I love the Thanksgiving season as we focus on our blessings and all the Lord has done for us. These are some ways we focus on the giving season in our home and homeschool.
Give Thanks
My favorite resource for this season is Gives Thanks: A Study of Gratitude and Thanksgiving from Discover the Scriptures. I use this every year during the entire month of November, some years I do it all and some years I only use bits and pieces. We always use this for our poetry, copywork, and memory verses during the month as well as coloring pages and activities for the Littles. You can check out this wonderful resource, as well as download some sample pages here.
 We used some anagrams to aid us in finding words to spell using the letters in Plymouth Colony. |  Little Woman coloring a picture of the pilgrims. |
Gratitude Poster
One of the children's favorite traditions is our thankful poster. Every year I write I Am Thankful For... at the top of a posterboard and we tape it to the wall in our living room (I use painters tape so it can be removed easily). Every day (and sometimes several times a day:)) family members draw a picture or write something they are grateful for. On Thanksgiving we read the poster, admire all the artwork and give thanks for all we have been blessed with.
Gratitude Journal
After reading an article in our monthly church magazine called,Recognize, Remember and Give Thanks, we decided to start a family gratitude journal. Every evening before we read scriptures together, we pull out our family gratitude journal and every person names something they are grateful for that day. This is an ongoing journal we keep all year long and really helps us to focus on all that we have, rather than what we don't have.
Our Favorite Thanksgiving Books
I keep a basket on top of our children's bookshelf that houses seasonal books. These are just of few of our favorites, along with books we read for school time.
Other Ideas
- Leaf Garland - let each family member write what they are grateful for on some paper leaves. Hole punch and thread onto a stretch of string or yarn, then hang in the doorways.
- Gratitude Tree - like the thankful poster but you have a tree trunk drawn on the poster and cut out leaves. Each person writes a blessing on the leaf and glues it to the tree (Give Thanks has page size trees for each child to make individually).
- Here are some great stories and activities on gratitude from our church's monthly children's magazine, The Children's Friend.
- Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth has a fun Unit Study for the pilgrims here.
Pray
Most importantly we must thank our Father in Heaven for the blessings we have and express our gratitude through daily and family prayer. Have a great Thanksgiving Season!
Shared On: Encourage One Another,
