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For 29 Years The Teaching Home Has Been Providing Home-School Families
Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement from a Distinctively Christian Perspective.
Co-Editors: Veteran Home-School Sisters, Sue Welch and Cindy Short
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Oh give thanks
to the Lord,
for He is good!
Psalm 106:1
Thanksgiving Day Activities
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After your family has enjoyed your
Thanksgiving feast, here are four activities
that can help to make the day a time of
giving thanks. 1. "Count Your Blessings"
Thanksgiving
Visuals
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PosterMake a poster and cut out objects (see
below). Then write a blessing for which
you are thankful on each cutout and tape or
glue them on the poster. For example: • Poster
of a tree with leaf cutouts • Draw
a leafless tree on a piece of butcher paper
or posterboard. (You can also open up a paper
grocery bag to use as a large piece of
paper.) • Cut
out leaves from colored paper and write (or
have young children draw) something for which
you are thankful on each leaf. • Tape
or glue them to the tree. • Poster
of a cornucopia with fruit and vegetable
cutouts • Poster
of an umbrella or grass with raindrop cutouts
(showers of blessings)
Basket or BoxDecorate a box or basket to hold notes
(e.g., 3x5 cards) written by family members
expressing thankfulness for various
blessings, great or small. Younger children
can draw items. Add more notes throughout the year.
Review them occasionally or read them next
Thanksgiving. One family's tradition is to start
a box
on Thanksgiving into which family members put
notes of thanks to each other – with
specific things they appreciate. They
add to this box until Christmas and open the
notes to each other before they share their
gifts.
2. "What Am I Thankful For?
Games
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Charades and/or Pictionary
Have Ready: a chalkboard, whiteboard, or a
large pad of paper with markers. The idea is for everyone to tell what they
are thankful for by using the rules of charades
or pictionary. • Everyone gets
a turn as others guess. This does not
have to be a points or winning game –
just fun! • The
game can continue after everyone has one turn
as long as there is interest.
2. Thanking Others
Around the Room
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• Write
everyone's name on a slip of paper, fold it,
and place it in a dish.
• Everyone draws
a name and thanks that person for something
that they have done this past year.
• Thanks
can be just one sentence, either written or
spoken.
• Go
around the room reading or saying your
thanks.
3. Your Family
Thanksgiving Service
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After your Thanksgiving feast, gather your
family and friends for a time of: • Singing
hymns and songs of praise. See words and hear
the music to many hymns of thanksgiving at Cyberhymnal. • Recounting
to each other the blessings of the Lord. • Thanking Him
together in prayer. • Reading
or quoting Bible verses or passages on
thankfulness and God's blessings (many of the
Psalms, including Psalm 100).
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The Magic of Math
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"Okay, okay, Daddy. I'm not a
mathemagician like you!" Submitted by Mara M., Washington. Send your humorous anecdote to publisher@teachinghome.com. Immerse your family in God's truth through
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Thanksgiving Bible Study,
Mini Unit Study, or Devotionals
Based on Psalm 100
1. Praising God for Who He
Is
2. Thanking God for What He Has
Done
3. Ways To Praise and Thank
God
Throughout the Year
Sidebar: Thanksgiving
Activities
1. "Count Your Blessings"
Visuals
2. "What Am I Thankful For?"
Games
3. Thanking Others Around the
Room
4. Your Family Thanksgiving
Service
Recommended Resources
• Birch Court Books
• Franklin Springs Family
Media
• Jean Welles Worship
Guitar Class
Greetings,
Are you busy with Thanksgiving-Day
preparations for extended family, guests,
food, and more? In this issue we offer you a ready-to-use
Bible study which includes learning
activities and practical suggestions for how
your family can praise and thank God this
week – and all year long! You might use all or parts of this Bible
study during your school time, as a guide for
your family devotions, or for a family
thanksgiving service. We have also added some ideas for
activities in the sidebar at the left.
They are fun and meaningful ways of
expressing thanks that all ages can join in
and enjoy. May your family come to a deeper
understanding of who God is and what He has
done by studying God's Word together at this
Thanksgiving time – resulting in praise
and thankfulness to our wonderful Lord for
His goodness to us. May the Lord bless you and your family for
His glory.
Cordially,
The Pat Welch Family, Publishers
Pat, Sue, Heather, Holly, and Brian
The Teaching
Home is a home-school, family-run
business operated in our home since 1980.
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1. Praising God for Who He Is
A. Praising
God
1. Bible Study and Memory
Read, Discuss, and Memorize Psalm 100:1,
2.
"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye
lands.
Serve the Lord with
gladness:
Come before his
presence with singing."
2. Word Study
Study the words "praise" and "thank." • Look
up both words in a dictionary (online)
and a thesaurus (online). • See
Webster's 1828 Dictionary online
and look up praise
and thank.
(You can buy
this dictionary from Foundation for American
Christian Education.) • Point
out that there is a difference between:
praising God for Who He is and thanking Him
for what He's done.
3. Further Bible Study
• Look
up verses that contain the words "praise" and
"thank" in a concordance or online at BibleGateway.com. • Look
up "praise" and "thankfulness" in Baker's
Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical
Theology online
for discussion and more references.
4. Nature Study
• Read
Psalm 19:1-6 and answer: "How does the
earth and all creation praise God?" • Write a
poem (see how-to tips online)
or paint a picture of nature praising
God.
B. Who God
Is
1. Bible Study and Memory
Read, Discuss, and Memorize Psalm
100:3.
