Round-up of Autumn Learning Fun

Round-up of Autumn Learning Fun

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog and our homeschool!

Autumn Fires

by

Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens

And all up the vale,

From the autumn bonfires

See the smoke trail.

Pleasant summer over

And all the summer flowers,

The red fire blazes,

The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!

Something bright in all!

Flowers in the summer,

Fires in the fall.

There is something just refreshing about the fall that I love. The leaves begin their slow fade before dropping to their final resting place, the weather gets cooler, and the pumpkin patches!!! Yes, fall is my favorite season. It also means hay rides, football games, sweaters and boots, and bonfires. Fall also now means fun learning activities for my children that revolve about leaves, pumpkins, acorns, and woodland animals.

In this post I have gathered some links to fun and (some) free learning for children. Please always check the price before checking out. I hope you and your children enjoy all the great things about fall and have fun learning too!

Fall Learning Links:

Free Homeschool Deals by Jamerrill

http://www.freehomeschooldeals.com/70-free-fall-learning-resources-activities-for-kids/

(Hands-down this is my FAVORITE site to visit for free learning activities for our homeschool.)

Proverbial Homemaker
https://www.proverbialhomemaker.com/counting-pumpkins-1-12-free-printable-pack.html
(Limited-time Download)

Pre-K pages

https://www.pre-kpages.com/20-fall-leaf-activities-for-preschool/

The Imagination Tree

https://theimaginationtree.com/50-autumn-play-art-activities-kids/

Education.com

https://www.education.com/worksheets/autumn-fun/

(This site has fun and educational worksheets.)

Little Bins for Little Hands

https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/fall-science-activities-kids-hands-sensory-play/

(This is a new to me site, but it has some great ideas listed.)

The Homeschool Scientist

https://thehomeschoolscientist.com/fall-science-activities/

Our Journey Westward with Cindy West 

https://ourjourneywestward.com/nature-study-3/

(We love Cindy West's Nature Explorer products, and she has some great posts about getting started with nature study.)

Be sure to check out my Pinterest board, Homeschool:Fall Learning for even more ideas!

Don't forget the Harvest Sale over at SchoolhouseTeachers.com. {aff link} The sale will go through the end of October. 

Our New School Year 2017-2018

Plans for Our New School Year

2017-2018

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog and our homeschool!

Wow! Can you believe that it is already October? I feel like this school year is flying by too fast for me. How is homeschooling going at your house? 

I think that our motto for this year is going to be "slow and steady wins the race". We are still working on our routine and line up for some of our subjects, but for the most part we are finding what works for us. 

This year, I have a 10, 8, 6, 3, and 1 year old. We are all learning to be more flexible than before with little ones. I have had to adjust our schedule to make room for those "interruptions" that will happen and really that's a good thing. I want my children to value people more than a to-do list, and since I'm their example I first have to show it. This homeschooling journey is becoming more beautiful the more I am learning to trust God's leading on what it is suppose to look like for our family. 

We are eclectic homeschoolers, with a CM bent, because "one size does NOT fit all" in my house. This year we will be using resources from Ambleside Online, SchoolhouseTeachers.com, Reading Eggs, Teaching Textbooks, and unit studies. I will include links below to each one so that you can check them out.

Last year was the first time that we ventured into a more Charlotte Mason approach to learning, but since I am still slowly reading through her volumes and learning myself we are not doing everything 100%. I get to help design some of the curriculum found at SchoolhouseTeachers.com, and I'm very excited to have this resource this year. I am using Reading Eggs with my struggling reader, and Teaching Textbooks for math with my artistic-driven learner. Then for fun, because my children actually like unit studies, I have sprinkled some throughout the school year. I hope you are having a great school year so far! You can tell me more about your school year in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!

Ambleside Online 
http://amblesideonline.org/

SchoolhouseTeachers.com
https://schoolhouseteachers.com/dap/a/?a=29803 {aff. link}

Reading Eggs
https://readingeggs.com/

Teaching Textbooks
http://teachingtextbooks.com/

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett
http://unitstudy.com/

Also I am working on my own unit studies for the blog as well!! 

