In my eyes, my autumn weed bouquet is as pretty as any flower shop bunch of roses. Invite your children to gather some of your autumn weeds to be indoors as part of your nature display.
Sitting on my desk is a small vase of flowers I collected a few weeks ago. Although they’re all dried up now, they are a fond reminder of an afternoon spent walking and collecting a few blooming things with my daughter.
This inspires me to share an idea with you readers. Why not go out on a crisp autumn day and collect a few flowers, weeds, and grasses from your neighborhood to enjoy in a vase?
A Beautiful Fall Homeschool Activity
My husband and I debate about the definition of a weed, an on-going discussion in our family. I say a weed is something growing where you don’t want it to grow, like in a flower or vegetable garden or in the middle of your manicured lawn. But, if the plant is growing, like most of those in our yard, in a natural landscape, I try to leave it as part of the habitat.
How To Make a Weed Bouquet
Take the opportunity to cut some of the fall weeds for a bouquet to have indoors. You and your children can create a bouquet that makes you happy. Once again, it is a matter of perspective in determining whether a plant is a weed or something amazing to look at as part of your fall homeschool nature studies in a vase.
Please feel free to use this idea as an alternate study to any of the autumn wildflower studies.
Autumn is finally upon us with all its rust, orange and golden glory, so it’s the best time to make these pumpkin pixie houses. With yellowing leaves, ripening apples and pumpkins galore, what better way to celebrate the new season than with an adorable new nature craft. Enjoy this fabulous new craft for our members – led by Victoria Vels! Join Homeschool Nature Study membership today!
Homeschool Nature Study Membership
Join us for even more homeschool nature studies for all the seasons! With a nature study each week, you will have joyful learning leading all the way through the homeschool year for all your ages!
Not yet a Homeschool Nature Study Member? We’d love for you to join us and take advantage of the numerous studies – already planned out for you, craft ideas, free worksheets, and #outdoorhourchallenge fun! Become a member and bring the love of learning nature and science easily into your home.
These fall leaf activities for kids are a perfect way to study nature throughout the season. Easy to implement and enjoyable for the entire family, this study has options for all ages.
“Make the lesson an investigation and make the pupils feel that they are investigators…The ‘leading thought’ embodies some of the points which should be in the teacher’s mind while giving the lesson; it should not be read or declared to the pupils…The outlines for observations herein given by no means cover all of the observations possible; they are meant to suggest to the teacher observations of her own, rather than to be followed slavishly…If the questions do not inspire the child to investigate, they are useless.”
Spend your Outdoor Hour time in your own backyard or neighborhood.
Look at the various kinds of leaves and have your child point out several that capture their interest.
Choose four or five leaves to collect and bring home to look at with the magnifying lens.
Follow-Up Activity for Fall Nature Study:
Use the hand lens to make careful observations of your leaves. One at a time have your child describe what he sees as he looks at the leaf carefully. Record your results in your nature journal (or use the notebook page in the ebook).
Advanced and High School Leaf Studies
Advanced Follow-Up: Use this LINK and scroll down to the section, “Taking a Closer Look At Plant Cells”. Make your own leaf slides to look at under your microscope. Members – Use the Leaf Morphology page and the notebook page to complete your study.
Advanced Follow-Up: Read this article on Wikipedia: Leaf. Read this page that illustrates Leaf Margins and Shapes (love this page with the clear images).
Activities for Pressing Leaves and Leaf Nature Study
Press your leaves to add to your nature journal at a future date. You can watch my YouTube video to learn how to do this with simple household items.
Make beautiful Leaf Prints with Victoria in Homeschool Nature Study Nature Crafts course!
Fall Garland Craft
Autumn is in full swing with rusty leaves and seeds galore, so let us bring in some of the season’s beauty with this Autumn garland.
An Example of a Family Fall Leaf Study for All Ages
Tricia’s shares their family-style fall leaf study up close investigation!
