September: "With Summer's Best of Weather and Autumn's Best of Cheer"

September

by Helen Hunt Jackson

The golden-rod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusty pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest,

In every meadow nook;

And asters by the brook-side

Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odours rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

But none of all this beauty

Which floods the earth and air

Is unto me the secret

Which makes September fair.

'T is a thing which I remember;

To name it thrills me yet:

One day of one September

I never can forget.

Isla and I have started her mini units back up since she has been begging me to start school with her. Normally, I would say play is all a child needs at her age, but the girl just wants to learn to read! She wants to know everything there is to know. So of course, I can't turn that down. There is no pushing, prodding, or forcing. We go at her pace, lead by her interests. If ever she wants to stop or needs a break, then that's fine. I'm very adamant about her leading our learning experience. But for now, she loves it and usually begs for more even after an hour of learning together. I'll have a separate blog post each month to review what we learned, but above is a poem we've been learning together. She'll probably have it memorized by the end of September knowing her. Her memorization skills are sharp!

(more pictures to come)

So far, our September has been full! We've gone berry picking, made apple desserts, spent lots of time outside (always!), spent time with friends, read lots of books, and done as many fall things as possible in 80 degree weather :)