Hymn Study: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

Another childhood favorite! I remember singing this song in Sunday School and how comforting it was to know that we were in God’s hands. I remember visualizing God literally holding the world in the palm of his hands. Though the lyrics are short and simple it holds a powerful message. We can trust God because he is in control.

He's Got The Whole World In His Hands Picture

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While I was very familiar with the lyrics of the song, I knew nothing about the background of the song. My research revealed that this was an African-American spiritual. The song would have first been passed down orally and had multiple variations both in the text and the tune. However, as the song began being printed in various hymn books it became more standardized.

4 He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands. . . .
He’s got the whole world in his hands.

The repetitive nature of this song makes it a very easy one for children to memorize and sing along with. It also lends itself really well to hand motions. We always enjoyed using our fingers to symbolize rain or pretending to rock a ‘little bitty baby’ in our arms when we sang this song growing up.

This song lends itself well to adding a bit of nature study by talking about the Earth or the wind and rain. You could even add extra verses to the song about other things that we know God has ‘in his hands’.

If you want to add a little art to this study, you can check out the He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands lesson with Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels.This is a fun way to engage your little artists in hymn study or your musicians in art. You have access to this lesson if you are an You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member You can also have them draw what they see in their minds as they listen to the song. For young children you might trace their hands and do some type of hand print art work.

I hope that you have enjoyed this study and join us each month for a new hymn study!

Hymn Study Resources:

Lyrics and Background

He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands (sung by kids w/ scrolling lyrics)

He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands (Mahalia Jackson)

He’s Got The Whole World in His Hands (Choir)

Song with video (Laurie London)

Download Your Freebies Below!

Hymn Study Fact Sheet

He’s Got The Whole World Copywork

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This post may contain affiliate or referral links, including Amazon affiliate links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Deals and Freebies

$10 off $10 coupon for Evan-Moor Books makes for some great deals or maybe even a freebie!

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

If you are looking to add some new electives or switch up some of your classes, SchoolhouseTeachers.comis having a great sale and you can get a whole year for $99, that is over 400 courses to use with all of your children for one low price.

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

2020 Book List and Plans

I got really slack about tracking my reading in 2019, so much so that I honestly can’t tell you if I met my goal or not. I am hoping to try and go back and figure out how many books I read, but for the moment I am just looking ahead to 2020. I love the feeling of a new year, such a clean slate and a chance to refocus. I am working through my goals and plans for the new year, and will post more about that later in the week but today I thought I would share my reading goals and some ideas for books to get you started on your reading goals for 2020.

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2020 books — The Start of My Reading Stack for 2020

I was very blessed to get a great stack of books for Christmas this year from my mom and my husband. I am hoping to use that stack, a few books that was already working on, and a great new Bible study book that our church is using to get started on my goal of 24 books in 2020. I have also created a very simple tracking sheet to log my books so that I do a better job of keeping track in 2020. I have included a link to the tracking sheet in case anyone else would like to log the books you read in 2020.

I am currently reading The Hobbit with my oldest son and then we plan to dive into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy together. While I do not count books that I read to my children among my list, we are each reading our own copies and discussing these books. It has been a good experience for us so far and a great bonding experience. Since I am enjoying the shared literature with my son, I am thinking about adding Little Women to my list and having my daughter read it along with me. She is going with a friend to see the movie this week, so I think that will peak her interest. (Just in case you want an audio version, this is my favorite audio version of Little Women.)

One other book that I am counting that will involve my children is Core 52. Our church is going a study this year using Core 52 and I picked up a copy for our family. It seems to be a great way to study the Bible in about 15 minutes a day. I am hoping to include the readings in our morning time as a way for us to go deeper into the Bible together. I will be continuing to use Mom Heart Moments for a personal time in the morning. I read the selection and Bible verse that is included and then go into the Bible and read the chapter or sometimes chapters surrounding that verse for context and study.

