Here Are The Plans, Part II

It took me a while to get back to this, but here they are.

Science:

1. Fall Session I:

• Study pumpkins. (Sky grew her own this year! She planted 2 seeds and has 2 pumpkins. She's very excited about them!)





• Use these cards from Montessori for Everyone to learn the life cycle of a pumpkin.


• Draw the life cycle of a pumpkin to put in their Nature Notebooks.
  
• Read pumpkin books such as From Seed to Pumpkin, Picking Apples and Pumpkins and The Pumpkin Patch (many others, too).
  
• Make pumpkin chip cookies like my mom used to make (love these!).
  
• Go to a local pumpkin patch with our home school group and pick some more out and enjoy the other Fall festivities that are available there.
  
• Make a jack-o-lantern from one of Skylar's pumpkins.
  
• Roast some pumpkin seeds.
  
• Make an acrostic poem about pumpkins for their nature notebooks.
  

2. Fall Session II:

• Study apples.
• Read apple stories like Apples to Oregon, and One Green Apple (this one will tie in nicely with what we are learning about in our We Are All Children of God lessons), and educational books like How Apples Grow.
• Go to a local apple orchard to pick our own.
• Make apple crisp (another favorite that mom used to make!)
• Use more cards from Montessori for Everyone
• Diagram the life cycle of an apple for the Nature Notebooks.
• Make apple prints onto blank aprons from the craft store as gifts or to keep.
• Learn about Johnny Appleseed.
• Write a story about apples using a "story starter".
• Anything else I can think of to enhance our studies.

3. Fall Session III:

• Tree and Leaf study.
• Read informative books like Why Do Leaves Change Color? and The Big Tree (this is part fiction, part nonfiction).
• Read stories like The Giving Tree, The Great Kapok Tree, A Tree is Nice and Leaf Man.
• Make leaf prints on fabric to make an Autumn table runner for the diningroom table and small round tablecloth for the entryway table.
• Make leaf rubbings for the nature notebook.
• Use cards I found at Montessori Materials in the botany section to learn parts of a leaf.
• Draw a leaf and label the parts for Nature Notebook.
• Copywork from Flower Fairies of the Trees.. Put into Nature Notebook.

For any of the above: do narrations, poetry and art that reflects the topic.

These plans are not set in stone. A new idea might pop into my head or I might find some inspiration online. Or I might decide something in my plans is not going to work.

The rest of my plans for Science for the year are very general at this point. I want to study astronomy and possibly snowflakes in the Winter and butterflies, frogs and possibly ocean life in the Spring. I'll break it down and get more into details as the year progresses.


Teatime Plans:

All I can tell you about our Teatime plans is the general outline. I plan this month to month and sometimes week to week as the inspiration strikes. If I get an idea for a book, craft, prayer, activity, etc., I write it in my Teatime notebook. I also put any worksheets or coloring sheets I come across into the appropriate file in my file box (from Dawn's Filing System). And I start to gather my materials up to two weeks ahead of time and put them into my Teatime Basket, so everything is in one place when I need them. All of these things have help quite a bit. And my Liturgical Year Boxes help me to keep the decorations and candles organized. I'm still working on these special boxes for Evan (and possibly Alexa).


An outline of our Teatimes:

1. One child helps me set up and decorates the head of the table in liturgical colors using candles and a cloth. Also added are statues, framed holy cards and possibly flowers or a book.
2. We set out the food and heat the water for the tea or hot cocoa, although we do have cold drinks when the weather is more suited for it.
3. We try to set the table in a special and somewhat "fancy" way. We use napkin rings (for our paper napkins ;)
4. We say the prayer, read from the Bible and/or read the story of the day.
5. Then we eat and talk. We discuss what the day is about and why we have come together for this special time.
6. Onto cleanup and crafting. I try to prepare two crafts, one that ties into the theme in some way and one that is using the holy card and prayer (to go into our Liturgical Year Notebooks). The 1st craft sometimes becomes a gift for a family member or a decoration for a future Teatime (such as a candle holder or napking ring).


7. Sometimes we have classical music in the background. That adds a nice touch.

Here is a photo of how my Liturgical Year Boxes are set up on the shelves under our family altar. I had posted details about what I keep inside and how they are arranged here, but at the time I didn't have an updated photo.

That's about all I have time to get into right now. I need to finish my coffee and start my weekend. The laundry awaits, on this cloudy September day, as does a trip to the craft store (one of my favorite places). Have a lovely weekend!

TTFN
~Tina