October | The Parenting Passageway
5 min read
Nature! Your maternal being
I carry in my deepest will
The fire of my will makes strong
The mettle of my spirit
And thus is born that sense of self
That steels myself to carry me
- The Illustrated Calendar of the Soul: Meditations For the Yearly Cycle with 52 Pictures by Anne Stockton
Michaelmas is still here, calling us to become strong, to find ourselves, to carry ourselves and our inner light through the wintertide of nature and the darkness of the world. May you steel yourself to shine bright this month!
The best way to find this and do this is to set boundaries. Boundaries are where I end and where I begin. Where I can walk beside you, but I cannot be you. I find a lot of people are really struggling with boundaries, whether from childhood or from trying to parent in a different way than the very authoritarian way they were raised. If you would like to get some of your boundaries in order headed into fall and the holidays (where typically many boundary issues come up!), here are a few back posts for you:
Preparing for the Six/Seven Year Change: The Importance of Boundaries
October is a golden month at the farm. The nights are crisper, we are preparing for colder weather. I just cleaned out a bunch of closets and drawers because simplicity and less clutter is cozy!
This month we are celebrating:
October 4-The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi (we celebrate at church with the blessing of the animals)
October 9 – Our youngest child will be 13! Very exciting!
October 31 – Halloween, which really is low key in our house, especially on the farm because no one comes here. However, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are big! You can see a back post about Halloween In The Waldorf Home, and this one about preparing for All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day
The little things that make ordinary October days magic:
Playing in the leaves
Apple picking
Pumpkin farm visits
Making pumpkin muffins and breads
Longer nights with deeper and later sleep
Warming foods
Fuzzy flannel sheets
Warm teas
Lantern making for Martinmas but I love to light lanterns in the school room as the days get darker and the darkness gets earlier and longer
Finding ideas to make for holiday gifts
Besides, the above post, I always think about:
Warmth
Warming Foods – this back post is from January, but it might give you some ideas for warming foods
Autumn Circles and Autumn tales for little ones
Make lanterns
Re-instating tea time if you lost it over summer and early fall– so warming and lovely
If you have small children, you might really enjoy this post from Liza Fox about meaningful work for toddlers
Rhythms From Scratch:
If you are wondering where I was this time of year a few years ago, try this back post: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2016/10/21/october-rhythms-and-meal-planning/
Right now, I have a different schedule:
Get up, help get horses in unless my husband and daughter are doing that, feed barn cats and dogs. My high school senior drives herself to her hybrid high school. Soon we will be putting horses out during the day instead of at night, so we will feed and let them out and clean everything.
If it’s a work day, I am out the door. If it’s a school day, we usually do opening activities, math practice and language arts/ spelling practice right off the bat because it is hated and if I leave it it won’t happen, Main Lesson, read alouds. We usually take a break to check on the horses. Afternoons we usually either go to the park, our son has horseback riding lessons or 4H or we work on the farm. This season I will be setting aside several afternoons a week to create holiday gifts and create art.
At dinner time we have dinner and feed all the animals. If the horses are in, we check on them about 9 and make sure they are good for the night.
Weekly I plan something for myself – lunch or dinner with friends. This week I have a facial scheduled which I haven’t probably done in 4 years, so that’s fun. We go to church most weeks, although I do tend to take one weekend a month and stay home and clean, organize, and rest. My husband and I try to do date night a few times a month, but it’s easier for us to do that as our children are older. 🙂
Seventh grade homeschooling – the first time I went through seventh grade, I detailed what we did weekly. I did not post it in one huge block as people often take things from this website and put it in a curriculum and I figured it would be harder if the information was spread out.
My original plan was to start the year with physics, but we actually ended up starting with Medieval as we were behind from sixth grade. We also covered quite a bit of African geography. Plans are always evolving but I am planning on sticking to my initial plan for the rest of the year, although I am contemplating sneaking in a little physiology. Our seventh grader had a lot of physics last year at an outside class, so I am not sure if I will swing back to that or not or just tack on a little time this summer and review some of the major concepts with him in preparation for eighth grade.
SEPTEMBER 26-30 FALL BREAK
Week Eight October 3-7- Renaissance
Week Nine October 10-14 – Renaissance
Week Ten October 17-21 – Renaissance
Week Eleven October 24-28 – Renaissance and Father-Son Trip
Week Twelve October 31-November 4 – Perspective Drawing
Week Thirteen November 7-11 – Perspective Drawing
Week Fourteen November 14-18 – Catch Up Week
NOVEMBER 21-25 THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week Fifteen November 28-December 2 – Astronomy and Navigation
Week Sixteen December 5-9 – Astronomy and Navigation
Week Seventeen December 12-16 – Astronomy and Navigation
DECEMBER 19- JANUARY 4 – CHRISTMAS BREAK
Week Eighteen January 5/6 – Grammar and Writing
Week Nineteen January 9-13 – Grammar and Writing
Week Twenty January 16-January 20 – Grammar and Writing
Week Twenty One January 23-27 – Chemistry
Week Twenty Two January 30-February 3 – Chemistry
Week Twenty Three February 6-February 10 – Chemistry
FEBRUARY 13-17 WINTER BREAK
Week Twenty Four February 20-24- Math Main Lesson
Week Twenty Five February 27-March 3- Math Main Lesson
Week Twenty Six March 6-10- Math Main Lesson
Week Twenty Seven March 13-17 – American Colonial Times
Week Twenty Eight March 20-24 – American Colonial Times
Week Twenty Nine March 27-31 – American Colonial Times
APRIL 3-7 SPRING BREAK
Week Thirty April 10-14 – Writing (probably will base in physiology)
Week Thirty One April 17-21 – Writing
Week Thirty Two April 24-28 – Writing
Week Thirty Three May 1-5 -Writing
Week Thirty Four May 8-12 – Catch Up Week
I would love to hear what you are up to!
Blessings,
Carrie