On the homeschool front, I was very excited to get Better Together and Plan Your Year both by Pam Barnhill. We have been doing a morning time off and on for years in our homeschool but I felt lately like I needed to revamp our time and I am excited to see what she has to say. I hope to glean some new ideas and some encouragement for the hard days. Next year I will have a child in ‘tot school’, a child in elementary school, a child in middle school, and a child in high school. I know that it is going to take some strategic planning to make sure that we get time together as a family as well as all of the time they need to be learning their individual subjects. I am looking forward to reading Plan You Year for some ideas and suggestions for streamlining my planning while still meeting everyone’s educational and relational needs. I also began reading Homeschool Bravely this year and look forward to finishing it. I am also very excited that Sally Clarkson has a new book, Awaking Wonder, releasing later this year that is focused on homeschooling! You can pre-order it from Amazon and be guaranteed their lowest price between now and launch day. This also often means you will get it delivered to your door on launch day.

For my personal growth, I am going to be reading Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons and When Less Becomes More by Emily Ley. In today’s world, it can seem like all we do is rush from one thing to another. There are so many ways we can use our time and it can be easy to over commit. I am looking forward to reading these books and seeing that ideas and strategies I can glean for simplifying our daily lives and adding rhythms to my days that will as the tag line states, ” trade stress and anxiety for a life of peace and purpose.

I encourage my children to explore various hobbies and to continue to learn and grow. However, I recently realized that I had stopped modeling that behavior in my own life. So I picked up the book Respect the Spindle along with a drop spindle and wool and plan to try to learn how to use a drop spindle to make yarn. This will tie in well with our history interpreting and my daughters weaving hobby.

Finally, my husband gave me an adorable book called My Favorite Christmas. This book includes stories from a variety of famous personalities about their Christmas memories. I plan to read a few of these over the next few days and probably finish it during the 2020 Christmas season.

I know this list does not include 24 books. I like to leave room on my list for books that I see as I go along. I have been asking for recommendations on my Facebook page and hope to incorporate a few of those books into my list as well. I am trying to include a variety of books from religious to fiction. I would love to know what books you recommend or what books you are planning to read this year.

2020 Reading Tracker

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Deals and Freebies

$10 off $10 coupon for Evan-Moor Books makes for some great deals or maybe even a freebie!

Little Women is only .99 on kindle right now! (Amazon prices subject to change always check before purchasing.)

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

What Does A Weary Mom Need? Rest or Recharge (and a free printable)

Sometimes, as mothers, we feel so very weary. Whether it is from the baby who won’t sleep, the toddler who is into everything and doesn’t slow down all day, or the teen that is pushing boundaries and learning how to handle the influx of hormones; we are tired, drained, and overwhelmed. When I feel that way, I typically try to find a way to rest and get more sleep. Sometimes a nap or a good night’s rest is just what our bodies need. However, through the years I’ve come to realize that sometimes what I need most is not actually rest, but recharging.

rest or recharge graphic

Sometimes that weariness is more mental than physical. When I am mentally weary, I may still feel physically weary but sleep does not replenish me in the same way. I can get a good night’s sleep and still feel weary in the morning from the stresses of life. In those times, I need to make a conscious effort to do something that will recharge my spirit.

Recharging will look different for different people, and honestly sometimes, it looks different for me from one time to the next. Sometimes I need to sneak out to the front porch with my Bible and a hot drink and just spend some extra quiet time with God. Sometimes I need to lose myself in a good book for an hour or two. Other times I need to draw energy from friends and family. While it may seem counter-intuitive, when I spend time watching my children play with family and friends, share hot cocoa and conversation with my mom friends, or enjoy a fun family tradition like driving around looking at Christmas lights; it recharges me and encourages me in the mundane.

