The simple things in life make the fall season a time of sunny days, nippy breezes, chilly nights, and warm memories. In this newsletter you’ll find oodles of ideas and inspiration on home schooling preparation, fall activities, parties and traditions to help you celebrate the fall season, and the upcoming autumn and all its charms. You’ll read tips from moms about how they prepare for their school year. These moms will also share their fall traditions and fun experiences or happenings that they find make the autumn season special. Best of all, we’ll talk over new and cool ways to organize your home schooling area and ways to take school with you --­necessary, if you’re a busy mom! All this will be in this newsletter for your enjoyment!

Preparing for a Marvelous Year!

Are you getting the excitement of starting school and the joy of beginning another year of home schooling? It’s the time of year when you’re delighted to have another enjoyable school year ahead of you, as a family experiencing and learning new things together. What could be better?

There’s no doubt -- beginning school is great and by the fall season you and your kids are ready to hit the books, but it also entails acclimating yourself and your children to the school atmosphere and school work itself. This is no easy task. Its tough trying to start with a full school work load when you’re children are used to the fun-filled, homework-free summer. Smaller steps may need to be taken to accomodate the transition, but if your children are ready to start with a heavy work load, go for it! Whatever method you find works for your family is the best one for you.

We’ve had some WinterPromise moms like you who have the same yearly kickoffs for school, write what they do in preperation for this yearly ritual. We also asked these same moms to write what they do for organizing their appointed schooling area. Here’s their great ideas!

	Heather J. from Oregon, writes: The best homeschool advice I was ever given? Start with one or two subjects, then add one or two more each week till you are up to full schedule. The hardest part about summer break is the change of schedule. Jumping into a full schedule suddenly changes everyone's schedule, and everyone is out of sorts. By starting with smaller pieces you are able to leave some of the schedule the child is used to intact while both of you re-learn what the expectations are for school. This way you ease into the new schedule.
	Alisa R. from Michigan, writes: I'm still getting this organizational thing down. What really helped me last year as I began homeschooling was making sure all of our meals were planned each week, having the grocery shopping done before the week starts, and looking through all the stuff I planned to do with them. Oh, and two more things. During our school day, I turn our phone's ringer off so we aren't disturbed by phone calls. I keep my cell phone on, and the only people that have that number are family members. And they will only call if it's an emergency. Also, I put a sign on our door asking for people not to ring or knock. I actually was able to work out with the mail person to actually have that written down at our local post office.
	Mary A. From Florida I have three tips that help me organize! 1- Yellow Stickies! I write out the pages to be read from each of my books and slap my sticky on the front of each book! 2- I write all over my IG sheets. They are my permanent record and so I write the dates next to what we do, when we do it. This really helps on weeks that I don't get everything done and have to carry it into the following. I make notes, I highlight in yellow what we are doing for sure. I throw a stick on to make note of anything special I want to add. 3- I use a clipboard. I LOVE my clipboard! When we did Quest for the Ancient World, Animal Worlds and three WinterPromise LA programs. I would clip one weeks IG from each program plus any notebooking pages, timeline figures, worksheets, etc...,
	Beverly G. from North Carolina How I prepare for school - I prepared by reading and re-reading the IGs. The first time I read them with excitement and glee over what I saw. Then I went back through each one, making lists of things to buy, things to collect, things to do, copies to make, and decisions to make. I tried to find most of my items at the dollar stores if they were cheaper there. In August, they often have "teacher aids" that are very helpful. They often have math fact cards for a $1. Just be sure to have some idea of what the regular price of things are before you shop there.      When there is something I need to do (such as pick-up a video from the library, purchase a food item, etc.) I write it on a Post-It Note and stick it on the week before. When I get to that week, I can then carry the Post-It Note to my calendar, my car, or my computer to remind me what to do. I also use Post-It Notes to remind me of any extra books or resources I have. I am trying to keep my history IGs clean because I plan to re-use the programs when my youngest is older.      I made copies of most of the crafts onto 65 lb paper for sturdiness. I copied the history cards onto 100 lb paper. I printed out the first month's timeline figures.      I copied all the Working On My Own sheets so I can keep the originals nice. I copied the LA schedules so my children could check off their assignments. Although my daughter can't read the assignments on the schedule, she enjoys checking them off. I used different colors for different subjects and let my children pick the colors for their LA. I write their math assignments on one of their schedule sheets.      We use clipboards to keep track of things. My children each have two: one with their assignment sheets and any worksheets for the week, and a second that they use as hard writing surface. My clipboard has a copy of all the IG pages for the week. I also have 3 prong folder with my weekly summary for the year, a school year calendar with my weeks numbered and vacations marked, the movie list for history, suggested spelling games, Overview of Studies sheet from each IG, etc. Basically, everything that I might need handy so I don't have to open the big huge binder that holds the full IGs - 4 of them in a 3" binder.