"Know ye that the Lord he is God:
It is he that hath
made us, and not we ourselves;
We are his people,
and the sheep of his pasture."
2. Considering God, Our
Creator
• Read
Psalm
139, consider, and answer the
questions: "Did God make each of us
individually? Who knows us, our
character, and our thoughts better than
anyone else? What does this mean to
you?"
3. Considering God, Our
Shepherd
Psalm 100:3 tells us that we are God's
flock. Psalm 23 gives us a picture of what it
means to have God as our Shepherd. • Read
Psalm
23 and think of how this description
makes you feel (e.g., safe, loved, etc.). • List
things to praise God for from Psalm 23.
4. Studying the Character of
God
What is God like? In addition to God being holy, loving,
just, and true, older children can learn the
meaning and implications of terms such as
omnipotent, omniscience, omnipresent, and
immutable. • See
"The
Doctrine of God" for a list of the
attributes of God with Scripture references. • Write a
character description of God based on
Scripture.
(See Exodus 34:6, 7; Deut. 6:4; 10:17; Num.
16:22; Ex. 15:11, 33:19; Isa. 44:6; Hab. 3:6;
Ps. 102:26; Job 34:12; Rev. 5:12, 7:12; and
ChristianAnswers.net.)
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2. Thanking God
for What He Has
Done
A. Thanking
God
1. Bible Study and Memory
Read, Discuss, and Memorize Psalm
100:4.
"Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
and into his courts
with praise:
Be thankful unto
him, and bless his name."
2. What To Thank God for
Make a list of things your family is
thankful for and keep adding to your list all
year long (see suggested activities in the
sidebar at left). Be sure to include
the following: • His
Love and Free Offer of Salvation "For the wages of sin is death, but the
free gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23) • His
Provision "And my God will supply all your needs
according to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) • All
Good Things "Every good thing given and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the
Father." (James 1:17) You can rightfully thank God for anything
and everything good, including a found
parking space, safety during a near accident
that you avoided, good news from a friend, or
the beauty of the day. • Unasked-for
Blessings "For He gives to His beloved even in his
sleep." (Psalms 127:2) "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and
the good, and sends rain on the righteous and
the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45) We can thank the Lord for those things we
have received from God without specifically
asking for them.
3. Studying the Names of God
• List
some of the names of the Lord (e.g., Jehovah
Jireh - The God Who Provides). • See
a list of hundreds of names of God, many with
Scripture references, at ChristianAnswers.net. • What
names would you give God, based on your
personal or family relationship with
Him?
B. What God
Has Done
1. Bible Study and Memory
Read, Discuss, and Memorize Psalm
100:5.
"For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is
everlasting
And His faithfulness
to all generations."
2. Lovingkindness
• See
Webster's 1828 Dictionary online for
definition of kindness. • Read
Psalm
136 and using it as an example, write a
family Psalm telling about God's
lovingkindness to your family.
3. Faithfulness
• Read
about God's faithfulness in Lamentations
3:22, 23. • Sing
"Great
Is Thy Faithfulness." • How
has God been faithful to you? Write
one or more verses to the above tune praising
and thanking God for what He has been and
done for your family.
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3. Ways To Praise and Thank God
Throughout the Year
"I will bless the Lord at all times: his
praise shall continually be in my
mouth." (Psalm 34:1)
1. In Private and Family
Prayer
• Private
Prayer Talking to God in prayer throughout the
day is how we can "pray without ceasing" (1
Thessalonians 5:17). And the majority
of our words to Him should be praise to Him
for Who He is (His attributes) and thanks for
what He has done for us. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to
God." (Philippians 4:6) "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping
alert in it with an attitude of
thanksgiving." (Colossians 4:2) • Family
Prayer Teach your children to begin their prayers
with praise and thanksgiving before
presenting their petitions. During your family prayer time, ask your
children to think of one specific thing that
happened that day (especially to them
individually) for which they can thank the
Lord.
2. In Song, Singing Hymns
and Spiritual
Songs
Throughout Scripture, thankfulness to the
Lord is expressed not only in words, but
through music. "I will praise the name of God with song
and magnify Him with thanksgiving."
(Psalms 69:30) "Let the word of Christ richly dwell
within you, with all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with
thankfulness in your hearts to God."
(Colossians 3:16) • Learn
(memorize) and sing hymns and songs of praise
and thanksgiving. See a list of songs of
praise at CyberHymnal.org. • Sing
"All
People That on Earth Do Dwell," based on
Psalm 100. • Sing
alone, either aloud or to yourself, as you
work or travel. • Sing
as a family, at meals, devotional times, and
in the car.
3. In Public, as a Testimony to
Others
Giving thanks to God should also be done
before others as a testimony of His goodness
to all mankind and our appreciation of Him. • In
Everyday Talk The phrase "Praise the Lord" is
appropriate many times in our daily
conversations, before our family and in front
of the unsaved or strangers. We should not
tire of using it with sincerity! • Corporate
Worship and Prayer Our corporate worship during the song
service and public prayers at church should
be meaningful praise and thanksgiving to the
Lord. "In the midst of the assembly I will
praise You." (Psalms 22:22) • Direct
the Praise to God. Teach your children by your own example
that when we are praised by others, we should
acknowledge the Lord's grace that enables us
to do anything good or praiseworthy. In
this way we give the glory and praise to Him. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your
name give glory because of Your
lovingkindness, because of Your truth."
(Psalms 115:1) • Ministering
to Others Singing praise and thanks to the Lord at a
rest home or rescue mission is a real
testimony. |
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