I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I’m a little behind on updating you with what we have been doing in history because we spent some time focusing on Thanksgiving and family. It was a wonderful chance to recharge and focus on what was important but I did get behind in my writing.

We spent some time studying Native Americans and had the chance to watch this great video of Native American dances that was done by our state history museum. (The video is several hours long but it is the same information presented multiple times so you only need about 20-30 minutes to watch it). Navajo (or Apache) Fry bread is one of my favorite recipes. When I spent some time helping with a vacation Bible school on an Apache reservation it was a nightly treat. It can be eaten with powdered sugar or honey as a dessert or with beans or hamburgers as a ‘taco’.  We always enjoy the chance to make this when our studies involve Native American cultures.

The students each read a book about Sacagawea in addition to our discussions about Lewis and Clark and their travels. We also found this great movie series that is free with Amazon Prime.  American History for Kids has multiple short episodes (about 15 minutes) on various American history topics. We only watched the Lewis and Clark episode but I’m planning to use several other episodes as the year progresses.

The children finished their history projects for the month. Elizabeth earned her ‘Our Heritage’ badge from American Heritage Girls. Matthew completed his Lego model of the Battle of Fort McHenry. He was able to explain why he put the pieces the way he did and what happened that night.

We are starting this week off with the Oregon Trail. I’m going to be reading from the book, How I Survived the Oregon Trail and the children are going to get a chance to play the old computer game Oregon Trail. This is a free internet streaming version of the game that I played on a computer in the computer lab at my elementary school. I know I might be showing my age but a few of you may also remember that game from years ago.

What did you do in history last month? Let me know if the comments.

If you are not already signed up to get our monthly list of history resources as well as all of our other freebies, sign-up below. I’ll send you an email every other week letting you know what new stuff we have on the blog and in the library.

We have several fun Christmas freebies in the library already and I should have another fun holiday printable by the end of the week.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

“These children threatened to undo me from time to time with their whining, their silly fusses, their selfishness and immaturity. Yet, here they are, enjoying each other, laughing at each other’s jokes, discussing issues loudly, and participating in family bonding–willingly, generously.” (pg. 151)

So much of this book has touched my heart and made an impact on myself and my family but this chapter had two quotes that might just be the two that I most needed to hear. The one above is one that I believe many mothers of younger children probably need to hear. Sometimes the days are long and hard. Sometimes we feel like we have grand ideals but no matter how we try it just isn’t working. Knowing that Sally went through all of that, the fussing, the selfishness, the immaturity and it all came together in the end is reassuring. I think it helps as we are in the trenches to know that we are not alone and that others have walked this path. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children and I love being their mother. All in all I’ve been blessed with some wonderful children, but some days it is hard as they struggle to get along with each other and to mature.

“One of the greatest strengths of the family table comes from the knowledge that no matter what we do, no matter how we fail, we have a place to belong, a place where we will be forgiven and where we will still be loved and welcomed.” (pg. 154)

I was blessed as a child to grow up in a family both nuclear and extended that I knew loved me. I always had a place where I belonged. We strive each day to make sure our children know that same love and acceptance. We gather together around the table and join together in praying, eating, and talking. My children sometimes bicker with each other but we work hard to make sure that they know that as siblings they have to love each other and treat each other with kindness. They know that we may discipline them to help them, but that it is always out of love and nothing they do can make us stop loving them.  It is my prayer that they always feel they can come home to us and that through that deep but imperfect love they are better able to understand the perfect love of Jesus.

