Cranberry Thanksgiving and Bible Bee

Last week, Warrior and his Country Girls were off in Nashville, Tennessee celebrating that Country Girl 2 qualified for the National Bible Bee! To say their time was amazing is an understatement. What a blessing it was for them to be so encouraged in their commitments to learn and memorize the Word of God and to share the sweet fellowship of others doing the same! Not to mention Civil War sights to see. I wish we all could have been there. However, Littlest Warrior is still yet very small and an airplane excursion is quite expensive. I am so thankful they had this opportunity and for the memories they will surely carry for a lifetime.

It was a challenging week on the homefront with my big helpers away and my heart in two places at once. I determined to make it special for my littler ones as it was a unique time to focus on just them. So we took a little tangent in school work. Hence, the "Cranberry Thanksgiving" lapbook! We've enjoyed this book (and others in the series) since our oldest was the youngest. So it was fun to revisit Maggie, Grandmother and Mr. Whiskers.

I love lapbooks and we have done many over the years. I am not quite as able to do them so often these days---academic needs shift, time demands change, and we all adjust. These take some prior planning so I find that we can manage a couple of them each year. One of the beauties about them is that they are adaptable to various ages--older ones can independently create more and younger ones can copy more. They are very worth the effort as they become treasured keepsakes for all--Mama and the children. They take joy in their very own book.

Most of the ideas and printables came from this site. We included hymns, Scriptures about thanksgiving, silhouettes of the children, information about cranberries (wow, did I learn a lot about these!), maps of New England, and of course, the recipe for "Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread!" And what would the week be without actually MAKING this bread? It is delicious.

It was a successful week on both sides of the country--even if a little harried at times. And we rejoiced to all be together again, celebrating God's goodness to us all. It even felt a little bit like our own little "Cranberry Thanksgiving"--without the recipe thief who smells of lavendar and carries a gold cane.