Family Learning Co-op - Harvest and the Cycle of Life

When we decided to homeschool Daniel for preschool I knew that I wanted him to have a recurring group of children with whom to have fun learning adventures and camaraderie. I put out a request on Facebook to my friends to see if anyone else was interested in setting up a homeschool co-op or knew of anyone who did with kids ages 2 to 6. One friend replied in the affirmative and she knew someone interested, who knew someone else who might be interested...and on until we had 5 families on board.

The last co-op meeting we had the theme of Halloween and met at one of the families homes. The highlight for Daniel was painting gourds. He distinctly did not like pulling the guts out of the pumpkin – too messy!

Today we had our third meeting. Another mother and I were in charge of the activity for the day. We met at my church and set the theme as “harvest and the cycle of life”. We first prepped apples one of the families had recently gleaned from a local orchard for homemade applesauce and talked about picking fruit and how at this time of the year that is "harvesting" food, relating that to upcoming Thanksgiving. We talked a bit about the ingredients of applesauce as well and added them to the bowl with the sliced apples. We then took the peels and cores and talked about how we could compost them to make good food for the plants in the spring, along with leaves and grass clippings.

Once the apples were on the stove cooking, we went outdoors to look at our church's large compost pile. We were able to see the stratification of the pile; the leaves on top and at the rich soil bottom of the pile. One of the children added our apple peels and cores to the compost pile. Then we put down a large vinyl table cloth and had the kids pile leaves on it for transport to the compost bin – not without a significant amount of jumping in the pile first however!

After the compost pile field trip, we went into the church courtyard and let the kids burn off energy for about a half hour. They enjoyed running around and throwing leaves at one another and playing tag. At one point two of the girls started to run back and forth across the courtyard holding hands. Before long others joined in, forming a long chain. Then it developed into “Ring Around the Rosey”. What was so touching was how they took care of one another. They made sure that they waited for one another if a younger child was a little slower to move around the circle. They also made sure to stop and let a child join in and would then start the song over. The nurturing among the group was touching when taking into consideration they've only been together as a group three times!

Once outdoor play was over, we went back inside and worked on some coloring and craft sheets that were put together (utilizing free resources on the internet) in keeping with the theme and prepped the apple sauce. Part of the serving of the snack included having the children take on jobs of putting the craft supplies away and passing out napkins, spoons, and water. Each child was given a small serving of the applesauce and assured that if they finished, they could have more. While the snack was enjoyed, two stories were read which kept the kids, for the most part, engaged until the end. The kids demolished the applesauce with great relish! We then took care to clean the room before we departed.

All in all, a successful day and the kids and parents, for the most part, had a great time. (Except M, who was very tired when he arrived, poor little guy!)

It is so great working with the other mothers to provide these fun experiences. I had a blast serving the families in this way. It was enriching to get to know the other children and to observe my son developing relationships and learning from them. He had never done “Ring Around the Rosey” before today and loved it! It is also a relief to be able to arrive somewhere with your child and enjoy a fun and educational afternoon when it is not your turn to provide the experience! I am so blessed to be working with such caring and committed mothers!

Applesauce recipe
8 apples, cored, peeled and sliced
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Bring to boil and reduce to medium heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
Use potato masher to mash to desired texture.
Allow to cool.
Enjoy!

Resources for Worksheets:
www.familyfun.com
www.first-school.ws

The Pumpkin Cycle

With harvest season upon us, I've taken to creating activities for Daniel and I to enjoy that demonstrate the cycle of life as well as the connection between plants, their fruit, and how we prepare the fruit at home as food. We went apple picking two times. The first time we used most of the apples to make applesauce,which he loved. We also ate some of the apples sliced with sunflower seed butter. This was the first time he could be convinced to eat a sliced apple, in no small part to his pride in having picked the apples himself. When we finished the batch of applesause he asked if we could go pick more apples. It was definitely more costly to pick the apples ourselves, but I thought it worth it. The newest batch is destined to be apple crisp and apple pie, which he wants to help me make as well. He delighted in searching the apple trees in the orchard for the “perfect” apples. He was quite discerning and sad to when we reached our picking limit.

This past Sunday we went to a local farm for a wagon ride out to their pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. It was a warm fall afternoon, the foliage in full golden hue. When we got to the patch we found three fairly round, good-sized pumpkins in good condition rather quickly and I stayed with them while Daniel insisted they keep looking for more. They ambled about the sizable patch for a while, eventually coming back, having decided that we indeed had the three best. We boarded the tractor-drawn wagon for a ride back to the farm stand. There we also got some butternut quash and some milk for dinner.

Today Daniel was excited, waiting all day for dad to arrive home so we could “scarf” the pumpkins together. We read the book, “The Pink Pumpkin” that we'd gotten at a different local farm, while anticipating the evening ahead. Daniel had such a good time! We opened the pumpkins and pulled out the seeds, which were saved and we later baked. (We did this at our homeschool co-op last week, so Daniel was familiar with this and explained to David what we were doing.) We then selected our pumpkin saws and our patterns and went to work. Daniel merrily chatted away throughout, delighted to have an active role in the carving process, albeit carefully supervised. When we were done I took some pictures. He was very proud of the work and asked if he could take some pictures too. First I gave him my camera, then found his camera and he delighted in taking pictures of his handiwork, as well as our dog, David, and I for the next half hour or so. A late night for Daniel, but a fun evening the family will remember.