I encourage you to take a few minutes today to think about the things that ‘fill your cup’. What activities give you renewed hope, energy, and joy? Make a list of the things that can recharge you and keep it in a place that you refer to it when you are weary. Then whenever you need to be recharged you can pick something off of that list to help you. This can also help you as you determine what extra activities to accept and which ones to turn down. For example, a big Christmas party might drain you but a quiet dinner with friends might recharge you. For some people taking their children to a parade and watching their excitement would recharge, for others it would drain. Only you can determine what is draining and what is recharging. Sometimes, we have to do those things that drain us but when we recognize the difference it makes it easier to find a good balance and fill our cups back up after we have poured them out.

I hope that you are able to find things that will emotionally recharge you during this season and throughout the year. I have included a free printable that you can use to make your list, simply click on the link below to download and print the template. I would love to hear ideas about what you do to recharge, please help others by sharing in the comments.

Rest and Recharge Template

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Deals and Freebies

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Pack with reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

Reflecting on 2019

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Some technological glitches left me searching my Prime Photos account for pictures to go on my Christmas cards. This unexpected task turned into a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all of the wonderful things that we did and the memories that we made in 2019. Life often seems hectic and days with a toddler and a teenager can sometimes feel challenging and stressful. However, looking back at all of the pictures reminded me our times hanging out around the fire pit in the back yard, swimming and playing at the river, fun field trips, family dinners, cookie parties, hikes, camping, fellowshipping with volunteer groups and so much more. 2019 has its challenges but amidst all of them, there were wonderful memories being made.

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Tacos were a weekly occurrence and almost always a favorite!

I want to encourage you today to take a few minutes to reflect on your year. No matter what hardships or challenges you faced (or are still facing), take time to think back to the memories that you made with your children and the fun that you experienced. You might look back through your pictures or sit down with your children and start talking about what they remember from this year. Hopefully one memory will lead to another until you have a long list of fun times in 2019. I think when the days are challenging and life is busy it can be a challenge to remember and be thankful for our blessings. Looking back over the year is a great way to refocus our hearts on gratitude and prepare for a new year.

Since we were talking about reflecting on 2019, I decided I would also look back on my blog posts from 2019. I have included links below to favorite blog posts and curriculum reviews. These are a combination of favorites based on my opinion as well as those that were favorites of my readers based on blog statistics. I would love to know how you reflect on your year.

Favorite Blog Posts of 2019

Hymn Study: Away in a Manger

Hymn Study: Silent Night

Gift Ideas For Your Budding….

North Carolina History Resources

How to Get More Out of Your Nature Walks

Exploring Hobbies on a Time and Money Budget

Real Life Fitness and a FREE workout video!

Getting Our Mornings Going: Quick and Easy, Protein Packed Breakfasts

Favorite Curriculum Reviews of 2019

Goldtown Beginnings Series by Kregel Publications (Review)

Smartick Math Program (Review)

LitWits Kits Review

Evan-Moor’s Skill Sharpeners Critical Thinking (Review)

Brain Blox Wooden Planks (Review)

The Secret of the Hidden Scrolls (Book Review)

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Deals and Freebies

All About Learning has released the best deal of the day: A FREE Snowman Packwith reading and spelling activities for a variety of ages.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Smartick (check out our full review here) is offering a 25% off discount if you use this referral link! Elizabeth is still loving this program.

A Christmas Journey and Activity Book (Review)

*I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I am not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this according to FTC regulations.*

We often use a Jesse Tree style Advent plan with the children in December but I wanted to change it up a bit this year. I was blessed to receive a copy of Kayla Jarmon’s A Christmas Journey with the accompanying activity book to review.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

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We read the book together (it has nine chapters and discussion questions for each chapter) over the course of a couple of days. If my children had gotten their way, it would have all been read in one session! They were really enjoying the story of dog, deer, opossum, and all of their woodland friends. The story was written in rhyming verse with cute illustrations sprinkled throughout the pages. While it is a fictitious story of how woodlands creatures help a lost dog find its new owner for Christmas, it teaches real lessons about friendship, doing the right thing, and working together. I would recommend it for preschool and elementary-age children but my middle school children enjoyed listening along as I read it aloud.

inside book

The activity book consists of 24 days of activities, with each one having a short devotional thought, a scripture, a Christmas song suggestion, and a family activity. For example, day six talks about faith and then gives several scripture readings, including Acts 7 and 1 Corinthians 15. The song for that day is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and the activity is to take turns leading family members blindfolded around the house. This gives a simple demonstration of faith, as they must follow the directions in faith. The website provides links to the song’s lyrics as well as other resources to help with the activities.

