Thankful Turkeys

Let me start by saying that I LOVE Christmas.  It is my favorite holiday and I love everything about it.  We take December off of school and spend the entire month focused on celebrating Christ and living out His example to love others.  We are intentional about doing that all year, but it is distinctly special as we celebrate Advent.

That being said, I try to be very deliberate about not skipping over Thanksgiving.  Not only do we spend November talking about what we are thankful for and the many incredible blessings the Lord has granted us, but we also do specific Thanksgiving or thankful crafts as a concrete way of remembering those blessings.  Yesterday, we made our Thankful Turkeys.  It was a fun project that both children loved, and I think the finished products are adorable.  Princess named them "Petunia" and "Picasso."  I'll bet you can figure out why!  

Let's start with Super Tot's "Picasso."  I had everything laid out for him and sat with him to complete his craft.  First, I put a dab of glue on each foot and pointed to where he should place them.  I think he did a fantastic job!  Next, he picked out his turkey's eyes from a sheet of adhesive eyes I picked up over the summer.    

Although he put them both on sideways, I was impressed at his placement.   

I put the glue on the beak and waddle for him, and he placed them on his turkey.

Next, we moved on to the feathers.  We were writing one thing on each feather that he was thankful for. I would ask him if he wanted me to write a specific item and he would say yes or no.  He ended up saying yes to:

1 - Mommy

2 - Daddy

3 - Sissy

4 - Zeppy (one of our cats)

5 - Minky (our other cat)

6 - Trains

I wrote one on each feather and gave him markers and stickers to decorate them.  He loves to use both of these, so he was thrilled.

Once he was done decorating each feather, I put some glue on a small piece of poster board and let him place the feathers on.

After each feather was in place, I pointed to the "middle" and asked him to glue the turkey's body there.  He did a pretty good job!

It's a little cubist in style, but I love it!

Princess was also excited to do her Thankful Turkey.  I had her supplies ready in one of her snack workboxes.

She put red glitter glue "toenail polish" on her turkey's feet.

Then she made a red bow for her head.

She even used a little gold to make a ring for her turkey.  

This was a very simple, yet super fun craft for both Princess and Super Tot.  Here are the finished products!

For more fun fall craft ideas, click here.  

For more Tot School ideas, click here.

Workbox System

This summer, I learned about the latest trend in organizing your Homeschool…workboxes. While there are many variations of  this system, a homeschooler by the name of Sue Patrick is the originator of this concept and you can read about her system HERE. 

The Workbox System basically consists of 12 “workboxes” on a shelf. Each box has a number velcroed to the front of it, and the student’s daily work is sorted and divided into the boxes.  The student works through the boxes in order.  As a box is complete, the number is moved onto a scheduling strip or card (see photo on right). This gives the child a tangible way of seeing exactly how much work he or she has completed, as well as how much there is left to do.  The goal is that by seeing the work in this way, the child’s motivation and focus are improved. The organization reduces distractions such as looking for pencils and books or waiting for instructions on what to do next.  Additionally, fun activities are spread throughout the boxes, keeping the child enthusiastic and eager to keep working.

After reading about this system on hers and many other Homeschool blogs, I decided to share the idea with Princess.  She was so excited about it and we decided, along with my husband, that  it would be a great addition to our Homeschool, especially with Super Tot in the picture now.  However, like many other homeschoolers, I also knew that I wanted to personalize it and change it up a bit to meet our needs.  Rather than the plastic shoeboxes on a cart that Sue Patrick recommends, I opted for these lovely IKEA Trofast shelves that work perfectly for us.  They are just the right size and fit our schoolroom and taste perfectly. 

Princess loves them and is so excited to begin school each day.  While some kids like to sneak a peak in each box at the beginning of each day, Princess is all about the element of surprise and waits until she gets to each box to see what is inside. Princess has always loved school and been very diligent, but we have found that she is actually accomplishing more work in less time using this system.  This allows time for supplemental activities that we have often not had occasion for in past years.  Whether it is reading a magazine article, doing a craft or playing an educational game, we are thrilled to have time for these extra activities and know they are adding so much to our Homeschool.  By implementing this system, we have also been able to divide our primary academic work into 4 days, leaving Fridays available for projects, field trips and supplemental activities to enhance and further improve our educational and academic instruction.

To sum it up, we are thrilled with the addition of the Workbox system to our Homeschool and plan to use it indefinitely.