Over the next few days, moms all over America will be preparing for Thanksgiving. You may be picturing wonderful family memories made around the Thanksgiving table, or even afterwards over turkey sandwiches, but don’t miss out on the opportunities for making special memories with your children in the days leading up to Thanksgiving.

When my girls were younger, I had a very hard time including them in the Thanksgiving preparations. It wasn’t because I didn’t have the patience for them or because I was under any particular time crunch. It was because I was (and still am) such a perfectionist. Everything about the celebration had to be just “just so.” If it didn’t look like it came out of a magazine, then it wasn’t good enough.

Looking back, I regret not taking advantage of the special moments I could have shared with my children. After all, they don’t remember the perfectly polished flatware and glistening crystal goblets. They do remember the things they helped with though.

If your vision of a perfect Thanksgiving doesn’t include a table to rival anything from the Martha Stewart Show, you’re already off to a good start. If the idea of toilet-paper tube Pilgrims on your table is enough to cause a panic attack, don’t worry. You can involve the children and STILL have the picture-perfect Thanksgiving.

Start at the beginning:

Include your child in the planning the Thanksgiving menu. You’ll likely be listing the traditional foods you’ve had in the past, or you may wind up with some new favorites, requested by your child. Either way, this gets your child involved from the start. If your child is able to write, have him help write down the menu or even the grocery list (as you dictate it, of course). If your child can’t actually write yet, give her some paper and let her try anyway. You can even print out some cute Thanksgiving-themed paper here (http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/mfallpaper.html).

Table Decorations:

Do you have a special set of china and stemware used exclusively for holidays or special occasions? Are paper plates and buffet style more your speed? Either way, there are plenty of crafty ways your child can be involved in making the atmosphere festive, without breaking the bank or straying too far from your personal asthetic. For great ideas and inspiration, visit this site ( http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/thanksgivingartscraftsideaskids.html). There are tons of great craft ideas for centerpieces!

Get Cooking:

Children of all ages can help in the kitchen. This doesn’t mean you need to have them under foot or in the kitchen to help prepare the entire meal. You may want to consider choosing a dish your child can help prepare, even if it is just “helping” by pouring in the ingredients or mixing. For older children, consider giving them responsibility for a side dish, such as mashed potatoes, green bean casserole or sweet potato casserole. If you are having a hard time adapting your favorite family recipe to be “kid friendly,” try this site for some ideas http://www.childrensrecipes.com/.

Away from Home This Thanksgiving?

If you are traveling this Thanksgiving, you can still include your child in preparing for the trip. If he is old enough, having him pack his own suitcase will save you some time and sanity (everything double-checked by mom, of course).

For all ages, have your child help prepare the activities for the ride there by providing a back pack, small box, or other suitable container for the car, and allowing him to fill it with the items he would like to take in the car. You can go to the library and let your child pick out books, music and even books on CD for the long car ride ahead.

Make your older child the official coordinator of car-ride games. Have her research games that can be played in the car, and make sure you have all the supplies needed. Make it her job to teach everyone how to play during the ride. If you want to give your child a head start on finding games, you can start here: http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/mental_games/car_games.htm.

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, include your children in the preparations. By giving each of your children a specific responsibility, you will be building their self esteem, and they might even learn a new life skill and a bit of family history in the process. Whether you are hosting the feast at home or traveling to see loved ones, there is something your child can do to help.

This is the final post in a 5 part series written by Bethany of Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom. Be sure to check back to read more great tips for taming the paper beast!”

Welcome to the final segment of the “Put Paper in Its Place” series! If you’re a homeschooler and if you’ve been reading the entire series, this last section should just help you synthesize everything. As you may already suspect, I am not an advocate of keeping every single worksheet, piece of art, or diorama produced by the little darlings. Shocking, I know. Surprisingly, neither am I an advocate for trashing everything. You’ll be pleased to know that a middle ground exists. It’s called a portfolio.

