Just a few more days until Benjamin begins Kindergarten and I start back to the homeschool blogging!
I hope to post our schedule and curriculum choices soon. I have spent the summer researching Classical Education and planning out his lessons. I have most of the year planned already.
He will be continuing with the Sprout program and starting a few new classes as well as joining the local homeschool group.
We are looking forward to our new school year!
Despite my returning to school full time to finish my degree, all of us having the never-ending cold (going on week three now), and moving this week, we are still doing our homeschool.
We have begun two different unit studies this month, Little House in the Big Woods, which will take us a few months to complete, and a two week one on bugs. We also completed a week theme on the circus. Hopefully after we are moved in I can post something on them.
Once we have moved I plan to devote more time to his phonics because he is asking to learn to read!
For the next week we will be forgoing our formal schedule and just working on things as time permits. I love the flexibility of Homeschooling!
Making a Gingerbread house.
Making Gingerbread men at Selby Lights in Bloom.
The Gingerbread boy skit at the library. Benjamin was the Gingerbread boy.
After this, Benjamin now runs around chanting
"Run, run, run,
As fast as you can
You can't catch me
I'm the Gingerbread boy
I am, I am" 
We made our own Gingerbread men.
My Great-Grandma Geddie gave me this Gingerbread boy when I was little. Every year he comes out for Christmas. This year he got to play Gingerbread boy hide and seek with Benjamin.
This is how he decorated his gingerbread man with the use of the craft box.
The front cover. The gingerbread house he designed at the Trim a Jan Bret Gingerbread house page and I just printed it out.
A better view of his coloring.
Inside the notebook.
Gingerbread booklet.
Gingerbread matching cards.
Gingerbread story sequencing cards.
Gingerbread stick puppets tucked inside a gingerbread house.
Notebook pages.
I also threw in a few Grinch pages.
We both enjoyed playing this game.
Trying to roll a gingerbread man can be quite funny.
In the back pocket.
Pages we used when playing the Roll-A-Gingerbread-Man.
The is the Gingerbread Baby board game from the Jan Bret website.
Books we read:
How the Grinch Stole Christmasby Dr. Suess
The Night Before Christmas by Clemont C. Moore
Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devin (We used the cranberry cookie recipe in this book to make cookies for our neighbors)
The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone
Resources:
homeschool share gingerbread lapbook
a gingerbread unit study
gingerbread man thematic unit
It's a month late but here is our Thanksgiving unit study. We also completed Autumn.
Every morning Joe reads a chapter of the Magic Tree House series to Benjamin. I had them skip ahead to number 27 to read Thanksgiving on Thursday together.
Benjamin loves these books. The characters, Jack and Annie, disvcover a magic tree house filled with books. When they they point to a picture in a book and wish to go there, the tree house magically transports them there. They learn all about different times and cultures. While they are gone no time passes back at home, it is very appealing to Benjamin.
Front cover with the beautiful Michigan leaves (courtesy of my Aunt Brenda and my dad) we used to make leaf rubbings and to talk about the changing colors of autumn. We don't get to see fall colors where we live so it was nice to have a visual.
I put the lapbook in the inside flap of our notebook.
Inside flaps.
Pilgrim and Wampanoag puppets.
Count your blessings cards.
Thank you God book and I am thankful for book.
Give thanks flaps.
Children then and now book.
Five senses book.
His leaf book.
Many of his notebook pages.
Back cover.
Book List:
Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne
Pilgrims by Mary Pope Osborne
Thanksgiving Stories and Poems by Caroline Feller Bauer
Resources:
The thanksgiving maze and coloring pageschoolexpress
ideas fromhomeschoolshare
turkey handprint page and count your blessings pocketlulu
many sources from this site with a long list of free Thanksgiving printablessquidoo
many sources abcteach including the first Thanksgiving book
I got the mazes and paper dolls fromactivityvillage
and more from the Thanksgiving lapbook fromlive&learn
