Thanksgiving Recital Rewind...

Here is a little looksy behind the scenes at our First Annual Thanksgiving Recital... the kids are in the middle of preforming a puppet play inspired by Rudyard Kipling's "Why the Sea is Salt"... Alex waits in the corner with his little toys for his part in the play.... holding up the 'turkey dinner' and making the 'swishing' sounds for the magic mill! What fun!

We begin school today.... after desk work we will read Dickens' "Chirp the Second" and hopefully be through with "Chirp the Third" by next Wednesday. Then we are going to read Dickens' Christmas Carol this month.... maybe I will plant an idea in the children's minds to put on a re-enactment... It would be a good excuse to hang the 'stage' curtain again and invite friends over to watch! (I know Christmas is over, but it was too busy to read it with Maggie during the break because she doesn't live with us anymore! And besides.... the weather feels more like winter today than it did any day in December!)

To Update on Suzy.... She is fine now! We caught her several times drinking the water from the Christmas tree stand... the other cats are too old and dignified now to do such a kittenish thing! Thank-You for all who wished her well! Now she is driving us crazy again with her crazy kitten antics.... and we love it!

Festival of Trees

As part of Homeschoolers Unfolding History, we were able to decorate a tree in the county's medical mall. There are several trees there, all so interestingly decorated! We put ornaments that the members had mad that reflects something of our great state's history or something that happened in the 1940's or 1950's. It was the first year we participated and hopefully next year we can actually make some ornaments.

And here are a couple of pictures from our Thanksgiving Recital .... just a little look into our fun...

The program..... it looks like a lot, but most of the 'scenes were just a few moments....

Mr. Meant To: by Daniel with a little help later from Alex as the 'ghost of might have been'....

(Mr. Meant To has a comrade, his name is Didn't Do; Have you ever chanced to meet them, did they ever call on you? These two fellows live together in the House of Never-Win; and I am told that it is haunted by the Ghost of Might-have-Been)

Squanto: by Alex.....
A Pirate Story.... Amelia read it aloud and the others acted it out with a speaking part each... my favorite was the 'mad' cattle on the hill about to charge them!

We had loads of fun and are looking forward to next year! For Christmas we are memorizing as a family Luke chapter 2 verses 1-16. The children are going to choose a Christmas poem to recite for the extended family.

Monday's Child

*Alex is looking at pictures, not reading :0)*

Preparing for our Recital...

The children put a lot of work in their very first Thanksgiving recital. So far, the family that has seen the recital, or portions of it, have been very entertained. Our hope is that through our work, God may be honored. The children made a picture of all that they are thankful for. The older children's were very in depth and thoughtful. Alex was thankful for 'Mommy, Daddy and Suzy! Each child entered a piece of artwork. Daniel drew the Mayflower. Maggie drew the 'first' Thanksgiving. Amelia drew Sacajawea and Alex drew Squanto. Amelia and Daniel played a piano selection. Amelia and Maggie sang a duet, "Be Thou My Vision". All of the children recited two selections of poetry. They put on two puppet plays and 'acted out' a few other poetry selections. The older children read biographies that they had written about famous American Indians... for Daniel's Squanto biography, Alex dressed up as Squanto! My bedroom was the dressing room, or prop room if you would rather. We borrowed a garment rack from Mrs. Lossie for the costumes... it was so heavy that is started leaning... but the children solved the problem by tying it to the fireplace! McGyver ingenuity! The Foyer was the stage and the living room the auditorium. For a curtain we used a very special blanket that my mother sewed together years and years ago (sometime in the 70's) of scraps of material from clothes she had sewn for the family... polyester! My husband mounted a pole and Amelia and I sewed curtain rings to the blanket. I thought it gave the recital a 'Little Rascal' feeling... Mark and Daniel built a puppet stage and I used some old curtains for it.... We are having our final performance this Friday for Granny and Popa.

I will do a follow up post of pictures only.... of the recital in progress.