Brilliant colors and cool, breezy mornings mean autumn has arrived with great fanfare. Continue looking for the splendor of the season throughout the month of November and count blessings every day. Be grateful for the goodness of life and thankful for the fellowship of family and friends. Celebrate November with some of the zany holidays below and create a few unique family ones, too.
November Homeschool Celebrations
National Day of Listening – Now here’s a holiday worth celebrating every day! Turn off all electronic devices, including radio and television, sit on the front porch or on a blanket in the den and TALK. Finish conversations without any interruptions and listen to every word shared by family members. Be sure to discuss how important it is to listen to others, outside of the family, too. Use an online concordance to search for Bible verses about “listening.” Memorize some of the verses, like these, for example: “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.” Proverbs 1:5 NIV; “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:9 NIV; “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:22 NIV; “In those days when you pray, I will listen.” Jeremiah 29:12 NLT.
Tongue Twister Day – Remember Peter Piper, a butter-shopper named Betty, and the sister selling seashells? Spend an evening creating tongue twisters for each family member using words that start with the first letter of each person’s name. Pass the tongue twisters around to each family member and see who can read them three times fast without stumbling over the words! This holiday also begs a concordance search. Look for verses that contain the word “tongue,” and commit this one to memory: “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” Proverbs 21:23 KJV.
Jellyfish Day – Make a fun jellyfish craft using just a few supplies. Turn a white paper plate upside down and paint a thin layer of glue over the bottom of the plate. Place torn pieces of tissue paper on the glue until the entire plate bottom is covered. Once the glue dries, completely, glue two wiggle eyes near an edge of the plate. Glue or staple strips of crepe paper around the outside of the paper plate for tentacles. To hang the jellyfish, attach a piece of yarn by carefully poking a strip of yarn through the center of the plate and tying a knot in the yarn on the underside. While you’re working on the craft, see how many sea creatures you can name, starting with letter “A” and working through the alphabet. Memorize this verse about God’s creations: “So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:21 ESV.
Maize Day – Make sure creamed corn tops the Thanksgiving table and make this yummy recipe together in the kitchen. Cut and scrape the kernels from six to eight ears of corn to garner three cups of creamed corn and set aside. (A 20-ounce tube of frozen creamed corn yields approximately the same amount.) Cook three strips of bacon until crisp in a large skillet. Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel. Stir three cups of creamed corn into the hot bacon drippings. Add two-thirds cup of water, one teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of sugar. Stir and cook for five minutes. In a small bowl whisk two teaspoons of flour into one-fourth cup of milk. Slowly add to the corn mixture and stir continuously until corn begins to bubble and thicken. Sprinkle pepper to taste and add one tablespoon of butter. Cook and stir until butter melts, then remove from the burner. Garnish with crumbled bacon just before serving. Take turns during the Thanksgiving meal sharing things you’re thankful for and praise the Heavenly Father for his blessings, provision, and most importantly, the gift of His Son for our salvation.
National Play Outside Day – Look for excuses to get outside and play big! Skip through the grass, climb trees with low-hanging limbs, crunch through some fallen leaves, play with Frisbees, jump rope, toss balls back and forth, see how long you can keep a hula hoop moving, collect acorns, examine insects with a magnifying glass, listen for the songs of autumn birds, watch scampering squirrels in the treetops, play a board game on the sidewalk, draw with chalk on the driveway, go for a hike on a nearby trail, or walk to the park and take turns on the slide. Be mindful of seasonal signs that surround you, and give thanks for the beauty of fall.
November offers a wealth of grand autumn adventures, both inside and out. Be thankful for God’s blessings every day and share a grateful heart with those around you. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Julie Lavender loves this time of year and is especially fond of counting her blessings. She’s most thankful for a loving Heavenly Father. Julie treasures her husband, four kids, one son-in-law and one precious grandson, and she thanks God often for the years of homeschooling those four children. Julie is especially grateful that God gave her the opportunity to write her most-recent book, 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, that released in October.
Julie Lavender loves making memories with her family that includes her high-school and college sweetheart, David, four adult children, one son-in-love, and one precious toddler grandson. Julie is a journalist, author, and former homeschooling mom of twenty-five years who holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. Julie loved living in various locations across the country as the wife of a medical entomologist for the United States Navy. After her husband retired from active duty, the family moved back to their hometown, and David began work as a wildlife biologist at a nearby Army installation. Julie is excited that her parenting book, 365 Ways to Love Your Child: Turning Little Moments into Lasting Memories, published by Revell, releases October 2020. She is also the author of a homeschooling devotional, 365 Days of Celebration and Praise. She is a freelance stringer for her hometown newspaper and her work is included in various magazines, like Guideposts and Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Magazine, and others. Julie would love connections on her Facebook page or author page, and she would love even more if you’d join the conversation about showing love to a child on her Facebook Group, 365 Ways to Love Your Child.
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