**This post does contain some affiliate links which could possibly earn me a small commission if a purchase was made through them. These links help to support our blog and our family.
I know I did another post about our Gold Rush Party preparations but I thought it might be helpful to just post the basic menu that we used and decorations that did. This was a lot smaller scale than we had originally planned as I had some unexpected bills come up which made our food budget a little tighter this month.
Here was the menu that the kids came up with:
Gold Rush Party Menu
Main Menu:
Lemonade (The actually chose some ‘Tampico Island Punch’ instead… it was a golden/yellowish color so we went with it.)
Pineapple upside down cake(I made a few individual cupcake size cakes and used fresh pineapple which made them extra delicious.)
An assortment of gold wrapper candies like Mini Twix bars, Hershey’s Kisses, Rolos, and Mini Reese’s cups.
Peanut Brittle Chunks mixed with Hersheys Gold bar pieces and yellow peanut M&Ms.
Fiddle Faddle popcorn.
Gold Coated Cookies (We used a store brand oreo cookie with some gold spray mist color. 1 can did approximately 12 cookies.)
Decor:
A lot of these were found at Dollar Tree and/or Walmart. Oriental Trading had some great decorations but I just didn’t have time to get them. Amazon also has a wide assortment of gold party supplies.
Party Hats(They couldn’t find any yellow or gold ones so they chose Minions, of course.)
Glow sticks
LED Party Favors(we had these left over from a product review I had done a while back.)
They also used a lot of the different candies as decorations around the centerpiece and around the house. They also had to include a dinosaur… who knows maybe there have been some dinosaur fossils found while gold mining?
We had some gold flakes to show everyone as well as a few pieces of pyrite from their Gold Digging kit that they had done last week. This would have been a great activity for kids to do although it would be best for older kids as it was a bit difficult for the younger ones.
I printed out this Gold Rush Wordsearch for the kids to do as well. There are a ton of ideas for games that you could do. We just didn’t get around to playing any as the kids had too much fun with the LED toys and glow sticks. They were also busy helping out with the decorating and and putting their skills learned from Kids Cook Real Food to help with the food prep.
The girls also gave a speech about the California Gold Rush and answered questions. Joey gave a simple speech as well off the top of his head. All in all everyone had some great fun and enjoyed themselves quite a bit.
**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!
Here are our Lesson Plans For Life Skills
This page contains our lesson plans for a few different areas that I have included with our ‘Life Skills’. You will find lessons on cooking, cleaning, and organization as well as bible memory work and character training. All of these will go together to help raise our children into the responsible and caring citizens of tomorrow.
On weeks where there are several activities listed just choose a couple that interest you the most to work on.
We will be focusing on OBEDIENCE this unit. If you don’t have the book we used you can go HERE and download a lesson plan guide to use in your home.
Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or subject simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.
Laura interrupted Mary in the story. Was this wrong?
Discuss how important it is not to interrupt others and how it might make others feel when we interrupt them. (It can make others feel like you don’t think what they have to say is important or that you feel you are better than they are when you interrupt them.)
Come up with a way for children to let you know that they need to tell you something without interrupting. (They can gently place their hand on your hand or arm and wait until you finish.)
4. Memory Verse
Work on memorizing a verse during the week for a special prize.
He who answers before listening – that is his folly and shame. –– Proverbs 18:13
Older kids can check out this Doodle Page via Verse Doodles.
5. Fun Activities
Plan a meal where you can use cracklings. They can be put into cornbread (or hoe cakes) for flavoring. You could substitute chopped bacon if cracklings are not available.
Make butter. Click HERE for a recipe or watch the video below.
Write out the steps for making butter.
How does your butter compare to store bought butter?
See if you can get or borrow a sewing kit. Start practicing the sewing skills listed on pages 6-11 of My Little House Sewing Book.
6. Bonus Skills — Choose one or two to work on
Practice these until you finish this unit study and then we will move on to another new skill.
Memorize the books of the Bible:
Learn about archery which is a skill that has been around for thousands of years.
Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field and take me some venison. — Genesis 27:3
You will need a good book or DVD on archery.
You will also need a properly sized bow and arrows for practice.
Don’t forget a target and a backstop.
Learn the parts of the bow and what they do.
Learn the parts of an arrow and what they do.
Ask an adult to show you how to safely shoot your bow.
Learn the skill of baking homemade nutritious foods from scratch.
…It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God — Luke 4:4
You will need a good cook book.
Start with simple recipes.
Make sure you have all of the ingredients before you start.
Read through the entire recipe before you start.
Ask an adult to show you how to work the oven safely.
Start a recipe collection.
Week 2: Chapters 3 & 4
1. Research Pioneer food preservation.
How do the different food preservation methods keep us from getting sick?
Watch the video:
Discuss what you learned.
Name 3 methods of preserving food that we still use today.
2. Ways to help around the house like Laura
For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine… for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. — Psalm 50:10
Taking Care of Your Pets
This video is about taking care of a dog but many of the responsibilities will be the same for other pets.
Practice these until you finish this unit study and then we will move on to another new skill.
Memorize the books of the Bible:
Learn about archery
Learn about baking
Week 4: Chapters 8 & 9
1. Research a Pioneer Laundry Day
Discuss what you learned.
How is this different from the way you wash clothes?
Watch this video about soap making.
Discuss what you learned.
Why did they keep the kids away?
Other:
Springtime was when the gardens are planted. Click HERE to learn more about pioneer gardens.
Here is a fun video about a pioneer dance which may be similar to the one described in Chapter 8.
2. Ways to help around the house like Laura
Sin can pile up in our hearts just like dirty clothes can pile up in our rooms. We need to make to sure to get our hearts washed and our clothes washed on a regular basis.
Use this Sequencing Worksheet to make a chart showing the laundry cycle from sorting, to washing, to drying, to folding and putting away, and clean up.
Check out this video about the benefits of hanging your clothes out on the line:
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