September Fun Days!

September 1st:

World War 11 began in 1939


We used this book during a Unit on World War 11 last year. It has some great activities in it.


Titanic was found in 1985.


A true story that our family loves!


A really cool book!


Another true story.


September 3rd:

American Flag first flown in battle, 1777
HERE are some printables for the American Flag.

September 5th:

Babe Ruth hit home run # 1. We always enjoy buying some Babe Ruth candy bars to enjoy on this day. HERE are some baseball printables.




September 7th:

Labor Day. HERE is a Labor Day word search. HERE is a Labor Day Alphabetizing activity and HERE is a history of Labor Day.

Grandparents Day. HERE are some really neat stories of homeschooling Grandmothers and how they are involved in the homeschooling of their grandchildren. Fun read!

Grandma Moses' Birthday - September 7, 1860



HERE is an online biography on Grandma Moses. And HERE is a site where you can see some of Grandma Moses art.


September 8th:

Northern Pacific Railroad completed. HERE is a really fun train game you can print out. HERE is another train game you can print out called Jump the Tracks. You can make THIS cute train craft. HERE is a cute train craft for younger kids.





September 9th:

Colonies became the United States. Joy Hawkins Book Three includes the Colonies becoming a Country.




Teddy Bear Day.




California Admission Day.

HERE is a Coloring Page of California Memorable Events. HERE is a California Alphabetization Activity. THIS California Misson Word Search is pretty cool. You can tour the CA State Capital HERE. Scroll down on THIS page and learn about California landmarks.

This book is one that would be great to read on this day.



As a California born and breed girl....I also LOVE this book by Pam Munoz on California. She did a great job with it.



Not really an educational idea but since this month holds so much regarding California history I thought it would be fun to watch the episodes of I Love Lucy with the kids when they take their trip to California.


September 10th:

Hot Dog Day. You can read about the history of hot dogs HERE. HERE is directions for making a solar hot dog cooker.

September 11th:

National 9-11 Day. A favorite book of ours to read while talking about 9-11 is this one.



National Hot Cross Buns Day. Their is a really neat page you can print for Hot Cross Buns that is included in THIS Unit. Just click on where it says Pat-a-Cake little book files.

September 12th:

Jesse Owens Birthday. HERE are a lot of links for Jesse Owens.

September 13th:

Roald Dahl's Birthday.


We have this recipe book and it has some hilarious recipes to go along with some of Dahl's books.

International Chocolate Day. Do we really need an International Chocolate Day to celebrate Chocolate? ;-)

September 14th:

Solo-Trans Atlantic Balloon Crossing. HERE are some great links for the first Hot Air Balloon flight.





We love the Boxcar Children books and can easily read through one in a day even though they are chapter books. I love to tie them into things we are talking about and studying.




National Cream Filled Donut day. I think a trip to the local donut shop is in order on this day. ;-)

Star Spangled Banner was written in 1814. HERE are some wonderful links.




September 15th:

Anniversary of American Girls. THE American Girls site has some fun games on it.

Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin, 1928. HERE are directions for growing your own mold.



William Howard Taft's Birthday. We like this book.



September 16th:

Mexico Independence Day

Collect Rocks Day. We love this book-



Homeschool Share has a unit study to go along with this book and it's a wonderful one! You can find it HERE. Even if you didn't want to do the entire the unit their is a lapbook to go along with the unit and you can choose pages from it to use just for the day.


National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day. It's what we will be eating for breakfast on this day. ;-)

September 17:

National Apple Dumpling Day. HERE is an entire unit on Apples that has some great printables in it.

Constitution Day. A favorite book of ours on the constitution that we like to read every year is this one.



We also like these.....






September 18:

National Play-doh Day

US Capitol Cornerstone Laid.



September 21st:

Miniature Golf Day. On several occasions throughout the years we have set up a miniature golf course in our house on rainy days. The kids look around the house and find things like cups, buckets, etc. to be the hole and things they can use as golf clubs. They then have fun setting up the courses using books, pillows, toys, and anything else they can find. It's always loads of fun! HERE is a fun read on the history of Miniature Golf.


