Autumn Archives -

Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for November

JenMHowell — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 16:44:35 +0000

Here are some ideas for homeschooling your kindergarten child in November! 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.

When I lived in Florida for 11 years, the sun shone almost every single day. For an Ohioan coming from one of the cloudiest places in the country, it sounded like perfect weather, but there were days when I grew tired of the constant sunshine. As I told my cousin in a phone call, I was “craving November.” Robert Frost captured the essence of this month in his poem “My November Guest.”

“My Sorrow, when she’s here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be . . .
The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky . . .
Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days . . .”

The watercolors I chose for this month reflect what we see in the natural world around our home and the typical colors associated with Thanksgiving. We’re baking challah several times so my daughter can grow in the skills of kneading and braiding.

Theme and Festivals

Our themes for this month are light and giving. We’ll spend more days inside watching the rain and start planning for the upcoming holidays.

Our celebrations this month include Martinmas (November 11th) and Thanksgiving. Although I didn’t celebrate Martinmas as a child, it’s commonly observed in Waldorf circles, and I started the tradition in my family last year. We make a lantern, go on a lantern walk at night, and bake Stutenkerl. Because this holiday is about being a light, I also want my family to gather items we don’t need and donate them together.

Here is our November 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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November Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Light, giving

Festivals: Martinmas, Thanksgiving

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: Martinmas Prep Week

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with purple and orange

Wednesday: Model lantern with beeswax; sort donations

Friday: Handwork from Whole Family Rhythms

Week 2

Monday: Bake Stutenkerl

Tuesday: Watercolor with orange

Wednesday: Model acorn with beeswax; plan Christmas gifts

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 3

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with orange and yellow

Wednesday: Model walnut with beeswax; plan Christmas gifts

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 4

Monday: Bake challah

Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow, orange, and red

Wednesday: Model turkey with beeswax; plan Christmas gifts

Friday: Salt dough advent spiral, roll four beeswax candles

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for October

JenMHowell — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 00:34:50 +0000

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.

Sign up here!

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

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Kindergarten Homeschool Ideas for September

JenMHowell — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 16:12:48 +0000

Here are some ideas to get you started with homeschooling your kindergarten child! These 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.

We’re starting our homeschool year in September, which means our first day will be on Labor Day. I’ll make a “First Day of Kindergarten” sign and take pictures of my daughter outside. In the afternoon, Grandma will join us, and we’ll go out for ice cream.

September in Ohio starts out green and hot, although the mornings tend to be cooler. As the month goes on, tree leaves turn yellow and begin to fall. 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 apples. Near the beginning of the month, we go apple picking at a local orchard. There’s a Johnny Appleseed museum in Ohio that I’d like to visit, and I also just found out there’s a Johnny Appleseed festival!

Our celebrations this month include the first day of autumn and Michaelmas.

To celebrate the beginning of autumn, we’ll invite my daughter’s friends over for a tea party. They drink iced tea and eat a dessert, and I usually have a craft for them to do. One year we did apple stamping with apples cut in half and dipped in paint. Another time, we made wet felted acorns. This year, I might make an assortment of tiny hats and scarves and let each child make and take an autumn peg doll.

Here is our September 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.

Sign up here!

September Homeschool for Kindergarten

Theme: Apples

Festivals: First day of autumn, Michaelmas

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: Bake apple pie

Tuesday: Watercolor with green

Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)

Friday: Handwork from Lavender’s Blue

Week 2

Monday: Bake apple bread

Tuesday: Watercolor with green and yellow

Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)

Friday: Make stamps from apples and potatoes, and use paint to stamp them on paper

Week 3

Monday: Bake apple hand pies

Tuesday: Watercolor with yellow

Wednesday: Model with beeswax, finger knitting, peg doll clothes (patterns from Whole Family Rhythms)

Friday: Make autumn peg dolls (craft from Whole Family Rhythms)

Sunday: Bake apple cider donuts; autumn tea party

Week 4: Michaelmas Week

Monday: Day off

Tuesday: Tell the story of St. Michael and the dragon; watercolor with yellow and orange

Wednesday: Model sword and shield with beeswax; finger knitting

Friday: Make a cardboard sword and a cardboard shield; we might make a cape from a silk scarf or from thrifted fabric

Sunday: Bake dragon bread; celebrate Michaelmas (we’ll invite my parents over for a special dinner and read or act out the story of St. Michael and the dragon)

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