November absolutely flew by! All of our social studies were about Thanksgiving. We read this awesome book about Sarah Hale, who encouraged the establishment of Thanksgiving the holiday as we know it today. We made hand print turkeys for a craft, and wrote things we are thankful for on the feathers.
The kids love to show dad their projects!
Caleb has been working so hard on his reading and writing and is really showing great progress! It is so encouraging to know it is possible! =o]
Natalie read a book about a little girl who was a maid and had to make cakes for tea parties but never got to try them, so Natalie wanted to make a fancy cake and eat it all up!
It was fun to try a new recipe!
The kids said it was delicious! We froze it and Natalie ate it every few nights over the month.
Have I mentioned that Seth insists on wearing a BYU shirt every day? This is a size 18 month and barely fits over his head or covers his stomach!. We have all the shirts through size 4T out lol!
We went to the museum of curiosity and got there early (shocker!!) and so we had to wait. Hence the sullen face and pointing finger.
We had the place all to ourselves!
That is until like 5 field trip buses pulled up!
We headed to the less crowded exhibits.
Seth loves this pretend washer and dryer. He is a good little helper on laundry day for sure!
I love getting to learn from the museum docents. Is that even what they are called in a museum like this? They are always so friendly and informative! These two ladies showed us some awesome card tricks in the magic shop!
Inventor's playground to kick off our Leonardo DaVinci unit!
We went to a friend's house for book club and it was SO COLD outside playing afterwards. It eventually started to snow. Obviously Seth fell asleep in the car on the way home from exhaustion because he cried like this the ENTIRE TIME we were outside.
We got a package with some new books from Grammy! Hooray for books!
What would we do without the library system? I honestly do not know.
From fb:
Today for social studies we read this book. It is the same story about the same woman as we read yesterday, but it had such a different approach and included different details. We talked about perspective, and how important it is when learning about history or current events. Then we watched three videos on YouTube that were all about Thanksgiving, but each of them were SO different and even gave contradictory information. I asked the kids which version they thought was true and each of them liked the different videos for different reasons but then asked me which one was actually true. It was a powerful moment with all their faces turned to me in such trust to be reminded once again that they would absolutely believe me whatever I said. I feel such a great weight to teach correct principles, and to impart true knowledge to my children! So instead of giving them my opinion, I asked a question and started a discussion about historical sources of information and the importance of keeping records. I reminded them of where we can find true facts and good information, and how we can receive revelation when no other answers to our questions can be found. I then shared my deep commitment to keeping records in our family, a role I take seriously! I asked them what books they can think of that I keep a record of them in. Jenna said her picture album, Caleb said our blog books, and Natalie said our journals. Seth just looked around and then kept driving his truck. smile emoticon I then encouraged them to get involved in keeping their own records, so that their life story can be told from their own perspective instead of through my eyes. It was such a cool discussion. Anyone who says that children cannot understand things like this or carry on a stimulating conversation has not tried. So yes, Thank you, Sarah! You made a difference for us!
Thankful wreaths this time!
We had to make a ton to take to our service project, so I helped a lot too. =o]
I am so grateful for quality educational shows available on netflix. The kids love watching The Magic School Bus, Bill Nye The Science Guy, and even Sesame Street after all our school is done and before we make dinner. It gives me a minute to take a breath and gear up for the dinner and bedtime routine. It gives them the screen time they so desperately crave. It is a good 30 minutes for everyone!
Seth LOVES the dinosaur museum. We all do!
I think more and more people will assume they are twins.
Something I love about my kids is that they make friends wherever we go. They want social interaction and so they reach out to others. It is a disappearing art I think.
Natalie read about these READ dogs that help kids learn to read and she told Caleb about them so he went and got all his puppy stuffed animals to help him master his next Bob book. They are so funny!
Our service project this month was going to an assisted living center for veterans and their wives to sing and hand out thank you notes and these crafts we made.
It was such an awesome experience! The kids had a great time, and the elderly people were enamored with all the children! We did three Thanksgiving themed songs/activities, and one parade to You're a Grand Ol' Flag with flags and instruments in honor of Veterans Day.
After we sang and did our activities the kids handed everything out and it was so sweet to see all the interactions they had with each other. Natalie was especially tender-hearted as she gave out her crafts and cards.
After that the activity leader asked the patrons to tell us their stories about their involvement in war. I was worried that the kids would get rowdy, but they didn't! The stories were so interesting, and the people were so animated and earnest in their telling that the kids (okay so most of them lol!) were mesmerized! For example this guy was in the Navy and it was his job to find the mines under the water, collect them, and then shoot them so they would explode where no one could be hurt by them. He said it was a great adventure for a teenager like him! The lady next to him with a walker was a nurse and she told about having to bandage up the wounded men after battles. The other lady with the flower skirt worked for the phone company during the war to support her young family while her husband was overseas. Like I said, it was fascinating!
Jenna especially loves getting to play with and watch over any babies that come to our activities!
We also went over to the memory care side of the facility and sang for them too. They got way more involved in the activities and laughed so much with the children. I think we brightened their day!
As we were going out to the car Caleb said "Even though it smelled really weird in there, I'm glad we went." =o]
We are doing BookIt! Kent and I both remember doing this program as kids and so I am so glad that it was made available to homeschool families too! =o]
Hard at work on handwriting! We do a writing project once a week, and once a month that is practicing penmanship. It isn't creative but it is important. I don't want them to be embarrassed by their handwriting, and I'm not going to have that on my head! =o]
I had sent Jenna up to her room to get dressed for the day and followed her up a few minutes later to find her reading. When I asked her to please obey the first time and get dressed she said, "But Mom! I would just DIE without reading my books!!!" Wow.
