Lazy but good day

Apparently I overslept through that obnoxious alarm clock of mine for nearly one hour. JD was awake when it first went off at 7:15 am when I hit snooze. I find it weird that JD didn‘t come in later as it blared for 1 HOUR! Jeff said, “If I was him I wouldn‘t wake you up either.” (I’m not a morning person. Hence the picture I have posted on the blog which represents me.)

Devotion was about today being “Panic Day.” It was first named as a joke by a guy named Tom Roy. Some people asked him did he name panic day because of all the stuff that’s going on in the world right now. Then it transitioned into when things get out of control for people today. Just try to keep in the back of your mind (huh, like I have anymore room THERE) who is in control. Nothing happens to us that God is not aware of. Trust him to guide and care for you whenever panic hits.

Today JD chose to read his own book called “Hero's Don't Run.” I read The Purpose Driven Life by myself. I have to get through that book soon because I was asked to facilitate the Experiencing God class. The Purpose Driven Life reading today focused on the three remaining letters of the acrostic “S.H.A.P.E.” Mr. Warren told us about “A.P. and E.” It was titled Understanding Your Shape. ABILITIES - We all have abilities or natural talents that come from God. These are of course different from our “spiritual gifts.” Did you know the average person possesses from 500-700 different skills and abilities? (I think I am using ALL of them to teach.) God had a special place in his church where your specialties can shine and you can make a difference. PERSONALITY - When God made you he broke the mold. God loves variety and God uses all different types of personalities to accomplish His specific missions. EXPERIENCES - We should look to those experiences that have shaped our lives. Look to family, educational, vocational, spiritual, ministry, and those painful experiences to see where they fit into God’s plan.

It was a lazy kind of day today. Maybe it had something to do with the beautiful weather we had. Language arts was after lunch and done independently. It was about “The main idea and supporting details” on non-fiction stories. He did this independently today while I showered. He read one story about lions killing more people than black bears and second story has since been forgotten. (I guess I’ll never know.) However, he did score a perfect 100% without my assistance. Yeah!

The science lesson was about recording observations in three different formats. They are: journal entries, tables, and graphs. Then it had an experiment to conduct and chart. We sent an email to an audience of 11 people. (About half have responded.) If you did not get that email just call or email us and tell us what your favorite dessert is. The choices are: cookies, candy, cake, pie, ice cream, fruit, or miscellaneous (If misc. what is it?) Please pick only one. We’ll certainly let you know what the results are when JD’s graphs them.

Social studies was titled “Western Travel.” It was about the people that moved from the East coast to the West coast. It taught him about how hard it was to travel in the prairie schooners and the troubles they faced. So I designed a fun and creative letter that he was to write to a family member on the East coast. It was designed to be as though he was traveling with many other families making the long journey into the wild west frontier to claim a stake of land. This would then cover the email/snail mail lesson. (I learned what was fun for me to do is NOT fun for JD.) I had to walk him through every detail of the letter prompting him with questions I already had typed out. It was very frustrating to keep getting the answer, “I don’t know” to every question I asked. (What's the name of your guide? Was it hot or cold?) In the letter I wrote statements or questions like: Write about a specific danger you faced. Was is weather related or people related? What does your Mountain Man guide looks like? What’s it’s like at night? Did you take a night watch time? What did you see? What’s your oxen or mule’s name? How is your prairie schooner holding up? I told Jeff about the awful experience of this writing assignment and he suggested having JD write informational assignments verses creative writing. Then Jeff talked with JD and they concluded that the both of them struggle when it comes to “creative” writing verses informational. (Hey I’ll try it. If it gets him to writing we might just have to celebrate. It happens every time I say I need you to write…(up goes the wall, and down goes his enthusiasm.)