We had a very busy day today, but we finally connected with the local homeschooling group.  Gavin and Austin got to play with new friends at the park and I got to talk to other homeschool moms and dads and see what they have planned for the year so we all had a great time!  There's lots of fun stuff taking place and the hard part is deciding what we will have time to do!

In Honorable Boy this week we are learning about obeying our parents.  Today for copywork Gavin copied Proverbs 10:8.  Unfortunately he copied it beautifully into his vocabulary notebook instead of his copywork notebook but I didn't make him redo it! 

We are learning new vocabulary words based on words we come across as we read for school.  So far we have sphere, rogue, disperse, prating (I love this word!  We just added it today and I'm going to get to use it in all kinds of conversations!  In fact, when Gavin was writing it down he told me he prattles a lot :-p ), brittle, sedate and punctual.  If we use them in a conversation through the day we get a point.  So far it's 6 to 2 and I'm winning!  We just started playing on Friday though so maybe Gavin will catch up with me.  Last week Gavin copied this poem into his copywork notebook (two lines a day):

'A Nation's Strength' by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not gold, but only man can make

A people great and strong;

Men who, for truth and honor's sake,

Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,

Who dare while others fly -

They build a nation's pillar's deep

And lift them to the sky.

I think I forgot to post that last week but if I just re-wrote it, sorry!

In math we played a game called 'Corners'.  Gavin always loves playing math games!  We dealt out four cards for both of us, and then we each had to connect numbers (kind of like dominos) that were both the same color and equalled a multiple of five.  This is the beginning of multiplication.  At first it was a little tricky, but by the end of the game, Gavin was starting to add larger numbers like 15 and 25 to another number (like 15 or 20) in his head.  We will play this game again tomorrow.

When you had matched your cards (and you couldn't always match all four) you add up your multiples of 5 and whoever has the highest number wins.  This smile is when Gavin realized he had two separate matches that equalled 15 and another that was 10 so he got 40 total so he beat me.  He is so competitive!  That's was the highest score we could manage today!

Gavin read the book 'Wacky Wednesday' to Austin.  I let that count for his reading for the day.

In geography, we learned about the planets and how they rotate and go around the sun and this rotation and orbiting gives us our years and days. So, we tried it using a clemintine (the closest thing to an orange we had) and a candle in the bathroom.  We did this last year when we were learning about space but Gavin wanted to do it again.

Austin took his turn too!

After weeks of super hot weather, today all of the sudden it felt like fall.  So we went on the trail.  I'm not sure what was going on in this picture but I told them both to smile...

Did you notice the American Revolution hat Austin is wearing?  He found it in the garage and wanted to wear it on the trail.  The only reason I mention it is because we had just left the house and I looked down and there was a huge toad in the top of the hat!  I took the hat off and we let the toad stay in the yard instead of joining us on the trail.  Jackson also got to wear the hat on the trail but he was a good sport about it.

Yesterday we were supposed to make Olympic cupcakes to celebrate the end of the Olympics.  It didn't happen...so we made them today!  Gavin was too busy playing with the boy from across the street to help, so Austin helped me make them.  He did great until the very end when we were supposed to alternate putting water and the dry ingredients in with the butter/sugar, etc.  I had put out the water and turned to grab the mixer and Austin dumped the water into the flour bowl!  So, we just dumped the now wet flour in with the butter/sugar bowl.  I didn't try one but the boys both said they tasted good.  They were really crumbly.  I'm not sure if this is because of the way we mixed it or not but it didn't cause the boys to not eat the cupcakes.

I had to help him with the mixer which is why my hand is in the picture.

And here they are!

The boys had a picnic supper (so did Max judging by the picture)!

Here is Austin eating his crumbly cupcake!

Here are some books we've been reading.

Gavin read his first chapter book all by himself!

In history we are going to start the War of 1812 on Wednesday.

We started this book before bedtime tonight.  We haven't been reading at night the last couple of weeks because Gavin's been watching the Olympics between 7 and 8.