Thanksgiving Fun School

I can't believe I'm actually getting this seasonal post up before the actual holiday, lol. Mercy, it's been a whirlwind lately of trying to do all the things! I've got two Thanksgiving homeschool posts coming your way; one for the little ones and one for the bigger kiddos, but both can really be used for any age bracket if you so choose. This first post is more for the younger crew.

I love doing the fun crafts and unschooling projects, but fitting them into our already busy schedule can be a struggle. This year I think I have finally figured out the perfect system for incorporating crafts and projects. I planned in great detail every week of our homeschool, including all those awesome projects I want to do with my children. This way, I can fit the fun seasonal activities into our days without feeling guilty. It's all about balance and I'm convinced us homeschooling mamas can find the right balance for each of our own unique families.

I know I haven't shared in great detail about our sensory boxes, but they are apart of our homeschool. Each week we have a new themed sensory box, especially on our fun schooling weeks. This week's sensory box included orange and yellow dyed white beans, faux turkey feathers, brown cotton balls, a small metal tin, and some pinchers.

 We have collected hundreds of books over the years, especially children's books. Our Thanksgiving stash is fairly large. These are the storybooks I read for our Thanksgiving fun school week. 

We read my absolute all-time favorite storybook this week ~ Louisa May Alcott's, An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving. This book is about a large family and their Thanksgiving celebration. When I first started reading this book to my children we only had a few kiddos, and now we have more than the family in the book. It's a very touching story of the selflessness of a house full of children who choose to serve their family with cheerful spirits. It melts my heart every year!

Our first craft was sponge painted turkeys. I let the children sponge paint assorted fall colored paint onto a white paper plate and then I cut out and glued a turkey body and face to the plate once the paint had dried.

No, the little ones didn't get much hands-on with this project, but my littles love to paint and were content with that part, and of course they were delighted with their turkeys once we got their bodies and faces glued on the plates.

Our second project was to make corn on the cob with construction paper and oat cereal. 

Our third craft was to make construction paper pumpkin pies. I cut a paper plate into quarters and tore orange and brown construction paper for the littles to glue onto their 'slice' of the pie. Then they glued a cotton ball in the middle to represent whip cream.

Our last craft was to make 'turkey tracks' with chenille stems bent like a turkey foot stamped into paint and then onto construction paper. 

Our snacktivity for the week was pilgrim hats made with fudge bottom cookies, mini Reece cups, and Reece's Pieces. The little ones had to have some extra help with this activity, but I can assure you they did not need any help gobbling up their treats!

Many years ago, I would have majorly stressed about their imperfect little cookies, but now I just want my children to do as much as they can on their own and know the feeling of personal pride in doing their very best, regardless of how whatever they're doing actually looks. There's so much more to life than striving for perfection. Doing your best is far more important.

I feel like at the end of each one of these 'fun school' posts I have to put in a disclaimer. For the most part doing projects with children is like trying to catch a muddy hog. You're going to get messy and they're going to fight you ~ FACT! But, every once in a while they do the projects without fussing, everyone has fun, and the craft turns out somewhat like you had envisioned. 

This week we did have those rare moments, where it was actually 'fun' doing our crafts, but truthfully they were not all the 'warm and fuzzy' family bonding time I had hoped them to be. And dear sweet friends, it's in those struggles that we learn and grow as mothers. Yes, we could give up and never do these elective projects again, but that would be such a terrible travesty. Don't let Satan get the last laugh ~ keep on keeping on, doing the best you can to make those treasured memories with your babies.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer