Our family got together with our friends a few weeks ago for an early Thanksgiving celebration.  It was terrific.  We did it on a Saturday so that the dads can be there to enjoy the party with us.

All the kids (except my little guy) dressed up as pilgrims.  The costumes got a lot of use this year since they needed them for Bible club, our party and my daughter wore hers again on Thanksgiving day.  My guy was going to be a little indian but he was in a bad mood, so he didn't dress up.  We barely got him in the picture!

Here are the kids!

And her is my little pilgrim girl.

The day was super fun!  The kids made a table turkey decoration.

It was a big project so the kids made one per family, rather than one per child.  You can find the directions HERE

The next craft was a place mat.  Each child made their own. Just take brown paper and decorate using stickers, Thanksgiving themed stamps and any other fall decorations that are thin enough to go through the laminator.  The kids also each recieved a copy of the group picture and that was cut out for them and they glued it on.  Once the page is decorated, laminate for durability and trim down the sides.  This is terrific for kids of all ages!

The food was yummy!  We had a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos, greenbean casserole and dessert!

Here is one more picture of my pilgrim daughter. The costume was easy.  My friend had an  old white sheet.  (Thanks Renee!!) She just cut it down and made all the girls hats, collars and aprons.  We had a black skirt in her closet and we bought her a long-sleeved black shirt.

It was a fun time and a blessed day!

As part of our CA History study this year, we took a field trip to Sutters Fort. 

We went with Ranger Bruce of Sequoia Ministry.  He is a retired park ranger who still teaches by hosting classes through his ministry.  Its terrific to be able to go on tours with him and learn from a Christian perspective.  He even came in 1800's costume.

He also brought a number of neat artifacts to show the kids.  Another neat thing about field trips with Ranger Bruce is that the kids get to touch the neat things he brings and ask lots of questions.  He does a brief talk, giving a history on about what you're going to see.

Standing in front of one of the walls, the fort seemed massive.  I tried to get a shot of the whole wall in one frame but couldn't with my camera so here it is in two shots.  Its so neat to have this right in the middle of downtown Sacramento!

Notice in the first picture the tower has a square hole near the top.  That's where the cannons were that protected the fort.  There were 2 cannons in each tower (maybe it was 3).  There were towers like that all around the fort.  There were 2 I think near the front entrance, and the rest were located at the corners as pictured above. 

As soon as you enter, the building you see is this one.

Its the only original part remaining, probably because its where John Sutter slept, it had the thickest walls.  His room was on the top floor.  Here is a picture to show just how thick that wall was.

We also got to see the jail, where the blacksmith worked, where they cooked and so much more!  It was a terrific tour.  I'm sure we'll be back again.  My kids are still young and I have a 3 yo (almost 4) and a 6 month old who will see it when they are older.

On Friday, my daughter asked to practice her typing.  I got her set up on the website and she was off.  Now that I have an almost preschooler in my house, I always have to remember to have something similar for him that sister is working on. 

Here they are!

The website she is on is great.  Its free, safe and fun.  If you want to try it, click HERE

This week, we went to Kennedy Gold Mine.  The kids were able to do a lot of hands-on stuff.  After hearing a short history about the mine, we were off!

This mine was a shaft mine, so they reconstructed a tunnel which was a replica of what it was like under ground. 

This is what it looked like once the miners arrived under ground.

It was actually pitch black in there!  It's only because of the flahs that its so bright. This picture is the tour guide lighting the candle to show the kids just how dark it really was down there.

Can you guess what this structure is?

One student gussed correctly.....its the outhouse!  There were 12 seats in it.  Now its sinking so it may not be there much longer.  What a sight!

Ok, once in the mine, time to start swinging that pick.  All the kids had a turn.

Once the gold, quartz and other rock was broken up, it was placed into a cart like this.

It took 3 kids to push this cart. 

I didn't hear the explanation, but all the miners were given a key and at the end of the day (I think) they had to return the key.  So, here are our little miners putting their keys in.

Its payday....time to go to the office!

This building was something else!  We got to see all 3 floors.  The very top was nice living quarters for miners to chose to rent a room for $1 a day.  Sounds good, except that was half of their day's wages of $2!

The next part of the trip was the panning for gold.  I have to day my daguther felt cheated since she didn't get to pan for gold by a creek! LOL....When we first arrived she asked where the water was.  Then when we left, she asked why she didn't get to really pan for gold. 

She found a little and was very excited.  Eveny Little Guy got in on this part!

This was a really fun day!  I am blessed to have the friends that I do have in our homeschooling journey.  Without them, taking my kids who are 7 yo, 3 1/2yo and 4 month old would be next to impossible.  Thank you ladies....you are each a blessing!

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Since the new year has started, I've been very busy with maintaining our new schedule, disciplining myself to commit to changes that the Lord has convicted me of, keeping our home and homeschool in order and maintaining my responsibilites as a support group leader.  All of these things are blessings, but sometimes, though your flesh wants to do one thing, the Spirit leads you to do his work so this blog hasn't been kept up with daily.  If there are long gaps in between posts, then a cluster of posts, that is why......

Our main curriculum this year is Bible, reading/phonics and math.  Everything else is God directed.  I tried to make up my own plans for the year, but once I commited that to God through prayer, he quickly showed me we'll be studying what he thinks we need.  So, our unit study focus this year has been CA History! 

How do you teach CA history to a 7yo?  Its a little bit of a challenge, but a welcomed one.  Its such a joy to teach all these wonderful things to my kids.  Basically, lots of field trips, fun books and coloring sheets.  We were able to expierence a Living History Day in September (which I still need to blog about), we got to go to a Gold Mine for a tour and plan to go to Sutters Fort!  We're reading lots of neat living books and using coloring sheets.  We are doing our first notebook on CA this year. 

We are really enjoying homeschooling!!