Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in October! These activities are based on Waldorf and Charlotte Mason education models, so there is no formal schooling yet, such as language arts or math lessons. Instead, the activities reflect the seasonal rhythm of the year to give children a sense of time, place, and connection.
Blue skies, puffy, white clouds, and leaves changing to gold, orange, red, and deep purple are common sights in October in Ohio. We’re able to collect leaves for crafts and enjoy outdoor field trips in cooler weather. We live near Amish country, and October is the perfect time to visit because of the colorful landscapes. The watercolors I chose for this month reflect what we see in the natural world around our home.
Theme and Festivals
Our theme for the month is pumpkins. We like to visit a pumpkin patch and take a few pumpkins home. If I ranked my favorite desserts, pumpkin would rank right after chocolate, so I really look forward to this month’s baked goods.
Our celebrations this month include my husband’s birthday and my younger daughter’s birthday. Near the end of the month, we have a week of events leading up to our high school football team’s biggest rivalry game.
To celebrate my husband’s birthday, I like to make German food and have an Oktoberfest with our family, but sometimes we go out to eat instead.
Here is our October schedule. We follow a four-day schedule because of our Thursday co-op. I can’t share some of the handwork and beeswax modeling we have planned because they come from other curriculums, but I’ll let you know where you can find them. I’ve also created my own handwork resource.
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October Homeschool for Kindergarten
Theme: Pumpkins
Festivals: Birthdays and football game
Daily homeschool schedule
During breakfast: Bible study; read a poem.
Lavender’s Blue circle time (movements with seasonal songs and verses).
Main activity
During lunch: Folk song, picture, composition, or hymn from Ambleside’s schedule. Then I read aloud. We’re currently working through the free reads on Ambleside’s Year 0 schedule.
Monday afternoon: Nature study
Main activities
Week 1
Monday: Day off because of Sunday’s Michaelmas celebration
Tuesday: Watercolor with orange
Wednesday: Model pumpkin with beeswax, weaving
Friday: Handwork from Whole Family Rhythms
Week 2
Monday: Bake pumpkin pie
Tuesday: Watercolor with orange and red
Wednesday: Model tree (no leaves) with beeswax, weaving
Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue
Week 3
Monday: Bake pumpkin bread
Tuesday: Watercolor with red
Wednesday: Model birch leaf with beeswax, weaving
Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue
Week 4
Monday: Bake pumpkin hand pies
Tuesday: Watercolor with red and purple
Wednesday: Model maple leaf with beeswax, weaving
Friday: Wet felted pumpkins
Week 5
Monday: Bake pumpkin donuts
Tuesday: Watercolor with purple
Wednesday: Model oak leaf with beeswax, weaving
Friday: Wet felted acorns