Here's to Fall Traditions

 

First up, our yearly visit to a sweet, little family farm with a straw maze, pumpkins of all sizes for cheaps, and a big box of corn for the kids to play in...

We just barely made it this year before they closed for the season.  In fact, there wasn’t anybody there during our visit, just a metal box to place our money in using the honor system.  Jenna wanted to visit the chickens and all four of us wanted to squeeze through the maze.  

Here's a couple of pictures from Travis Farms a few years ago:

Then, there is perhaps my very favorite tradition of the year:  Fire Night.  It’s the opening night of our fireplace, a tradition we started four years ago.  Jenna knows it so well by now I can’t deviate even the slightest bit!  Caroline had no memory of it this year. 

We make a huge, family-size pallet in the floor and stock it with pillows, extra blankets, and favorite stuffed animals.  I cook a big pot of vegetable soup and serve it with cheese and Ritz crackers.  

 I bring out all of our favorite fall books, with one or two new ones added in every year, and I give the girls a little surprise to help prepare for colder weather (one year I got everybody smartwool socks).  We eat and read books...

This year, the girls received soft, handmade “Laura and Mary” nightgowns.

And then the girls make an apple pie with Daddy, inspired by our book The Apple Pie Papa Baked.  We use a recipe of Kay's that is hilariously and inappropriately written by my dad, which never fails to make me laugh. 

And sometimes, a one or two of us will make fire night last all night.

Note:  The girls adored the nightgowns.  But not as much as I adore the sight of them running down the hall, red and white material billowing all around them.   I’ve been meaning to make these gowns for a couple of years!  How does that happen?!  In fact, I made Jenna’s last year right before fire night, only to abandon the whole project because of other pressing Christmas stuff!  I even had Caroline’s material purchased!  This year…I called Rita the week before and asked her to make Caroline’s.  I’m SO glad I came back to these.  They are beautiful.    

I am surprised I've never written about fire night before!  Here's a few sweet pics from fire nights past...

And yet another year...

Fall

letter to Aunty Lori

Everybody at this house is in love with fall.  Even the seven-year-old. Or maybe especially the seven-year-old. 

Tom Thumb Endings and A Dragon Story

The kids were fascinated by the story of Tom Thumb.  Fascinated.  We were all shocked and disappointed when the story ended abruptly with his death, so I suggested we make up a new ending.  Everyone agreed.  Here's Caroline's:

"He fought pretty well but he did not get killed.  The spider put just a teensy bit of venom into him.  [Tom Thumb] stuck his knife into [the spider]  and it got so scared it quickly ran back to his spider home.  His spider home was so crazy.  It was like a ball of yarn with all knots and it was sticky.  Tom Thumb went back home and he got just a tiny bit of venom, but he was alright.  He had to go to the Doctor's office."  The End.

Another book we just finished and loved was this one:

 

One of Jenna's favorite scenes was when the dragon learned to fly. 

One of Caroline's favorite scenes was when the Old Man of the Moon said Minli could only ask one question.  Jenna then added that scene was her favorite too, as well as the one word written over and over on the page in the Old Man's book.

The book's descriptions are rich, worthy of multiple re-reads, and the message is deep, but presented in such a way that even my seven-year-old got the importance of gratitude.  (Jenna commented--I wish I could remember her EXACT words--something to the effect that some of the book was for older kids/adults). Here's how Jenna imagined the dragon:

This Moment

Caroline's Desk

Flow

Every once in a while, it happens.  Everyone is engrossed in their work.  Thinking, planning, enjoying, not wanting to stop.  When flow hits, I want to stop long enough to recognize the moment for what it is and feel grateful.  That's why I stopped for 10 seconds and snapped this picture in the middle of a "school" morning last week.

Our work certainly doesn't look like this all the time (although snapshots from a blog can make it look like Heaven on Earth here.  Which it is.  SOMETIMES).  There are some days, or even, God help me :), a string of days, when icky moods and a lack of direction send me into a tailspin of doubt about the slightly unschooled route we've/I've opted for.   

Recognizing the almost magical moments of flow keeps us all going.  It helps remind me that the hard stuff is followed by more of the good stuff.  That flow will return. It also reassures me that the route we are on is a good one.

 In this particular case, J and C were enthralled with these paper dolls.  For three days or so, everything revolved around them, which led to looking at the map, perusing our copy of Material World, incorporating the paper dolls into our daily writing, and building homes for them.  Jenna kept going with this much longer than Caroline, so I used the opportunity to sew a pillow with Caroline. 

Caroline (staring at her camping pillow):  "I wonder how they make pillows."
A bit of talk about how they might make them and what they put in them.
Mama:  "You could make one if you want to."
Caroline:  "OKAY!  Can we do it for my school work?"
So we did.

The Places School Can Happen

Where does "school" take happen for us when we are at home?  Here are a few places...

On pallets...

In bed (reading before Caroline's nap)...

At the lunch counter....

 Under the cherry blossom tree...

Down the hallway (crazy math):

and back from the hallway into the living room

On the deck...

In the bathroom (Jenna reading the stories she wrote the day before to Daddy as he showers for work.  :))

In the kitchen...

In the backyard...

In the garden...

ALL over the house....

Learning and playing.  Everywhere.  It makes for a trashed house, but it's worth it.

A Letter to Little Squirrel

Jenna looked at Gerda Muller's Autumn book for a couple of minutes this morning and then said there was something she wanted to do "right now." 

This basket is waiting for Little Squirrel on the front porch.  If he doesn't come get the contents tonight, she will move the basket up to the barn where he might feel safer from the Doobus.  This was all Jenna, even the idea to add a list of nuts squirrels like, based on the information we read in a Berries, Nuts, and Seeds book we checked out from the library.

P.S. the pink paper is some leftover pokeberry paper from last fall she found in the secretary.