We have been busy this week since all the after school activities have officially started! But I think we have gotten in to our routines and things are going smoothly.  Yesterday Austin and I read a book about apples and then he completed this apple pattern worksheet.

Adelaide as always was very interested in what was happening.

Then he worked on an apple counting mini-book.

In math we have finally finished with hexagons!  When I told Gavin we were moving on he said, "Do we get to work on octagons now!"  The answer to that is no...  However, we have moved into more math strategies.  Yesterday I had him solve a few problems that revolved around having x number of balloons and how many packages with 10 balloons each could he make.  He actually was able to figure it out which I thought was pretty good.  As he did these problems he put them on a chart and after he had done several I asked if he saw a pattern.  Of course you drop the ones place so 240 becomes 24, etc.  Then he said, "That would have been nice to know before!  That makes it so easy!"  Then he did the same thing with money problems asking how many dimes were in $24.00, etc.  

He started making a paddle doll yesterday.  It's kind of a blend of ancient Egypt and ancient Israelites since they both played with them as children, or at least so I read.  I kind of wonder some times with the ancient history how much is accurate.

He had to move to the table because Adelaide kept trying to put her hands in the paint!  Once the bottom layer was dry he painted a head.  It was supposed to be a person but I said it looked just like a hawk and he agreed so it became a hawk.

This morning Austin did part number one of an apple craft.  He got to paint with water colors so he was happy.

For some reason Daisy insists she belongs stretched out on the school table almost all day and no amount of coaxing can get her to change her mind.

Since Adelaide couldn't paint she decided to color with her crayons.  She got a Minnie Mouse crayon box and she really likes it!

She also played with the pegs today.  She was very proud of herself for putting them together.

Gavin added some beads to the top of his paddle doll to finish it.

Here's Austin's plate ready for tomorrow.

In science we read about atoms, which is review from last year.  We are moving very slowly through chemistry but that's okay.  I've been letting him watch Chemistry videos from the Happy Scientist website.  Basically it's an older guy who does all kinds of experiments in and around his house using common household stuff.  He is pretty entertaining and Gavin likes watching him.  I like that he explains why and how everything works!  He even had the same experiment we were doing today so Gavin watched him do it and then he did it and explained to me why it worked!  Basically, you just put a bunch of pepper in water.

Then you put a little soap on your finger and stick it in the water.  The pepper 'jumps' away from your finger...something about surface tension.

These are the books Austin and I have been reading.

He also watched this video, which is a little dated, but still a great video.  It shows how apples are grown, picked and made in to juice and apple products.

Gavin has been reading this book this week.

Today he read this book.

And we read this book for science today.