Fall Traditions and Celebrations - Linking Up With The Homeschool Village

Today I'm linking up to The Homeschool Village to share ways we celebrate Fall in our homeschool.

What I love about this season is that it has forced me to be intentional about fun, educational activities.

Other than Advent, Fall is my favorite time of the year. Despite the fact that it was nearly 80 degrees here today, the leaves are changing, the yard is littered with leaves, and we are making fall recipes and getting ready for Halloween.

At our front door, the topiary has orange lights (I change the lights for each season), the mums are out, and all we need are the kids and some friends standing by the door dressed in costumes! My husband and I aren't usually the type to dress up for Halloween, but the kids love it and I happily pass out candy while my husband takes them around the neighborhood.

Since we have been homeschooling, holidays take on a whole new meaning for our family - we approach everything from a learning standpoint, and I love it! This week we have learned some classical music that goes along with Halloween, and the kids have also done some fun pumpkin activities. Our favorite book is The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything - and it provides a lot of fun activities, too.

Earlier this week the kids made fall tissue paper trees out of their hand/arm tracings.

My sweet Miss B added a Bible verse to her picture about having the faith of a mustard seed. Sometimes the insight of my children is humbling.

We also made Owl S'Mores, which were a HUGE hit!

Yesterday we went on a fall nature scavenger hunt - I found a cute list online for us and we had a great time. At the end of our walk we spotted a blue heron (I neglected to get a picture because we were so excited!), but it was the highlight of the day, that's for sure!

Oh - a friend that is here each fall is our big SPIDER -- he was a gift to me from my mom my first year of teaching public school, so he has been gracing my house for the past 17 years! I think he's held up very well -- and some years we had to put him away because he scared a little one, but now everyone loves him!

This weekend we will get our pumpkin and daddy will carve it with the kids. Halloween night we are having friends come to dinner and then everyone will head out for trick or treating. We'll be sad when this season is over, but then we prepare for a house FULL of people at Thanksgiving, so we will be on to the next adventure and season of blessings.

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Do Homeschooled Kids Wear Their Pajamas All Day?

Today at The Homeschool Village the topic is school uniforms..... do we require our children to be out of their pjs to start the school day? In our house we have a routine every morning that consists of getting up, making beds, getting dressed, eating breakfast, chores, and then begin schoolwork. We hardly ever skip the getting dressed part - unless someone isn't feeling well or if we've all had a really late night the night before. Even on those occasions we are usually dressed after breakfast and on to a productive day. I have never felt good about myself if I am in my pajamas until lunchtime - I guess it has something to do with the Type A home I was raised in, and my husband is the exact same way.

Just because my children are home educated doesn't mean they should be exempt from many real world standards, and I feel like getting up in the morning and doing your "job" is the real world. I spent almost four years of having my daughter ready for the school bus at 7:15 each morning, so we are no strangers to an early morning routine. I'm proud of the fact that each of my children get out of bed each morning and get themselves ready without arguments or dawdling. (It's me that usually has trouble with this! ha!)

I must admit that one of the perks to homeschooling, however, is that we don't worry so much about what we are wearing. My daughter, especially, likes this part because she isn't one to be very concerned about what she is wearing, and in public school by around the second grade she was starting to feel pressure to dress a certain way. Most days as long as the kids are in clothes that are neat and clean I don't care what they wear. On days when we have a special class or co-op I might break out the iron and good clothes, though. I think I'm saving money on the kids' clothing and I know I'm saving a lot of hassles.

This picture is from a recent "Wacky Tacky" day at our homeschool co-op. My children don't dress like this most days, but it was fun for a day!

Do you have a particular policy or feeling on the subject of getting dressed for school? If so, share your thoughts at The Homeschool Village by linking up today or leaving a comment on their post!
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Celebrating Birthdays

Today's topic at The Homeschool Village is how you celebrate birthdays during the school year. Well, my daughter's birthday is in the dead of summer (July) and we always celebrate by taking our family vacation around her birthday. She has been to the beach, grandma and & grandpa's house, and NY for her birthday celebrations. What a lucky girl! We always celebrate at home, though, too - and I love it that our celebrations always center around the same dining room table that I had in my house growing up as a little girl!

My daughter's last birthday was super special - a friend of mine made an American Girl cake for her - and WOW, was it a cake, or what??

She also shared the day with her best friend. What could get any better?

My son, however, has a birthday two weeks before Christmas. We try to do something special of his choosing on his birthday. It always involves inviting a good friend to spend the evening with us to celebrate. Here the boys are anxiously awaiting birthday presents!

A couple of years ago he chose to go to the Georgia Aquarium. Daddy took the day off and we had such a good time.

Dinner was GMan's choice -- at his favorite: IHop!

Each of my children has a scrapbook of their first year of life, and I put that book out on the coffee table for the week surrounding their birthday. We go through it and I tell them stories about their first year of life. It is such a special time. If we have family and friends over for a birthday celebration, then I leave out all of their scrapbooks for the guests to look through. It makes my children feel like the King or Queen for that day.

I am also a firm believer in not having to do schoolwork on your birthday!! This is a definite advantage to homeschooling, that's for sure.

In closing, I'd like to share our children's favorite birthday cake recipe with you. It is for a Peppermint Poke Cake, and it is disgustingly good! My daughter helps me make the cake and I think we have the recipe memorized.

Hop over to The Homeschool Village to see how other families celebrate birthdays!

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