Creative and Frugal Homeschooling Tip #2

Creative and Frugal Homeschooling Tips

3 Part Mini Series
(This post contains my affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog and homeschool!)

In the last post, I shared with you about utilizing your public library for a creative and frugal homeschooling tip. Today, I am going to be talking about a tip that is new for our family. Some of you may have heard of the homeschool magazine called The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. I have been reading this magazine for many years now. It is filled with informative and interesting articles related to homeschooling and information about homeschool-related products. 

So my second tip is the curriculum site for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Schoolhouse Teachers.com. There will be link below for you to find out more information about Schoolhouse Teachers and about the Autumn sale that is going on until October 31st.

This is our first year to use Schoolhouse Teachers.com. Did you know that there are over 300 classes to chose from for your whole family? And even more classes are being added weekly. Wow, this is going to be a game-changer for our family this year!! I love the fact that I can pick and chose which classes to use with each of my children, and with so many to pick we will not run out of learning ideas. There is also an area for parents that include tools such as a scope & sequence, monthly menus, schedule builders, report card creators, courses, special needs helps, and the World Book Online. This site is truly a one-stop for a family education. We believe in our house that homeschooling is so much more than just teaching our children academics, it is a lifestyle for us.

So now, let's chat about the special that is happening now. From now until October 31st, you can get a Limited Membership for grades PreK-8 for $9.95/month (reg. $14.95/month) using the code CORNCOB or an Unlimited Membership for grades PreK-12 for $10.95/month (reg. $19.95/month) using the code SCARECROW. There are BONUSES as well too:

• two FREE fall-themed PRINT back issues of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine*
• a bushel of digital goodies (see overseas restrictions below)
• And, members automatically qualify to receive FREE ongoing issues of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine in the mail. The next one releases January, 2018.* (see the overseas restrictions below)

Harvest Special at Schoolhouse Teachers.com

*Sorry, physical gifts/magazine free to U.S. addresses only. For information on international shipping, please contact Customer Service. The 2010 & 2011 Fall Print Issues will be given out while supplies last. Due to limited quantities, you may receive a past Fall Print Issue from a different year (not shown). You will still be sent two of our fall-themed back issues filled with wonderful tips and autumn-related content. 

It's Almost That Wonderful Time of the Year!

One of my favorite times of the year is "Back to School". Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year!!! But I am also in love with the cooler weather, the changing color of the leaves, the game of football, and of course school supplies! I still get excited to buy school supplies even if it is for my children. There is a wonderful feeling of getting to start over and the challenges of getting to learn new things that excite me.

So we are in count down mode for our first day back to school. This year I will have a 2nd grader, 1st grader/finishing up some Kindergarten work, a Pre-K5, and a 14 month-old baby. This is going to be an interesting year because the older children are getting older and having a baby in the mix. I will be praying for extra patience and wisdom to know how we need to schedule our school times and "mommy and me" times. I love all my children, and I want them to know that I love each of them individually. My biggest goal or area of growth that I would like to see is that the children and I memorize several scriptures from the Bible. It is my prayer that the children desire a relationship with Jesus and become a follower of Him.

I need to get started with some more lesson plans and finish organizing the children's binders. Oh my! So much to do and so little time!!!

Thanksgiving Heart Story

So how was your Thanksgiving? I hope that you made wonderful memories, enjoyed spending time with family and friends, and ate some wonderful foods. But most of all I hope you took a minute or several to thank the One who has given you all the many reasons that you and I have to be thankful for this season.

 I had the joy of cooking for my little family of six this year. My husband smoked a turkey for us. The children and I were  "all hands on deck" in the kitchen. Together we made a few casseroles, dressing, gravy, peas and pies. It may have not been fancy, but it was a time to eat together as a family.

