Autumn Story

The Autumn Story from the Wynstones Autumn book was awesome -- it held my kids completely spellbound. I used the finger puppet animals from Suzanne Down's Around the World with Finger Puppet Animals: hedgehog and squirrel. I laid out the scene on the floor with a pile of autumn leaves in front of me, a thick branch from a tree propped up against the chair beside me, and a pile of acorns in front of that. I had the assistant teacher read the story because I didn't have time to memorize it. She read it and I acted it out. The students were so quiet, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Hedgie Hedgehog snuffling along the ground looking for worms and bugs to eat to get his tummy full before the winter, then finding a pile of leaves to curl up in. I tucked him under the leaves and then got the squirrel puppet which was hidden by my leg. The squirrel scampered up and down the log, gathering nuts from the ground and hiding them in the nooks and crannies of his "tree". Mother Earth sang him a song (which, luckily, I knew the tune to because it was one of the songs we sang last year at Rahima's conference) and so the story reader paused while I sang. Then the squirrel darted behind the tree and hid. It was lovely. I shared the materials with the preK teacher so she can do it with her class -- so nice to have a community of educators! That's one downside to homeschooling, you just don't have as many peers to share ideas with. Luckily, that's a service the Internet can provide.

I've been asked back for next Wednesday so when I make my plans I'll share them. The Fall art classes didn't get any enrollment -- I designed them late and there wasn't enough ability to advertise. However, if I get in the regular Parks and Rec bulletin I think I'll have some takers. I'm going to submit them again for the Winter semester (January - April) and we'll see. My prices are low and there's no one else offering that sort of thing. I hadn't considered P&R before since I thought I'd be homeschooling...

Plans change. Opportunities change. And I'm actually quite happy right now with my life.