Thanksgiving Crafts

I was browsing through my Google reader tonight looking for something fun to make with the kids tomorrow. I thought I'd share some of the cute craft ideas that are out there this season.

Coffee Filter Turkeys - I have always wanted to do some sort of coffee filter art with my kids and have never gotten around to it. I'm thinking this will be my choice for tomorrow. We've got the supplies, and the kids will love squirting water to make the colors run together. Very pretty, too!

Pumpkin Turkey Centerpiece

Groovy Gobblers - If we were at home with all of our paint supplies, we would definitely make these pretty turkeys.

Turkey Scratch Art Drawing

These last ideas would be wonderful ways for a family to express gratitude in the days and weeks leading up to Thanksgiving:

Thankful Tree

Thankful Box

Thankful Clothespin Wreath

Our Favorite Thanksgiving Books

Well, I did say you wouldn't hear much from me this week, we just arrived in Georgia tonight, and everyone's all settled in and asleep except for me. I'm wide awake because I took a long afternoon nap in the car.

It dawned on me that I haven't posted any of our favorite Thanksgiving books this year, so I decided to go ahead and do it even though we're only three days out from Turkey Day. Most of these are part of our Thanksgiving tradition, but I forgot to bring any of them with me! Hopefully I'll find a couple at the local library here tomorrow.


A delightful picture book showing the Indians and Pilgrims preparing for that first special feast. A favorite around here that we've read for several years now.


Funny illustrations tell the story of this old tune, as a family of turkeys travel to Grandma's for Thanksgiving - with a hunter in hot pursuit. This one always cracks us up!


I used this book in my first student teaching practicum. It's the story of a young girl name Maggie who lives with her Grandmother on a cranberry farm. Their special Thanksgiving dinner turns into a comical adventure as Mr. Whiskers and a smooth-talking city slicker vie for Grandma's attention - and her food! It wouldn't be Thanksgiving at our house without reading this fun tale.




This is one of my favorite versions of the Squanto story. We've read it for the last few years. It shows how God's hand worked in the life of Squanto. I never knew that Squanto traveled to Europe, heard the gospel, and more than likely became a Christian.




The illustrations are beautiful. The text would have been a bit much for my 4-year old, but just right for my 6 and 8-yr. olds.


This book tells the story of a real little girl who lived at Plimoth Plantation circa 1627. It is filled with wonderful photographs of Sarah and her family going about their day at Plimoth Plantation, the outdoor living museum of 17th century Plymouth, Mass. Also in this series are the two titles pictured below. All three really held my children's attention and are wonderful living history books.






I read Elizabeth Foss's review for this at Real Learning and was delighted when my library had it. It is out of print, but is a beautiful book that shows animals preparing for winter and people celebrating Thanksgiving. The illustrations make this one worth tracking down.

What are some of your family's favorite Thanksgiving stories?

A Thanksgiving Giveaway

I don't often do giveaways, but the nice folks at Virginia Soaps and Scents, a company I reviewed awhile back and really do recommend, has offered to give one of my readers a sampler pack of their lovely bed and breakfast-sized soaps. The winner gets to choose the scents!

I really enjoyed using these yummy smelling, gentle, all-natural soaps. What makes these products even more special is that each bar is handmade, and the company is owned by a homeschooling family who became interested in soap-making after doing a unit study on Colonial Life in Virginia. How neat is that?!

Here's how to enter...

1. Visit Virginia Soaps and Scents, then come back here and leave a comment telling me your favorite product. Their site really is fun to browse, and with their reasonable prices it's a great place to do some Christmas shopping too!

For bonus entries you can do one or more of the following - after you've done step #1. :)

2. Subscribe to my feed (see left sidebar), and leave me a comment telling me you did.

3. Post about the giveaway on your blog, and yes, leave another comment. :)

4. Follow my blog and leave yet another comment!

***Please make sure you leave either your email or blog address so that I can contact you if you win! :)

So...you've got four chances to win. The contest will close Monday, Nov. 30 at 11:00 PM (EST), and I'll announce the winner the next day!