Learning Centers: Schooling in Your Home

Where do you like to home school? Do you like the relaxed cozy atmosphere of your family room or living room? Do you like the simplicity of doing your school at the table? Do your children like to do their work in their own room, separate from their siblings? Are you always on the go? If so, do you spend some time in the car? What works for your family? Here are some tips on how to increase the ease and organizational aspect of your home schooling experience.

Casual Schooling in a Living/Family Room
If the family/living room works for your family here are some ways to simplify your schooling. These may be some questions you’re asking yourself:

How should I store my home schooling books and other things? What should I do with my child’s individual workbooks?

Here are some creative ways to solve these problems:

• THE COFFEE TABLE! If you have a coffee table in your living room, incorporate it into your home schooling. Depending on what type of coffee table you have will change what you do organizationally. One way is to place a plastic bin, wooden box, or basket beneath your coffee table. It may be helpful to label what things or whose things are inside the bin. If your coffee table opens up to storage space, place your home schooling material inside. Now your home schooling material is kept out of sight and your living room and family room look clutter free.
• BOOKSHELF HELP! A bookshelf can also be a helpful tool. You can arrange your home schooling material on the shelf. An organizer can also be put on the book shelf to hold your small school supplies that can easily be used. If you own a large bookcase you can assign one shelf to each child so they can keep all their books and things together. Bins can also be placed on the shelf to store the small school supplies.
• BINS WITH FLAIR! Decorative bins are an easy solution and can be placed on the floor where they can be kept out of sight. You can also assign one

All Together in a Dining Room
If you like the ease of doing school at the table, here are some ways to keep schooling and daily school supplies in your dining room.

• CENTERPIECES! You can hold your daily school supplies in a decorative table piece. You could simply use a spinning silver ware holder organizer for your school supplies like: pencils, glue, erasers, etc. Another option is using a divided plastic or wooden basket for your home schooling centerpiece.
• BINS ABOUND! Bins are a solution to every problem and can be used on a shelf, bookshelf or on the floor to store your things.
• TOWER BOOKSHELF! A tall, thin book shelf is always a ready tool for organization. Using the tips from the section above you can easily use those in your dining room.
• UNEXPECTED ASSISTANCE! Another possible solution -- if your dining room chairs have spokes that link the feet of the chair, a plastic dishpan or wire dish rack that is usually used in the kitchen can be placed on the spokes of your chairs. The rack/pan can hold your child’s workbooks and other items.
  
  

On-the-Go, On-the-Run Schooling Fun
Are you often in the car? Do you feel like you’re cramming school in before you and your kids crowd into the mini-van to do your weekly or daily errands, sport practice, or music lessons? If this is your daily/weekly ritual, here are some ways to use the time spent in the car.
Often when we moms try to make time pass in the car, we bring a book or coloring books and crayons. Instead, turn that time spent in the car into a schooling opportunity! Here are some ways to increase your productivity as a on-the-go home schooling mom.

• Reading in the car is always a great thing to do. Instead of reading any book, have your child read books that they are required to read for school instead. This makes for less school work at home and allows for more family time at home.
• If your child can draw or color in the car, completing school workbooks in the car isn’t a big stretch, and you have plenty of time to answer questions as they come up!
• If you have a DVD player and television screen in your car, use it to your advantage! Play educational DVDs recommended in your guidebook. You always wish you had more time to dive deeper into certain topics in your home schooling. Why not use those DVD suggestions?
• Hey, don’t forget your CD or tape player that sits in your car as well. Why not let the CD player get some airtime? It’s always in the car, and sounds much more pleasant than the bustle and hubbub you’re usually competing with in the back seat! On longer car rides or just a day of errands, an educational CD or book on CD/tape can help fill time spent in the car.
• What about history review? Can it be done? Timeline flash cards are another thing that can be done in the car. A contest can be done with the cards and whoever has the most correct questions answered wins!
• Is your child learning to read? Would you like more time spent on reviewing those newly learned letters and words? Have your child search for letters and see how many they can spot while they’re in the car. If your child is past letters and jumping to words have them spot words that begin with specific letters. The possibilities are endless!

You now may be thinking these are something you might be interested in trying but you don’t want to drag those things in the car for each trip. Here’s an easy way to keep everything organized in one compact container that can be easily kept in the car.

