We were super busy with school this morning so I have a lot of pictures today.  Yesterday we didn't do school because I had a doctor's appointment.  We had our 'official' ultrasound and had it confirmed that we are expecting a little girl (!!!) and that she is looking healthy and perfect!!!! 

Next week we will be going on a field trip to the pumpkin farm so we will be one day short of school too.  I'm trying not to worry about it because this is one reason why we started a few weeks early but it's making me a little anxious.  So probably we won't do much for history next week but we will keep reading the chapter book Pilgrim Boy.

Austin continued to work on the letter 'i'.  He glued 'i' words to a paper that had the letter 'i' on it.  He is starting to really like gluing!

This child always has his tongue sticking out!

We worked on big and small.  Instead of having him circle the shape I just asked, 'where is the big circle' or 'where is the small square' and had him point to it.  He did this with no problem!

Then I gave him a dog matching worksheet with four dogs on the right side and the four matching dogs on the left.  At first I was trying to help him but he was able to find the matching dog and draw a nice straight line from one to the other all by himself!  When he was done he said he wanted to do it again so I got out a frog matching worksheet and let him do that one all by himself!

While I was working with Austin, Gavin was reviewing cursive letters.

Austin arranged skeletons from biggest to smallest.

Then he did his toilet paper color matching game.

Today we introduced the concept of 100 as 10 tens.  Gavin made 10 tens on his abacus and then with his tiles.  The tiles took awhile because after the first couple of rows he was doing a different color pattern in each row.

Then, as promised, we played Go Fish trying to find matches that equal 10.

Austin got to play with a vegetable garden theme felt board set while we played Go Fish.

Earlier we demonstrated a ball and socket joint, today we saw how a hinge joint works and how it makes the muscle contract or expand.  The tube on this leg gets bigger and smaller when you move the leg.

To finish up learning about our muscles, we put them to work in a backyard obstacle course.  First, Gavin had to balance on a balance beam (or big stick I found in the garage).

Then he had to crawl under a table.  By this time he had gotten Austin's attention.  Austin had come outside to play with knights at the picnic table.

Then it was time to toss beanbags (rolled up socks) into a box.

Then Gavin jumped on and off this base (also found in the garage in a kickball set) 10 times.

Then it was on to 10 leglifts.

By this time Austin was really paying attention!

Then 10 jumping jacks.

Jumping on one foot by the garden.

And finally, showing me his muscles!

Of course, Austin wanted to try it too which was fine because Gavin wanted to do it again.  So, it was time for round two.

Austin started tossing the socks from a distance, but soon discovered that throwing them in when you are standing right in front of the box is easier!

Austin just jumped up and down on the base, not on and off, but he really enjoyed it!

Leglifts they got to do together...

...as well as jumping jacks...

...jumping on one foot...

...and showing me their muscles!

Then we came in for the final day of checking our chicken bones.  I was very glad to be able to throw out this experiment because chicken bones suspended in vinegar on the kitchen counter is just plain disgusting to have to see every day!  But, they were very bendy and Gavin thought it was really neat!

After washing his hands, he drew pictures in his science journal and wrote his observations.  

Then we studied this painting by Jan Steen called "Christening Feast".  We talked about everything going on in the picture and what the room was like, loud, busy, etc.  We talked about how artists can paint their experiences.

For Gavin's experience he drew himself in the teepee at the pumpking farm.

We read two books about our muscles today.

We read two chapters of Pilgrim Boy at lunch.  Gavin really likes this book!  They are about to get on the Speedwell.

And we are still reading Despereaux at bedtime.  It's a long book so it will take us a while to get through it.

Austin and I read:

This morning Austin spent a little time working on his patterns.

Gavin worked on blends and reading simple sentences.

Austin circled the smallest object in the box on a worksheet.  Then he randomly colored the paper with his pencil.

Gavin learned cursive letter 'j'.

I drew a picture of an igloo on a piece of paper and wrote 'I is for Igloo'.  Austin glued white paper squares onto the igloo.

In math Gavin and I played Go Fish.  Gavin loved this game!  I had to promise we would play it again tomorrow to get him to agree to stop playing!  Instead of finding the same number for the pair we had to find a pair that equals 10.  For example, if I had the number 4, I didn't ask for a 4, I asked for a 6 because 4 and 6 equal 10.  Gavin got to use his abacus for help.

Meanwhile, Austin played with Play-Doh.  I added a pumpkin cookie cutter to the accessories bag and he made quite a few pumpkins.

After our game, I gave Gavin four 10s place value cards (they were pieces of paper not our actual place value cards) and four 1s place value cards.  He put them in order from the smallest number he could make, 13, to the biggest, 48.  Then he glued the cards onto a piece of construction paper along with matching abacus cards.  It's kind of hard to explain but you can see a picture of the finished paper below.

In history we are starting the story of the Pilgrims.  I'm not sure if we will be studying the Pilgrims all the way to Thanksgiving or not.  That would be about six weeks.  We'll have to see how it goes.  Today we read the first couple chapters of Pilgrim Boy.

We are still reading the story of Joseph in Bible.  Joseph was just sold into slavery by his brothers.