The word portfolio usually strikes fear in the heart of homeschoolers. I have to keep a what? Why would I want to keep all that stuff? But all of the shadow boxes, insect project boards, wooden villages, and authentic medieval costumes won’t fit into a binder! Yes, I have heard all these comments and more whenever the topic of portfolios comes up. Yet, I always reply that a portfolio is not only a necessary thing, but also a good thing. Let me show you how and why.

What is a portfolio, anyway? I decided to look up the word in my official Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition to see what its normal usage is. After all, it’s a unique homeschooling word, right? At least, I thought the way that homeschoolers used the word was specific to us. I almost fell off my chair when I read this definition:

“a selection of a student’s work (as papers and tests) compiled over a period of time and used for assessing performance or progress.”

So much for being revolutionary! Regardless, a portfolio is a collection of your child’s scholarly achievements.

How do you gather all this stuff? Do you just grab the last three pages out of your kids’ hands on June 15 and call it good? Do you wait until your high school senior tells you that his prospective college wants to see his portfolio when he visits tomorrow? No, no, no! On the other hand, you really don’t need to have the exact same number of papers for every subject perfectly typed on the computer and color coded in a set of twelve filing boxes.

A meritorious portfolio does not include every single assignment from every single subject. It includes a representation of work completed: the best writing samples, the best test scores, the best artwork, the best notebooking pages, and the best worksheet pages. It also includes pictures of 3-D projects, field trips, and other activities that can’t be condensed into a single written document. Set aside some work from every academic year. Do it as you go through the year so that it will not be an overwhelming task at whatever point you close out records for each year. I take my children’s desk binders about once a month, choose papers to go into the portfolio, and trash the rest, unless they’re needed for a later test.

The further your child gets academically, the more you may wish to weed out some of the earlier work. You may end up with only one kindergarten handwriting page and one first grade math test by the time your child graduates. That’s fine. Don’t take all of it out, though. I’ve attended homeschool graduations where a portfolio containing selections from twelve years’ worth of work was displayed. It was really neat to see the child’s scholastic progression through the years. Your child may enjoy looking back over her progress as well.

Okay, you’re collecting all of these papers and photos (of larger projects), so where do you put all of them? The best place for a portfolio is in a binder. Yes, even for you file foxes. The main reason for this is that a portfolio should be portable. (Extra bonus points if you notice that both of these words have port as the root, from the Latin word porto, which means I carry.) It’s much easier to carry a binder into a college admission counselor’s office than it is to carry a filing cabinet. You’ll definitely want a 3-inch size for this project. Feel free to let your child choose her favorite color, or buy the kind with the clear pocket on the front and have your student design her own cover.

Put subject dividers into the binder. File the papers from earliest (kindergarten or whatever grade you started homeschooling or saving papers) to the latest within each subject. Just save one out of every ten, twenty, or even thirty pages. Save more tests than regular worksheets. Save the best essays, and choose just one of those essays to show all of the child’s work—outline, rough drafts, corrections, and final draft.

I can hear you now: Why am I making a portfolio? It sounds like way too much work, and it’s not even required by my state! Do I still need to make one even if my child is not headed to college? Obviously, some states make portfolios mandatory, but aside from that, reasons abound for making one. If you choose not to give actual grades or not to fill out a report card (or its equivalent), then a portfolio becomes even more important. A portfolio gives physical evidence that little Johnny really is a genius—just as you always thought! Portfolios preserve hard work, provide evidence for skeptical grandparents or other family members and friends, help with planning for younger siblings, and record grades and/or levels earned and completed.

If you have piles and boxes of papers, start slowly. Set up the binder first so you have a place to put the papers you’re saving. Then go through one stack or box a day, perhaps while you’re watching TV at night, and eventually you will have a lovely portfolio of your child’s academic successes. I’m cringing as I write this, but I just have to reiterate that you must keep up with a project this large or it will get away from you. If you put a few papers into the portfolio every month or so, it will be no big deal, but if you procrastinate, you’ll find it more difficult to subdue the paper piles.