Pictured below are some ways to arrange and store your schooling supplies in your car. You’ll see there are two different organizers and each has a different focus in learning. The younger organizer (left) includes items for learning or reviewing letters and reading, which includes fun games to help your child better understand letter forms, sounds and word recognition.

The older organizer (right) contains more difficult resources like reading books, workbooks, timeline flash cards and other car games that have a school focus. DVDs & CDs add more bang to school!

You’ll notice each organizer has a cookie sheet included. Any magnetic items can be attached to this inexpensive item. Younger students can arrange their magnetic letters to create words or spell out things they see. Older students can use it to keep track of scores for review games completed in the car, or a quick game of tic-tac-toe or hangman with review questions, timeline facts or Bible verses. All ages can use it as an easy place to draw or finish up other homework. We’ve created a page of helps that can be used with your cookie sheet. Plan to print the page onto magnetic sheets (used in printers) easily purchased at office supply stores or Wal-Mart. Click here to see and print the Magnetics for Cookie Sheet page.

Maximizing Time in a Work Place/Home Office
If you have a home office, you are busy part of the time with that aspect of your life. Here’s several ways to integrate home schooling into busy “business” times.

• If your kids complete timelines as part of their home schooling, they can do all their gluing and cutting while you work. Timelines provide fairly independent work, which can be done while you’re busy. You’re on hand to answer any questions that your kids have, making this an easy multi-tasking project. To keep these items together and out of the way, place them in a School Stuff organizer, available from WP (see photo at right). For added ease, place each individual child’s timelines in one pocket. What about glue, scissors, pencils, etc.? Place them in the bottom pocket or find a neat and handy organizer that can be easily carried and is small in size so as to not take up much room. Keep these things in your office and you’ll never have to worry.
• Another task that is easily accomplishable by your kids without your undivided attention is workbooks. Any type of workbook can be done while you're busy with other things. These books can also be placed in a School Stuff organizer and arranged according to each child.
• Math? No problem! Following the same method, it is easily accomplished. Again, arranged as before or to your preference.
• Reading books are another take-along task that your kids can perform while you work.

Volunteering & Home Schooling??? If you volunteer and do it regularly, these are ways to keep yourself on-top without getting behind. Sometimes we don’t think about the time we spend at church on weekdays or helping others as time we could use for school. Take schooling on-the-go with you when you volunteer. All the learning options we’ve shared above can easily be repurposed into a volunteering atmosphere.

Autumn Activities, Ideas & Traditions
The fall season is a time of warm sunny days and chilly breezes that tickle our nose and kiss our rosy cheeks. Bright mornings with frost-covered windows and fields. Ever-shortening beautiful days spent outdoors enjoying the brilliant colors of red-, yellow-, and brown-leafed trees, making giant leaf piles, jumping into a crunchy bed of fallen leaves and long nature walks with the leaves crunching and crackling beneath your shoes. Then quiet evenings spent listening to the wind rustle, warm cups of hot cider/hot chocolate that make silly mustaches and telling family storiesor memories of past autumns and ever-coming winter. This is how we’d all like to spend the fall season. You don’t have to be Super-Mom to make your fall time memorable for your kids-- just do what you can.

Simple ways to enjoy the upcoming season --

• Take your children apple picking if you are located near an apple orchard.
• Once home, make caramel apples.
• Enjoy a leisurely ride/walk to your favorite park, looking at the fall colors and picnicking as a family.
• If your area has a fair or farmer’s market, take them for a day trip for family or group fun.
• A classic way to start off fall is a hay ride at a local farm.
• A leaf hunt is always fun to do. Your kids can then preserve their leaves to keep as memories. Getting lost in a corn mazes is a blast (best to bring water and goodies)!
• Carve pumpkins and have a family contest of the prettiest, silliest, or scariest pumpkin awards. Take time for leaf jumping contests in your backyard and then give an award for the biggest, slowest, wackiest, etc. leaf jumper.
• On cool fall evenings roast marshmallows, have s’mores over a fire and tell funny or scary stories.
• Start an acorn hunt by giving each child a bucket and see who can scour their backyard to get the most in the allotted time.

The possibilities are endless! There are many things to do outdoors -- but what about indoor activities. Listed below are some cool fall crafts that are simple for your child to accomplish and easy for mom to supervise.

