Our Homeschooling Journey: Christmas Arts Project

Christmas is fast approaching. When I was young, my Pa used to create parols for our classroom. Every year he would come up with a new design. He even created one our of plastic straws and chip bags. That has become our yearly tradition until I graduated. Even though it's been a long time since he last made our Christmas Parol, I still treasure those moments when I was his assistant on his Parol projects, and how I beam with pride whenever my classmates admired his handiwork.

Now that I have a kid, I share the same fascination of Christmas decorations with her. I always tell her about Lolo's Christmas stories. During our Philippine studies, we discussed about the festivals celebrated on each region. One of those was the Parol Festival in region 3. After our discussion, I let her watch videos of the gigantic parols on display. She was so mesmerized that she said she also wanted to design her very own parol.

Of course I encouraged her and had her think about the design she wants to make. I instructed her to make it as colorful and vibrant as she possibly can and when she's happy with what she came up with, we'll go ahead and create a small version of the parol.

We used popsicle sticks, construction papers, art papers, glue, glue gun, scissors, markers, and coloring materials. Each component of this parol was done by her. I only took care of the hot glue part.

As part of our mindfulness habit formation, I let her look at her design a couple of times, then asked her what needs to be done to get the idea translated from paper to the parol skeleton we made. Each component of this parol was done according to her direction. I made this a part of her Araling Panlipunan quarter exams and Arts quarter exams as well. Being such, I had to restrain myself from helping her out except for the parts that need adult supervision.

In the middle of the parol is a drawing of a colorful star. She wasn't happy with the way she drew her stars before. I found an ebook What to Draw and How to Draw it. It contains step by step illustrations on how to draw a lot of things from a tent to a lighthouse and so much more.

Little by little our mini parol took shape. I hot glued a stand underneath the parol so we can put it on top of our Christmas tree. Somehow, we manage to always forget to buy that tree a topper. It's a good thing our little one decided she wanted to be a parol maker when she grows up (along with all the other jobs she wants to be).

Last year, she made an origami christmas tree which is now part of our christmas decorations. This year, she made this parol. Now that my Pa is gone, I am starting a new tradition with my little one. Each year as she grows up, we will be making one more detail that we will hang on the Christmas tree. Imagine how it will look like by the time she finishes gradeschool.

To me, this activity gives me more times we spend together, making core memories she will cherish even when she's a grown woman. I plan on putting up that same tree and decors even when I'm gray and old, even when she has a family of her own. That tree will be more than just a simple decoration, it contains memories of our goofiness while making the decors, our brainstorming for the designs, and just pure happy and innocent times.

How about you? Do you have any holiday traditions that you'd like to continue?