I hope you’ve found this series on paper to be helpful. The more I wrote, the more I realized could be written; however, this is it for now. I’ve provided you with the tips and encouragement that you need to conquer the paper monster once and for all.

This post was written by Bethany L., homeschool mom, Lesson Pathways contributor and author of the Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom blog.

Homeschool co-ops can be formed for a number of reasons. With younger children, they often consist of more organized playgroups for which parents take turns coming up with good activity ideas each week. Sometimes co-ops are formed for academic purposes, focusing on a particular subject. Children may be close in age, or the subject may be one in which siblings of various ages are invited to participate.

Whatever your reasons for forming a co-op, here are some tips for starting and operating one successfully:

• ASSESS the Need for a Co-op
  One of the best ways to start a co-op is to be part of a larger homeschooling support group that meets on a periodic basis. Parents can then form sub-groups based on interests or ages, and co-ops may form out of those groups. It is important to see whether there is real interest in your co-op idea. Sometimes parents spend time and money trying to organize a co-op, but the interest isn’t there in the larger community or the schedule isn’t convenient. Make sure your idea generates some interest either by email or phone or even through a Yahoo! group. After people sign up initially, I make sure I contact them again individually–as the start date gets closer–to make sure they are really interested.

• Organization
  Even though a co-op is generally a group effort among parents, someone still needs to do the initial organizing, or the co-op may not be successful. Once initial interest has been established, the organizer should get parents to volunteer to participate in the co-op. The organizer should communicate well and be specific about times and dates, so parents know how much time and effort their participation will involve. This can actually be the hardest part since some new homeschoolers may over-promise their involvement and have to withdraw when they realize they are involved in too many activities. Also, the organizer has to make sure the parents have some willingness to work together with each other in a cooperative way. Some parents have very different educational goals and philosophies, so it’s better to know up front if you are all on the same philosophical page about the co-op and how it’s presented. I feel better about a group co-op when I really understand parental expectations. This may take more time, but it is worth it to make sure everyone has a willingness to do the work and follow through.

• Establish Ground Rules
  Without basic ground rules, hurt feelings are likely. One biggie is always money. Is there going to be a charge for supplies, and how are the co-op expenses to be paid? Do the co-op leaders give a general outline of what they are going to present before the class, or do the parents just trust each other to take over with their children? What kind of discipline is going to be used if children (or parents) get out of hand and are disruptive? It helps if these ground rules are clear at the beginning, so misunderstandings and feelings of too much responsibility on one parent’s shoulders do not arise. The biggest upsets I have encountered in co-ops have been over whether to pay an individual parent who has professional expertise in the area he or she is teaching. In general, I think it is simpler for parents to donate their time but get reimbursed for supplies.

• Maintain Balance
  Make sure you and the children have a good balance of time in the co-op. One of the things children don’t like is having absolutely no time to play if it’s an academic co-op. There should be some relaxing, social time for both parents and children, ensuring that everyone has fun. I think snacks are an important part of co-op success, but make sure everyone is on the same dietary wavelength here too. Parents can take turns bringing snacks as long as food allergies and dietary restrictions don’t leave some children out of snack time or cause them to eat food that’s not good for them. Diet is another one of those biggies, but if the fare is simple, basically healthy and agreed upon beforehand, everyone should enjoy the balance of learning, relaxing and snacking that marks a successful co-op. I find that children 10 and under really need playtime and are always ready to eat, so my co-ops have at least 20 minutes of unstructured playtime during which they can snack freely on what’s put out for them.

• Keep Communicating and Be Flexible
  Sometimes the goal of a co-op may change based on feedback from the parents and children. Be flexible enough to listen to feedback and make changes that will work for the group as a whole. And, if something really isn’t working for a family, make sure there is a way the family can make a graceful exit. I have personal experience in this area. I was the primary teacher in a co-op and a parent just didn’t realize the amount of work that was involved in my class. She was a new homeschooler and hadn’t really integrated my guidelines for parental involvement in the homework I established. As a result, her son was less prepared than he should have been. We ended up having a good talk about what would work best for her son, and she decided it wasn’t my co-op. She withdrew her child with no hard feelings and a refund of the supply costs.