Wishes & Memories Leaf Album:
What could be better than sharing wishes and memories? Begin by having your kids collect leaves from your backyard. Before you can use these leaves for an album they must be dried. The leaves will take approximately 24 hours to dry so we recommend that the leaves be gathered sooner than is necessary to allow plenty of time to dry before being used. Only dry as many leaves as you will need for your family. You will need to find or buy an album that will have enough space for your entire family's leaves and their wishes. Take your leaves and place them on a piece of paper and then set paper on top. Next place the leaves and papers between the pages of a heavy book and place another heavy book on top of the other book. When the leaves have dried to your satisfaction have each family member choose one leaf. Once they’ve chosen their leaves, glue the leaves on one page of a large album, allowing space to write next to their leaves. (If you have a large family a second page may be needed.) Let the glue dry for whatever time is needed. Now each family member can write next to their leaf a wish for the coming fall or their favorite memory. Each fall your family can add more leaves, wishes and memories.

Pinecone Photo Holder:
If you relish taking nature walks with your kids during the fall (or would like to this year) this is a fun and crafty way to keep the memory. The supplies needed are: one pinecone per person, a favorite photo or digital photo from your outing, index cards, glue, a piece of cardboard (more may be needed if you’re making more than one), acorns, seeds, twigs and any other small natural trinket from your excursion. While on your walk have your child look for small items they may want to put around their pinecone. To assemble, glue the index card to your photo and place in pinecone so it is upright. Then place your pinecone and things on a piece of cardboard before you glue it together. Once you’ve decided how you want to set up your frame, trace around it. Then cut on the traced lines of your cardboard base of your frame. Next glue your trinkets together on the cardboard. Let the glue dry before moving it. Once dry it can be put in a place where it can be seen. Important Note!- The acorns may contain weevils. If you want to use acorns on your frame we suggest that the acorns be slowly baked in an oven on low temperatures, making sure they don’t burn.

Leafy Tree Memories Table Piece --
A Tree of Wishes & Thanks
This craft is a fun and easy way to decorate a table. Find a branch that is a good size and will fit on your table. Once you have your branch remove all leaves. Then place your branch in a pot of sand and place on your table. Next cut colored construction paper into leaf shapes. Once you’ve cut your leaves hole punch or pierce a hole into one end of your leaf. Now have each family member write what their thankful for or their fall wishes on their chosen leaf. Finally, using colored yarn or string tie your paper leaves to your branch. Now you can enjoy for the fall season a tree of thankfulness.

A Portrait of Gratefulness
Here is wonderful way to remember your thanksgiving wishes and thanks, and to remember a time with family and friends. The supplies needed include a signature frame like the ones used for special occasions, having room for various signatures on the matte. You’ll also need a picture of your family; it would be nice if it were actually taken at your gathering. A quality pen or marker to write on the frame will be needed and, if you’d like, possibly some small fall decorations. At your family gathering or get-together, ask all of your family to write on the signature frame what they’re thankful for or their hopes for the upcoming fall season. Make sure each person signs their names next to their wish. If there is still room on your frame you can glue fall items to your frame as well. Take a picture of your family celebrating Thanksgiving either around the table, outside with the pretty fall colors or a family portrait. Lastly place the photo in your signed frame, hang and enjoy for many years.

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Autumn Activities, Ideas & Traditions

Some of our WinterPromise families have shared some of their fall memories, cool experiences, and fun activities that they like to enjoy during the fall season. Here’s some writings from moms like you about the things they try to do during the autumn.

BUG WATCHING -- Fall is my very favorite season! I love the fresh crisp smell in the air, how things start to cool down, how it starts to get darker sooner! We tend to plug into our local park day, go to our nature park and walk the trail, sit outside on the front porch and watch the boys ride their bikes. We are using Shoots, Sprouts, Buzz and Bite and so this will give us an excellent opportunity to do nature study. Lots of leaves mean lots of BUGS! -- Mary A. from Florida

FALL DECORATING -- The kids like helping to put out our Halloween decorations on the first of October, and our Thanksgiving decorations out on the first of November. -- Alisa R. from Michigan

COLLECTING ACORNS FOR SQUIRRELS -- This one didn't start by my design, but by the will of my oldest daughter. She started on her own, and her siblings soon joined her, collecting acorns from under a neighbors tree. What I am I doing? I am reminding them that they do NOT walk in the flower beds. A four-year-old just doesn't appreciate that there is dirt we don't play in. The middle two are just lost in the moment and my oldest...well she knows better, but there is no way she is letting one of the other kids collect more acorns than she does. Sigh......... After collecting the acorns the kiddos drop them in our back yard. Then it is a watching game to see the squirrels come collect and hide them for the winter. I would like to say that I get to relax and watch too, but no -- I spend the entire time refereeing use of Daddy's binoculars. Now where did the timer go? ..... Someday I will be the only one home to collect acorns and watch the squirrels. While it might be more peaceful it just won't be the same... -- Heather J. from Oregon

