Autumn Days

The Most Beautiful Time of Year

I love this season, there is an opportunity for so many subjects to study, its a very busy time in the outdoor/indoor 'classroom'.

We made Autumn crafts

With the wonderful colours of the leaves, Autumn is the most obvious of seasons, so when better than to appreciate the four seasons we have and learn about them. With Autumn comes, migration, hibernation, (many mammals to look at here) and harvest. (see the Unit Studies Page for what we enjoyed so I wont bore you over and over again )

Our local Wildflower Centre has had lots of  free of charge 'outdoors days' this half term. The children planted seeds, made dens, made apple crumble, did printing and crafts.

Autumn baking -  food always comes into our projects somehow

When the weather is mild and sunny [or not, in which case turn your outing into a wellie walk] try to get to your local woods or park and collect conkers, acorns and other seeds and leaves to identify at home or go for a bike ride. In my book there is nothing nicer.  Or perhaps on a par, is watching the geese in their thousands, landing after a long haul flight, as the sun goes down. We do get the best sunsets around this time too. Dig out that Nature Bag [the one ready to go... packed with ID books, paints and sketch books...] and paint one.

Studing the US -   M&M made sweet potato soup and corn muffins

Gen 8 v 22  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Learning through Literature - American History

American History

We have begun American History with the younger children this term, and they are enjoying it every bit as much as the older children did. Ideas are easier to absorb if they are in story format, then once the children have the basic idea, we may switch to a non-fiction book and they can see the sequence of events in more detail.

Visiting TN in the Autumn was such a thrill

We were fortunate enough to go on a mega field trip to the States and see things the children had studied like the Liberty Bell and the Declaration of Independence, staying with friends on a farm in TN, and in a log cabin in GA, and with friends in AZ and WDC, we were able to appreciate the geography and landscapes from the Grand Canyon to the Appalachian Mountains.

Themed Pocket Projects

Worksheets and crafts about Native Americans are favourite so far. We have snuggled up with a few DVDs lately, as the weather has perturbed us from venturing out every day as we like to. DVDs to start of the topic, like:
National Treasure
Calamity Jane
Brother Bear
Little House on the Prairie
Apple Dumpling Gang

I am sure you will have your own favourites.

We plan that this history topic will take a couple of months at least. But this is the best time of year to begin, for as we study the Pilgrim Fathers and the First Thanksgiving, we can make a Thanksgiving supper of our own.

M&M Pocket Project

Here is a unit study for some ideas to whet your appetite.
Native American Unit Study and the Trail of Tears.