Co-ops are a wonderful way for children to enjoy learning new skills and information from other parents or even guest speakers. If your co-op is organized well, families are respectful of the ground rules and communication lines are kept open, you are likely to have a successful co-op year.

This post was written by Lilian F., homeschool mom and Lesson Pathways contributor.

“FREE Flashcards”

If you like using flashcards, you know all too well how easy it is to quickly run up a tab when purchasing them! They can easily run anywhere from a $1 a pack to over $5 a pack, and one pack is never enough. You “need” a pack for this and for that and for the other thing. You’re quickly swimming in a sea of flashcard frenzy!

Having seen the price for a pack of flashcards, I quickly decided there was no way I was going to pay the price they were asking when I could easily create flashcards for my daughter with little to no cost at home. What could cost me up to $5 (or more) to buy, I can easily do in as little as ten minutes at home.

How do you make flashcards for FREE? Grab the following supplies and do these quick and easy steps to create your very own free flashcards!

Supplies needed:

• Empty cereal box (or other cardboard)

• Marker

• Scissors

• Bag or rubber band (for storage when you’re done)

(The example in the pictures is for matching numbers to their names.)

The Process:

#1 – Open the cereal box and use the inside “blank” part to write on.

#2 – Use the marker to write/draw out the text/picture you want on the flashcards.

#3 – Use the scissors to cut apart the flashcards.

You’re DONE! See how easy that was? And free, too!

The best part is that when your child loses them (and we all know that flashcards seem to disappear into thin air), you aren’t out any money and you can easily replace them for free!

I’ve used this idea to create puzzles, flashcards, matching games, and more. The sky’s the limit!

This post was written by Ashley P., homeschool mom and Lesson Pathways team member.

Can you say “Frugal Fall Family Fun” five times–fast?

I absolutely LOVE this time of year. Fall is definitely my favorite season.

One of the great things about fall is all the frugal family fun you can have! I’m going to share just a few of my favorite fall activities with you to get the juices flowing in your head, so you can brainstorm additional ideas for frugal family fun!

#1 – One of my all-time favorite fall activities is going to a football game. I grew up going to our local high school’s football games every Friday night. Many schools have family passes you can purchase if you’ll be attending multiple events, but a one-time ticket is usually only $4 or $5 for adults (less for students).

#2 – If going to a game isn’t in the budget, you can experience the fun of football at little-to-no cost, right in your own backyard! Grab the kids, the neighbors, your friends down the street–whomever you can get–and put together a game of 2-hand-touch football. The rules are simple: each team gets up to four tries (known as downs) to get the ball to the “end zone” (mark with Frisbees, jackets, cones, whatever you have on hand). If the person with the ball is touched by a player from the other team with both hands, he or she is “down” and the play stops. Make your field as long or short as you like (I’d suggest 10-20 yards), and play as many sets of downs as you want (or play to “x” number of points). Make sure each team has an equal number of turns trying to get the ball to the end zone.

#3 – There’s nothing I love more about fall than looking at all the beautiful colors in the trees. And what’s more frugal than taking a nature walk/hike? Grab a camera, bag (for “treasures”), notebook and pencil, and a book about trees/leaves. If you have young kids, have them look for the biggest leaf, the smallest leaf, an acorn, a stick, and any other fall treasures. Then, have your kids put their treasures in a bag to take home. (See #4 for what to do with the treasures.) Older kids can use a notebook and pencil to sketch what they see while walking, or they can use a camera to capture pictures of the colors. A book about trees/leaves can help older kids learn to identify various types of trees/leaves and could even be part of a science unit. Use your camera to take fall pictures of your family among the beautiful background of colors.