Our leaf studies started when the first leaves started to change. We enjoyed the fall colors with a local trip to Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park. We’ve awed each week at the maple at church, watching it turn every beautiful shade from green to yellow to red.
One Saturday, we traveled to the next state over to the highest point. We walked and we slowed to soak in the colors.
And earlier this week, we drove about 20 minutes down the road, where we climbed rocks as big as boats under a canopy of colors.
While we’ve been oohing and aahing this whole month at leaves, we didn’t stop to marvel closely at design until we took the Up-Close Leaf Study Challenge with The Handbook of Nature Study Outdoor Hour Challenges.
And while gorgeous leaves had gathered on the kitchen table now and then in an arrangement, Friday morning Middle Girl and I went out early for the very purpose of gathering a variety. Maple, poplar, river birch, oak leaf hydrangea, mimosa.
It had just started to make a new web, using part of the pink string someone had tied.
With our notebook pages at the ready, we hit a problem. Where is the magnifying glass? We couldn’t even find the little plastic one kept in the outside playhouse. *Sigh* “I know!” Middle Girl said, “There’s an app for your iPhone. And I think it’s free.” After a quick search, we downloaded Magnifying Glass with Light and we were in business!
Looking first at a larva on the mimosa leaves…
…Then each choosing a leaf to study up close.
Matching the margins. I heard, “what is venation?” So we looked closely at the veins in each leaf, comparing.
The two youngest girls sketched their leaves up close. Love this notebook page!
Eldest boy compared four different leaves, referencing the shape & arrangement, margins and venation page. That’s when he said, while sketching each leaf…
“That’s the most fun leaf study I’ve ever done.” ~ 12-year-old
Middle Girl discovered you can turn the ‘lens’ around and look at yourself up close!
Technology and nature study.
For the record, we did find our little, plastic magnifying lens (after our study).
As a bonus, we copied some of our favorite leaf colors for our nature journals.
There are many fun art and nature journal ideas for trees and leaves listed below as well!
So many things we discovered by taking the time to look up close! Thanks to an October of beautiful fall colors and Handbook of Nature Study.
Leaf Resources for Homeschool Nature Study Members
Members have all of these leaf studies to enjoy!
Outline the Shape + Leaf Coloring Page
Leaf Masks Nature Craft Activity
Learning Leaf Parts
Fall Leaf Study Grid
Under the Fallen Leaves Autumn Fun
Fall Color Walk with Printable Color Cards
Learning About Leaves Outdoor Hour Challenge
Seasonal Tree Autumn Comparisons
Outdoor Mom – September and October
You will find hundreds of homeschool nature studies plus all the Outdoor Hour Challenges in our Homeschool Nature Study membership. There are 25+ continuing courses with matching Outdoor Hour curriculum that will bring the Handbook of Nature Study to life in your homeschool! In addition, there is an interactive monthly calendar with daily nature study prompt – all at your fingertips!
This comprehensive guide to Fall Charlotte Mason Nature Study includes activities and resources for family learning.
As August gives way to September and summer slowly slips away to allow autumn to wrap us up in its brilliant display of color, mother turns her attention to planning her fall homeschool.
Fall Charlotte Mason Nature Study
In our Charlotte Mason homeschools, autumn is a time of fresh starts, fresh plans and new hope for the forthcoming year.
As the season shifts and the days begin to draw in, it seems natural to start our plans by considering our fall nature studies. Nature study intertwines beautifully with other areas of study such as art appreciation, poetry, geography and science. It also gifts the humble homemaker ample opportunity and inspiration to cultivate an atmosphere of coziness within her home(school).
Apples, cider, crisp leaves, corn mazes, frost and cold air are all part of the season and simply beg to be explored, studied and brought indoors!
