How We Take Back September
September has always been my favorite month of the year. Yes, when I was a kid, I was a nerd and loved going back to school. But now I also enjoy the long, not-too-hot days and the cool evenings, the colors of ripening and drying plants, and the joyful security of harvest. Manitoba summers are too short to cut them off at the end of August. We need to embrace September as the fourth month of summer, so let's make sure that we don't let our ambitious education fervour tear this opportunity away from us and our kids.
Your students at home are the ones who don't need to be trapped at a desk breathing recycled air in fall. I know this, and yet I sometimes let my planning and my wish to “keep up” stifle our chances to soak up the last rays of summer sun. This September, for the first time in a long time, our family started our school routine on Labour Day. We were all excited to get going- we love our school routine.
But starting a routine won’t mean a shutdown of outdoor activity. There is still just too much that needs to be done to get ready for winter. Sure, we will start our day with a couple of hours of reading aloud- the same way we would in the dark days of winter around the fire. Except then, instead of heading for desk work, we will spread out to spend the rest of the day doing important (and “educational”) things: butchering chickens, harvesting and preserving veggies, building fall projects, dusting off our instruments and playing together, trying to remember where we put our runners, and brainstorming our weekly schedules of lessons, projects and hospitality.
Some recommended methods for lightening up and enjoying fall:
Decide to start science and/or social studies later in October, and instead go out for walks, bike rides and lying in the grass every day.
Do some of your read alouds outside on the porch or in the backyard when it’s nice out.
Start your year with a 3 or 4 day school week and plan some way to serve your neighbours or church family on those extra days (you might like this so much that you continue all year)
Attend the Winnipeg Prophecy Conference Sept. 27-29, 2018. Three days of very interesting Bible teaching- we’ll be there!
Plan to meet a couple of families at a park for soccer once a week for September.
Go on a family holiday- September is the best time to travel.
Start a fall project, like building a dog house, hanging a tree swing, or planting bulbs.
Visit the Mennonite Heritage Village, there are some great fall events.
“Fall Clean” the house- much more doable and long-lasting than spring cleaning.
Volunteer at Union Gospel Mission- there are lots of volunteer jobs listed here.
Choose a fall fruit or veggie to invest in in bulk and get creative with all the ways to use it.
This year, when Thanksgiving arrives, let’s be ready to be grateful to the Lord for giving us four months of summer- June, July, August and September. After Thanksgiving is when we can start to hunker down inside and call summer over. Embrace September for what it is meant to be- another chance to enjoy learning and growing out of the house.
