October is hands down one of my favorite months to homeschool! After taking a full week off for Fall break at the start of the month, we came back rested and ready to soak up all the cozy, festive learning the “ber” months bring. Here are a few of our favorite moments from October.
One of my favorite memories from the month was when we went apple picking for my birthday! There’s just something about wandering an orchard on a fall day that makes it feel like the season has officially arrived. And when you live in the South the Fall season takes its time arriving.
And while we were there we snagged a family photo... I’m calling it our Christmas card photo! Done before Halloween? I’ll take that win!
Of course October means pumpkins, and pumpkins mean a messy, wonderful afternoon at the kitchen table. All three kids dove right in scooping out the insides! We had the best time on our annual PUMPKIN Day exploring both big and small pumpkins. One the years our pumpkin explorations have changed but even with big kids we still had a lot of fun!
You know all those pumpkin seeds we dug out of the pumpkin? We turned them into math! Everyone estimated how many seeds there were, then we grouped them in 10s and made an array to count. One guess was only off by 18!
We paired our pumpkin fun with Pumpkin Jack and some pumpkin life cycle learning. I shared all the details in my Pumpkin STEM + Literacy post if you want to try it at your own kitchen table!
To make things more fun, I stretched our pumpkin STEM challenges over the course of the week before Halloween. Our first challenge was to build a popsicle stick bridge strong enough to hold a pumpkin. After several tries, a fair amount of frustration and problem solving, at last the kids independently made a bridge that held! I love watching them problem solve and test their ideas.
Our United States study kept rolling right along. Delaware brought out the playdough with a state shape mat! You can read all about it in my Let’s Explore Delaware post.
Games are such an easy way to sneak in math practice. Skip-Bo has been a favorite around here lately. Plus it’s a GREAT mood booster when every ones feeling disconnected. There’s something about pausing after a meal to connect and play together!
A peek at our school table: Fix It Grammar, Too Small Tola, What Is the World Cup?, and Language Arts & Literature Level 5. Most of our days looked just like this, and honestly, that steady rhythm is a gift. We’re well into the school year and while the novelty has worn off the consistency is paying off.
In science we’ve been learning about caves and water. My daughter loves to draw as she learns, and it was sweet to see her sketching alongside her books. We’re taking a second look at our Science curriculum and I’m doing some reevaluating. It probably won’t come as a surprise that we’re most likely headed back to using the Discover + PLAY Science units I’ve written to support our science learning! I’m in the research and development phase for the newest one now. Keep an eye out for details coming soon!
Geography time meant coloring a political map of Europe. Map work is such a simple way to help everything we read stick. It’s also a test on those fine motor skills! PHEW! Europe is a tough one!
Real life happens in the middle of the school year too! Thumbs up from the eye doctor. October felt like the month of appointments! So. Many. Appointments. and it looks like November isn’t slowing down with appointments either. It really ebbs and flows with doctors visits, doesn’t it? Makes me thankful for the quieter, fewer appointments kinda months!
Our read aloud this month has been Farmer Boy. It’s such a cozy, wholesome pick for fall. I sort of wish I saved it for the Winter. I originally planned to read it in January and sort of regret not holding off. It is just the sweetest story! We love Almanzo and bless his mama, I never cease to be impressed with the amount of food she cooked every single day!! 
Connecticut was another stop on our state study, complete with origami whales! Read more in my Let’s Explore Connecticut post. We had a POD of whales covering our table. Once my crew learned how to fold and make them, I couldn’t stop them! Whales, whales, and more whales were everywhere!
A little Fix It Grammar. I shared about how we use highlighters in our Grammar lessons and IG exploded with questions! If you’re curious, I wrote up a blogpost to permanently hold those Q&As. Read it here.
Our library trips brought home a stack of cave books for science and a soccer numbers book just for fun. I still feel so rich walking out with an armful of books! We made bi-weekly trips to the library and every time we LOAD up! It’s inadvertently, arm day every time we visit the library! haha!
Another game we pulled out this month: Sleeping Queens. Quick, fun, and sneaky math practice! My kids are beyond the simple addition it prompts but it would have been great in lower elementary! They still love to play it!
We’ve been in Galatians, with a coloring page to keep hands busy while we read. These quiet moments in God’s Word are the most important part of our day.
When the weather is this nice, history moves to the porch. We’ve been reading about Mary Tudor and her reign. We’re using Mystery of History for our core curriculum and we’re still enjoying it. Admittedly it’s been harder to do the enrichment activities since we came back from Fall break but I’m committed to tying in more in the coming weeks! It just helps learning stick so much better!
We also squeezed in a trip to Riverbanks Zoo when our cousins were in town for the week! It’s always a good day when we’re with our favorite people in one of our favorite places!
We got to visit a University of South Carolina College of Engineering event where the kids saw robotics demos up close, including a Boston Dynamics robot dog! They visited several labs including one where they got to use a flight simulator and “fly” over Columbia! It was such a cool experience and DEFINITELY something we will add to our calendar in the future! It’s an annual event so if you’re local, in early October look for details on it! I’ll try to remember to share too!
And of course, we always made plenty of time to just play. These two rollerblading hand in hand is one of my favorite pictures from the whole month. We had a really nice time at one of our favorite local parks. I rented roller skates and skated with my girls. I only saw my life flash before my eyes once- haha! We had a great time! Flexibility and freedom are still such big WINS for our homeschool adventures!
It was a full and fun October! We are so grateful for these days of living and learning together. Next up: November, gratitude, and the coziest stretch of the year. Homeschooling through the “ber” months really is my favorite!