We're out of town for Thanksgiving, so you won't hear much from me this week except for a few reviews that I need to post.

Praying you each have a wonderful holiday with your family.

Blessings,

Join Me at Heart of the Matter

I am very excited to now be writing for Heart of the Matter Online. I invite you to join me for my first article there, Fun in the Kitchen With Your Preschooler.

While you're there be sure to take a look around. It's a great site with lots of encouraging and useful articles!

Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

This is a special month for our family because we adopted our oldest daughter from China on November 2, 2004.

People often tell my husband and myself that we are such a blessing to Giggly Girl because we brought her home from China. We always tell them that it's really the other way round. God blessed us with her, and she continues to be a blessing to our family five years later.

The care and adoption of orphans is one of God's highest priorities. I encourage you to listen to His voice on the matter. Is He inviting you to experience the miracle of adoption? Or maybe He is asking you to become involved in some other way. There are multiple ways that we as Christians can carry out God's mandate to care for the orphan and widow:

-Pray for them.
-Give financially.
-Volunteer with an orphan care ministry.
-Take a mission trip to serve at an orphanage.
-Mentor orphaned children in your community.
-Become a foster parent.
-Adopt a child who is waiting for their forever family.

As you consider how God may want to use you in the life of an orphaned child, I encourage you to watch this Videostream of Steven Curtis Chapman and Friends' Live Event, "Orphan Sunday". This event was sponsored by Steven Curtis Chapman, Show Hope, Focus on the Family, and Family Life to raise awareness of the more than 140 million orphans worldwide. You'll hear moving stories, testimonies, and music, including the amazing Children of the World Choir, which is made up of orphans from around the world. I was so glad I watched!

Here are some of my favorite adoption links, which will provide you with more information about orphan care and adoption:

Show Hope

Maria's Big House of Hope Video

The Call to Adopt - Best-selling author Karen Kingsbury's story of how her family came to be blessed by the miracle of adoption.

How to Adopt

Cry of the Orphan Adoption Resources

If you have already experienced the miracle that is adoption or are involved in some other way in the life of an orphan, I'd love to hear your story.

Blessings,

Why Do I Blog?

So what is the purpose of blogging?

Some "irl" friends recently asked me this question, and as I was talking to them about it, it dawned on me that I ought to - well, you know - blog about it!

Different people blog for lots of different reasons, but here's my list:

-To keep a record of our family and homeschool adventures - a sort of online scrapbook or journal.

-To share what we're doing with family and friends who live far away. All of our family members live down south, and they just love to see pictures of the kids - can't you tell?!

-To meet, encourage and be encouraged by other homeschool Moms. I've made some wonderful bloggy friends over the last couple of years and have even had the chance to meet a few in person - very fun!

-To share our homeschool plans and resources in hopes that someone will find something here that will keep them from having to reinvent the wheel.

-To sharpen my writing skills - or at least to maintain them! I think that writing somehow exercises my brain in a way that nothing else can, and I enjoy processing things through my fingers on the keyboard.

-To provide myself with some accountability. If I write out plans to do something on my blog then I'm much more likely to do it because I "virtually" committed to it.

-To share how God has blessed me with a wonderful family and the privilege of learning alongside them. May He have the glory for everything in this blog and in my life.

Hope you have a great week!

Free Christmas Resource

Hope everyone out there in bloggy-land is having a good week.

We're sticking to the 3R's in school this week, as I do some major decluttering and house projects that have been on my to-do list for months.

I just opened up a little something in my inbox that I wanted to share with you. If you receive The Old Schoolhouse's email newsletter, then you've already seen this.

It's a special free digital Christmas edition of The Old Schoolhouse magazine. I just briefly scanned it, and there are some nice goodies in there. I'll especially be using several of the freezer meal recipes they've included.

Click here to enjoy!

Blessings,