Happy Thanksgiving!

Meet the (Homeschool) Mother of Thanksgiving

As we head into the month of Thanksgiving, take a look at this great article about Sarah Hale.

The Pilgrims Didn’t Invent Thanksgiving

If you can squeeze in another guest at your Thanksgiving dinner, I know a 

vivacious little lady who deserves an invitation. She’s been left out of our all-

American feast for decades, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Allow 

me to introduce her in hopes that you’ll make her part of your celebration this 

year.

Read the rest HERE

Friday Funny--Post Thanksgiving Toilet Issues

Thought some of you might be feeling this way after your Thanksgiving meal yesterday!

Friday Funny--Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

Remembering Last Year's TEN TURKEY CRAFTS in TEN DAYs

I'm going to focus learning more about Hanukkah this year than Thanksgiving crafts, but I wanted to reminisce about last year's TEN TURKEYS IN TEN DAYS! (BTW, be looking for a post about Hanukkah next week!)

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3 & 4


Days 5-8



Days 9-10

Thanksgiving

Ten Turkeys in Ten Days--The Finale

Guess what? We ended up with ELEVEN turkeys in ten days!

Two of them were painted yesterday, so we didn't finish them until today. We threw in one more for good measure since I had printed the pages for it. We had a hectic day, so we waited until this evening after the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special.

The first one from yesterday was a hat! I have it pinned here. I knew it wouldn't actually fit us since it originally only fit a toddler, but I just had to make it. I cut them a little narrow, so they didn't stand up quite as well. 
I think they are still cute, however!

Then mija had an idea for a turkey she wanted to make. I didn't want to hog the turkey spotlight, so we went for it!

That made ten, but were we finished? No way. Bring on the classic TP roll turkey. Originally we just going to do it all on our own, but I found sheets to color and cut at ABCTeach.com and it's even one of their free items! My hubby jumped in and made one of these, too.

Thanks for joining us on this turkey journey! Hope you played along. Have a great Thanksgiving.

We're done!

Ten Turkeys in Ten Days--Turkeys 5-8

I'm back on track! I'm cheating a little, but we're back on track. 

If you recall, last week I was ill, so we got behind in our Ten Turkeys in Ten Days. Thanks to Drop 'n Date and Sunday school, mija made two turkeys this weekend at church. I'm counting them!

One is a colored plate with a turkey and her memory verse for Sunday school. The other is similar to the Tootsie Pop turkeys we made last year.

That brought the total up to six turkeys. Today we made two turkeys which brings us up to date!

First, we made mixed media turkeys using magazine pages cut in half for the tail feathers.

We used two "head/body" shapes. One we laid horizontal to give a fuller body and wing look. Then we glued the other one vertical for the head.

Bowling Pin

I don't want to assume you know how to make a head/body shape. You can either use a fat figure-eight or infinity symbol or a bowling pin shape with a little big fatter head than an actual pin. Get the idea?

Infinity Symbol

Our second turkey was also made from Pinterest, but ours is much improved in my opinion!  Snow flake Turkeys

I will show you the original and ours, so you can see the difference with your own eyes!

Source: localfunforkids.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Cute but boring. Plain paper for the tail and no body. Here are ours.

We used a full-sized magazine page which gave us our color. We added an actual body and head. 

We both attached our body and tail differently, but I think it looks cute either way. 

So, mija has now actually competed eight turkeys in eight days. One more tomorrow and one on Wednesday and our mission will be complete!

Ten Turkeys in Ten Days--Day 5 doing turkeys 3 & 4

Yup, I'm behind, but not for lack of trying.  I became ill and didn't do ANYTHING from Tuesday evening until this morning. It wasn't until this afternoon that I actually had a sense of purpose!

So, today we actually made two turkeys. One which mija could make easily by herself and one that wasn't too hard once I could focus more.


The first was just a color, cut, and glue sheet, but she enjoyed the "independent" aspect.

You can find the Pinterest link HERE.

The second turkey we made today was a turkey wreath. Here's a link to the Pinterest Pin which gave me the idea.

We made ours a little different. We used 1 x 3 inch strips for our loops instead of the 1 x 6 inch loops recommended. We also used googly eyes.
We hung mine on the newly-dubbed turkey wall.

We hung mija's on the front door with the string leaves we made last week. 
Now, on to turkey anatomy.
For a loooong time, I have been calling the red, floppy piece that hangs down from above the turkey's beak the wattle. BUT THAT IS WRONG.
The piece that hangs down over the nose is called the snood. The wattle hangs under it's neck.




See, one of the joys of home education is the ongoing education of the parents! 

Friday Funny--Thanksgiving Turkey Style

In honor of my Ten Turkeys in Ten Days, I will share a turkey funny!

