Category Archives: fall

August 10, 2012 · 8:59 AM

Beginnings

I used to love fall. Is there anything better than fall in New England? The falling leaves, the crisp air, the football games, the apple picking, the sweater weather. Fall makes me think of new jeans and warm drinks and marching bands playing the fight song.

Now I’d have to drive at least an hour or two to see falling leaves, and while I could technically wear a sweater if I really wanted to, it would likely make me die of heat stroke (we’ve been hitting 115 this week), and the air won’t be crisp until December.

But I still love fall.

Everything is new again, filled with beginnings and promise. Every year at this time I celebrate a little bit that we’re once again making a conscious decision not to send the kids to school. Spencer is 15 now, so we’re right around a decade of opting out. That is something to celebrate for sure! Plus, when school is back in session, it means we no longer have to share the parks, libraries, and museums with crowds of other kids. (That sounds bad, doesn’t it? At least I didn’t go with my first instinct, which was to say we didn’t have to share “our” parks, libraries, and museums. What can I say. Us homeschoolers are possessive of our hang-outs. ;))

Cub Scouts starts up again soon, and I just registered both Everett and Tegan for gymnastics and karate, and gymnastics and ballet respectively. Earlier this week we met with our little group of friends and fellow homeschoolers, for the first time since May. It felt a little bit like coming home. We’ll start getting together weekly now, as well as with our larger group, and the older boys’ with their teen group.

And of course this year, fall also means I’m starting a new business, which is perhaps the most exciting beginning of all.

Ushering in a new season is a good thing indeed. Even without the falling leaves.

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Filed under fall, family, friends, homeschooling

October 23, 2009 · 12:35 PM

Pizza Grows in the Ground

Yesterday we met up with an old homeschool group for a trip and tour of a pumpkin farm. *Old* meaning a group that we used to belong to and have just recently reconnected with. The group isn’t old. The people in the group aren’t old either, in fact they’re mostly quite young.

What was I talking about?

Oh yes, a farm. We spent a long time wandering around the corn maze. We went on a barrel train ride, Tegan and Everett bounced in the bouncy house, and all three boys rode the pedal go-carts. They had a snack, they milked a pretend cow, and they each picked out a pumpkin to take home.

But the whole day started with a tour and explanation of their “Pizza Garden.” What an ingenious idea! Designed to show kids what goes into the makings of a pizza, it was a big circular farm divided into “slices”, and each slice had a different element of the pizza: One growing wheat for the crust, one growing tomatoes and herbs for the sauce, one housing a cow & goats for the cheese, one with two pigs (Pepper and Roni. Hee) representing the toppings. As we as a society get more and more disconnected from our food, I think it is great that they are doing their part to show kids where our food really comes from…. and that pizza doesn’t just appear in the sweaty box from Little Caesars, or in the frozen aisle at the grocery store.

The boys were excited to tell Mike about their day, and the first thing out of Everett’s mouth was “Did you know that pizza grows in the ground?”

In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, I love these kids.

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Filed under fall, field trips, learning, unschooling

October 17, 2009 · 1:18 PM

Signs of Fall

Changing leaves, pumpkin pies, cooler weather, football games.

Except…we’d have to drive a bit further north to see changing leaves. I haven’t had a pumpkin pie since last Thanksgiving. The weather is still, sadly, hot. And the boys are in baseball, not football. But it IS still undeniably fall in Phoenix, and it is wonderful! Fall feels like a fresh start, full of energy and promise. Makes me want to go buy a Trapper Keeper (anyone know if they still make Trapper Keepers??), a new pack of pencils, and shiny new shoes.

And I want to eat lots and lots of these…

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Filed under fall, projects

September 9, 2008 · 8:19 AM

Autumn Leaves

We made these with coffee filters and watered-down paint in eye droppers. LOTS of fun. Paxton and Everett made them for two days straight!

Tastes of Fall

Since Phoenix doesn’t really have an autumn in the traditional sense of the word, we’re bringing the autumn to Phoenix! Yesterday we tried a recipe I found for a fall smoothie – with pumpkin, applesauce, banana, and yogurt. It tasted like 5 different Thanksgiving desserts all in one drink, and unfortunately no one really liked it. Not to be deterred, we used the leftover pumpkin for muffins this morning. Delicious!!

Everett and I have been making these little Forest Fairies. Spencer started one yesterday, and Paxton tells me he will only be making one when he can figure out a way to make it a super cool, masculine, forest BOY.