From fb:
Have you read the book Balloons Over Broadway? It is about the origins of the parade in NY on Thanksgiving. It is awesome! The illustrations are ingenious and the true story is incredible! We read it and then made floats and had a parade!
Since Uncle Karl wasn't here to help us make balloon animals we had to make box floats. They turned out nothing like I had imagined lol! But the kids had fun so that is all that matters smile emoticon
Jenna spent the majority of her time using the puffy paint as glue to attach pieces of felt and foam beads to her box.
Seth spent the majority of his time putting stickers on his streamer wrapped box and then taking them off to make room for more resulting in the Mickey streamers ripping and him having a temper tantrum and ripping everything else off until it was just a plain box. This is why we usually do art at nap time! But he pulled his box along in the parade just as happily plain as he would have had it been perfectly decorated so oh well!
Natalie made hers into a sleigh with an American Girl theme. Sewing. Baking. Reading. Art. Then Samantha and Jip and Toto rode inside smile emoticon
Caleb would see someone doing something and do that until he saw another idea and then he would switch gears, resulting in a hodgepodge float. Originally he told me it was going to be an animal float. He did make a super cute cloth elephant, but his float said BYU on the back and one side was painted "deathly colors"....
We made a Thanksgiving CD of course! The kids had their favorites to skip to all planned out.
Blast the music and get this party started!
They were laughing so much and having so much fun even Kent came out of his office to see what it was all about. Like he could work anyway with them flashing past his door every few seconds!
Seriously they made the loop like a 100 times before I convinced them to stop for lunch! We are so excited to watch the parade next week!! And maybe make some balloon animals...Melissa?? smile emoticon
From fb:
This morning we talked about research and the best sources of correct information. Then we went on a field trip to the Family History Library. It was such a great experience!! As we left everyone was laughing and talking excitedly about what we had done and Natalie said with a smile as she skipped towards the car "I feel like the Holy Ghost is giving me a hug!" I agreed! 💗
This sweet senior missionary stepped right up to help us when we walked in the door. He was so patient and genuinely interested in us. He taught us about the different ways to research historical documents. (Jenna was still waiting to be logged in ha ha!)
Seth and Jenna lost interest pretty quickly so a sweet senior sister missionary found them some coloring books and crayons and Legos to play with. They were so kind and cheerful!
Here they are typing in her info to connect it all to the system to print. So cool!!
See what I mean about the friends thing?
I think Caleb felt kind of caught in the middle. He wanted to get to research and do family history like Natalie was getting to do, but the missionary was mainly focusing on Natalie and my attention was not sufficient at that point....so he would go back and forth between the toys and the computers.
This sweet senior elder helped us and then printed this 9 generation fan chart for Natalie because he said she really has a heart for this work and he wanted her to remember what she learned and how she felt today. The first thing she did when we got home was hang it up on her door!
We are now on a mission to find and fill in the twelve people missing on her chart!
We went on a field trip to the Life Science Museum at BYU and were totally bummed to find that like half the exhibits were closed for maintenance!
We still had fun for sure! But it could have been cooler.
We brought Elizabeth along again.
And this time ventured out and brought Mathew and Andrew with us as well. It is so fun to have so much family close to spice up life!!
I think Seth must have said "Owen" at least 1,000 times! I'm so glad they get to tag along with us sometimes!!
All the cousins!! Except me, Rebecca and Maren who were all snapping the pictures! =o] Then we all went over and had a picnic lunch at Maren's house before heading home. Good times!
One last thing. We learned an important lesson about generosity. We love Great Harvest Bread Co and go there maybe once a month or so since we have moved here. The one by our house gives out free generous samples. We went to the one in Provo to get a loaf of pumpkin bread to share at the picnic and expected the same treatment, but not so! The worker took one cookie and cut it up into 8 pieces to give one bite to each of the kids. My kids all looked crestfallen and a bit confused, but Natalie looked on the verge of tears as I thanked the cashier and paid for our bread. We left the store and as soon as we were all in the car I turned around in my seat and explained that we had just experienced the opposite of generosity. I said that worker had been stingy compared to other workers we have met in the past at a different store because she didn't give freely, especially when she had such obvious abundance. I challenged each of them to remember this feeling next time they are asked to share, or even give something to someone else. Do they want to be a generous person and make people feel welcomed and fulfilled, or a stingy person and make people feel let down and shunned? They all agreed they wanted to be generous. We dropped off the cousins at their house after the picnic and then continued home. As we got off the freeway there was a young man on the side of the road holding a sign asking for help. He looked cold. And tired! And lost. Tears welled up in my eyes as I realized I was not accepting my own challenge. I usually don't carry cash but I fished through my purse and found a couple dollars and rolled down my window to offer it to him. I tried to give him my most kind smile. I tried to say encouraging words and accept his thanks. After I rolled the window back up the light still hadn't changed, so I gathered up the untouched remains of our picnic and offered that too him too. He looked genuinely surprised when I addressed him again, and this time looked me in the eye when he said thank you. I barely held it together long enough for us to drive away before the tears started streaming down my cheeks. "Are we not all beggars?" I thought again and again as I listened to the music in our warm quiet car. Caleb asked me why I was crying, and why I had given our stuff to that guy. I said he is a child of God too, and he must be having a hard time, so I was just so happy that I had the opportunity to be generous. I am so grateful to be a homeschooler.
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