We continue working through the activity book, but the children enjoy it! We have made paper chains and angel wings. We did a cookie experiment with salt and sugar and are working on friendship bread. Each day discusses a new topic, including faith, forgiveness, God’s Sovereignty, and more.

Overall, this is a simple but engaging way to do our Advent study this year. We spend about twenty to thirty minutes a day working on it as a family. I highly encourage you to check it out at Kayla Jarmon’s website or Amazon.

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Do What You Can, When You Can

Years ago, I learned a lesson from FlyLady that made a huge difference in my ability to keep the house reasonably clean ( with four kids it is never perfect). I learned that I even if I didn’t have the time to do things perfectly, I needed to do what I could with the time I had. For example, I might not have time to deep clean my entire bathroom in the morning but instead of doing nothing I can do a quick clean of the toilet and wipe down the counters. This concept was so beneficial for my home, but it took me several more years to realize that I needed to apply the same concept to our home school and family activities.

For a long time, I would get frustrated when I didn’t feel like I had time to complete all of the fun activities that I had found. Sometimes I would start out strong and then life would happen and we would get behind on our Advent projects or our read alouds. Sometimes I would try to catch up, but often I would get so frustrated that I just didn’t do anything.

Over the last couple of years, I have been working towards doing what I can, when I can. In other words, using the time that I do have to the best of my ability and not quitting just because I can’t do it perfectly. This might mean shortening a lesson or even skipping a day but continuing to try because, I know that we will gain so much more by doing what we can. This might look like only getting to 15 days of our Advent study (but that is a lot better than quitting after 2 or 3 because we missed a day) or reading only part of a picture book before we have to move onto something different.

As I was writing this post this week, I had an opportunity to live out what I am sharing. On Thursday, I was sick with some gallbladder issues and accomplished nothing more than sitting in my recliner with a heating pad and checking a few of my son’s math problems. We didn’t listen to our music, we didn’t read a Christmas book, we didn’t do our Advent study. I could have easily let that derail my plans but I made a conscious choice to just keep going. We can skip that day of music, read an extra book today and pick up where we left off with our Advent study.

Don’t let what didn’t get done ruin your day or your week. Don’t not do what you can because you can’t do it all. I pray that during this busy holiday season and throughout your school year, you are able to do what you can and let go of what you can’t. That instead of letting a missed day (or week) stop you from doing anything you just keep going. When we focus on what we can and did do instead of what we didn’t it can turn our home school day around and set us back on the right track.

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Deals and Freebies

Tuttle Twins is currently offering a HUGE sale of 75% off their books, workbooks,and audios. This is a great series for teaching about economics and government.

If you have not tried SchoolhouseTeachers.com, you don’t want to miss this sale! I have multiple reviews on the blog about different courses we use from them. This is an amazing price for an entire year for your whole family and lots of really neat bonus gifts! Simply click on this link and use code: 19GIFTS

If you are looking for a fun way to encourage reading this summer, check out the FREE summer reading materials from Your Morning Basket with Pam Barnhill. The passport and reading bucket list are a great way to encourage reading!

Homeschool Complete is offering a special 10% off discount to my readers! Just use code: SWAG

Evan-Moor is offering their Daily Fundamentals book FREE right now to help out during this time.

Get a FREE Literature Kit from LitWits using Code 11READ4FUN. We are currently enjoying the Heidi kit but have also previously loved the My Side of the Mountain kit.

IEW is offering some great free resources right now.

FREE Baby Yoda Art Lesson from Nana!

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Happy Thanksgiving and Deals and Freebies 2019!

