Christianity & Homeschool: Birthday - It's the Time to Celebrate!
Planning a birthday for your home-school child takes a lot of thought and planning. After all, it is the most important day for you as well as your child. The most important element is the birthday cake. Your home-school child may not have a group or class of children studying along with him or her. However, you can still ensure that the few children who study with him or her in the home-school or the neighborhood will join the celebration.
Bake a cake for your home-school child instead of ordering one from the bakery. Decorate the study room with balloons and other decorative pieces. Your home-school child may have other home-school friends online who are constantly in touch with him or her, sharing notes and other educative, informative materials. These students will also email your home-school child and wish him or her many happy returns. Make your child acknowledge those wishes and also make him or her keep a record of the birthdays of his home-school friends, so that he or she can also wish them well during their birthdays.
You can also symbolize your home-school child's growing relationship with God on his birthday by choosing a perennial flower, shrub or a bush that you can plant at home. Girls might love a baby rose or violets while the boys might prefer a spider fern or a cactus. As a loving parent, you can talk with your child about the achievements they have done so far before turning a year older. Ask how his or her home-school studies are faring and if there is any way in which you can help. If you do not want to throw a party at home for your home-school child, you can take him or her and some friends along to a big restaurant and throw a party there. You can also take a group of home-schooling children for a picnic where your child, as the host of the evening, can cut the cake in front of friends and well-wishers.
On your home-school child's birthday you can cook his or her favorite meal. As for gifts, you can give anything from a home-school encyclopedia, a favorite CD or a favorite book. If you cannot decide on anything particular to gift your home-school child, then you can give him or her a gift certificate to a favorite shop or eatery. You can even send your home-school child a happy birthday greeting card or a letter which says how special a child is he or she for you, and have it sent to the home. You can even find out how well your home-school child has improved on his reading and vocabulary skills as he or she reads your loving letter.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Home Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.
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