The Homeschool Almanac

Complete lesson pack

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Story · for reading together

Hedgerows in late October

A hedgerow is a wall, but a wall made of LIVING PLANTS. Blackthorn and hawthorn and hazel and holly all mixed together, packed so thick a cow cannot push through.

In late October the hedge is a larder. Bright red HAWS on the hawthorn. Fatter red HIPS on the wild rose. Dark purple SLOES on the blackthorn. And a few last BLACKBERRIES, if you are quick — after Michaelmas (that is 29 September), old country stories say the devil spits on them, so nobody picks them then.

Some English hedgerows are more than a THOUSAND years old. You can guess a hedge's age with a rule called Hooper's Rule: walk thirty paces along it and count how many different kinds of woody plants you find. Roughly, one plant equals one hundred years. Five plants? Five hundred years old.

Retell the story

In three pictures

Three pictures: a hedgerow full of red and purple berries, a hand holding one sloe, and a very old hedge on top of a hill.

1.Full of berries

2.One sloe

3.Old hedge on a hill

Answer key: Haw, hip, sloe, or blackberry.

Number & measure

Counting the hours

You are walking a hedgerow. Try Hooper's Rule for real.

a)Walk 30 paces along a hedge with a grown-up. Count the DIFFERENT kinds of woody plant you find.
b)You found 3 different plants. Roughly how old might the hedge be? 3 × 100 = ?
c)Count the berries in one small handful. Sort them: how many red? How many purple?
d)If there are 4 haws and 3 hips in your hand, how many berries altogether? 4 + 3 = ?

Answer key: b) 300 years d) 7

Draw the inside

Your drawing

Draw a hedge from the SIDE, as if you had sliced it. At the bottom, roots and brambles. In the middle, bushes with berries. At the top, taller young trees poking up. Little birds and mice hiding inside.

drawn by me

Labels

· roots
· brambles
· berry bushes
· young trees
· a bird
· a mouse