Hooray for Johnny Appleseed!

[DawnL]

I have been trying to think of "what else" I was going to teach, beside reading, writing, and math. I have games and such I can use to reinforce these things. But I decided I needed a "theme". So I am going to use apples, and Johnny Appleseed, for the month of September. I have found a lot of resources online, for free, also.

I need to get to the computer upstairs, so I can print out an apple template, and start cutting up some apples!

[Joyous]

Oh there are so many wonderful things to do to use that as a unit study!!! I'm thinking you live in Wa state right? arrange an orchard tour with friends! make applesauce with the kids. It's fun to cut an apple in half the wrong way...across and use it as a stamp to make paint prints. I know here where I live which is another APPLE STATE they have lots of related activities at the library. fun fun fun!!!

[PrincessBride]

Oh, yes, lots of fun things, for sure!! Kids are going to an apple program at the interactive history museum nearby--this is an annual event as they love this one! Also, going to an apple orchard in dh's hometown! This will be the third year for this as well! Need to call and plan that trip as we go to the orchard with his dad and dad's wife.

[DawnL]

yes, we live in Washington state. We are a big apple state! We actually have 2 apple trees in our yard, planted by the previous the previous owners.

I will have to look into an apple orchard visit. That sounds like fun, and I'm sure Jeran especially would enjoy it.

I found a recipe on making some apple juice jigglers.

[Ellie Mae]

That sounds wonderful!

[BC-AmandaG]

What a great idea! Have fun!

[DawnL]

I am having a hard time finding an apple orchard around here. We might not get to do that part, but that's okay. There are still plenty of apple activities for us to do. I'm really looking forward to this.

I've spent the evening laminating a bunch of calendar numbers I got at the dollar store. I intend to teach the boys about the days of the week, and the months, and numbers, with a calendar. I have laminated the numbers, and there are 2 sets, 1 blue and 1 green. So I can make the weekends different colors, too.

I also picked up a weather teaching tool at the dollar store. It says "today is _____" and you have, I think, 7 options, like sunny, cloudy, windy, etc. another says "tomorrow will be ____". I think this will not only help them thing about things around them, like the weather, but also help with basic time concepts as well.

I was amazed at what good finds I found at the dollar store. and everything's $1! I have been looking for a long time for a good alphabet border to tack up around the upper walls of our family room. I found one at the dollar store, too! each letter, both upper and lower case, is in an ice cream cone. I found poster board there, too, at 2 for $1, which is what I'm going to use for the calendar, too.

Am I crazy to be this excited about laminating my own teaching tools?

[Lori]

C just finished a unit on that in 1st grade in the public school. We also went apple picking to supplement it - for fun...but, I was thinking about how easy it would have been to do this if I were homeschooling.

[Lori]

Oh, when I was at the apple picking place, this little girl had made her own apple shirt. She had cut apples in 1/2 and then dipped them in paint and made a cool design all over her shirt. It was darling!!!!

Just an idea for an art project that your son can wear!

Lori

[BC-momla]

Lori,

You are a budding and blossoming homeschooler, I can tell!!

C'mon. Join the "cult" LOL! You know you want to!!