That Time of Year Again

3 words: I love fall!

Yes, this is my favorite time of the year. The colors, the weather, the anticipation of holidays, and even football. But most of all, I love going to the pumpkin patch. This year we were having a hard time trying to fit it in but in the end, we were able to go with some from our homeschool group. The patch is called, "Impossible Acres" and to tell you the truth, I never did find out why. But I do know that the woman who runs it is a Christian and has written a book about ministering for Gospel for Asia. The name of her book is Even Donkeys Speak. It's written for chidren 7-12, which is right up our alley. It will be our bedtime book, now that we have finished Mary Poppins. Okay, and speaking of Mary Poppins - That is one wierd book! But, anyway, back to the pumpkin patch. Most pumpkin patches have fun little activities but what about this one:

Yep, and there were actual examples...

There were also hay mazes and tunnels, pumpkin choosing, tractor ride and the like. But Grace and Emily's favorite was the petting animal farm. So here were all these cute animals - bunnies, piglets, goslings, pygmy kids, chicks, a calf and their adult counterparts. But guess what their favorite was? Kittens!

My favorites were the kids. No, not mine but the mama goat's. This one in particular was so cute! He climbed the hay bales, bleating (do goats bleat?) at the top of his lungs. Adorable! I want goats!

And since it was a PUMPKIN patch, I'd better throw a pumpkin pic in.

The petting farm kind of stole the show......

Creation

One of the challenges I have in homeschooling the girls is finding a way to incorporate my niece's pre-schooling with my daughters', who are in 2nd and 4th grade. This is the first year that I've attempted to have a little structure with Little Miss but I felt it was necessary to try something new with her. She is very active and loves to color, cut, glue, draw on the white board, play with her toys, play with stickers, etc. BUT each activity will only hold her interest for 10-15 minutes -- which sounds perfectly normal for a 3-year-old. However, since I am responsible for the necessary schooling of Grace and Emily, I find it increasingly difficult to keep her entertained while teaching them. We do not use a "here's your workbook page, fill it out" kind of curriculum. Weaver is an inter-active, parent involved curriculum. In years past, I was able to make sure that Little Miss was down for naps while we schooled. Then, towards the close of our last school year, she was only taking one nap a day. So instead of schooling in the morning, we started schooling in the afternoon when she was down. Well, this didn't make for much of our school day! I decided that I'd better try something new this year and I found a great curriculum called Bright Beginnings, geared towards preschoolers. And while it is a beautiful resource, it is still quite a challenge to juggle it all! *sigh* One thing I am learning to do is to go over certain subjects, such as math or language arts, with Grace and Emily in advance and then let them work on their own for a bit while I do something with Little Miss. Today was a fun day as we are starting with God and Creation. We read about how God created the heavens and the earth; the plants and animals and people. Our activity was to take 1 cup of flour, 2 cups of oats and 1 cup of water. I let Little Miss pour each item in and we began to mush and gush. I let her feel as each item went in and she told me how it felt - soft, gushy! Then we smelled it -- ewww! And she decided to taste it -- double ewww! So I added cinnamon, nutmeg (which is covering "fall" smells from part of her lesson) and for fun, added different types of sprinkles. Of course, she wanted to eat some of the yummy sprinkles! At her suggestion, we added more water and it got even gushier! Although I try to involve her in the hands-on actvities that we do with school, it was fun to have one just for her.