September 22nd:

First day of Fall!!! I can't wait! I love fall! It's my favorite season. An activity that our family has enjoyed in the past when we had a lot of leaves around our yard was to create a leaf maze. Bryan would rake the leaves into a huge maze with dead ends and then the kids would have to work their way through the maze. We always enjoyed this! I have a tradition of making pumpkin muffins on the first day of fall to celebrate my favorite season. HERE is a great site with some some fun crafts to celebrate Fall.






Ice Cream Cone Birthday. A favorite book of ours on the ice cream cone is.....




September 23rd:

Native American Day. The following book contains some fun crafts and activities.



HERE is a link for creating your very own Native American Game. It's a pretty cool activity.


September 24th:

Jim Henson's Birthday, 1936. We love the Childhood of Famous American series and their is one written for Jim Henson. We have not yet read it but plan too in honor of his birthday this year.




Deaf Awareness Week. Emily Arnold McCully has written a beautiful book about the life of Alice Cogswell. It would be a great one to read this week.




September 26th:

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday, 1775. Homeschool Share now has a lapbook study on Johnny Appleseed. Click HERE.

National Pancake Day. Every year for National Pancake Day our family reads this book.



It's a favorite of ours. Here are a few others that we really like.









Shamu's Birthday.


September 27th:

Samuel Adams Birthday. A favorite book of ours....



This is a good one too.




Mark McGwire Hits 70th Home Run.



You could celebrate the day by making THESE baseball cupcakes.


September 28th:

Cabrillo Day (California Discovered). I am a bit partial to California Missions. I even recall the one I made in gradeschool. This book has beautiful pictures on California missions.



My favorite California Mission is the Santa Barbara one. It's one I have toured many times and it's incredibly beautiful! HERE is the main web site for it.

For younger kids I like this book on California.



And for older kids this is a favorite of ours.


This book is apart of a series. Their is one for every state. We use them a lot when studying states. Their is a unit study written for this book that is fantastic! Even if you didn't want to do the entire study, the printables can easily stand alone when reading this book and discussing California. You can find the Unit HERE.


National Strawberry Cream Pie Day


September 29th:

Scotland Yard Established, 1829. Here is a cute book for younger kids.




Stan Berenstain's Birthday. We love the Berenstain Bears!

September 30th:

The Flintstones Premiered, 1960. I am planning to get some Flinstone episodes from Netflix to watch with the kids.

Babe Ruth Sets Home Run Record

Blueberries for Sal

Here's a few things we did with the Before Five in a Row story, Blueberries for Sal. We had some fun with the story before our blueberry picking trip that we took last month. If you missed it, that post is HERE.


If you are not familiar with the story it is about a little girl named Sal who goes Blueberry picking with her mother to gather berries to can for the winter. Sal encounters a baby bear on her blueberry trip and eats more blueberries than what ends up in her bucket. ;-) It's a favorite summer story in our house.


I used this math mat with Ally and Cam to practice their counting. I put different numbers above the bucket and they had to count out that many blueberries from a pile and put them in the bucket. I even hid the "berries" one day around the house and they had to go blueberry picking before we did our math lesson.


In our story, every time that Sal dropped a blueberry into her bucket it made a "kurplunk" noise because her bucket was empty. When her momma dropped a bluberry into her bucket it didn't make the same noise because the bottom of her bucket was full of blueberries. The kids had fun dropping blueberries one by one into a bucket and hearing the "kurplunk" noise. When the bottom of their bucket was full, the "kurplunks" stopped. ;-)

We made some paint out of some of our blueberries and the kids enjoyed painting with it.

In our story Sal and her mother were picking blueberries in the wild. We enjoyed the following Robert Frost poem which talks about the joys of picking wild fruit. Frost is a favorite poet in our home and I like to read this poem to the kids every summer.

