Simple Thanksgiving Lapbook

All links used are listed here.

Nature Walk--11/24

We are so very thankful that the empty lots behind our house have been cut and we once again have easy access to the woods!









We were absolutely thrilled to see a barred owl!



This leaf-footed bug has been living on our patio for the last few days. He was kind enough to let us examine him closely when we came back from the woods.

Turkey Tic Tac Toe

This has been a big hit today. I printed the tictactoe board found here on cardstock and placed it inside a quart-size freezer bag. We're using wet erase markers and a damp paper towel to play again and again.

Thanksgiving Links

For our Thanksgiving study we've been reading the following books by Kate Waters:
Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times,
Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy, and
Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl.


Gerrick has enjoyed these books, especially the one about the Wampanoag. This week I plan to follow up on those by introducing him to Scholastic's interactive website The First Thanksgiving which includes photography from the books we've read and audio information about the Voyage on the Mayflower, Daily Life, and The Thanksgiving Feast.


We watched this video tonight--twice by his request.




I'm printing the following materials for him for this week, which may or may not evolve into a lapbook:

Turkey Tic Tac Toe

Turkey Bingo

Optical Cornucopia flip book

The First Thanksgiving, a printable book

Turkey Blessings


We may also play these online games:

Turkey Flibriks

Thanksgiving Concentration


Happy Thanksgiving!


11/26 Update: We did make a lapbook.

Art Experiments

I like to put random things out on the table from time to time to encourage Gerrick to experiment with art. Some may call this a provocation; others may call it strewing the environment; I like to call it putting some stuff on the table. More times than not he completely ignores it, and I end up putting it all away so we have room to eat dinner. Yesterday after lunch I put these things out...


It all sat untouched for 4.5 hours. But as I was prepping dinner, he noticed it, "Hey, what's all this?"
"Oh, that's just some stuff I thought you might like to experiment with." (Bingo.)



Busy, busy, busy...asked for a toothpick.



Then he asked for a whole box of toothpicks and made a puffer-fish.
Then he painted his hands and said that he was trying to make his skin look reddish like an Indian.

Some people may think that this kind of play isn't important and is just making a big mess. I disagree because "the lessons we learn during play, we apply when we are working to create something important to us." (Camp Creek Blog)

Sometimes I Have to Bite My Tongue...

We encourage Gerrick's creativity by providing him free access to materials like Sharpies and scissors. Sometimes that leads to him altering his toys. I shouldn't have a problem with that, but sometimes I do for a split second. I just have to bite my tongue and remind myself that they are his toys, not mine. Here are just a couple of recent examples:

Christmas Village 2009

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Village today...
White trees are always cool.

We bought the sock monkey in a stocking ornament.







The boy loves jewelry!Eventually I had to drag him out of this booth because so many people were crowding behind us for a turn, but not before I bought this for myself...



He's decided that he'd like to learn how to make jewelry. Sounds like fun to me. Any of you have any tips, helpful websites, or general words of wisdom? I think we need a tutorial from Marcy on how to make these cool rings.


I'm foreseeing lots of jewelry, so we'll be needing to make something like this to hang it all on too. ;)





I love these frames and have been motivated to work on my own frame project which I will hopefully be showing you soon.


This white chocolate popcorn is delicious! (They had samples.)Now I sure am wishing I had bought us a bag. Maybe we'll try to make some; I'll let you know how it goes.

Nature Walk--11/11

Every child will draw--he just may not use the medium you expect.




"Mama, is this a dandelion bush?"
No, but it seems to have seeds that blow in the air like dandelions. :)


"Here's something similar."


"Oh! Here's a real dandelion!"




Why sit on a hard park bench when you can lie on the soft grass beneath it?


He found this frog--part of the underside of a slide.How long have we been playing here? Over a year!There is always something new to discover. :)

Learning All the Time

I am very honored and SURPRISED to have been nominated for Best Unschooling Blog 2009. Wow! Strangely, I always say that we are NOT unschoolers. (I prefer to think of us as relaxed, eclectic learners.) Apparently some people insist that we are unschoolers, though, whether I choose to call us that or not. I think I have felt strongly about not using that label because I simply do what works for us. I'm committed to my son & what works for him--and that does and will always continually change. It may look like unschooling today, but in a year it could look more like the Charlotte Mason method or any of numerous other homeschooling styles.

About this category, The Homeschool Post states,

Life and learning go hand in hand. There are a lot of different unschooling methods, but all of them are adamant about not being tied in to a traditional school method.

Well, yes, that does indeed describe my way of thinking.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from John Holt's Learning All the Time:

Real learning is a process of discovery, and if we want it to happen, we must create the kinds of conditions in which discoveries are made. We know what these are. They include time, leisure, freedom, and lack of pressure.

...what often happens to kids in school is that they are required to repeat, as sense, what makes no sense to them, to the point where they give up trying to reconcile what people say about the world with what they really feel about it. They accept as true whatever authority says is true. They do not try to check or test it. They soon forget even how to test it.

What children want and need from us is thoughtful attention. They want us to notice them and pay some kind of attention to what they do, to take them seriously, to trust and respect them as human beings. They want courtesy and politeness, but they don't need much praise.

...organized education operates on the assumption that children learn only when and only what and only because we teach them. This is not true. It is very close to one hundred percent false.

The idea, the very idea, that we can teach small children how to learn has come to me to seem utterly absurd.

I am in strong agreement with all of the above statements. Does that make me an unschooler? If you think so and enjoy my blog, then click on the button above and consider voting for Living and Learning. But I've got to tell you there are some awesome bloggers on that list and I am truly thrilled to be placed in such company! THANK YOU to whoever cast nominations for this blog!

Zoo Afternoon

We spent more quality time with friends today. The kids disappeared into the Jungle Gym for most of the afternoon, so we didn't actually see many animals. (Good thing we have memberships!) I did get a few pictures, though.







I just wanted to carry this little goat home!