Things I love about Fall

Crisp, cool breezes
The aroma of Pumpkin Bread baking in the oven
Richly colored leaves
All things sweet, spicy and scrumptious...gingerbread lattes, homemade apple pie, cinnamon coffee cake, hot apple cider, chai tea, Williamsburg ginger cakes...
Pumpkins and gourds and apples
A warm bath followed by a snuggly blanket
The sun dappling through the leaves on a cool autumn morning
Watching the kids giggling, and chasing through the crunchy leaves and remembering the kid in me.




Some of our favorite fall books:
Why Do Leaves Change Color, by Betsy Maestro
Leaf Man, by Lois Ehlert
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
Apples, by Gail Gibbons
Now It's Fall, by Jeannie Lee
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, by Marjorie Priceman
Apples to Oregon, by Doborah Hopkinson
It's Pumpkin Time, by Hall

Our weekend was a busy one

It was filled with soccer, parks, lawn care, football games and finding long lost friends. Saturdays are always soccer days for us. We've come to look forward to the excitement, the cheers, and dolling out the ever-important game day snacks.

Here are this week's highlights:
Aiden made some major defensive blocks and had one goal assist.




Brynie scored 2 goals and was so proud of herself. Here's the second goal and the celebratory *kiss* with Coach Dad.



I have to agree with Carmen, kid soccer rocks!

A Failed Experiment

What started out as a science experiment ended up as just another plant I've killed. A few days ago we set out to learn about how plants absorb water and nutrients and then create the food they need through photosynthesis. We found a nifty little experiment in our book, 501 Science Experiments, where you take 4 white flowers, put three in water colored with food coloring and one in plain water.


Then, over several hours you begin to see the coloring travel through the stems and eventually color the petals. Sounded cool and my kids surely would have been impressed with our green, blue and red flowers...except that NOTHING happened. We checked after several hours, overnight, even one, two, three days later. Nothing changed, except that the flowers wilted, lost their petals and eventually died. Hmmmm. Not quite the result we had anticipated. (Well, truth be told, I do have quite a knack for killing any living thing that grows in soil.)


Still, all was not a loss. Aiden came running in through the front door this evening with a leaf he'd found from a Magnolia tree and exclaimed, "Mom, look what I found!" He then peeled back the top of the leaf and said, "See Mom, that green stuff, that's called Chlorophyll. that's where the plant gets it's energy."
Guess he learned something after all!
Here's an experiment from the same book that did go well. We made a compass by magnetizing a needle and using thread, a card, a pencil and a glass. It really pointed due North (we checked) and this was Aiden's face when he first saw it work...

Our First Attempt at Lapbooking

We've heard a lot about lapbooking and have been wanting to try it for a while, but hadn't gotten organized to do it. Since Aiden and Bryn have taken quite an interest in cougars lately, often pretending to be cougars and building a cougar habitat in our living room, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce lapbooking with a cougar book. While the design is simple, it was just about perfect for his attention span at the time. We both agreed that the experience was fun and informative, and we are very pleased with our finished book. Aiden really enjoyed this project, as did I, and we learned quite a bit about cougars along the way. I think we will be exploring the lapbooking thing further and I hope to have our own little library of lapbooks before long.

Halloween

I realize it is a little early for some of you, but my kids are awfully excited and we are starting to gear up for Halloween (we've dragged out a few decorations after much urging...Mom broke down and gave in.) I came across some great ideas for creative pumpkin decorating at Trisha's blog and wanted to share them here. I love the painted ghost pumpkins. Think we'll try to hit the pumpkin patch a little early and make a few of these.

And check out a few more ideas at Making Friends...makes you want to get your howl on, doesn't it?

Polls Open for Homeschoolers to Vote

This just in from CurrClick:
Greetings CurrClick Customers. Your kids are invited to vote in their very own Presidential Election at CurrClick.com! Educate them about the election process and make a statement about the powerful voice that is the homeschool community!
THE POLLS ARE OPEN NOW
and will remain open until November 4th. Visit CurrClick.com today to cast your vote. Participation is completely free and will include information about each of the candidates, real time results, quotes from each of the candidates about their position on homeschooling, an "I Voted" coloring page and printable sticker and an optional exit poll. Results of the exit poll will be posted on November 4th. http://www.currclick.com
Results of the election will be sent out to news organizations across the country. Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard.

Plus, dozens of instantly downloadable election unit studies, lapbooks and workbooks from top publishers ON SALE for up to 35% OFF. Sale begins October 1st.