Blueberries
By Robert Frost
1874-1963

"You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the village, through Mortenson's pasture to-day:
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!
And all ripe together, not some of them green
And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!"
"I don't know what part of the pasture you mean."
"You know where they cut off the woods--let me see--
It was two years ago--or no!--can it be
No longer than that?--and the following fall
The fire ran and burned it all up but the wall."
"Why, there hasn't been time for the bushes to grow.
That's always the way with the blueberries, though:
There may not have been the ghost of a sign
Of them anywhere under the shade of the pine,
But get the pine out of the way, you may burn
The pasture all over until not a fern
Or grass-blade is left, not to mention a stick,
And presto, they're up all around you as thick
And hard to explain as a conjuror's trick."
"It must be on charcoal they fatten their fruit.
I taste in them sometimes the flavour of soot.
And after all really they're ebony skinned:
The blue's but a mist from the breath of the wind,
A tarnish that goes at a touch of the hand,
And less than the tan with which pickers are tanned."
"Does Mortenson know what he has, do you think?"
"He may and not care and so leave the chewink
To gather them for him--you know what he is.
He won't make the fact that they're rightfully his
An excuse for keeping us other folk out."
"I wonder you didn't see Loren about."
"The best of it was that I did. Do you know,
I was just getting through what the field had to show
And over the wall and into the road,
When who should come by, with a democrat-load
Of all the young chattering Lorens alive,
But Loren, the fatherly, out for a drive."
"He saw you, then? What did he do? Did he frown?"
"He just kept nodding his head up and down.
You know how politely he always goes by.
But he thought a big thought--I could tell by his eye--
Which being expressed, might be this in effect:
'I have left those there berries, I shrewdly suspect,
To ripen too long. I am greatly to blame.'"
"He's a thriftier person than some I could name."
"He seems to be thrifty; and hasn't he need,
With the mouths of all those young Lorens to feed?
He has brought them all up on wild berries, they say,
Like birds. They store a great many away.
They eat them the year round, and those they don't eat
They sell in the store and buy shoes for their feet."
"Who cares what they say? It's a nice way to live,
Just taking what Nature is willing to give,
Not forcing her hand with harrow and plow."
"I wish you had seen his perpetual bow--
And the air of the youngsters! Not one of them turned,
And they looked so solemn-absurdly concerned."
"I wish I knew half what the flock of them know
Of where all the berries and other things grow,
Cranberries in bogs and raspberries on top
Of the boulder-strewn mountain, and when they will crop.
I met them one day and each had a flower
Stuck into his berries as fresh as a shower;
Some strange kind--they told me it hadn't a name."
"I've told you how once not long after we came,
I almost provoked poor Loren to mirth
By going to him of all people on earth
To ask if he knew any fruit to be had
For the picking. The rascal, he said he'd be glad
To tell if he knew. But the year had been bad.
There had been some berries--but those were all gone.
He didn't say where they had been. He went on:
'I'm sure--I'm sure'--as polite as could be.
He spoke to his wife in the door, 'Let me see,
Mame, we don't know any good berrying place?'
It was all he could do to keep a straight face.
"If he thinks all the fruit that grows wild is for him,
He'll find he's mistaken. See here, for a whim,
We'll pick in the Mortensons' pasture this year.
We'll go in the morning, that is, if it's clear,
And the sun shines out warm: the vines must be wet.
It's so long since I picked I almost forget
How we used to pick berries: we took one look round,
Then sank out of sight like trolls underground,
And saw nothing more of each other, or heard,
Unless when you said I was keeping a bird
Away from its nest, and I said it was you.
'Well, one of us is.' For complaining it flew
Around and around us. And then for a while
We picked, till I feared you had wandered a mile,
And I thought I had lost you. I lifted a shout
Too loud for the distance you were, it turned out,
For when you made answer, your voice was as low
As talking--you stood up beside me, you know."
"We sha'n't have the place to ourselves to enjoy--
Not likely, when all the young Lorens deploy.
They'll be there to-morrow, or even to-night.
They won't be too friendly--they may be polite--
To people they look on as having no right
To pick where they're picking. But we won't complain.
You ought to have seen how it looked in the rain,
The fruit mixed with water in layers of leaves,
Like two kinds of jewels, a vision for thieves."

The very first thing that Ally & Cam made with their blueberries that they picked, was the following blueberry cake!


They were pretty proud of their creation. Can you tell? It was VERY yummy!






"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" John 15:5