We have enjoyed reading Cranberry Thanksgiving, passing out some sweet treats to folks who serve us, sending cards to family members, and filling up our gratitude jar with all the things we are thankful for. Tomorrow morning, after my older children and husband participate in a 5K race, we will enjoy Cranberry Cream Cheese French Toast at our house and then spend the evening celebrating over turkey with all the ‘trimmings’ with our extended family. However, you celebrate I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

There are so many great deals and freebies going on this week for the ‘Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales. I wanted to go ahead and get this information in your hands today as I take tomorrow off to enjoy a time of Thanksgiving and fellowship with my family. There are some great deals going on over the weekend on various homeschooling and family related items. I hope that you enjoy some time with family and friends, good food, and much thankfulness. I am thankful for my readers and all of your support as we journey together. I look forward to connecting with you again next week. Your shopping through our affiliate links blesses our family greatly by helping to fund the blog. Please feel free to share this list and add any other great sales in the comments. You can also check out the sales thread on Facebook at Dawn Peluso, Schoolin Swag for the latest sales as they come up.

Black Friday-Cyber Monday Deals (be sure to read my comments some of these deals are only active on certain days over the weekend)

Just added

Musik at Home: $29 Off a 1 Year Membership with Code CYBERMONDAY2019

Productive Homeschool Notebooking New ProSchool LIFETIME members will save $30 on their membership -AND- receive these 3 bonuses:

ProSchool Page Generator (lifetime)
ProSchool Publisher (1 year free)
Mom’s Tool Belt Membership (lifetime)

My personal favorite is the great sale we are running on my husbands book! Purchase any two directly from us for only $18 including shipping in the US and they will be autographed.

Homeschool in the Woods is having a great bundle sale starting Friday and going through Cyber Monday! I’m really tempted by the file folder game library!

I have no idea how long this will last but Amazon is doing a 3 for the price of 2 book sale with some great selections, including many books that were already significantly discounted.

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

You Are An Artist is having a 2o% off sale on all video art courses and ebooks (excludes memberships) from 11/25-12/2. We love their courses. They make great gifts for your little artists.

YWAM has a special 50% off collection on some really great biographies now through December 15th!

Monday Dec. 2nd: Fit2B is having an AWESOME 60% off ecourses, Premiums will be $100 off, First month free for basic access, 1-Year will be $109 and Swag will be 40% off for Cyber Monday December 2nd! There are some great online classes and memberships to help you as a mom (even classes you can do with a baby). They also have an excellent class that I recommend for health education for girls. This course talks about various aspects of growing up such as hygiene, menstruation, etc. but DOES NOT get into physical intimacy.

Not Consumed is having a great Black Friday Sale:

EVERYTHING is on sale with deals starting at just $9! No coupon needed. Prices are already discounted.
ALL Bible Studies are $10 if you buy 5 or more! $13 if you purchase less than 5. This applies to softcover studies only. Discount is automatically applied at checkout.
Free shipping on all US orders of $25 or more.
You will receive a FREE GIFT with EVERY ORDER! (while supplies last)
DIGITAL PRODUCTS will be on sale for Cyber Monday. Stayed tuned for that.

Amazon has some great Black Friday deals all week long! Including some great deals on Kindles.

Tuttle Twins just announced their Black Friday Sale! $45 for All 10 Tuttle Twins books ($88 value)

Our 10 Activity Workbooks ($50 value)

Each Audiobook to listen along ($85 value)

New book on successful alternatives to college ($15 value)

Crosswired Science is having a big sale. You can get a full year for only $17.95 using code: blackfridaysale

Amazon Prime 30 day FREE trial. If you do not yet have Amazon Prime this is a great time to try it for free for 30 days! Get your Christmas shopping done with free shipping, enjoy Christmas music and more.

The 2019 Lego Advent Set is on sale right now for only $23.97. If you are looking for one grab it soon because they typically sell out! If you have younger children, the Little People Advent set is on sale for $24.99 which is 50% off (deal of the day 11/27).

