As I was preparing our Christmas season lesson plans, I checked this post from last year to see what I already had and WOW! There’s several we didn’t cover last year. This is going to make it easy. All the links seem to still be working.
Our Christmas studies have been going well. We’ve been covering Christmas themed Bible, social studies, math, foreign language, music and language arts lessons since the beginning of December. However, science studies have been lacking. For our final week of learning of the semester, we’ll be focusing on science but will still be keeping our Christmas theme.
How It’s Made is a science discovery site which features short videos. Here your family can watch how glass ornaments, artificial trees, yule logs, skis, nutcrackers and other holiday related items are made. http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/how-its-made/videos/holiday.htm
Made How is a “new to me” site. While exploring there, I found helpful articles explaining the background, materials, design, and manufacturing of popular holiday items. This site doesn’t have an index or search bar, so I’ve linked to each item individually below.
I wish you and your family a very happy and blessed day. We have so much to be thankful for, don’t we? Thanks be to God for blessings past and present. And thanks to Him for the promises of even greater blessings to come!
We’ve got 17 dishes we’re serving today with friends and family and Snoopy!
As we move along on our “special days” studies through November, I see Thanksgiving looming coming up in the not so distant future. I thought seriously about not teaching Thanksgiving lessons this year. How could I not want to teach Thanksgiving? We’ve always had wonderful Thanksgiving lessons in November. Yes, that’s it. For 17 years – 17 Novembers, I’ve been teaching a week or two or three of Thanksgiving. The who, what, when, why, and how of those Mayflower pilgrims and the natives that they encountered, Lincoln’s proclamation to make a Thanksgiving holiday, Bible studies that focus on giving thanks and gratitude, nutritional studies of squash, pumpkins, turkeys, sweet potatoes, and corn, Thanksgiving celebrations around the world, tons of cooking projects, and craft activities to go along with it all – we’ve been there and done that over and over again.
In addition to my grumpy mood about Thanksgiving lessons, our primary history focus of the year is Modern World History so the Pilgrim/Indian theme just doesn’t seem to fit or apply. I look over the recent additions to our timeline and see WW1, the stock market crash of 1929, WW2 – hard and fearful times, but still were thankful times, too. Hmmm …
Below are some of the online resources we’ll be using as we begin a new Thanksgiving study with a modern history twist, and the cure for my Thanksgiving lesson planning grumpiness. I’m actually getting excited about these lessons now!
The common thread of Thanksgiving celebration during these times seems to be making the most with whatever resources were available and finding blessings in any circumstance. With this in mind, our Thanksgiving Bible studies will focus on contentment.
Philippians 4:11-12I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
1 Timothy 6:8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you.”
This National Geographic video is NOT for the squeamish! It is actual footage of the digestive process filmed by a scope procedure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QYwscALNng
Still Learning Something New 