#4 – Creating a fall-scape with your nature walk/hike treasures is a fun way to bring fall inside! Grab a piece of cardstock or plain paper and use your treasures to create a beautiful picture. Draw an outline of a tree with a marker/crayon and glue leaves and acorns to it. Place a sheet of paper over a leaf and use a crayon to color over it, bringing out the leaf’s vein on the paper. Have older kids create a leaf collection by identifying various leaves (and the trees they came from) and creating a leaf book. Laminate the leaves with clear contact paper or use an iron to melt wax paper around each leaf.

#5 -Decorating with nature is another great frugal fall family fun activity. Use the fall-scapes to decorate your home, as greeting cards, or to frame individual leaves and create a beautiful display. Grab a hot-glue gun and a piece of cardboard. Glue leaves and acorns to the cardboard to make a wreath or frame to hang on the wall. Create a garland by stringing acorns and leaves with a needle and thread.

#6 – Fall is known for being a season of harvest. Grab the family and head to a nearby apple orchard or pumpkin patch. Often, these venues will have opportunities for hayrides, apple/pumpkin picking, and fun family photos. I love the taste of a freshly picked apple and fresh apple cider. I love carving jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins too!

#7 – If you asked my daughter what her favorite fall activity is, she’d tell you she LOVES to jump in the leaves. What is more frugal than that? Grab a rake, make a pile, and jump for joy!

#8 – Another favorite fall activity is sitting (or standing) around a big bonfire! Grab the blankets and camp chairs and grill hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire. If the weather is less than welcoming, grab a bunch of blankets and make a fort in the living room. Create a “bonfire” with flashlights and colored paper.

#9 – Make s’mores and popcorn in the microwave and put in a fun family movie from the library (or from your own movie collection), or grab a board/card game. (you can also check out Redbox movie rentals. Just $1 per night!)

#10 – We’re headed to a Fall Festival tomorrow (weather permitting) in a local small town. Small towns (and big ones too) often have Fall Festivals. Check your local paper or your municipality’s webpage to find a festival near you.

These are just a few ideas for Frugal Fall Family Fun. I hope they get your creative juices flowing. Be sure to share your ideas in the comments section–I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

This post was written by Ashley P., homeschool mom and Lesson Pathways contributor.  Read more about her and our other great blog contributors by clicking the “Our People” tab.

Congratulations to ….. TARA!

Tara has won “Andrea Carter and the Dangerous Decision” book and lapbook set!

Another big THANK YOU to Susan K. Marlow, author of the Circle C books series and generous sponsor of this prize. And a special “thank you” to everyone who participated.  I wish we could give you each something!

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled in November; we’ll be giving away the third book in the Circle C book series!

This is the 3rd  post in a 5 part series written by Bethany of Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom. Be sure to check back during October to read more great tips for taming the paper beast!”

Welcome to part 3 of the “Put Paper in Its Place” series. Last week we talked about how to set up a filing cabinet/drawer system. Today I want to cover binder systems. Some people don’t have room for a filing cabinet, and some people want to utilize both binders and files.

I love binders. I love them so much that I have sixteen of them in my house. Seriously. Most of them have school stuff, and a few of them contain music or other things. Does that qualify me as a Binder Queen? Many Web sites espouse the use of a “life binder,” a “household binder,” or an equivalent. I’m putting a few links at the end of the article about binder organization. If you find more, please leave me a message. I’d love to check out other people’s systems and ideas! Instead of repeating what they have to say, I’m going to show you how to use binders instead of a filing cabinet or box for all of your papers.

I have found that the one-and-a-half inch to two-inch size binders work best. They hold a substantial number of papers, but not so many that you can’t find anything. They store easily as well. Remember to have a three-hole punch handy; don’t even think about just cramming the papers into a binder without putting them on the rings in the proper sections! For papers that are not the standard size or that can’t be hole-punched for whatever reason, invest in a box of plastic sheet protectors. Keep them with your three-hole punch near where you store most of your binders. Color-coded binders could be fun; use a sharpie to write the categories on the spines and fronts so you can see at a glance which binder is which. If you choose the white binders with the clear covers, you can slip a labeled piece of paper into the spine and make your own cover (or get your kids to design the covers for you).

