Sunday, November 2, 2008

Early Holiday Planning Meeting

We met last night for a planning meeting. This summer we set things up for the year, with December being the exception. Last year we learned; the hard way; that there is just too much going on that month. Sticking with our idea to have our classes mesh with the month's theme, all December activities & classes are to be geared to the holidays.

I know we've only just begun November, but we HHMamas have to plan it all now. The three of us belong to an artisan co-op, & need to use all our free time (haha did i say 'free time'?) getting ready for a December show.

So what did we plan? For the in-uniform classes they shall make ornaments out of applesauce/cinnamon dough (to give away at a party later in the month,) & they'll build gingerbread houses. The instructions for both these activities will be posted closer to December.

The home-study class is to be a snowflake Potions lesson. We did this last year, & it was too amazing not to do again. The PDF for this will also be posted later. We'll make sure to get it to you before December, so you'll have plenty of time to ready your lessons.

One thing we'll be doing this December, is something Pia came up with last year. Instead of treats for her advent calendar, she had an activity listed for each day. I tried it as well, & not only was it great fun, it didn't add to the gift-frenzy of the holiday season. Her countdown is to Christmas, & mine to the Winter Solstice, but yours can be to whatever you'd like: Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, New Year, etc.

We did do many activities together last December, but this year we're having them mesh with HH whenever possible. When it's not, the kids can do them with their own families, but still have the excitement of knowing the others are doing the same. We are lucky with our HH in that our kids are the best of friends. I think that makes all of this so much more special to them.

Some other things easily Potterfied are: making clove-studded oranges, baking treats, decorating winter houses for the faeries, making soap, rolling beeswax candles for your menorah, or even writing a letter to Santa. As usual, your only limit is your imagination. If you have an activity, or field trip you want to do, but just cannot think of how to Potterfy it, you are always welcome to e-owl us for help.

Make it easy on yourself this holiday season, & incorporate what you'll already be doing into HH. Nothing ruins the holidays like a mama who is too busy to enjoy it herself. If your students are small, don't forget that visiting Santa Claus is very HH - according to my son, he's an even more powerful wizard than Dumbledore :-)

***

We'll be resuming classes this week, so will be able to get back to regular HH lessons & information. Thanks for being so patient!

~Kat.

** Edited to add :: Christmastime is important in the world of Harry Potter. To get into the spirit; or for ideas more closely linked to the story; check out the chapters that take place during Christmas. **

6 comments:

  1. How fun the holidays are looking for us also. I would love to get a list of your advent calendar activities. I am also looking forward to the Snowflake Potions Class.
    I went to the after Halloween sales and got lots of robes and hats. They are in storage to give throughout the year. Dalphina, our fairy witch, sent a new robe and hat to the kiddos last night. She also sent capes and hats for Mom and Dad. I also got great glasses for our Holiday Feast that we will have in December. My husband didn't even blink an eye when I said how much I spent. He knows how much fun we are all having with this great way of homeschooling and we are getting so much more learning occuring with the girls. Thanks for your blog and all the activities. Plan to do the crystal wands this month.

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  2. ooh christina we are jealous of your after-holiday shopping! it all sounds wonderful. as does your non-blinking husband!

    here is a partial list of activities from which to choose: xmas tree shopping & decorating, cinnamon dough ornaments, snowflake potion, gingerbread houses, read holiday books, make gifts for hh friends, candy cane lane, marina parade of lights, visit reindeer at the zoo, holiday movie night, disneyland to see santa, buy & donate toys to the fire house, roll hannukah or kwanzaa candles, make soap, bake treats, make ornaments, read about the history of the winter holidays, make peppermint bark, celebrate the solstice, etc.

    thanks for visiting.