“Life can be discouraging at this time of history. But knowing I belong to a people, ‘the Clarksons’ has given me the grace to keep holding fast to my spiritual ideals in a world that disdains what I believe. I know I will always have a home to come to when I need a place to fall apart or to belong. I know that wherever I go or whatever I do, I will have a place to come back to, a place I know I’m welcome and have a role to play. And because I have that, I know I can persevere in whatever the Lord calls me to do.” (pg. 158)

This quote may be the quote that I needed most from this whole book. Sometimes I spend too much time watching the news or thinking about the current state of affairs in our world and I get sad and discouraged about the world I’m raising my children to go forth into. I worry that they will face such difficult times and challenges, but I love this perspective. Aside from them having a personal relationship with Christ, this is what I want for my children. I want them to be comfortable going where He calls and doing what is right because they know that they have a refuge in our home and our family. Sometimes when we are correcting table manners for the umpteenth time or reminding the toddler that we use our fork and not our hands for rice (a very real reminder I gave several times at the dinner table tonight) it can be easy to forget the importance of the time that we spend together bonding around the table. When I can keep the end goals in mind it makes the day to day seem not quite as tiring or tedious. As the saying goes, “the days are long but the years are short”. I need to use my time together with my children wisely so that when I shoot them out into the world like arrows (Psalm 127) they are prepared for what they must face and that they know my home is a refuge for them.

On a more hands-on, practical note, I loved her practice of affirmations on birthdays. Our tradition is to allow the birthday child to choose the menu for that day (with-in reason) and to have a special cake or treat that evening.  It has become so much of a tradition that my children makes sure to ask about what my husband or myself want on our birthdays when we are meal planning that week. I love that they are also taking ownership in the tradition. My son enjoys helping my husband cook my favorite breakfast each year. However, I love the concept of spending time that morning praising and affirming the birthday child. I am looking forward to incorporating it into our tradition. We try to affirm our children often and encourage them to affirm others, but I think having that time set aside for that is a powerful tool. I’d love to hear about your traditions and how you spend time blessing and affirming in your family.

I also am planning to do more studying and praying about speaking blessings over my family and friends. I’ve seen blessings in the Bible and know that they are Biblical but have not really used spoken blessing a lot in relationship to others. There are many verses including those mentioned at the end of the chapter that speak to the topic of blessings. I am looking forward to doing a more thorough study on the topic.

 

Table-Discipleship Principle: Love and affirmation given generously provide the foundation for opening a heart to influence.

I pray that we all take the time to make sure that we are generously showing our love and affirmation to all of those with-in our homes and those whom we have a chance to reach. This week as you reflect on this chapter try to plan ways to celebrate and convey a blessing to a friend or loved one. Think about whom with-in your house and friends outside of your house could use a blessing and affirmation this week. Whether that be a spoken word, a card, or some other idea that shows your love and God’s to them this week.

” The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you; And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His Countenance on you, and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 NASB

We love celebrating Thanksgiving. We have been doing gratitude journals, fall art lessons, and reading Cranberry Thanksgiving to begin celebrating this week. Tomorrow we will enjoy Cranberry Cream Cheese French Toast and breakfast casserole at our house and then spend the evening celebrating over turkey with all the ‘trimmings’ with our extended family.  However, you celebrate I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

There are so many great deals and freebies going on this week for the ‘Black Friday-Cyber Monday sales. I wanted to go ahead and get this information in your hands today as I take tomorrow off to enjoy a time of Thanksgiving and fellowship with my family. There are some great deals going on over the weekend on various homeschooling and family related items. I hope that you enjoy some time with family and friends, good food, and much thankfulness. I am thankful for my readers and all of your support as we journey together. I look forward to connecting with you again next week.  Please feel free to share this list and add any other great sales in the comments. You can also check out the sales thread on Facebook at Dawn Peluso, Schoolin Swag for the latest sales as they come up.

 

Knowledge Quest has just announced a Cyber Monday sale starting Monday at 9am! We love their “What Really Happened…” books and they have some great mapping programs and geography resources.

Educents has some great Black Friday deals and sales going on toys and educational gifts with door busters starting tomorrow (11/23)! Use code HOLIDAY to save an extra 10%. They even have several great gift guides to help you find just the right gift for that hard to buy for child in your life. We are particularly fond of the Maestro Classics CDs. Classical music combined with great stories are a wonderful (and easy) addition to our homeschooling. We can listen at home or in the car. Sometimes I use them as a formal lesson and sometimes we just listen for fun.

