Thanksgiving is a fun time to learn about our country’s history! Adding in some Thanksgiving lessons into our homeschool is something I strive to do every year. It’s fun, it breaks up what we’ve been doing for something new and fresh, and there are always a lot of resources to choose from so we never do the same thing. I’m going to share some of my very favorite Thanksgiving lessons for homeschoolers so you can do them along with us.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s our favorite time to gather around with family from out of town, to stuff our faces with pumpking pie, and to reflect on all we’re thankful for in our lives. It’s also a great time to learn more about the Pilgrims and new settlers that came to our country.
I’m a sucker for history, so taking advantage of another excuse to teach history is a no brainer for me. But, the fun thing about history is that you can learn about it in so many ways. Books, hands on lessons, music, poetry, and more. Here are my favorite Thanksgiving lessons for your homeschool.
1. Rabbit Trails through Thanksgiving
Go down the Rabbit Trail this Thanksgiving and learn all about Squanto! Read amazing literature, get hands on with a very fun craft, and learn through more ideas to dive even deeper into learning about the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, and Native Americans like Squanto. Rabbit Trails through Thanksgiving is sure to be a favorite this season!
2. Holiday Music Lessons
Music is always a great way to add something fun into your homeschool! Music in our Homeschool has Music Lessons for Holidays and Special Days that you can get to use all year round, including in your Thanksgiving lessons. These lessons are geared towards elementary kiddos and each lesson includes information about the holiday or special day, videos of the music to listen to/ watch, at least one printable, and an online quiz.
3. What Was the First Thanksgiving?
I love the Who Was series of books! So much so that it’s all we used as a history curriculum for over a year. If you want to know about someone or something in history, they likely have a book about it! These books are awesome for just about any age. I’ve read them to my then-6 year old and I’ve also loaned the books out to my father-in-law. They teach history in a very easy read that your kiddos can easily pick up and read themselves, too! So, adding What Was the First Thanksgiving was a very easy addition to our Thanksgiving lessons list.
4. History Pockets
We used History Pockets a few years ago to learn about early American settlers and my kids had the best time with it. It includes a lot of hands on projects for kids to cut out, color, and add lots of fun touches to. The very cool thing is that History Pockets has two different options to add to your Thanksgiving lessons. There’s Life in Plymouth Colony which is designed for 1-3 graders, and there’s Colonial America, which is designed for 4-6+ graders. Of course, you can take a look to see if you can use one or the other to spread over age ranges in your home, too.
5. Online Techie Unit Study
Maybe doing unit studies online is your jam (…or cranberry sauce?) Techie Homeschool Mom has a geat online unit study that covers fun topics like the science behind parade floats, a Presidential Thanksgiving tradition, and designing your own Thanksgiving graphic. These may not be your traditional Thanksgiving lessons, but that’s what makes them FUN!
6. Thanksgiving Picture Books
I can’t leave without including one of my very favorite things that we add to our homeschool lessons…picture books. Thank You, Sarah is a book about Sarah Hale, an incredible woman. She saw Thanksgiving fading away in our country and wrote to countless people until one day President Lincoln said, “Yes!” and made Thanksgiving a national holiday. Squanto’s Journey is a book about Squanto’s life and how he ended up helping the European settlers, leading to the first Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Lessons for your Homeshool
I hope you have a very blessed Thanksgiving holiday and have FUN learning about the history of it and so much more! What are you favorite Thanksgiving traditions? Let me know in the comments or in my online homeschool community!
More homeschool history and geography resources can be found by clicking the image below.
