Preparation for the Course
Your Daily Plan
Your Daily Plan for Advent
These lessons are designed to be enjoyed by the whole family, and to easily fit into your daily schedule. Each lesson is only 20 minutes, so you can easily find time to gather together to enjoy these life-giving stories, beautiful artworks and uplifting music. Perhaps you might do a lesson during breakfast every day, after your family dinner, or before bed. We’ve even included audio recordings so you can enjoy the stories in the car or as a bedtime audio book.
If you are a homeschooling family, you can easily integrate these lessons into your school day at home. Maybe after breakfast you can gather around for these readings and narrate, and use some of the verses for copywork.
The online course has been divided into short lessons for each day of Advent, but you can do multiple lessons in a day if that works better for your family.
Don’t stress if you can’t get to everything included here! If life gets hectic, just dip into the lessons where you can, knowing that even just a few artworks enjoyed, and 3-4 Nativity stories listened to and some family prayers and discussions will do much to focus your hearts on the Christmas story.
The Online Course Structure
Mondays and Wednesdays
On these days you will read a Nativity Story, and look inside an illuminated manuscript page by Willem Vrelant. These are all available as audio lessons.
Tuesdays and Thursdays
These are “Picture Study” days where you look at beautiful artworks by Giotto and Fra Angelico.
Fridays
On Fridays you will read stories about the lives of the artists, and look into how illuminated manuscripts are made.
Saturdays
Saturdays are for your guided lesson on how to create your own illuminated manuscript page. You will need about 30-45 minutes to complete each illuminated manuscript page.
Sundays
Each Sunday of Advent features a special family prayer you can say together.
Every day
We have included videos for sacred music you can listen to for every day of Advent that ties in with the theme of the nativity stories for that week.