Fall is my favorite season. The colors, the weather, the smell, the beauty. It is also my favorite season to study with my children. There are so many avenues of study and it feels like it goes by so quickly. So here I will give you some tips on how to study fall while also enjoying every single minute.
First, let’s start with the five senses: sight, smell, touch, listening, and taste. The sight part is easy. Just look outside and the trees are full of colorful leaves and different creatures scurrying about getting ready for winter.The leaves fall to the ground giving us an art project. I have my children collect their favorite leaves and either draw them in their science journals or do a leaf rubbing. Then we can identify each leaf in a tree identification book. We also do this with acorns, sticks that may fall, and the creatures (except we don’t actually touch the creatures…haha).
The smell of fall is so amazing. Leaves actually have a smell that screams fall. My children love to smell things (they are all boys). We also buy some cinnamon sticks, pumpkins, and apples. These are all things that remind me so much of fall. We may bake some of the items and discuss how lovely their smell is. It makes you feel all warm and cozy inside when you smell cinnamon and apples.
The touching part goes along with the sight part as well. When we collect our leaves and fall foliage we touch it and write down the texture. Sometimes a leaf will be smooth with no ridges. Sometimes a leaf will be very rough and almost completely decayed. That will also tell us what stage the leaf is in for decomposition over the winter months.
Listening to the wonderful sounds of fall can be completely relaxing. The birds are migrating south so there may be whole flocks of them flying overhead. The geese honking in the distance and the sound of the wind taking the leaves from their spots on the trees to the ground below. Leaves rustling and children playing. As each of these things happen we have discussions of what each on is. For instance, if a certain kind of bird is flying nearby we can look up what kind it is and where we think it might be going.
The taste of fall is my preferred way of enjoying fall. My children all love to bake. We usually bake lots of pumpkin treats in the fall as well as apple treats and anything with cinnamon. We study what kind of vegetables are available only in the fall months such as sweet potatoes, certain kinds of squash, and kale. Then, we get to eat all of our delicious treats. This is also a smelling activity as well as touching, seeing, and listening (for the timer to ding so we can eat the yummy food!).
Even though fall passes very quickly where we live, we take the time to enjoy every minute while also learning about the different aspects of it. It doesn’t have to be all business when homeschooling. You can make it fun and exciting.
A really cool journal for fall is the Seasonal Journal: Fall. It is not expensive and comes ready to use. Another book that gives children the opportunity to hunt for different leaves is the Backyard Explorer Kit/Leaf Collecting Album. It helps you to identify each leaf and keep it in an album.
