Fall on the farm

A Day at the Apple Farm

We shook up our annual apple picking tradition by going to a different orchard this year. The main reason for the change was the opportunity to try out a corn maze. It was hot in that open field and it's a good thing that it didn't take us long because the natives got restless quickly. They also had some really cool stuff at the p[layground, inclusing the tepee and the bouncing tubes. But all in all, I think we'll be back at our beautiful, cool mountaintop orchard next year.

Stuff I'm printing today

1. Crayola's Nature Walk activity page - my kids are going to take this to do at their Gran's for a seasonal little science/art/writing activity
2. Crayola's Autumn Leaves coloring page - I'm going to have the kids color these with their crayola :^) markers and then cut them out and make a border over the deck doors
3. There are other fall Crayola activity pages here.
4. Wondertime's Autumn Adventure cutting pages for Rose
5. Halloween bookmarks from Jan Brett to enjoy this month.

Discovery

Have I told you about Currclick before? If not, then you should go check it out now. All kinds of downloadable curriculum awaits. And the best part? When you create an account for free, you get their weekly e-letter that always includes a free product to download each week. From a book on pioneer projects to beautiful copywork pages to an Egyptian mummy lapbook - I've gotten lots of cool stuff - all free! Ethan using a once-free set of copywork pages from them for his copywork right now. They have great quotes and charming old-fashioned illustrations.

On to the real discovery.

Browsing around Currclick this afternoon, I ran across a free sample for online Kidswonder magazine. The September 2008 issue is their first issue and it's pretty good. At first I began to reject it based on rather lame graphics, but the 110 page issue improved as I went along. It has a fantastic 5 lesson unit study on leaves at the end. I'm thinking a themed "Leaf Day" might be happening at my house. It also has great apple activities. So check it out. And if you like it, you can, it seems, pay a $10 one-time fee by Paypal or credit card which will then allow you to receive a code for each upcoming issue (forever?).

Either way, the free issue will be fun.

Fall on the farm

bracelets from cotton that they picked,

carded, and helped spin.

shucking and dekerneling corn

sack races

couldn't resist

popcorn break

washing gourds

Rosie loved using the old farm machinery

reading break - I like how the light is

hitting the Bible

folk music

Autumn Colors

This picture of our backyard trees was taken today. I don't remember ever seeing that tree turn red. Maybe it has, but it's bigger and brighter this year. I've seen new birds at the birdbath, a blue jay and my sweet juncos. I'm savoring this season glimpse by glimpse, flavor by flavor, crisp nights, and woodsmoke in the air.

Our fall colors peaked earlier this week. We drove through the country on Monday, and of course, I didn't have my camera. I'm trying to learn to not be frustrated when that happens, but instead appreciate the ability to now see things as pictures and keep them in my memory even if they're never in a snapshot. My favorite "memory picture" was of a large lake that we cross over on our drive. We approach from above it, so it lay before me, the sun was high and bright, the trees around it were vibrant, the sun reflected off the water in sharded mirrors of light, and there was a man fishing in a small boat. I wanted to share that picture with you too, so now I have.

The Great Pumpkin

Today we had Great Pumpkin party with some friends.

We did some Halloween math pages, learned the names of bones and cut and pasted a skeleton craft. Cut out the cutest masks and trick or treat scenes from Wondertime. Read lots of books about jack o'lanterns, a pumpkin cat, and a tree that couldn't get it's colors right. Made paper plate spider crafts, watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, ate lunch and a Great Pumpkin cake(mine didn't look nearly that pretty), and played our new It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown board game!

And I think I still have enough stuff that we didn't get to,to take care of next year! Oh,well.

Please bear with me as I try to figure out how to make these posts look the right way. I'm also trying to figure out how to show the real pictures of all of these events that I'm dying to share with you.

Cinderalla and her newly painted crown

Fall weekend

Robin, Cinderella, and The Bunny
at Sleepy Hollow County Fair

Five things to do this weekend

1. Take your kids to a fall festival.
2. Carve pumpkins. We always share the pumpkin gospel. If you don't want to do a jack o'lantern face, check out this beautiful way to carve a pumpkin at By Sun and Candlelight. Just scroll down the post until you see the pumpkin. It is a Catholic blog, but you will find the prayer sweet and sound.
3. Walk the easy hike at your local state park.
4. Build a bonfire, invite the neighbors over, and make smores.
5. Collect leaves and do this foliage friends craft at family fun.