{H.E.E.T} Fall Apple Farm Tour!

My Homeschool Tour Group {H.E.E.T}=Home Educators Exploring Together took a tour

of a nearby Apple Orchard. It is family owned and operated and has been around since 1919. The current apple growers are 7th generation apple growers!! All of the apples are picked, sorted and packed BY HAND!! It was an amazing adventure!

We were able to tour the farm, the orchard, the museum, the packing/sorting area and the warehouse. 

We were also able to pick our own apples to bring home! We also had an informative slideshow presentation in a classroom setting and drank fresh apple cider, too. It was really a neat tour!

We have been to this orchard several times as a family, but it was much more interesting

to view it from the operations end. I have a whole new respect for how hard farmers work!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we had an absolutely gorgeous fall day to 

enjoy spending some time outside!

{click on photo to enlarge}

Since it was so beautiful outside, we attempted to have

a picnic lunch at the farm.

Unfortunately, the bees wanted our lunch as much, if not more than, we did!

LOL. 

So, we headed to the minivan and ate there before driving back to town. 

Until next time..be a blessing,

Aria:)

{Impromptu} State History Center Visit

Our family loves exploring new places. Last Sunday after church, my husband and I decided to check out our local State History Center. We had never been there before, and the girls had a BLAST!!

Mind you, they were dressed in "church clothes", and I was totally unprepared with our snack bag and waters, so we only spent a couple of hours there. 

I think this would be a PERFECT location for a {H.E.E.T} TOUR!

Here is a sneak peak of our History Center visit.

Enjoy!

It is a really neat museum that also has a Village set up just like it would've looked in the late 1800's. 

There are houses, a church, a school house, a government building, bank, funeral home, pharmacy, town center, hotel/boarding house, community garden and more. 

It was so fun!

Imagine me trying to explain what a Telegraph was!!! 

I think I learn as much, if not more, as our children do while homeschooling:-)!

Blessings,

Aria:)

Our Farm Unit

As a follow up to our {HEET} Tour of the 1800's Living Historical Farm, we did a unit study on Farms!

Our Bible Verse for the week. 

We planted some seeds we got from Girl Scouts (sorry, no pics) and talked about what we expect to harvest from the seeds we planted. 

We discussed how important it is to work towards the end result that you want and not expect something positive to come from negative, etc.

 Some of our farm library materials.

 I printed this adorable "Clip and Learn" activity from 1+1+1=1. 

 Em had a great time matching the Farm things to their beginning sound letter. 

 Size sorting of tractors.

 Em had fun matching the animal puzzles correctly. But,

she had even MORE fun mis-matching them, LOL.

 Elle worked on beginning sound letters.

 Elle enjoyed the farm puzzles. 

She does all of her "big girl" school and then wants to do Em and Ce Ce's tot and preschool work, too! LOL.

 Matching baby farm animals to their mothers.

 Elle working on a coloring math sheet that was about garden veggies.

Ce Ce loves this farm puzzle!

 Elle working on some handwriting.

 Em has started learning about patterns. 

 Elle's math worksheet.

 Playdough fun for Ce Ce!

 Matching numbers of apples on trees.

 Nothing like spending time outside in nature-we LOVE it!

 Not farm-specific, but we LOVE the Free File Folder games from Mamaslearningcorner!

 The one is "Matching the Opposites." 

Em doing more worksheets. She really loves having her own school work to do!

It was a fun week!

Be a Blessing,

Aria:)

{H.E.E.T} Touring 1800's Farm Life

Our girls LOVE learning about how other people live(d) and, for years, have visited a Living Historical Farm not too far from us. 

I set up a Guided Tour for our Homeschool group and we had an amazing time learning about Farm Life in the late 1800's. 

 The guided tour provided a historical perspective of the lives of children and their parents in the 1800's. It was wonderful to see the period pieces as well as learn about the responsibilities and chores the children would have had back then. They were seated in the Parlor of the Victorian Farm House.

 Simpler times. Ce Ce playing with the wooden toys. 

 These kept her happy for a long time:)

 The Dining room of the Farm House.

 They learned about cooking in the kitchen with a wood-burning stove. 

 Fun times in the barn!

 Holding a Goose Egg.

 Checking out the baby pigs.

 Turkey time.

 Learning in the Summer Kitchen. They learned about home preserving/canning and also smoking and salt-curing meats.

 Had to snap a photo of the outhouse. 

Thank the Good Lord for indoor plumbing!

 The Smoke house--it smelled so good!

 The Canning Cellar. All of the farm employees eat the foods from the farm.

They plant, grow and harvest tons of vegetables and slaughter their own meats.

We had an amazing time!

Blessings,

Aria:)