Catching up: End of October

I can hardly believe how fast time is flying by.  We are well into the fall and the time change is behind up.  Here is a look back at the end of October and all the fun things the boys have been doing.

I follow some amazing blogs.  Many of them post about provocations or activities they leave out for their children to discover.  This has been great for the boys to explore in the mornings while I am finishing up my office work.

I had been feeling like we had neglected form drawing. Form drawing is So I set out a beautiful table of coloured pencils, some farm examples, objects to place along the forms etc.  MJ came in, grabbed a blank paper and drew me a car.  Then they moved on to breakfast.  No worries I thought, we'll get back to this later or in a different way.

However, TJ came into the kitchen and asked how his venus fly trap was doing (he had received a little kit last Christmas).  We looked at his little plant but I could tell he wanted more.  We looked at our Usborn plant book and followed the internet links to some amazing videos.  Afterwards I hinted that perhaps we could invent our own carnivorous plant and draw it on the big paper we had out.  MJ made use of what was immediately in front of him.  He was eating breakfast so he asked me to write about a bread snatcher plant.  The form drawings on the table became intestines, tubes and other parts of his plant.  He stapled all this papers together to make me a book about his bread snatchers.  It was so much fun to work along side this creative boy. 

TJ took off to sit by himself (next to the heater, he is like a little cat).  He drew and talked to himself for quite a while.  Every so often we'd get updates on new elements that were being added to the plant.  TJ's plant has nectar that attracts bugs, a slippery tube leading to a venus fly trap, and a waste pit!  There are two tanks to flush out the plant when the waste goes out and fire ants to scare away animals that might get waste dropped on them.  Awesome isn't it!!!  TJ asked me to label his drawing and then write a description on the back.  Next he said he'd like to photo copy the work and mail it to different family members.  TJ wrote a letter to accompany his picture and we made copies.  I too became excited to send off his letters and trust that they were well received.

One day MJ came to me and said he wanted a crocodile vest.  "Sure," I replied, "but what is that?"  MJ explained to me that he wanted to make a crocodile costume vest.  We dug up some old sweaters from my upcycling pile.  MJ was very specific about what he wanted (lots of buttons) and where they should be placed.  We sewed all the buttons on together and he loved how it turned out.  TJ wanted to make a dinosaur costume in the same manner.  He cut out teeth for me to sew on.  I was impressed with his idea to sew gloves to the arms to add claws.  We had so much fun crafting together.  They have worn their costumes to play in, sleep with and for outings.

During the last week of October we went to a homeschool Halloween party.  There was yummy food, pumpkin decoration and a scavenger hunt.  The boys played well and had a lovely time.

I love getting inspiration and ideas from blogs I follow.  One blogger had tried an idea she gathered from someone else.  Here is the link to the original idea  which of course I had to try.  I used a White-Out pen that proved tricky to use.  The results were pretty good.  The boys made some interesting patterns, even I had some fun.  TJ made his name with the rocks while MJ used wooden blocks to do his name.  I'm hoping that the rocks come out often and lead to some new interesting explorations.

Oh my little MJ just loves stories.  We have been working through our math gnome stories with great interest.  The boys jump right in to help with counting and different math processes.  MJ always needs to have a turn telling me a story afterwards.  I love his little adventures.  

We started finding and borrowing different games to play.  MJ explored letter sounds with Up-Words (sort of like scrabble).  

The boys Mid-Week church program had a dress-up night as it was close to Halloween.  This year's theme was cowboys.  Oh man these kids are cute.  We don't go trick-or-treating but the boys didn't care as they went to two parties that week and dressed up lots.  On of our neighbours came by with a treat bag for each of the boys on Halloween.  The boys were so thankful we made cards the next day to show our appreciation.

Right after Halloween Value Village thrift store had all their costumes on 50% off.  I was going to buy one costume each, but the prices were so amazing that we loaded up.  Aren't they so cute!!  TJ wore the bug costume all weekend (inside, outside, bedtime).  I love that their imaginations are so rich and that we have plenty of time to play.

Dice games.  So simple, so many to choose from and so much fun.  We had a number of dice that I pulled out.  I taught the boys how to play war with the dice.  I also printed out some paper dice games.  The boys are getting much faster at counting and adding.  They are so interested in math.  I often catch MJ counting has fingers and asking about numbers.

So now we are all caught up to the end of October.  A big Happy Birthday to Grandma and Grandpa Scott hope your vacation is going well!

I do hope you share what you have been up to as well...