Autumn for us is deeply rooted in ritual, and is without a doubt my favorite season. As we transition into this next season as new full-time homeschoolers, establishing a new type of rhythm has definitely brought lots of comfort and excitement of what this year will bring! We officially start schooling next week and our new rhythm will be only used on days that we homeschool. We’ll also be following some sort of a rhythm on weekends but that one be much looser and have a lot of flexibility depending on what we have going on. I love the idea of having a rhythm in place rather than a schedule with set times— there’s still that element of predictability and structure but each segment of the day can happen organically and we can easily adapt as needed. For example, if the weather will be very hot that day we can shift our afternoon “outdoor play” to the morning by extending our “gardening” time. Some days we may take a “field trip” day to go do a seasonal activity such as apple picking and be out a majority of the day. If you’ve been following on Instagram I’ve also been sharing bits and pieces of our garden remodel. We basically removed all of the grass in our back yard to replace it with six very large raised beds and an outdoor learning space. In addition to gardening time and outdoor play, E will have the option to also do lessons, story time and projects outside in the garden.

Elliot’s homeschool rhythm and chart were created using guidance from Leah’s wonderful guest post on how to create a homeschool rhythm and the snail shape is an enlarged version of our snail pattern. There’s a link to download the pattern in the cardboard snail seed mosaic blog post.

Autumn Daily Homeschool Rhythm

Morning

Breakfast
The start of our day! We will prepare breakfast together and talk about what our day will look like.

Tidy Up/Self Care
Clean up after breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth/hair.

Morning Basket
A mix of books, flash cards, puzzles and games that E can choose from. The selection will change often and he can choose as many or as few things that he’d like to do from the basket.

Gardening
Chores in the garden such as watering, weeding, planting and harvesting.

Nature Lesson
This would be our “formal” lesson of the day. E has the option of doing the lesson indoors or outdoors in the garden. We’ll change subjects weekly and it’ll be a mix of nature-based subjects from Exploring Nature with Children curriculum and garden-based subjects (chosen based on what we are currently growing). You can read more about our curriculum choices here. Lessons will include educational information, hands-on activities and related books. Depending on what we are studying during a given week there will likely be a lot of overlap and opportunities to learn during gardening and outdoor play time since all of our subjects are nature and garden based.

Story Time
A seasonal waldorf-based story with tactile materials, either from Little Oak Learning’s Autumn rhythm or a story that I’ve put together myself with handmade materials.

Afternoon

Lunch
Something easy that we will prepare together. E can choose if he wants to eat indoors or outdoors.

Project
A themed craft project based on the subject that we are studying that week. E has the option of doing the project indoors or outdoors in the garden.

Outdoor Play
Free play outside which may include gardening, mud kitchen play, collecting bugs and building activities (learning to woodwork, putting fairy houses together, etc)

Read + Snack
Light afternoon snack, usually fruit or a green smoothie while we read books.

Afternoon Basket
A mix of handwork activities such as felting, weaving, embroidery, using modeling materials (beeswax, homemade play dough), painting and paper crafts (origami). I will either partake in the type of handwork that E chooses or choose my own to do alongside him.

Bake + Cook
Depending on what time it is when we reach this part of our day, we’ll sometimes bake something or if it’s later then we’ll go straight to preparing dinner. E is usually eager to be involved in the baking/cooking but if he does not have interest in that day then he is welcome to opt for a quiet activity on his own.

Dinner
The start of our family time. Something new for us this year is that we’ll be implementing a weekly meal rhythm which I’m excited about!

Bedtime
Getting ready for bed which includes tidying up, bathing and then reading stories before E goes to sleep.

Weekends and non-school days

Weekends are usually spent running errands and just spending time as a family. We have several yearly autumn traditions that we enjoy doing together such as apple picking, making leaf garlands, collecting acorns, taking trips to the farm and baking. These activities certainly look a bit different this particular year but I’m excited for it and for the new journey that we’re starting.