Evan-Moor: 20% off Holiday Gifts/Activity Books/Flashcards

The Green Ember is only $2.99 on Kindle or free with a KindleUnlimited Trial

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is having a Deal Round-Up!From Now through Dec. 2nd you can take advantage of any of these four sales from this year! You can choose from a BOGO annual membership, a discounted one year membership, quarterly rates, or monthly! Simply click this link and use the one of the codes below.

SHARK (Yearly BOGO for $169)
NEWYEAR19 (Yearly for $90)
LASTCHANCE (Quarterly for $29.95)
UNDERTEN (Monthly for $9.95)

Gifts For Mom:

$40 off your first HelloFresh Box

Starts Friday! Invest in Your Faith Mini-Bundle: (Only $7 for 10 products worth over $200!)

Starts Friday! Self-Care Mini-Bundle: ($11.97 10 products worth $231.89)

Crystal Paine is offering 50% off all of her courses! Whether you want to Makeover Your Mornings, Save Money on Groceries, or Start a Blog she has you covered with some great courses.

40% off Online Rehab with Tummy Team. This sale runs from 11/29 through 12/2. This one isn’t specifically home school related but so many mamas are struggling with this that I wanted to share. Please feel free to message me with any questions and share this post with anyone that might be interested. If you are struggling with diastasis or pelvic floor issues the Tummy Team has some great online PT programs. I did their Core Foundations and saw a huge improvement and I’m going to do the prenatal crash course. I know this can be an issue for a lot of mamas so I figured I’d share. I’m happy to answer any questions about my experiences.

$10 Sign-Up Bonus for Ibotta and they are doing some major savings and rebates starting today. Great way to save money on the things you are already buying.

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Hymn Study: Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger Pinterst

Earlier this week I shared about a hymn study on Silent Night. Normally we focus on one hymn each month, however, since we alter our schedule in December to focus on holiday studies I wanted to do a second hymn study. Away in a Manger is a fun song that is easy for even young children to learn.

Some folks attribute this carol to Martin Luther but most modern scholars agree that it was not Martin Luther that wrote the hymn. No one is sure exactly who did write the hymn, but it is believed to have been written for children and is thought to have probably originated in the United States.

*Some of the links in my posts may be affiliate links see below for more information. *

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head;
the stars in the heavens looked down where He lay,
the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.

I work with the preschool age children at our church and we enjoy learning this song each year with simple hand motions. They will point to the sky for stars, lay their head on their hands when we talk about the baby sleeping, and hold their arms across their chests and rock like they are rocking a baby when it says no crib for a bed. You could come up with your own motions to help young children learn the words.

If you have a hands on learner, they might enjoy this simple nativity craft. We simply took graham crackers and “glued” them together with a bit of icing. Then he decorated them with colored sugar to make our stable. There are also a variety of more complex versions on Pinterest that include various figures if you wanted something more detailed.

If you want to add a little art to this study, you can check out the Away in a Manger lesson with Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels.This is a fun way to engage your little artists in hymn study or your musicians in art. You have access to this lesson if you are an You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member or you can get that lesson through the Christmas Course. (This course and all of her courses excluding the membership are on sale this week.) You can also have them draw what they see in their minds as they listen to the song. What do they envision that long ago night to look like?

I hope that you have enjoyed this study and that you take some time to enjoy a variety of hymns during this wonderful season!

Hymn Study Resources:

Hymn Lyrics and Sheet Music

Away in a Manger (Casting Crowns)

Away in a Manger (Kids Version)

Away in a Manger (Pentatonix)

Download Your Freebies Below!

Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Away in a Manger Copywork

Resource Library and Affiliate Disclosure

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Deals and Freebies

Evan-Moor: 20% off Holiday Gifts/Activity Books/Flashcards

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

You Are an Artist: 20% off All courses and bundles (except membership) 11/25-12/2

Crystal Paine is offering 50% off all of her courses!Whether you want to Makeover Your Mornings, Save Money on Groceries, or Start a Blog she has you covered with some great courses.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Christmas School 2019

Somehow November seems to have flown by, it is hard to believe that Sunday will be December 1st. I have been taking a little bit of time today to gather my thoughts and plan out our December school schedule and activities. Each December, I like to change things up a bit and do ‘Christmas School’. It is such an exciting and wonderful time of year and we like to incorporate the holidays as much as possible into our school days. This helps us enjoy the holiday even more by allowing us to do more of the fun activities. Also, by not trying to do all of our regular school and the Christmas activities, we can help avoid burnout and overwhelm.

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As my children have gotten older, I do have them continue with some of their regular studies. My Kindergartner will be doing Christmas math from a variety of fun resources but my sixth and eighth graders will continue with their regular math curricula. One of the math activities that my son is very excited about is Christmas pattern blocks from our Crafty Classroom pack. For history, we will continue to study North Carolina history but make a point to focus on holiday traditions of the time period.

For reading, we are going to focus on lots of fun Christmas books. We will be reading aloud some of our favorite picture books, listening to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and reading aloud The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. There are so many good books that we can never get through them all and we always add at least one new (or new to us) book to our collection each year. This year we added Christmas with Anne and Merry Christmas Strega Nona. Cranberry Christmas is a family favorite that we make sure to bring out every year. You can check our more of our favorite books at A Cozy, Book Filled December.

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I am also very excited to be doing two new advent activities. First, I was blessed to receive a copy of Kayla Jarmon’s A Christmas Journey to review. We are looking forward to reading the book together (it has nine chapters and discussion questions for each chapter) as well as completing the activity book. The activity book consists of 24 days of activities, with each one having a short devotional thought, a scripture, a Christmas song suggestion, and a family activity. For example, day six talks about faith and then gives several scriptures including Acts 7 and 1 Corinthians 15. The song for that day is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and the activity is to take turns leading family members blindfolded around the house. This gives a simple demonstration of faith as they must follow the directions in faith. As we get started with this program, I plan to write a full review but I wanted to go ahead and share a little bit so that you would have time to check it out and get it before Advent starts!

The second activity we are going to try is called The Traveling Wisemen: A Christmas ADVENTure. Years ago, when my older two children were younger, we tried the whole “Elf on a Shelf’ thing. The children loved it but I was tired of finding places for him to hide and honestly, I felt like it put way to much emphasis on the wrong part of Christmas. I know it works for some families, but it wasn’t working for us. So we stopped using the elf but this year my daughter really wanted to bring the elf back for the younger kids because she remembered having lots of fun trying to find him each morning. I did not want to bring back the elf, but I was open to an alternative that allowed them to enjoy the hunt but with a different focus. There are many options available but we are excited to try The Traveling Wisemen: A Christmas ADVENTure. With this program, you purchase the book and use your own wise men to hide each day. The children will know that they aren’t magical but will still have the fun of finding them and seeing what silly antics they have done overnight. My daughter has agreed to take on responsibility for hiding the wise men each night. You can use your own ideas of they have this website with some suggestions. I am hopeful that this allows us to have the fun of the elf but with a focus on Christ (and the best part for me is that I am not responsible for remembering to move them each night.)

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I love using this time of year to get in a bit of extra art time. We will be using a variety of lessons from Nana at Chalk Pastel’s Christmas Video Art Lessons and Nutcracker Lessons. The Christmas lessons also go along very well with our hymn studies. In addition, because we have a clubhouse membership we can enjoy some lessons that coordinate with Handel’s Messiah to add in some music to our studies. We will also be doing various crafts and projects to give as Christmas gifts. My daughter is working on weaving some items for her dad and brother, knitting a hat for our youngest, and sewing some adorable fairy pillows for a few cousins. If time allows she may also make some ornaments using the lesson in Gifts to Make and Give. In addition, I am using some of the plans from The Activity Room with Hands on As We Grow to set up some fun art projects for my youngest two children.

