The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas (Revisited) ~ Day 2 Boxwood Swags and Wreaths

Welcome to Day 2 of "The 12 Days of a Simple Christmas". This is a repost from the simple Christmas we had in 2010. Yesterday we talked about the tradition of the Bayberry candle. Today we are talking about fresh wreaths and swags.

In Colonial days, the families made their own fresh wreaths and swags. We don't have any evergreen or pine trees in our yard. (I could go across the street and cut some off the neighbor's tree, but stealing is frowned upon, especially at Christmas.) But, we do have boxwood bushes. Boxwoods are a very popular bush here in the Midwest. They can be used to decorate a mantle or twisted into a pretty wreath.

I like these ideas ...

And this is a great idea! You could also do other words (such as NOEL) and even hang in windows instead.

Here is what I did on our mantle in 2010 ...

This was an easy decorating option. This year we used the extra clippings off our Christmas tree to decorate our mantle.

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Cells ~ It's What's for Dinner

Dawson made edible cells on Friday. He made an animal cell pizza ... and a plant cell chocolate chip cookie ... He reviewed what he's learned about cells the past two weeks, and I had dinner made by someone else. Win, win!! I am linking up at Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

ABCya

Eli's reading resource teacher shared a website with me yesterday that I would like to pass along. It's called ABCya . There are separate educational sections with fantastic games for ages kindergarten through 5th grade. I browsed the 2nd grade level, and it includes age-appropriate games about Letters, Numbers, Shapes, Geometry, Patterns, Mouse Manipulation, Art and Holiday games. There are lots and lots of fun and creative games for children to play. They are fun, but oh, so educational. Eli's favorite, in his short time playing it, was Create a Car . A lot of the games also have Apps available for purchase (99 cents for most of them) for the iPad and iPhone. I have been looking for another free website for games similar to Starfall , for some time. I think I have found it. I can feel confident having Eli and Brynne play these games.

How to Build a Homeschool U.S. History Curriculum from "America: The Story of Us"

FINAL UPDATE (JUNE 2012): We completed our entire U.S. History course last month using the America: The Story of Us video series and the resources I had planned. We officially covered Episodes 1-9 which got us through the 1920's. We plan to use the remaining three videos when we study the World Wars in a couple of years. I just want to go on record as saying that I believe whole-heartedly that the use of this series with my resources would more than qualify your child for a full credit of U.S. History. And, it was exciting and enriching. Feel free to follow all of my lesson plans. You can see them all at this link: http://journey2excellence.blogspot.com/search/label/America%3A%20The%20Story%20of%20Us Update: America: The Story of Us is now available as an InstaStream through Netflix! We also had it available at our local library. If you didn't receive a complimentary copy, you won't have to pay the $30 for it! Many of us received a complimentary copy of "...

Journey to Excellence

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