My kids are really into storytelling. More lately, I have noticed. Although they make up their own silly stories, they are not always looking for a new story to tell. The other day, my oldest was telling the Creation story aloud as she was setting up her spelling tiles.
Last night my kids were begging me to tell the stories of their births. Our family does the tradition of telling the story of each child’s birth on his or her birthday. They beg to hear the stories over. And over and each other’s stories, too.
I know we are not alone in the practice of storytelling. We all are natural storytellers to some extent. Storytelling is a large part of our daily lives, even when we don’t realize it. Books, movies, cartoons – even the news we watch – tell a story.
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Storytelling
A large part of how we organize our thinking and express new ideas is wrapped up in narrative. We, as storytellers, decide how to tell the story, what characters to include, when to reveal major plot points. And we color our stories with metaphors and similes, dialogue, and repetitions to make them more memorable.
Our kids are natural storytellers, too! They come by it naturally. Kids come running in from playing outdoors to tell a five minute story about a one second event – jumping off the swing for the first time. They already know how to build suspense, how to delay the big action of the event until the end and quickly end their story with a short denouement. Offered breathlessly, these simple stories are helping kids to rehearse events. By retelling the events of a story, they are moving events to their memory banks – for long term storage. Years later, they may not know every little detail, but they will be able to rehash some of the broad strokes of the story – painting a picture for the hearer.
The Story of the Birth of Jesus
Each Christmas for the past 8 years we have worked through the story of the birth of Jesus in a similar way. We have rehearsed elements of the story – the grand redemption story, the simple stable story – to remind us of the reason for the holiday season. Thus, my older kids can tell the story, not because they have read it once or twice, but because they have rehearsed it.
This year, I teamed up with a group of homeschool bloggers to bring you a series for this holiday season. The Homeschooling Fun Through the Holiday Series will bring you lots of fun ideas, encouragement, and simple activities to make this holiday season shine! And I wanted to bring you into our tradition of telling the story of the birth of Jesus.
This year I am doing our Christmas storytelling tradition a bit differently. I am working through it inductively.
What is Inductive Study?
Inductive study is a method for studying the Bible (or anything) where the student asks questions of the text to make observations. These observations, made without commentary, help us to interpret the Scriptures accurately. And with proper observation and interpretation done, we can apply the truth of Scripture to our lives. These three steps – Observation, Interpretation, and Application – are what make Inductive study special. You can read more about Inductive study here.
Inductive study is not hard to do – not at all! In fact, it is so simple our kids can do it! As parents/teachers we can simplify the greatest story of all time simply by asking questions. When we do this, we can help our kids to tell the accurate story for themselves.
Over the next two weeks, I will be sharing our inductive study for kids series called The Story of the Birth of Jesus. Look for a new post each day to walk your kids through the Christmas story in your devotions this month. Each post will examine one portion of the Christmas story, asking questions to help you and your kids dig into the Scriptures this season. All you need to do this study is a good, accurate version of the Bible.
If your kids are too young for this family Bible study, I recommend you take a look at our Jesse Tree for young Toddlers. For kids ready for a bit more of the story, but not quite ready for “study” I recommend Egermeier’s Bible Story Book.
A Song to Inspire
I humbly hope this will be a treasured time for you and your family. If you have questions along the way, please leave comments on the individual posts, so others can learn from the questions and answers!
I can’t conclude this introduction without sharing with you the song in my heart as I begin this series:
I love to tell the story;
‘Tis pleasant to repeat
What seems each time I tell it,
More wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story,
For some have never heard
The message of salvation
From God’s own holy Word.
I love to tell the story;
‘Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and his love.
I wish I could find an upbeat version of this song to share with you! I have sweet memories of singing it in the church where Jesus brought me to Himself. The music director sang this song (and others) with such joy. It is a joyous song and ought to be sung with fervor – in my opinion.
More Homeschooling through the Holidays FUN!
As I mentioned above, I have joined with some amazing homeschool mama bloggers to bring some serious holiday fun your way. Each day for 12 days each blogger will be working on a series to make your homeschool holidays shine. Check them out here:
- Fun Homeschool Holiday Activities by Living Life and Learning
- Christmas Around the World Activities by Teaching Without Chairs
- 12 Days of Grab and Go Holiday Lessons by Schooling with Grace
- 12 Days Of Holiday Success For Your Child With Autism by Our Crazy Adventures in Autismland
- Sweet Christmas Activities by The Organized Homeschooler
- 12 Days of Christmas Printables by The Successful Homeschool
- 12 Days of Christmas Learning Lessons & Activities by When You Rise Up/Skrafty
- 12 days to tell the Christmas Story by Simple.Home.Blessings.
- 12 Days of Serving Others by Blessed Homeschool
- 12 Days of Christmas Math Games and Activities by Homeschooling 4 Him
- 12 Days of Winter Unit Study Packs by The WOLFePack
- 12 Days of Advent Traditions & Printables by Whole Child Homeschool
- 12 Days of Christmas Activities and Christmas Worksheets by No Stress Homeschooling
- 12 Healthy Mom Hacks for the Holidays by Julie Naturally
- 12 Days of Holiday Organizing by Vegas Kids Zone
- 12 Days of Christmas Ornament Making Fun by Whimsy and Purpose
- 12 Days of Simple Christmas Activities by Thrive at Home
- 12 Days of Christmas Traditions in Great Britain by Captivating Compass
- 12 Days of Creativity for Christmas by Beyond the Stick Figure
- 12 Days of Family Game Nights! By Taking Flight Homeschool
There is also a Facebook group to join to find other homeschool moms who are looking to make the holidays more fun, too. And there’s a party on the 16th…and a GIVEAWAY! That it is a LOT of fun, huh?
