This fall the students in Seattle did not go back to school in early September- as our teachers and the school district worked on a contract. We have made the best of it: The boys played with friends. They rode scooters and biked. We relished the beginning of autumn by hiking and picnicking in the forest, identifying new birds in our backyard- a Western Scrub Jay, and playing baseball. We baked bread. We picked apples and made fresh pies and crisp to share with friends and neighbors. Now that school will start again in a day we must make the most of our last day of extended summer: The boys will help me with my Family Nature Program at the Audubon where I lead the Tiny Trips for Tots program: More practicing the art of wandering, noticing, & feeling the fall air.
Two years ago I wrote these words about September and it is still true.
I want my children to learn fall by the light of it. We look out in the morning before we are even dressed. We eat a hot breakfast outside in the crisp cold morning and we play outside until the sunset. We walk to market through the wild gusts that blow clouds and occasional storms overhead. The leaves and seed pods twirl down from trees. We watch squirrels gathering seeds, the chickadees and sparrows flocking to feeders, and the crows heading home to roost at the end of day.
Fall is child sized. Days can truly be experienced by children from sunset to sundown.
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