Not Consumed is having a great sale this weekend. Some of her sales are good through 11/24 and some are running all weekend, so be sure to check them out. Free Shipping, Bundle Deals, Buy One Give One Bible Studies and More.

Enrichment Studies is having a big sale from November 24th-28th. They also have a great freebie this month. This is a great way to supplement your fine arts and music studies with simple easy to use resources.

Kiwi Crates has a special 60% off your first box through 11/27 if you use this link. They have great ones to choose from for many different ages from toddlers up to teenagers. These make a great gift that is fun and educational. We have tried and enjoyed several of the different boxes.

Amazon has some great Black Friday deals all week long! Including some great deals on Kindles.

Amazon Prime 30 day FREE trial. If you do not yet have Amazon Prime this is a great time to try it for free for 30 days! Get your Christmas shopping done with free shipping, enjoy Christmas music and more.

Apologia is running a free shipping special and other sales throughout the month. They have their children’s books on sale right now and a big cyber sale coming on Monday.

Proverbial Homemaker   is having a 40% off sale sitewide! This includes some great Bible studies, Brick Challenges (think Legos as school), organizational materials and more. Just click the link above and use code: PHHoliday2017 through 11/27 for 40% off the entire store!

Homeschool Buyers Co-op is running some great specials on Heros Then and Now book series. If you have not tried these books I highly recommend them. We use them with our missionary studies as well as our history studies. The children beg for me to read more each time we read them aloud. We read George Mueller last year and are currently reading about Mary Slessor.  You can also get a FREE Homeschool ID card to use for discounts at various stores that offer teacher and student discounts.

25% off Online Rehab with Tummy Team. CYBER MONDAY ONLY! This one isn’t specifically home school related but so many mamas are struggling with this that I wanted to share. Please feel free to message me with any questions and share this post with anyone that might be interested. If you are struggling with diastasis or pelvic floor issues the Tummy Team has some great online PT programs. I did their Core Foundations and saw a huge improvement and I’m going to do the prenatal crash course. I know this can be an issue for a lot of mamas so I figured I’d share. I’m happy to answer any questions about my experiences.  (ref)

The Green Ember is only $2.99 on Kindle or Free with a KindleUnlimited Trial

$10 Sign-Up Bonus for Ibotta and they are doing some major savings and rebates starting today. Great way to save money on the things you are already buying.

$40 off your first HelloFresh Box

If you are looking for some maps to help extend your geography check out these from Knowledge Quest Map Trek (including a free sampler).

 

Once again this week history proved to be quite yummy. My daughter made a pumpkin pancake recipe from this era in history. It had cornmeal and flour in them and the result had a bit more texture than what we are used to with plain flour but they were very tasty. She also got the chance to do a little grinding of corn since since we were out of cornmeal (though we cheated and used an electric mill).  We even had a great conversation about how milling would have worked during that time and the fact that grains would have typically not been as finely milled as what we are used to eating today. All in all, they were tasty and nutritious (if a bit high in sugar).

We also really enjoyed our visit with a local Christian middle school to talk about historical games. The children demonstrated ‘Graces’, ‘Hoop and Stick’, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, ‘Cup and Ball’ and a ‘Bilbo Catcher’. This was a great experience for everyone. My children practiced their public speaking skills, showed proficiency at history by teaching it, and had the chance to dress in costume which they always enjoy. The students were able to learn about the games and  take a turn practicing with them.  These games were played for many years by children of various ages and social class. If you want to know more about some of those games check out the Youtube video on colonial games the children did last year.

We did some read alouds, including several great stories from The American Story. I think the favorite story of the week was the one in that book about the portrait of George Washington that is now on the one dollar bill. It was a funny story about how much he did not like getting his portrait made.  We did our drawings about the bill of rights to reinforce last week’s lessons.