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  3. We are hoping to come up with enough money to go to Disneyland in December also. I like the holiday movie night. Perhaps we will do that several nights as have tons of holiday movies. How do you roll hannukah or kwanzaa candles? Also do you have a good peppermint bark recipe? Absolutely love the stuff but always have gotten it as a gift or at a holiday craft/bake goods festival. This year we are celebrating the solstice with some friends. Never done this in the past but liked the idea. Do you have any good books, websites, etc. for ideas of activities to do with the kiddos? We are talking about decorating a tree outside with food items for the local wildlife and a soup potluck for the humans (: More ideas would be appreciated. Tuesday we are going to a local ceramic painting and glazing place. Going to make our plates for our Holiday Feast. The girls are excited. I also found this weekend at a used bookstore a book about musical activities for the holidays. It had great ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Will tie in with our Magical Musicology class. Keep the ideas coming....and again thanks!

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  4. Yum...the peppermint bark recipe looks really simple. Looking forward to making it. Thanks for the suggestions for solstice books-will start hunting for them at the local library or bookstore. Yeah, we have been debating back and forth about annual passes to Disneyland. Still not sure since the kiddos are not old enough to fly on their broomsticks yet so don't know if we will actually drive down there enough times to make an annual pass worth it.

    We had a absolute blast at our local ceramic painting and glazing place. We get to pick up our creations on Tuesday. We were all talking about what we would like to have happen at our Holiday Feast.

    Dalphina, our fairy witch, delivered to the girls a book called "Fairy Houses." The oldest has been working on a fairy house in the back yard for several days now.

    I told a local homeschool friend about your blog. She is very much a Muggle but her kiddos so want to be in Wizardry School. Been trying to help her look at the great pluses in homeschooling this way. Gave her your crystal wand recipe for Potions. She liked that and told her that you are going to have a Snowflake lesson in the near future. Told her you had other great ideas so hope she will be stopping by here.

    Looking forward to your future ideas....Christina

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  5. thanks for sending people our way christina. i imagine that means i'll need to get posting new information & pdf thingamajigs. :-)

    we have the fairy houses book, & its sequel - both gorgeous books indeed.

    send us a link to photos of your ceramics once you have them at home. we'd love to see what your kids have been creating.

    ~peace, kat.

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  6. Hi Kat,

    I haven't a clue how to send pictures to you about our ceramics (perhaps Amanda can do a lesson or two with me). I'm a little challenge regarding that. But they turned out great and the girls decided that we needed to use them for Thanksgiving. We are talking about returning to make cups or gobblets or such to go with the Yule Feast in December! We also provided the girls with dress robes for the Thanksgiving feast. The whole family was dressed and eating by candlelight. My 8 yr old said "wouldn't it be neat if the candles floated in the air?"

    Professor Flitwick told the girls to make their Wizard Mom some peppermint bark this month as it would be a simply charming surprise (a twist on their Charms class). We now have two fairy houses in our backyard.

    I am also looking forward to your snowflake class. Yes, you have to get busy with posting new information as I just gave your site out to the local librarian. There's many homeschooling families in the area. The librarian noticed what kind of books we were checking out and the girls went on and on about their Hogwarts Homeschooling so... as of Tuesday the librarian has your site to give out to others who are interested.

    We have been working on Christmas presents around our house as many need to be mailed out. Also, took one of your suggestions and we are watching a Christmas/holiday movie almost every day (didn't know we had enough to make it to the 25th but we do).

    Oh yea, how could I forget!!?? We had the pleasure of going to Santa Monica area this last Saturday and we hit Whimisic Alley. Oh my, toooo much fun. The oldest had great difficulty in finding just one item to buy. Got loads of Christmas presents. Also got the Whimisic Alley Book of Spells and already used it on Tuesday (Healing Spell for the youngest's foot). We also got quills with nibs to try for both girls. It was very hard to get out of that store and the lady working there was very helpful and nice!!! We also spent the day at Lake Shrine and Getty Center. What a fun day we all had.

    By the way, my oldest is a great Lupin fan. If you find anything regarding Lupin, I am on a search mission. I found a button at Whimisic Alley but that was it. Perhaps more will come out with the next movie.

    Saturday we are picking up the new HP book. The children asked if we could read it all day on Sunday. How cool is that???!!!! We are heading down to the San Diego area so not sure if we can spend all day reading. Know of any fun stores down in that area with HP, witch or wizard stuff???

    Well time for bed...enjoy the chat!

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