Source: Uploaded by user via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Ten Turkeys in Ten Days--Day 2

Here is day 2 in my Ten Turkeys in Ten Days personal challenge. Today, my hubby participated in the turkey making. What a cool daddy!

This one wasn't on my original post. I found it afterwards, but it is posted on my Thanksgiving Pinterest board.

Here's the pin:

Source: allfreekidscrafts.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

The Daddy Turkey

The Mommy Turkey

The Mija Turkey

What I really thought was cool was the family aspect of the hand prints which makes this a great keepsake!

Day 1 of Ten Turkeys in Ten Days

I posted about my attempt to make Ten Turkeys in Ten Days. I picked them from my Pinterest Thanksgiving Board and have even added more!

Today's selection was:

Source: theidearoom.net via Betsy Price on Pinterest

I had a bag of 15 bean soup mix and popcorn for our materials. We chose to make it on a plate just because they had. We also drew legs.
Here's our finished projects:

Turkey day one complete!

Thanksgiving is not for the weak....It's only for a day!

Everyone getting ready for Thanksgiving next week? Remember, I'm going to be starting 10 Turkeys in 10 Days today.

In the meantime, check out my usual Thanksgiving dilemma over at Home Educating Family. I'm posted a week early. Check it out HERE

Courtesy of HEFBlog

Ten Turkey Crafts in Ten Days

Starting Monday, November 12, I will undertake a monumental task never before undertaken by this homeschooling mama.

We will make 10...count them...10...different turkey crafts in time for Thanksgiving!

I will post the finished product each day.

Here are some of the ones I'm considering.

Snowflake Turkey

Source: localfunforkids.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Color and Paste Turkey

Source: examiner.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Turkey Puppet

Source: Uploaded by user via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Hand Print Turkey

Source: crafts.slides.kaboose.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Leaf Turkey

Source: shopbonnenouvelle.blogspot.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Pine Cone Turkey

Source: creatingcoutureparties.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Bean and Pasta Turkey

Source: theidearoom.net via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Round Turkey

Source: amommysadventures.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Turkey Pop

Source: womenlivingwell.org via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Fingerprint Turkey

Source: cardsbycg.blogspot.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

TP Roll and Paper Plate Turkey

Source: thriftycraftygirl.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Paper Loop Turkey

Source: freekidscrafts.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Mixed Media Turkey

Source: amomwithalessonplan.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Spice Handprint

Source: twobigtwolittle.com via Betsy Price on Pinterest

Thankful for Band-Aids---31 Days of Thanks & giveway

Speaking of thankful, I am so thankful to be a part of 31 Days of Thanks and thankful for Meg of Homeschoolin Mama! Being one of 31 other bloggers sharing about being...well...thankful!

If you've followed my blog or my FB page, you know the kind of stuff God has been bringing us through this past century year or two. I'll make a quick list for those who might of missed out on some or all of the action.

• House foreclosure.
• Two vehicles repossessed.
• After over 10 years of steady employment, my husband's been fired three times in the last year and a half.
• My step-father died.
• Asked to leave from the rented mobile home when my husband lost his third job. We had two weeks to get out.
• Husband severed a tendon in his hand requiring surgery. 

That's enough to get the point. I won't bore you with the mundane.

A look at the list (and our checkbook) would give many leave to wonder about me being able to write a piece on thanksgiving. There was a point not that long ago, I would have wondered that as well.

I felt as if my family was suffering with a broken leg, and all God was doing was apply bandages; something nice and helpful, but with no long term value in the healing department. 

To me it seemed obvious that all we needed was a job for my husband and things would be just fine. God, on the other hand, kept giving us little things that allow us to just get by.

Well, God corrected me on two points. First, I'm not the Great Physician, so who am I to diagnose our problem and hold his treatment in disdain. Second, when I finally begin to give thanks for the band-aids, it was not full thanksgiving. I would say, "Thank you God for such-and-such," while in the back of my mind I would be thinking, "Well, that will get us by for now," or "The gift card for gas helped, but it didn't fill up the tank." God had to challenge me on that. I've had to surrender full thanks for each band-aid regardless of the situation. 

 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)

I need more band-aids to continue it!

Yes, I've actually made a book of labeled
bandaids to help me remember!

Now I keep track of the band-aids I have to be thankful for. I thank God fully for them and for the love He shows us through them. I'm thankful for the current need met and the promise of future provision.

Now I can give you some reasons to be thankful! Check out Kela of Pursuing What Is Excellent  to see what she shares during this 31 Days of Thanks. 

Also, there's a giveaway! There are over $1450 worth of items being given away during the 31 Days of Thanks. Just enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win!

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