Fall Is Coming

The official first day of fall is September 22nd this year.  That’s just three short weeks from today, and I am ready!  Fall is my one of my two favorite seasons of the year, and Spring is the other.  I love the mild weather, and the crisp cool nights.  I love hay rides, and campfires, and apple cider, and pumpkin pies with lots of whipped cream (the real stuff!) on top.  (My hubby and older son make the absolute BEST pumpkin pies, by the way!)
Now this year school began “before the rush” for us, so we are actually already into our third week of school, but many of you are just starting or preparing to start.  That’s fine.  So other than curriculum, what’s a home school mom to do to fully enjoy this glorious season with her kids? 
We love nature walks!  It’s funny how obvious this should be as a learning opportunity, but even the things that should be obvious get past us from time to time.  It took me awhile to realize how much fun AND educational this could be.  I mean, like duh, and I live in an area of BEAUTIFUL fall foliage and beauty.  What a wealth of opportunity!  So here’s the next question.  Is a nature walk just a walk?  Not if you check out Journey North Kids! 
Journey North “is a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change” according their parent site for older children and adults.  That’s the official description of what they do, but there is so much fun to be had here!  This site is full of information about different migrating animals, and even the areas that they migrate to.  There are slideshows about the animals and people around them, printable photo rich books, videos, other teaching resources, and more. 
Also, right now they are asking for people to submit signs of Fall and Fall migration sightings, such as sightings of the Monarch Butterflies that are journeying south to Mexico for the winter.  After you submit sightings, you can look at the interactive map to see what others are observing!  The coming days would be a wonderful time for a nature walk, but take note of the signs of Fall all around you, and maybe you can have your own observation on the map ;)
P. S. And if you act fast you can also send a symbolic paper Monarch to Mexico to help them educate our kids, and kids in Mexico, about caring for the Monarchs as they migrate!  Hurry!  The butterflies for the Symbolic Migration need to be postmarked before October 12th!