Seasonal Schooling In The Fall!

Fall: crisp mornings, leaves turning colors before twirling to the ground, warm sweaters…and back to school excitement. Even though we school all year, there is still an undercurrent of anticipation. We’re coming off the light summer load, and settling into the more typical school routine. This session is heavier on the academics and day to day schedule. We’re refreshed from summer’s lazier days, and ready to dive into fall’s bounty of books.

Fall starts around September 22nd and goes until about December 20th with Fall planning happening at the beginning of September. The days here are usually hot, but the mornings are delightfully cool. We usually have warm days well into October, but the nights are definitely colder by then. We take advantage of the last of the warm sunny days, but relish the snuggling under blankets, too.

So How Do We Plan For Fall?
Again, you need to plan out your holidays, and how many days you might want to take off. Thanksgiving falls during this session, and we sometimes have company. I plan for this, but I also include fun learning activities related to Thanksgiving. We decorate for the fall, read fall and Thanksgiving inspired books, and find printables related to Thanksgiving/harvest. By planning ahead, I can do things like a thankfulness project easily. It’s scheduled in.

Don’t forget to look for those fun holidays again. Anyone who knows me will get a kick out of October 29th (my birthday) which happens to be Hermit Day. And then there is the International Moment of Frustration Scream Day on October 12th. That could come in handy.

Before You Move Forward
So what did the kids finish over the summer? What did you put on hold from Spring that needs to be added back into rotation? What’s working, and what’s not? What’s missing that’s important to you? Spend some time in this planning session really evaluating. I would pray during each planning phase, but especially this one. What does God want your focus to be for each child? Partner with Him for a custom fit education. He knows what the year ahead holds, and what’s best for each of you.

Fall Activities
Fall not only has it’s own activities, but it includes much of the Christmas preparation time as well. It’s traditionally a busy time, but a little planning can definitely keep things running a bit smoother. It helps to remember, and maybe even write down, what’s important. Relationships should be the highest priority. With this in mind, keep things in perspective: think hospitality vs the house needing to be perfect, enjoying your family vs striving to accomplish great feats (of holiday grandeur). Choose activities wisely, things that add to your family, and give yourself permission to drop those things that are causing stress. They might be great ideas, but they might not be right for this moment.

Put up simple fall decorations.
Visit a corn maze.
Have a bonfire or use a fire pit, and roast marshmallows.
Gather the leaves into a pile, and then jump in.
Make a thankfulness tree.
Prepare your garden and yard for winter.
Work on crochet or knit projects with the kids.
Make a Christmas prepping list and timeline.
Have the kids help write the Christmas newsletter.
Make Christmas decorations and/or gifts.
Enjoy fall and winter nature studies.
Snuggle up for lots of read alouds.
Teach the kids the how and why of boosting immune systems.
Prepare for winter colds and sickness by building a natural medicine cabinet.

Back To Academics
You’ve prayed, evaluated, and figured out holidays. You’ve chosen some fun activities you might want to include this season. Now it’s time to get out the big resource list, and flesh out your school plans. Remember you are making a list of what you want to include this year, but only making plans for 13 weeks. What will you finish this session? How much progress will you make in other things? What extras do you want to include? Be realistic in your expectations. Again, adding in is much better than overfilling, and getting frustrated. Add in what I call buffer time. You may think something will take 7 days, but add in a couple more days for space in your schedule. Then, if something comes up, you have extra time built in. If you finish early, great. Add something else into the time you have left.

Even though this is usually the bigger planning session for me, it’s still relatively painless because I break my planning session into four segments throughout the year, and keep a running list of what I’d like to use. I tend to buy more school supplies at this point, but again, it’s not much because this, too, is spread out as needed through the year.

Tomorrow, I’ll tackle Seasonal Schooling In The Winter!

In this series:
The What, Why, And How Of Seasonal Schooling
Seasonal Schooling In The Spring!
Seasonal Schooling In The Summer!
Seasonal Schooling In The Fall! This post.
Seasonal Schooling In The Winter!

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