My husband said a prayer of thanks once we were all gathered around the table. He helped to fix each of the three older children's plates while I fed the youngest he first bowl of rice cereal. As they were enjoying taste-testing the food on their plates, I asked each one of the children what they were thankful for this year. My oldest, proclaiming loudly, said she was thankful for her family, friends, church, and God. My next to youngest said that he was thankful for his sunglasses and a pattern block game; then he just smiled at me with pride about his answer. My second oldest didn't want to tell us. He said he was too hungry to think of a reason. (Go figure.) I then told them I was so very thankful for each of them as well as their daddy. Then I also said that I was thankful for each year that I had been blessed with since the birth of my oldest child. (I will have to write about that in another post because it is a praise story in itself.) Finally it was my husband's turn. He began saying he was thankful for family, the food, a house, his job and a few other things. Then he stopped to clear his throat before saying that he was thankful for God and His forgiveness, mercy and love. One of the children noticed that daddy was getting "water" in his eyes.

 That was just one of the moments that I stopped and silently thanked God for a husband who is not afraid to live his faith in front of his wife and children.  I am thankful that I married a man who is a Christian. No, he is not perfect nor am I. Does he get it right all the time? No, but he is quick to ask for forgiveness. Whether he knows it or not, he is admired and loved by his wife and children.

Later in the evening the children and I piled up in my bed to finish reading our Thanksgiving chapter book. This year I read, "Thanksgiving on Thursday, Magic Tree House #27" by Mary Pope Osborne. It took two days for us to read this book from beginning to end. I enjoyed reading this book to the children, and for the most part I think they liked the book also. I liked that the chapters were short enough to get to a stopping point because on the first day of reading I was running between cooking and reading. I love reading books whether for my children's enjoyment, my enjoyment or for learning something new. Just one of the many reasons I love being am to homeschool my children. I get another chance to learn about this wonderful world that God created.

Even though we had a small, non-fancy Thanksgiving we are blessed. We have each other and love one another. My husband and I hope to instill in our children the blessed gift of family, and that they will cherish that gift for years to come.

My Thankful List

Thanksgiving for me is always a time to reflect upon another year and count my many blessings. I have had a good year for the most part of 2014. It has been better than 2013 in many ways. Every time this past year that I would get discouraged I would say out loud, "This year is going to be better than last year!".  Sometimes I would have to remind myself several times in a day. But for now I would like to make a list of the things that I am THANKFUL for.

• My God and Savior
• For God's forgiveness
• For my parents
• For my older brother and his family
• For my younger brother
• For my husband
• For my sweet children
• For my extended family
• For my friends
• For my church and church family
• For a place to call home
• For food to eat and clean water to drink
• For nice clothes to wear and shoes for my feet
• For a van to carry me and my family places
• For our cat and two dogs
• For my husband's job
• For money to pay the bills
• For the ability to learn
• For my five senses
• For my health
• For books to read
• For libraries
• For being able to homeschool my children
• For other homeschooling moms' blogs/websites

I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Remember to slow down and make memories because when the day is over you don't get a second chance.

 

Psalm 100:4 (KJV)

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name."

Fall Leaves and Learning Styles

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love watching the color of the leaves change during the season. There is such beauty in the colors of the leaves. The colors range from deep reds to bright oranges and vivid yellows. If I were a painter, I would paint pictures of the trees in the fall. I love being surrounded by beautiful things. I am a very visual person. I learn best through seeing how things are done or the steps to complete a task. In studying the different learning styles I have learned that I am somewhat of an auditory learner as well. My children's learning styles are a combination of all the styles. One may be strong in one area while not at all in another area. It has been interesting to teach to their unique learning styles. My oldest is great at reading and language arts while my second oldest is better in math. This is one of the reasons I am glad that I am homeschooling them so that I can teach to their learning styles. I want them to love learning and to know that all through their lives they will be learning something new. I enjoy having them at home with me. I enjoy reading to them, singing songs with them or trying out a new science experiment. I find joy in teaching my children just like I find joy in watching the leaves change color in the fall. What do you find joy in?