Fall Fun

I mentioned last Sunday that we were planning to attend a Harvest Festival later that afternoon, but then never had a chance to share here about the wonderful and educational time we had! Actually, we almost didn't go, because I was feeling pretty tired by the time Darren and Dylan got home from church and we finally had lunch, and I still had to work later that night. But we went anyway, and I am so glad we did!

It was set outdoors, and beautiful storm clouds were building. The wind stirred things up a bit, but we didn't let that deter us. However, we did spend some time indoors, in the hands-on, farm themed kids room, and this was so much fun. They have kid sized tractors, a seesaw with saddle seats, rocking horses, a book nook, learning stations...my kids can't wait to go back just to spend some more time in this room!

But outside, there were so many cute craft stations set up for kids, and Dylan, Caitlyn, and Meghan participated eagerly and cooperatively. First they colored fall leaf pictures, cut them out, and pasted them to a black background. I was so proud of how well Caitlyn did with this particular craft! I've never let her practice much with scissors, but my worries for her safety have apparently been unfounded. She did great! Meghan's enthusiasm was particularly cute; she loves to color!

Dylan and I were both so thrilled to discover that, set up right next to the fall leaf station, there was an antique apple cider press demonstration in progress! Just like we had read about in our book! (Later we also visited the young apple orchard located on the grounds of the museum, and it was so neat for Dylan and Caitlyn to be able to see, up close, the way apples grow on trees and to be able to identify the different parts.)

We all really loved the scarecrow face craft, too, which involved more cutting and pasting! When we got home, Dylan really wanted to make a full scarecrow, but we just didn't have time. Yesterday morning, though, I remembered how excited he had been, so I surprised him and Caitlyn by attaching their scarecrow faces to their over sized Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls! They are so cute, stationed at our schoolroom desk (that is, when they're not too busy being danced about the living room by Caitlyn!)

I'm so glad we had this oppportunity for such rich, hands on learning. I'm still learning as we go, but experiences like this make me feel like this whole homeschooling thing might actually work! :)