We skipped doing our history art lessons this week in favor of doing the free Thanksgiving lessons being offered by ChalkPastel.com. We really loved the Cranberry Thanksgiving ones because it is our family’s favorite Thanksgiving book. I read the book aloud this week and then the kids have been taking turns reading it on their own and reading it to the three year old. Since I was able to get fresh cranberries today at the store we are planning on making the recipe for cranberry bread that is in the book for breakfast one day this week.

We will have a shortened school week due to Thanksgiving but we plan on focusing on Native Americans. We are going to watch some of the live stream from our North Carolina History Museum of their Native American program from Friday. We are going to enjoy a Native American meal, do an art lesson, and enjoy some reading about various Native American tribes and traditions.

Make sure you check out our recent posts about Clutter Free Christmas and Homeschool in December. If you plan on doing any homeschool or children’s shopping stay tuned for our post on Wednesday all about great deals during this holiday weekend.  We pray you have a blessed Thanksgiving.

Also check our free resource library for two new Christmas freebies, Christmas Traditions and a Christmas Bucket List.

When you sign up for our free resource library you will get a link and password to the library, we are adding to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you up to date on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Christmas can be overwhelming!  Selecting presents and the budgeting that goes along with that, family trips, social obligations, church functions, trips to see Santa, lights, decorating, not to mention the deeply spiritual aspects of the holiday.

I feel that and I want Christmas to be a joyful celebration with my family, but all the ‘hustle and bustle’ plus my daughter’s birthday the first week of January often leaves us frazzled and gasping for ‘white space.’

For some, it is not knowing what to buy, and for some of us, it is the overwhelming amount of stuff and clutter that tends to come into our homes during this time. I am so grateful that so many people love our children and wish to bless them.

However, we also only have so much space, and often when there are too many toys, they don’t get played with, and they become clutter and ultimately not appreciated. In addition to taking up space, it is also harder for children to clean up when there is so much stuff.

Choosing My Response

Rather than go crazy and throw everything out (don’t tell me it hasn’t crossed your mind once or twice) or tell everyone they can only buy socks and underwear (how do they disappear so quickly), I’ve put together a list of ideas that are fun, educational, and hopefully won’t become clutter.

There are books, CDs, art supplies, and creative kits. Another idea is to see if family members are willing to work together to buy something larger like a bicycle or if grandparents would buy a family gift like a basketball goal.

Some of them are not physical items, some get used up, and some are just items that really get used and played with in our homes.  I pray that this list can help give you ideas to lessen the overwhelming clutter of this time of year and help you regain the sense of joy and peace that we wish would fill our holidays.

Share your favorite gift ideas in the comments!

Kindle and Books:

Kindle

There are many great Kindle Books to go along with this, and they take up no extra space. You can even often find free ones. Here is a link to some Christmas ones that you could preload onto the Kindle. If you don’t want to get a Kindle but still like these books you can also use the free Kindle Reader App.

Audio CDs for the Family:

• Adventures in Odyssey
• Focus on the Family Radio Theater
• Audible (with an audible subscription, your family can choose titles that interest you, and it takes up no space).
• Maestro Classics (classical music with narration and story)

Art Supplies:

• Chalk pastels
• Finger paints
• Construction paper
• Pot Holder Loom
• Art Kit
• Mosaics
• Sketch pad
• Quilting Set
• Watercolor Pencils
• Drawing Set

Experiences:

• Museum Membership
• Aquarium or Zoo membership (ours actually includes all 3 of our state aquariums and the NC Zoo)
• Movie Tickets
• Ice Skating or Roller Skating
• A Play or Symphony (Our symphony even has special performances designed to engage children)
• A Camping Trip (if you already have the gear, this is a very inexpensive way to make some great family memories)
• A Gift Certificate to a Favorite Restaurant

Magazine and Show Subscriptions:

• World Kids
• ClubHouse Magazine
• Brio
• World Watch News (My children love watching this every morning)

Legos:

(So these toys could still become clutter in our house; however, they are prized possessions and used frequently. We feel that they can be contained, well used, and worth the extra bit of room they take up.)