I love binders. I love them so much that I have sixteen of them in my house. Seriously. Most of them have school stuff, and a few of them contain music or other things. Does that qualify me as a Binder Queen? Many Web sites espouse the use of a “life binder,” a “household binder,” or an equivalent. I’m putting a few links at the end of the article about binder organization.

Start by making a list of the broad categories of papers that you need to organize and store. Yes, I am most definitely the List Queen! Be sure to write down such topics as bills to be paid, paid bills to be saved (temporarily!), medical or health, important documents, personal papers, household appliances, etc. Feel free to use your own titles, and make sure your labels are relevant to you. You won’t use this system if the divisions don’t fit your needs.

Now that you have general list of categories, decide whether or not the number of papers in each category will require their own binder. Some subjects can be combined into one binder with several different tabs. For instance, you can have a tax binder in which you have tabs for deductible charitable giving (church and missions), deductible medical payments (receipts for co-pays and prescriptions not covered under your flex pay benefits), your paystubs, utility bills (if you run a business out of your home), and any other documentation that you need to save for tax purposes. You can make a household binder with sections for appliance manuals, warranties (be sure the receipts are stapled to them), and receipts for large repairs and upgrades (like new windows). Make one binder for important documents and personal papers that need to be saved. For those papers that shouldn’t be hole-punched, use sheet protectors. You can make a tab for each member of your family, or you can make a tab for each section such as birth certificates and social security cards. Set up a family binder. Make a tab for each person and file medical records, school papers, work reviews, or whatever is applicable. If you homeschool, you will no doubt have several binders just for school, but I will cover that aspect in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

If you homeschool, you will no doubt have several binders just for school, but I will cover that aspect in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

Now that you’ve got your binders set up, it’s time to fill them. Set your binders out on the kitchen table. Pick up a random pile of paper (I know you’re hoarding them somewhere!). Go through the pile piece by piece and put each paper next to or on top of the appropriate binder. If you don’t REALLY NEED to keep it, TOSS IT! It won’t hurt; I promise! When you’re done with one pile, put those papers into the binders behind the right tab. Then, move onto the next stash. After you get your binders set up, find a place to store them. They can go on a bookshelf, on a shelf above your desk, on top of the refrigerator, or on a shelf in the closet.

I realize that it is not always feasible to file every single piece of paper the instant that you touch it (which would be preferable), so you need to set up a to-be-filed spot. This spot should be convenient and contained so that you’ll actually use it and so that the papers won’t accidentally be knocked to the floor or all over the desk. I suggest using either an upright hard plastic folder holder or a single letter tray. The easiest way to keep everything straight is to have three slots: to do, to be paid, and to be filed.

it is not always feasible to file every single piece of paper the instant that you touch it (which would be preferable), so you need to set up a to-be-filed spot. This spot should be convenient and contained so that you’ll actually use it and so that the papers won’t accidentally be knocked to the floor or all over the desk.

Since I have seen many desks, countertops, and floors overflowing with papers, I’m going to repeat the admonitions from my previous paper posts:

1. Sort the mail over your garbage can. Take what’s left and immediately put it in the appropriate in bin: to do, to be paid, or to file.

2. Go through those in bins weekly (go through the to-do bin daily).

3. As you put each paper into the appropriate binder behind the applicable tab, ask yourself if you really NEED to keep it. If not, toss it! Also, as you file each paper, ask yourself if you STILL NEED the other papers in that section. Toss the fliers for events that have already happened. Toss last year’s field trip permission form. Toss last year’s utility bills. Please!

4. The process of setting up your binders and going through all your papers will take some time. Be patient and be persistent.

5. Keep at it! Train yourself to pick up those stray papers DAILY and to put them where they belong. Before you know it, filing papers in your binders will become a habit.

