Special Connection Homeschool

In following our guide to studying the Biblical Holidays , we have started celebrating Shabbat, or the Sabbath, every week. The basic items needed to celebrate are a table cloth, two candles, bread, and wine (which we substitute grape juice). The bread they make is called Challah bread and they have a specific cloth to cover it on the table. The reason for this is that it is Jewish custom to bless certain foods in a specific order and bread comes before wine in the blessings. However, on the Sabbath the blessing of the cup comes before the blessing of the bread therefore they cover the bread so that it is not shamed in not having gone first. I wanted our table to look traditional so I wanted a cloth myself. The book we are using, A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays , had a pattern for making one. I also searched for a few craft ideas online and settled for my own easy version. I bought a pre-made cloth napkin and used special fabric markers to make it easier for Gess to do it by...

I made my first attempt with Challah bread this week because I wanted to try it before our first Shabbat. I used the Challah I Recipe from Allrecipes.com . It was pretty good but I was low on honey and think I needed more. It turned out beautifully though. You can find the recipe online. You can also watch a video of it as well. It was helpful to hear and see the instructions. There were things added there that weren't in the text.

I have been wanting to study the Old Testament Biblical holidays for quite some time but I wanted to wait until Gess was old enough to really get something out of it. Now that she is, I am anxious for the new year to begin. See, besides simply studying the holidays, we are going to actually observe them!  From January to December we will do each holiday as it takes place. In fact we are going to observe some of the non-biblical Jewish holidays as well.  We are using the book A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays to help us navigate what to do. They have lots of great information and many fun games, activities, and crafts to go along with them. There aren't really any festivals at the very beginning of our year. They don't really get started to until the spring. It is pretty much Spring and Fall, with just a couple in the winter.  You can see the chart on the back of the book that explains when they are. We also plan on observing the Sabbath, or should I say S...