My daughter has been working on learning how to play Silent Night on her violin so that she can play at the nursing home. The song was one that was recommended by her violin teacher and she has been really enjoying learning how to play. I decided that we should expand that learning with a hymn study. You can join us for this free hymn study: Hymn Study: Silent Night. In addition, we love the song Away in a Manger and I am putting the finishing touches on an Away in a Manger hymn study which will be published later this week. Last year we did December Hymn Study: O Holy Night.

Finally, I plan to include some of the fun videos and lessons from SchoolhouseTeachers.com. Their Christmas corner has lots of great videos, lesson plans, copywork, and poetry for Christmas and Hanukkah and we look forward to fitting in several of those each week. They are having a great sale this week and it is a wonderful time to give this program a try! We use a variety of courses from them each year and enjoy the flexibility.

I hope this gives you a few new ideas for incorporating Christmas activities into your December schedule. I would love to hear more about what activities your family loves! Share your ideas and plans in the comments.

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Hymn Study: Silent Night

Christmas Carols are among my favorite songs! I love the hope and joy of the season and the lyrics of the carols provide precious reminders of the reason we celebrate. I am excited to be sharing about Silent Night today because it is one that I have sang since my childhood.

In learning more about the origins of this song, a couple of things stuck out to me as being really interested. The first, is that the song and accompanying music was written in just a few hours on a Christmas Eve night in 1818. The second interesting fact I learned was that the words were originally accompanied by guitar music. We typically think of pianos and hymns being the accompaniment during that time period but this song was first sung with a guitar.

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Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
’round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent Night was written as a poem by Joseph Franz Mohr who then asked his friend Franz Xaver Gruber to write the music to accompany the lyrics. They then performed it that night in a little Austrian chapel with the choir. The song took many years to rise to popularity but it is now considered a national treasure in Austria and cannot be sung publicly prior to Christmas Eve each year. ( I encourage you to read more about this history of the hymn.)

My daughter has been learning to play Silent Night on her violin and is planning to perform for some residents at a local nursing home. We are going to use the copywork pages for this song as well as listen to a variety of different versions of the song. For something a little different, I think we may sit on the porch one evening with a little cocoa or cider and listen to the song, before sitting quietly and watching the stars. I think this would be a great chance to slow down and really think about what it must have been like that night so long ago.

If you want to add a little art to this study, you can check out the Christmas Star lesson with Nana from You Are An Artist Chalk Pastels. (There is even a 20% off sale this week on her courses.) This is a fun way to engage your little artists in hymn study or your musicians in art. You have access to this lesson if you are an You Are An Artist Clubhouse Member or you can get that lesson through the Christmas Course. You can also have them draw what they see in their minds as they listen to the song. What do they envision that long ago night to look like?

I hope that you have enjoyed this study and that you take some time to enjoy a variety of hymns during this wonderful season!

Hymn Study Resources:

Hymn Lyrics and Sheet Music

Hymn Story

Silent Night (with lyrics)

Silent Night (Alan Jackson)

Silent Night (Kelly Clarkson)

Silent Night (Classical/Choir Style)

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Hymn Study Fact Sheet

Silent Night Copywork

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Deals and Freebies

Evan-Moor: 20% off Holiday Gifts/Activity Books/Flashcards

Apologia has a new FREE Christmas/Advent E-book!

You Are an Artist: 20% off All courses and bundles (except membership) 11/25-12/2

Crystal Paine is offering 50% off all of her courses!Whether you want to Makeover Your Mornings, Save Money on Groceries, or Start a Blog she has you covered with some great courses.

Free Makeover Your Morning 5 Day Challenge! This is a great way to help re-focus and get your day off on the right foot.

Harry The Happy Mouse (Free on Kindle)

Illustrated Would You Rather Book (Free on Kindle)

Enrichment Studies has a great free fine arts memory match game this month!

Free Help Your Child’s Memory Book from All About Learning Press!

Hymn Study Resources:

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