A Musical Lesson for Thanksgiving

Does the song “Over the River and through the Woods” remind you of Thanksgiving? I always think of it more as a Christmas song (I guess because I’ve never lived anywhere it snows for Thanksgiving), but I learned from this post at Music in Our Homeschool that the song was originally called “The New England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day.”

I love the idea of adding a little musical learning to your Thanksgiving activities, whether in a homeschool setting or just at home or in a classroom.

The lesson on the website goes through several songs (secular and religious) related to Thanksgiving and activities you can do with the songs.

Do you have a favorite Thanksgiving song?

[Photo: Music in Our Homeschool.]There are lot’s of music learning resources available online too. Check out these Music games and Learning tools and Music Learning Flash Cards.

Next Plan Idea:

Easy Musical Instruments for Kids to Make

I love the idea of unit studies, which can be done at school, in a homeschool environment or just for fun at home as a way to learn about something specific your kids might be into (or maybe that you are interested in and want them to know more about).

Simply Learning Together put together a homeschool unit study on the Vikings, which sounds like a lot of fun, first off, but it also walks you through the process of how she develops a unit study for her kids so you can do it, too.

It’s a pretty simple process that involves going to the library, reading and researching yourself, then developing some activities and lessons based on what you have learned.

This unit study for the Vikings, for example, shares the books she read and how she planned out the activities. In the post you’ll find a link to a printable map they used, and she talks about different activities they did including baking bread, having a super cute Viking lunch (a sandwich with banana horns to make it look like a Viking helmet!), working with runes, having a snack in “Viking horns” (waffle cones) as well as music, language arts and notebook activities they did.

You could definitely build off these ideas using the books available in your local public library or through doing your own research to find more information and activities your kids might be interested in depending on their age. You could throw in some Viking mythology, for example (I love Norse Mythology for Smart People as a source). Add some STEM with this how to build a Viking ship activity from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus, or make a Viking shield out of cardboard with this idea from This Crafty Family. There are tons of great ideas out there once you start looking!

[Photo: Simply Learning Together]

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

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