Ta-da! You are now a Binder Princess! The more time you put into maintaining your binders and the more binders that you accumulate, the closer you become to attaining Binder Queen status. Next week, I’ll be talking about what to do with the stacks of magazines lying on your coffee table and all those neat recipes you printed from the Internet.

Here are a few links to certified Binder Queens:

Cindy Rushton shares tips on how you, too, can become a homeschool binder queen.

eHow has tips on school binder organization tips.

Great, free, printable forms to help you and your kids organize your binders can be found on the ESL Printables Web site.

This post was written by Bethany L., a LessonPathways blog contributor and veteran homeschool mom.  You can read more about her at her blog Confessions of an Organized Homeschool Mom.“

We’d like to wish all of our Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday in October. It differs a little from the American Thanksgiving. Sure, we do enjoy turkey, squash, and all the trimmings! We get together with friends and family for a big meal and football! However, the reason behind our celebration is different! Americans celebrate the Pilgrims traveling to America and settling in the “New World.” Canadians celebrate the harvest.

We live in a northern climate, and a successful harvest is a great blessing! American influence has played a part in the Canadian Thanksgiving. Our holiday originated from a three-fold process:

1. Long ago, before the first Europeans arrived in North America, farmers in Europe held celebrations at harvest time. To give thanks for their good fortune and the abundance of food, the farm workers filled a curved goat’s horn with fruit and grain. This symbol was called a cornucopia or horn of plenty. When they traveled to Canada, they brought this tradition with them.

2. In the year 1578, the English navigator Martin Frobisher held a formal ceremony, in what is now called Newfoundland, giving thanks for surviving the long journey. He was later knighted and had an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in northern Canada named after him– Frobisher Bay. Other settlers arrived and continued these ceremonies.

3. The third came in the year 1621, in what is now the United States, when the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest in the New World. The Pilgrims were English colonists who founded a permanent European settlement at Plymouth Massachusetts. By the 1750s, this joyous celebration was brought to Nova Scotia by American settlers from the south.

(The above three points are taken from the CanadaInfo website, click here to read the whole article).

Did you know Americans did not have the first Thanksgiving?

Frobisher’s celebration took place 43 years before the Pilgrims gave thanks in 1621!

Each family has its own way of celebrating the holiday. Here are some common practices across Canada:

a) Turkey of course! We also enjoy ham, roast, and pumpkin pie! Our meals do not differ much from the American version of our feast. The Americans contributed to our traditional meal!

b) We often have the cornucopia (filled with fruit, flowers, etc.) on display around the house or on the kitchen table, honoring the European part of our tradition! It is a symbol of abundance.

c) Thankfulness! We enjoy sharing what we are thankful for in remembrance of the English navigator Martin Frobisher. Different people celebrate their thankfulness in different ways, such as going around the table to take turns saying what they are thankful for and offering prayers of thankfulness in church and at the table. The First Nations of Canada celebrate by being thankful to their ancestors.

d) Football! Football is a huge tradition here. No man is denied the practice of undoing his pants after a big meal and settling down to watch the big game! It is a tradition that began with Monday Night Football!

Did you know Americans did not have the first Thanksgiving?

Frobisher’s celebration took place 43 years before the Pilgrims gave thanks in 1621! It began in 1578 for Canadians, but on April 5, 1872, the Canadian Confederation made it a civic holiday, marking the official holiday as the second Monday of October. This was in celebration of the Prince of Whales’ recovery from a serious illness!

We have much to be thankful for, including the diversity of Canadian culture that combines so many different reasons to be thankful, into one holiday: Thanksgiving!

Here are some fun FREE on-line resources for helping your child learn and celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving:

Kid’s Turn Central: Canadian Thanksgiving
Canadian Thanksgiving eCards
Canadian Thanksgiving Printable Wordsearch
Thankful Wreath of Leaves Craft
Canadian Thanksgiving True or False
Learn about Canadian Thanksgiving Video

This post was written by Jennifer B., a Canadian resident, homeschool mom and LessonPathways team member.  The links were compiled by Christina S., homeschool mom and LessonPathways team member.