"I'm So Glad I Live in a World Where There are Octobers"

October has been wonderful so far. Pumpkins, cider, fires, cinnamon treats. I agree with Anne of Green Gables who says, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

Michael's Aunt Joy and Uncle Ray flew in from Las Vegas and we got to visit with them for a couple days with Michael's Amma. The cousins were able to get together too, which they love.

Because it is Autumn, the kids and I have been baking all the cinnamon-y, delcious, rich things! And if I'm not baking, I'm canning. I have put up SO many tomato products. We have tomatoes coming out our ears at this point.

School for us lately has been fun!! We just follow all these little rabbit trails wherever they take us and it's the most authentic learning I've ever experienced. 

This is a little glimpse into how our trails and tangents of learning lead our day. We always have an audiobook going in the car and recently we started The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes. In the story, the main character has to make a diorama for a school project. So then Isla asked me what a diorama is which lead to her wanting to make one. She is really into the ocean right now, so she made an ocean diorama... completely on her own. I just offered her the materials and she got busy. And then she wondered if she could make other little scenes in boxes, so we watched a video of a man making an entire dollhouse out of cardboard. We then checked out books about crafting cardboard furniture and houses. We found an account on Instagram of little crocheted frogs using tiny furniture and tools, which made her curious about stop motion animation like the videos. So then she attempted to make a stop motion video of Mr. Potatohead.

And all of this because of one little snippet in a book. Reading is our window to the world. We learn so much from the tiniest details of the stories we read.

I have these little quiz things for preschoolers from my days in the classroom. One of the quizes showed a picture of a dress shirt, ear muffs, slippers, and a tie. The question was "which two clothing pieces go together?". Isla said the ear muffs and the slippers go together. I asked for her reasoning and she said it's because some people do wear ear muffs to bed. I was starting to argue it with her when she pulled out a book we had read the night before of the five little monkeys trying not to wake their sleeping mama; who was, in fact, wearing ear muffs and slippers!! Had this been a test question, she would have gotten it wrong because the obvious answer was the dress shirt and tie. But not only did Isla's answer make sense according to what she knew from a story, but she also has never really seen someone in a shirt and tie. That's not really a part of her world (especially since her daddy usually wears sweatpants to work in the basement ;)). So was her answer wrong? Not according to the mother monkey. This is one reason tests are not an accurate measurement of learning. Evaluating a child by asking them right and wrong questions is never a good representation of what they truly know, after all, the world is not black and white. Listening to her critical thinking and reasoning skills was much more enlightening. Again, another reason I love homeschooling :)

Our co-op has been busy. To kick off fall, my friend Tara hosted a fireside mama's night. We all stayed out so late with each other that the coyotes started howling and the stars were clearly visible. And of course, being homeschooling mamas, everyone had different apps to identify the constellations we could see or the animal noises we could hear :)

Our first week of co-op this month was a "teacher week" where we did a deep dive study into Ancient Egypt. Some of us have been reading through the same history storybook and Ancient Egypt has been fascinating to many of our kids. So we made hieroglyphic necklaces out of clay, wrapped mummies and adorned them with jewels, ate mummy snacks, and built pyramids out of sugar cubes. It was a fun day!

The next co-op day was a field trip to Ropp Farm where the kids learned how cheese is made. We got to sample cheese and meet the baby cows that will someday provide the milk needed to make cheese. It was a fun day!

I've been thinking about traditions and the value of them in a life-giving home. One of the newest attempts at a tradition in our family is family game night on Fridays complete with pizza! So far, we've had three game nights and the kids have loved it. We laugh, we get frustrated, we use our brains, and we genuinely enjoy each other's company. I have more thoughts about traditions that I'm sure will be another post soon.

Another special day this month was the dedication of our children at our church. We have been going to our church for almost a year and we were excited for the opportunity to dedicate our children to the Lord at our home church with the people who confirmed their effort to helping raise our babies in the church. Our family was able to join and it was a sweet celebration.

October is a busy month for us because we celebrate our two girls! Eleanor turned TWO and Isla turned SIX... how?! I don't know. Time is flying by. But we had a big party for both girls with our family. The theme was "patriotic ocean" because Isla is really into the ocean right now and Eleanor loves "do-tags" (American flags). I felt so blessed to be surrounded by our family that loves our kids so much.

Every year on the kiddo's birthdays, Michael takes off work and we do something fun of their choosing. This year we went to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago for our ocean-loving six year old. It was so much fun! We saw beluga whales, dolphins, sea dragons, and every kind of fish you can think of. We left Eleanor behind with Mimi because we thought it might be harder with her and I'm glad we did because it was more of a learning experience with just the big kids. I'm so thankful for Michael's job that financially allows us to travel and to take work off for days like this. And as a bonus, a day trip to Shedd is a perfect way to do school.

The rest of October has been full of all things pumpkin, fall, cozy, and warm :) Lots of pumpkin patch visits, messy baking, books upon books upon books we're reading, and time with friends and family.

And now we are waiting for trick-or-treating before the holiday season begins! :)