FAIR TIME -- One of the things our family enjoys doing in the fall is attending our State Fair. It is held in October, when things are finally starting to cool off in NC. We pre-order our ride tickets to save money and then plan an afternoon and evening of fun. We go on a weekday as soon as school is out and stay until the fireworks are over. In addition to the rides, we let each of the kids try to win a prize at a couple of games. We like to visit the display buildings to get our free handful of peanuts, look at the winning veggies, quilts, etc. and buy a large pickle to munch. My husband always tries to win a turkey at the Jaycee Turkey shoot. We even took one home one year. For entertainment, we watch the pig race and the bicycle stunt show. The walk to the car is long when you are tired, but we are always glad we went. -- Beverly G. from North Carolina

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Tackling a Great Family Get-Together

Okay, sure -- so planning a great time for your own family is pretty easy, but what about the huge extended family get-togethers we all love to attend, but are worried about hosting ourselves? Food is one thing -- there’s recipes and those talented family cooks to help. But what about planning a get-together that keeps the kids from climbing the walls and upending the turkey dinner? Here’s some ideas for entertainment that are easy to pull together -- stuff you’ll actually do! Create “corners” of fun and ask some of those great relatives you’ve got to give a little oversight to a designated activity as needed.

• Set up a Card Table with Interlocking Card Building
  This is any easy way to keep kids entertained during thanksgiving and fall season. To begin this project a few decks of cards are needed. Start by making a ¼ inch cut on the long side of the card near the corner and repeating on the diagonally opposite corner. We recommend that only part of the deck be cut before the kids begin their fun because your kids may want the slots in different places to accommodate for their increased building techniques. If your kids run out of playing cards and you don’t want to cut more of your cards, you can use card stock instead. All you need to do is cut the card stock to the shape of a playing card and make ¼ inch cuts on each card for more building fun. Put out cards and blunt-end scissors, supervise a little, and you’ve got some instant fun!
  
  
• Plan a Paper Pumpkin Scavenger Hunt
  A scavenger hunt is always great fun. We’ve provided the pumpkins -- just click here for the paper pumpkins, print several copies and write clues that lead from one pumpkin to another. (Note: additional patterns are included that can be used as placemats or coloring pages.) Here’s how to set it up: Write down on paper your “trail” from one clue to another, ending at a hiding spot where you can stash a cache of candy corn or popcorn balls for all the children. Once you have your trail, write clues from one clue to the next on the preceding pumpkin, placing the pumpkins where the previous clue had indicated. (It will help to number the pumpkins before you start, so you know you’re staying in order.) Asking another adult to follow along with the kids will prevent snooping into “unauthorized” zones!
  
  
• “Make-Your-Own” Short Thanksgiving/Fall Story
  Provide each child with one piece of paper and have them write down a story with illustrations on one side of the paper. Before they leave, mount it into a blank book (available from WP) or photo album, and, if possible, take digital pictures of them to paste in later near the story they wrote. Date the book so you have something that will delight the whole family to see at family get-togethers in years to come.
  

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And Now, For Our WP Favorite Moment Contest Winners!

We were just so touched by the many entries we got to read and enjoy! Many of you sent pictures, which were marvelous, and many wonderful memories that you shared. Although it was a tough call, here are our contest winners!

Grand Prize Winner - Rose D. R. of New York
Wins a $50 Gift Certificate for her entry sharing about her son’s new love of history!

Category Winners:
For “A New Love of Learning” - Linda H. in California
For “Field Trips to Remember” - Jennifer E. in Wisconsin
For “Togetherness” - Mary A. in Florida
For “Loving the Activities” - Linda H. in Japan
Each of these wins a $20 Gift Certificate!

We’ll feature the entries from each of our winners in the Nov/Dec issue of our Newsletter!
Congratulations!

Wrapping It Up ... I hope this newsleter has helped you prepare for the school year, entertained you with writings from moms like you about their children and their memories and brought a smile to your face! I’d like to thank all the moms that helped make this newsletter possible by providing great tips, cool ideas, wonderful stories, and great fall traditions for this edition of the Warm Wanderings Newsletter. Your part in the making of this newsletter was crucial and you have my thanks.

If you are interested in participating in the next WinterPromise newsletter I’d love to hear from you. We’d love to hear about any touching memories, wacky stories, or wonderful moments you’ve spent as a family.

Life is a time for learning and we never cease learning new things. Every day we learn more about this beautifully designed earth, its history and its many peoples. We also learn more about our Creator and His awesome plan for His people and our future restoration. As the Bible says: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) Everywhere we look in creation the imprint of God is there. Be sure to savor the fall season as God’s handiwork, displayed for you enjoy and for the world to see.

-- Autumn Brooks at WinterPromise