It’s the most wonderful time of the year. You read that right! It’s fall, which is the best season. Carving pumpkins, backyard fires, apple pie baking, leaf rubbing, these are just a few of our favorite fall activities. There’s so much to love about this season that it’s natural to want to maximize the joy and experience the best that autumn has to offer with your homeschoolers. That’s why we’ve come up with our Fall Bucket List for Homeschoolers. These are your must do, experience, and enjoy moments that will bring you together and ensure you make the most of this amazing season while staying on track with homeschooling.
The Homeschooler’s Fall Bucket List
- Go apple picking! From lessons on seed germination to farming practices to fractions, apples offer you limitless homeschooling ideas to choose from. If you’re not sure where to start, pick one of these fun homeschool lessons using apples from heartofwisdom.com.
- Create leaf art! We’re always looking for ways to work the arts into our fall homeschooling lessons, and this is one we enjoy each fall. Use leaves to create rubbings, as patterns for tessellation making, or even to paint a pumpkin! Country Living has a gallery full of leaf projects for you to dive into with your homeschoolers. Number 10 is my favorite!
- Bake, and share, fall treats! Fill your home with the sweet smell of baked goods and take homeschooling to a new level by giving your students a few baking lessons. Choose your favorite pie recipe and integrate as much mathematics into the “baking” as possible. Your little helpers will love picture recipes or find working with fractions much more palatable knowing there’s pie afterwards! Be sure to share a piece or whole pie with a neighbor.
- Learn how to knit or crochet! Handarts are on the rise and trendy right now. Capitalize on the trend, and score hours to log for art, by learning how to knit or crochet cold weather clothing like scarves and hats. Give them away at a local homeless shelter or to a crisis pregnancy center when they’re completed.
- Listen to sounds of Fall by Vivaldi. Music appreciation starts with exposure. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons includes, you guessed it, Fall! Research Vivaldi, his life and musical style, and then listen to his Fall Allegro concerto. If you have a musician among you, challenge him to tackle a part of the piece. Consider discussing why this piece represents “fall” to Vivaldi. Do you agree?
- Visit a cider mill and learn how to make apple cider. Take a tour and snap a few photos of the process. Then, have your older homeschooler write a process analysis paper. Be sure to try it making cider yourself when you get home!
- Visit a nature center to learn about fall habitats and animal habits. Fall is a time when many animals prepare for winter and begin bedding down. Find a local nature preserve and take a tour at their education facility. If you can, talk with a naturalist or park ranger about habits of local animals during the fall. Be sure to use one of these nature observation worksheets during your nature walk!
- Explore the concept of “harvest” and seasons throughout the Bible. What does God say about the harvest season? What images does he use? Consider having each homeschooler choose their favorite harvest verse and create a piece of verse art through painting, using a program like Paintshop, or this canvas art!
- Research the history of Daylight Savings Time. Yes, we got an extra hour of sleep this month, but why? Explore why Daylight Savings Time was put into place and the impact it has on the agricultural industry.
Above all, I have found that fall is a wonderful season for togetherness and family fun. Choose any one of the activities on our Fall Bucket List for homeschoolers and your fall will be a rich, exciting experience for the whole family.
What activities are on your fall bucket list? Tell us in a comment below!