Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Thanksgiving Week 2012


   I think I was more excited about Thanksgiving than the kids were...though they were quite excited, mind you. Note to self: start my Thanksgiving homeschooling plans at the beginning of October instead of fitting everything in the week of Thanksgiving. I absolutely loved what I found for our school...it was partially totally self serving because I love kid-art and kid's stories...um, especially when they are my own! On the agenda:

For Asa he had some worksheet and craftivies from a few different places including 1+1+1=1 Thanksgiving pack and 2 Teaching Mommies Turkey Pack...and filling our Thankful leaves through out the month.
     ...let me explain day one. I asked Asa what he was thankful for and he said 'God'...oh melt my heart. He asked me to write God's name. I asked him to draw a picture on the other side. He insisted that I draw it as he does if he doesnt think he can make draw it just right...this is the very embarrasing part...I tried to draw a picture of God...that's who that red guy is suppose to be! ha! That's a very daunting task...draw God! There's humility! I was trying to draw Him with open arms, like He was going to give Asa a big hug...that's when Asa took over. He drew a little picture of himself...the little black guy...
then he turned the leave over and asked me to right 'Go' and pointed to one side...and then asked me to right 'stop' pointing to the otherside...I knew he was going somewhere with this, but I didn't immediately know where...looking at both sides...then I realized he drew himself playing 'Red Light, Green Light' with God. HA, I love it!...so my silly looking drawing turned into something adorable.
 
 
 
Gosh, if I knew Asa was going to think of something so cute, I would have tried to draw God a little better...ok, He probably would have ended up looking the same.    {alright, one more adorable story...his teacher in his Sunday school class, Sprouts, said she asked the kids what they were thankful for and Asa raised his hand. He said, "Because I have Jesus in my heart". SO sweet!!!}
 Ok, back to Thanksgiving week.
For Ava's lesson plan we used The First Thanksgiving activities by Carrie's Creations which we absolutely loved!
 
Ava 'packed' her suitcase with what she would have taken on the Mayflower.

Which included toys (like a wined up moneky, snacks (a bag of raisins) board games, gum (both the stick and ball kind) books, and pick up sticks. She was trying to pack it with what she thought they had back then. Ha. she was a little off, but pretty cute.
 
We also use this Thanksgiving How To Writing Pack Freebie which I was so happy for just because I get to see Ava's silliness come out. This just may have to be a new tradition. We have been notebooking, so we got to keep all their treasures in their notebooks.
How to Make a Turkey Bark By Ava
Have a dog come over and pour magic potion on the turkey.

The dog barks to communitcate to the turkey that he poured magic potion to make the turkey bark.

 
The turkey barks back saying that in the next story I'll bring the turkey potion. The End.
First you catch a turkey. Next, you train a turkey to roll over. Last you can keep him as your pet, but be sure to give him a haircut.  The End...ok, ok, I'm SO being a mom...I just think kid art is SO CUTE! sorry...
We also did some other fun crafts like make 'fall leaves'
 
And we did a few sewing projects, such as upcycling a few of my skirts into Ava sized skirts...some reason my children alway look like muppets when they smile in pictures.
 
I did have some help. Asa's job is to 'hold the thread'. My big helper {and trouble maker!}{and no, he really doesn't where clothes...he tells me that he is trying to cut down on water consumption by decreasing our laundry}
I made the kids Native America costume for the kids...don't know how realistic they are, but this is Ava's serious face...
 
 
 
 
Ava has also learned a new skill and has taken up embrodiey. So cute!   
 We had a great Thanksgiving with my sister and a friend who stopped by. We made some Christmas trees as trial for our Craftivity party with Ava's art class buddies to talk about why we have a Christmas tree to celebrate Christ's birth.

I can't forget about the Thanksgiving skit the kids preformed and the turkey trivia Ava wrote based on the Wild Kratts episode about wild turkeys. And the game the kids created...Turkey hunting...they run around and gobble as the adults try to throw balls at them...then they fall down and die...wow...We also played cards with the kids...and by that I mean Adam played cards with the Ava and Asa...that takes some patience. Ava said it was the best Thanksgiving EVER! {as she does with ever holiday...ha}