Lego City  (This series has some great buildings, boats, etc.)

Friends (This series is more geared towards girls with more pink and purple blocks and other ‘girly’ aspects)

Lego Architecture (These are awesome for older children. They feature smaller, more intricate designs of famous buildings. )

Lego Classic  (These are assorted blocks that can be turned into many different creations, great for using your imagination.)

Lessons:

You Are an Artist Chalk Pastel Lessons

Practice Monkeys Music Lessons

Books:

Otis series (Great for Preschool Age Children)

Chronicles of Narnia ( A family favorite)

Mandie Series ( A mystery series featuring a young girl. )

Green Ember (A great story of good versus evil, does have some scary parts that might be a bit much for sensitive readers.)

Little House on the Prairie (great for the whole family)

Gifts for Outdoor Fun:

Basketball Hoop (makes a great family gift)

Hammock Seat

Swings

Sand Toys

Razor Scooters (My children love theirs and play with them several times a week and more in good weather. )

Bicycle and don’t forget the Helmet

Kits and Subscriptions

Panda Crate (0-24 months)

Koala (3-4 years)

Kiwi (5-8)

Doodle (9-16)

Tinker (9-16)

Eureka (14+)

Bookroo (Board and Picture Book Subscription Options geared towards birth to age 6, these are adorable books that come individually wrapped and are so much fun for them to unwrap.)

Fun Education Supplies:

Pattern Blocks

My First Science Kit

Big Bag of Science

Solar Rover

Magic School Bus Chemistry Lab

Snap Circuits

Lacing Cards

For Adults

If you happen to be looking for a few clutter-free ideas for the adults in your life, then check out these options.

Fit2B memberships or courses

Adore Your Wardrobe courses

HelloFresh (This is a meal delivery service. They deliver the ingredients and the instructions for a meal ready to cook in about 30-40 minutes. They are normally very yummy and healthy. If you use this link, you can even get $40 off your first box.)

Grove Collaborative (Cute natural cleaning sets, body products, etc., and you get $10 off your first purchase using this link. )

Amazon Prime Gift Subscription (You can give the gift of Amazon Prime for 3 months or a year, including free 2-day shipping, movies, music, and more. )

Twelve Adventures

In addition to these ideas, one year, we did what we called the Twelve Christmas Adventures. We devised twelve family adventures that we could do, one each month, and gave the children a list and information about each one at Christmas. This spread the fun (and expense) throughout the year, and they really loved it. I’ll do a more detailed post about those Christmas Adventures next week because it is a post all its own.

Also, check our free resource library for two new Christmas freebies, Christmas Traditions, and a Christmas Bucket List.

When you sign up for our free resource library, you will get a link and password to the library. We are adding new things to the library each month with new items. You will also get a bi-weekly newsletter email to keep you updated on what we have going on.

Resource Library

This post may contain affiliate or referral links. As always, I will never recommend a product that I don’t believe in, and you will never be charged more for purchasing through our links. It does help pay for the costs associated with the blog.

Friday Deals and Freebies

Amazon Prime 30 day FREE trial. If you do not yet have Amazon Prime, this is a great time to try it for free for 30 days! Get your Christmas shopping done with free shipping, enjoy Christmas music, and more.

The Green Ember is only $2.99 on Kindle or Free with a KindleUnlimited Trial

$10 Sign-Up Bonus for Ibotta, and they are offering some major savings and rebates starting today. Great way to save money on the things you are already buying.

$40 off your first HelloFresh Box

Two Free Audio Books with an Audible Trial, and if you aren’t sure what to start with, I’d suggest checking out the Green Ember or The Penderwicks for good family choices.

FREE Fall in Love with Science e-book from Apologia