Signs of Autumn {2010 Curriculum}
The children keep bringing me acorns from the trees in the front yard. A favorite fall activity is to gather up a bunch of acorns and pretend they are food and “cook” with them (I know some people actually do eat them, but we haven’t tried it!).
The leaves are gradually turning a golden color and dropping off the trees. The air has a hint of coolness in it. Yesterday I so enjoyed simply sitting outside in a chair watching the children play. I was tired, but it was so peaceful and pleasant to just sit there watching them. “Mommy, watch me go down the slide!” “Mommy, look how high I can climb in this tree! Do you see me way up here?” “Mommy, let Baby go down the slide with me! We’ll make a train and all go down the slide together!” Those are the times when I simply love being a mother. I love how they all want my attention and how happy they are to show me what they are doing and playing and learning. Sometimes I wish I could just keep a moment just like it is and not have anything change.
The garden is drying up and withering. We’ve had a good harvest. Sometimes we plant a fall garden, but I don’t think we’re going to do that this year. We have so much going on as we look for a house and anticipate possible changes in our life the next few months.
Another sign of autumn is that we’re about ready to start our new school year. We have our new books ready and waiting. I’ve made a new schedule for fall. We’re planning to begin tomorrow!
Here’s what we’re using this year:
- Math: Math-U-See
- Science: Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Astronomy
- Language Arts: Queen Homeschool’s Language Lessons
- Geography: A Child’s Geography: Explore His Earth by Anne Voskamp
- History: BJU books (the children love to just read through these–they actually find them interesting!) and also the “If You Lived” book series (these are another favorite, and we have quite a few of them).
- State History: State Histories in Light of the Cross
- Handwriting: Getty and Dubay Italic for the older girls, A Reason for Handwriting for Ian (because I already had this book on my shelf!)
- Preschool: Rod and Staff Preschool workbooks and Kumon workbooks and Evan-Moor Nursery Rhymes Literature Pockets, just for fun. We also have fun with Cuisenaire Rods and the alphabet book that goes with them, and Pattern Blocks with the Pattern Animals book. We’re also using some of the plans and ideas from Hubbard’s Cupboard. This is probably my favorite age to teach, play, and have fun with!
- Baby: Our little guy will mostly just be playing with an older sibling (as they rotate blocks of time with him), napping, nursing, or playing near us. I’m also planning to do a few purposeful activities with him from an old standby, Slow and Steady Get Me Ready.
Our mornings will begin with a Circle Time, which I have planned into our day in the past, and we loved it. We have prayer, Scripture memory, singing, hymn study, art and music appreciation, poetry, a read-aloud time, etc. It’s just nice to start the day off all together focusing on what really matters.
