One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that with each season in life, or literal weather season, we can do what works best for our family.
In this season of both life, and weather, we are enjoying the fall 100%! Waking up to the windows open, crisp fall air, and spending a lot of time in nature is what autumn is all bout. So far, we have watched monarch caterpillars flock to our milkweed, make cocoons, and develop into butterflies.
We have enjoyed collecting different colored leaves as they fall, and acorns we have found. We’ve worked together to prep the garden for winter, and finished the last of our harvest. We have raked leaves to feed to the goats, and enjoyed collecting sticks for kindling.
Each day has a nice rhythm to it and looks something like this:
- I wake 5:30-6am for my coffee, journal, and Jesus time
- 7am I get the kids up, we have breakfast, brush teeth, and get dressed for the day, morning chores
- Some mornings we do our morning basket during breakfast, some days it is in the afternoon. (morning basket is our science, history, a read aloud with the littles, a little memory work and whatever else the kids are into. there are handicrafts involved too)
- 8/830am I do my workout, then the kids do their brain gym/dancing movements from youtube, or we may do animal walks across the room to mama for a bear hug reward
- by 9/930 We begin table work together
- 1130/11:45- lunch time!
- Everyone goes outside to play until naps
- Our afternoons are filled with: playing games (Uno, rat a tat cat, and Qwirkle are current favorites), being outside, doing chores on the farm, prepping dinner if needed, and reading aloud from our current family chapter book. Some days we do our morning basket here if we didn’t have time in the morning.
The weather outside (rainy or not) determines during which part of the day we do games, read alouds, etc.
Every-other Wednesday afternoon is still poetry tea time, sometimes it is every week if we don’t have an errand or other plans. I plan to hit the zoo 1x a month to take full advantage of membership and homeschool freedom. =)
As we come into winter, I am sure our routine may change up a bit. But for now, this is working well for our family. Fall is our favorite time of the year!
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. haha
– she loves them. And they are great for her to play with during independent play. They are good for learning and imaginative play-this set comes in 3 different sizes. We read the three bears and then I introduced them. She plays with them several days a week (if you get them, be sure to get the set with 3 sizes like the one in the link)
get used ALL the time, for all different things. They also make the 
that go with them, to use for more instruction type learning/play. My younger children love using the pattern block cards independently while I school with my olders.
, or some sort of snapping cube. Unifix cubes are great for building, sorting, counting, and learning about number sense, etc. They’re a great math manipulative! I linked to the 500 count set because 100 isn’t really enough. When you get into complicated math down the road (multiplication, division, fractions) you will need more than 100 to compare amounts, makes graphs, etc. So I’d suggest the larger set if you are able (Especially if you will have more than one child using them at a time)
is Ah-MAZING. I think I paid $25 w shipping (we have amazon prime, it’s worth it just for the shipping on Christmas gifts for family, alone!) The set is a little more now. The set is very strong, the pieces are big and wide so they’re easy for little hands to manipulate, and it’s fun.
. She loves it and uses it all the time. We got the wooden one, and the wooden trains to go with it (we only have a few, but she seems happy with that for now). I thought she would get frustrated with it, because the tracks have to be put together a certain way, unless you have enough track pieces then it doesn’t matter. But she doesn’t. She just pretends, takes it apart, can almost get it back together correctly… but often she plays with the trains without the tracks. **All 4 children now enjoy this train set, playing with the train tracks, and the trains. One of the first sounds baby #4 learned was “choo choo”
. I know- it looks simple but it has seriously been on her table in the living room for over a year, and she plays with it almost daily. We have used it for numbers, colors, and shapes.
like these (they were a gift for her first bday, I have no clue what brand ours are. But they are a nice thick foam made for the bath tub, though they’ve never been in the tub…)
and 
– my mom brought one for the trip from Memphis to NE when we moved. Bug really likes it, but it isn’t something I let her have all the time (we are learning not to bang the marker on the board….) The board is a small 12 x 12 board, great for playing, and learning to write. The one linked has both a lined side, and a blank side; so as children develop their writing skills they can use the lined side. We enjoy ours so far!
– it is the fisher price loving family dollhouse, I had when I was a kid. She plays with it all the time, and we play with it together.
– you may have 
– So much fun, so much learning and exploring.
– we have a few different sets of these from friends and family. My kids use them often, they are something fun to do together as well. They pretend to sew, knit, and crochet like mama. Great for fine motor, critical thinking, and hand eye coordination.