Activities For Fall Nature Study In Your Homeschool
Tree and Leaf Studies Perfect for Fall
I think we all agree that you simply cannot embrace all that fall is without planning a seasonal tree and leaf study. Autumn days are filled with colored leaves, falling leaves, raking leaves, and jumping into great big piles of fallen leaves. Have a look at some of our wonderful tree and leaf studies from our archives and from our own personal blogs:
Pumpkins and Apples for Fall Charlotte Mason Nature Study
As the pumpkins ripen in the fields and the apples in the orchards, local farmers open up their farms to the public providing the perfect opportunity to plan a ‘pumpkin and apple homeschool’ week. Enjoy a trip out to the farm and pick out a few pumpkins and basket of apples. Then come home and bake a pumpkin or apple pie and enjoy reading some seasonal read-aloud books as you learn more about these delightful seasonal fruits.
“In times of old, not only was it believed that toads sat on them (toadstools), but that fairies danced upon them and used them for umbrellas. The poisonous qualities of some species made them also a natural ingredient of the witch’s cauldron. But science, in these days, brings revelation concerning these mysterious plants which are far more wonderful than the web which superstition wove about them in the days of yore.”
Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study, page 714
As can be seen from the excerpt from the Handbook of Nature Study that we have long held the view that mushrooms are rather mysterious, enchanting and quite fascinating. We can also agree that most of us regard mushrooms and toadstools with suspicion and caution, and for good reason. There are many poisonous mushrooms out there, and some of them are deadly. Names such as ‘death cap’, ‘destroying angel’ and ‘funeral bell’, warn us to steer clear!
One of our favourite fall activities in our homeschool is to go on a fungus spotting walk through out local woodlands. There is something quite atmospheric and wonderful about walking through a woodland in autumn all wrapped up in our hand knits and kicking through fallen leaves as we hunt for fungi and mushrooms.
Here are a few posts to get you started as well as some lovely free downloadable spotter sheets for you to take with you.
We all know that Charlotte Mason encouraged her students to keep a Nature Notebook or Nature Diary. These notebooks were inscribed with fine prose and illustrated in delicate watercolours.
According to Charlotte’s recommendations, all illustrations should include captions: the Latin name of the specimen, it it’s available, as well as the familiar name. A flower and bird list can be kept at the back of the Notebook, as well as other lists which may interest the individual child such as fungi, insects, trees etc.
These notebooks should be considered a part of a living education where the child’s relationship with nature can be expressed within its pages. Try to avoid criticism, unless it is to give helpful suggestions.
Anna Botsford Comstock said of notebooks, “of whatever quality, are precious beyond price to their owners. And why not? For the represent what cannot be bought or sold – personal experience in the happy world of outdoors.”
The Nature Notebook is a way for our children (and us) to connect better with nature and to learn its patterns. If you have not dipped your toes into the world of nature journaling, I would encourage you to dive in this fall. You do not need to invest in expensive art supplies, just grab a blank notebook, some pencils and get out there. You can purchase an inexpensive field watercolor set of paints in the coming weeks but for now I would encourage you to just take the leap and do a quick sketch of what you can see before you. Don’t judge your drawing, you are not an artist yet. You are a scientist, simply recording what you see in this moment of time.
Here are some helpful links for your adventure in nature journaling.
Below are some additional Charlotte Mason resources for your homeschool. We hope that you have a wonderful fall season of exploring and learning outdoors.
Additional Charlotte Mason Resources For Your Homeschool
Endless Access to Outdoor Hour Curriculum in Homeschool Nature Study Membership
We are sure that this fall Charlotte Mason nature study guide will keep you very busy however, we would encourage you to join the Homeschool Nature Study membership. With our membership you will have Homeschool Nature Study resources at your fingertips and can incorporate nature study at your family’s own pace.
You can choose guided or independent nature study with the membership monthly calendar prompts and printables.
We have monthly, quarterly and annual homeschool nature study memberships and you will enjoy endless access to everything including our exclusive Nature Craft Course, Nature Journaling Course and The Outdoor Mom Course!
Connect With Our Homeschool Community On Social Media
Did you enjoy this Outdoor Hour Challenge? Be sure to tag us on Instagram @outdoorhourchallenge and use the hashtag #outdoorhourchallenge so we can see and comment!
