschooler for 20+ years...I'd love to be friends. ♡

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My sweet sister & I just created this adorable Fal My sweet sister & I just created this adorable Fall Coloring & Activity Book for Kids!🍁🎉
Just sweet—no Halloween references…Your kids will love all the whimsical details & fun activities!!🧡 

Link in bio…🥰
🍁Quick Tip: I love planning for the next school 🍁Quick Tip: I love planning for the next school week on Fridays! After we wrap up each  subject, I write out next week’s plan…

🤓I used to plan on Sunday night—but this routine has been so helpful because…
🍁Where we are & what we’re doing is fresh in my head.
🍁It feels faster because it’s broken into small chunks—I plan as we finish each subject & before I put away those materials for the weekend.
🍁I don’t have to drag things out on Sunday—because the planning is already done! 🎉
🍁 I know if I need to grab any supplies over the weekend! 

 #homeschoolplanning #homeschoolorganization
Created a sweet little notebook… Matches my Home Created a sweet little notebook…
Matches my Homeschool Lesson Planner! 👯‍♀️
Perfect for journaling & reflecting…🥰💗 

Details:
7x10 inches, 110 pages, lined notebook 
Available as a matte paperback or hardcover! 
(I like to use hardcover notebooks for Bible study.)💗
This is the loveliest book…💗🪶🪺 Perfect This is the loveliest book…💗🪶🪺
Perfect for the changing seasons, bird lovers, & a bit of history!! 
(Thanks to @readaloudrevival for the recommendation!) 🥰
We can be reluctant to "count" activities that did We can be reluctant to "count" activities that didn't come in our packaged curriculum as "school". 

❤️But so much counts...(I think it may all count??)

(I honestly have a hard time trying to think of activities that don't count as education!)

🎨Here's just a few: swimming, ballet, soccer practice, nature walk, going to the playground, coloring, cutting, video games, reading books together, cooking, chores, dress-up, video creation, poetry writing, imaginary play, documentaries, vacations, the grocery story, Sunday School, camp, museums, legos, collections, lunch with friends, planning a party, and the list goes on & on...

 👀 Watch for the learning that is happening all around you! 

🌻Life is an amazing teacher & there is so much to learn! Our kids know that instinctively--we can trust them to be curious. We can become curious again...
I like to start the year with Language Arts lesson I like to start the year with Language Arts lessons, Math, & one other subject...

(And Language Arts can have lots of parts--so I gradually add in pieces as we gain some confidence in our routine.)

It's okay if you don't have it all figured out on day one, week one, or even month one! Give yourself time to get comfortable with your curriculum.

When I taught elementary school--we spent so much time just going over routines that first week of school! But in homeschooling--we can just bypass all that... 

🥳(Yay for freedom to potty & snack when want--and no thanks to practicing how to "line-up" for 20 minutes)! 

Even once our routine is established--we RARELY do all subjects every day at my house. 

🔥Breaking free from traditional school is more than the leap into homeschooling...It's also breaking free from our ideas of what education looks like, where & how it happens, & how much time formal instruction takes. 

It takes time to make that paradigm shift--give yourself grace as you grow with your kiddos!

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