The devotion today was about the Star Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key wrote it back in 1812 saying, “Does not such a country, and such defenders of their country, deserve a song?” ( Here is a picture of the original flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner song. It is at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. )Then it transitioned into The Psalm writers were also inspired by the acts of God. We know all that God does for us daily. “Does not such a God deserve a song?” You bet he does!
JD finished his book called “The Boy No More” today. Now he will create a book report that looks like the front page of a newspaper from California around the start of WWII. To include real articles from that time frame. (Kind of cool I think.) OR the other option would be to write the entire book report in paragraph form like public school. (Which would you choose?)
Math was easier for us today than yesterday. Yesterday was learning the concept of the metric system. Today we put the metric system into action and did well. It was about metric lengths. So JD had to convert centimeters into meters and such. Then, it started asking reasonability questions. They gave examples of millimeter as the width of a paperclip, a centimeter as the length of a pink rectangle eraser, a meter as just above a standard doorknob, and a kilometer as 13-16 city blocks. He was really rolling on the test until the question, “What is a reasonable length for a pool?” 500 mm, 50 cm, 50 m, or 50 km. Well, 500 mm and 50 cm is the same answer (.5 meters or 19 inches). And he knew 50 km was way too big. He thought 50 meters was also too big, but it turned out to be correct. Yeah!
We took a LONG break from math to go out and play in the snow we received last night. The roads in the neighborhood are clear but the grass was saturated with snow. There was more than enough snow, time, and hot cocoa for a snowman, two snowball fights, and good old fashioned snow angels. I tried to take a video but it’s really shaky because I was dodging oncoming snowballs. JD got in some good licks. (But so did I.) The Harnett County schools were closed again today but we still did our school day because JD’s friend stayed at home with his mom today.
The words for the Word Bank lesson were: zeal, zesty, and zany. As usual I had him look them up in a dictionary and write the definition and a corresponding sentence. He did this independently. (I’m loving this independent thing.)
We went out of order again today and did the history lesson next. It was another lesson about mountain men, fur traders, and Kit Carson. He fully understood the lesson and moved onto the chapter quiz. There were two questions that stumped us both so he managed an 80%. That’s still pretty good.
The journal lesson was going to be the continuation of the superhero comic book he was creating from Monday. But since he finished his book I thought I would give him some school time to do his creative book report. I thought this would cut out some of his homework time. Boy was I wrong! Picture this…“Hey guess what JD? We’re going to Disney Land next week!” (Are you picturing a happy little boy? That's my visual to you to show what a fun and good day it's been thus far with lots of laughs and miles of smiles.) THEN, I hand him the creative newspaper he was to design with my assistance of course. I tell him, “Here’s where you’ll write the newspaper heading and to use these blocks to write the plot, the characters, the setting and such.” (He behaved as if we had to cancel the Disney trip because of a stomach ache that suddenly set in.) There was moaning, face stretching, and a complete attitude change. (Are those aliens back again?)
This went on for about fifteen minutes and nothing was written except the words “A Boy No More.” I was furious! I had already kindly mentioned starting the character block because it was easy to do. Then do setting block because it too was easy. Nothing was written except “Adam.” (Smoke is now coming out of my ears like a dryer vent from a house.) I spun around from doing dishes and gave him a “WHAT FOR!” This brought on a fast running stream of hugemungous crocodile tears. I let them stream for about two minutes while he diligently wrote on the minefield of tear drops and I cooled down. (Okay don’t worry, I fixed this situation…for now…) I calmly walked over to him and asked why he was crying. He said, “I’m mad!” I said, “Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled so loudly and for so long but you have to understand this is frustrating for me too. We touched on my being a teacher with no experience, his job being school, every job after school will require him to write, that we’re doing what God wants us to be doing, that writing causes him no physical pain, and finally concluded that the strange and absolutely uncalled for behavior was a cover-up for writing being sooo “BORING.” (Okay now what?) I said, “There are some things in a real job that are fun, but some things (excuse me) suck! So some times when you will just have to suck it up.” A project that would typically take 3 hours to write with constant yelling in the past took approximately one hour at FCA. I love the picture of him reading the finished project. All the tears have dried up and I found my voice again. (smile)...until choir Cantata practice.
The music lesson was dropped again because of the whole writing dilemma. We finally ended school at about 3:00 pm. (But you have to remember we played outside for a long time today.)
A beloved comment received via email…Your "mundane" school work is one of the most important things you do all day..... Don't underestimate the value, eternal value. Jesus probably smiles as He watches and thinks... 'She’s doing good, the mother I chose for Jonathan'. (As I swipe the tear from my eye.) I find myself feeling like any other Old Testament woman who was waiting for their “special gift from God” and were in God’s time chosen to be “that” child’s mother. I can’t help but come back to Hannah. She was a godly woman who, much like me pleaded to God for a child. While I wasn’t a follower of God when I conceived JD and am now and that’s all that counts. Samuel was eventually turned over to God at a very young age and went on to become a great priest, prophet, and leader. The Hyder’s have stepped out in faith that with God’s daily guidance, JD will also become a passionate follower of God and yes earn many rewards during his transition into eternity. And I have come to terms that one day I will have to release my grip on JD (hopefully to find him at the temple). But every day until that day I will treasure all these “mundane” moments in my heart. (Thanks for the email.)
JD finished his book called “The Boy No More” today. Now he will create a book report that looks like the front page of a newspaper from California around the start of WWII. To include real articles from that time frame. (Kind of cool I think.) OR the other option would be to write the entire book report in paragraph form like public school. (Which would you choose?)
Math was easier for us today than yesterday. Yesterday was learning the concept of the metric system. Today we put the metric system into action and did well. It was about metric lengths. So JD had to convert centimeters into meters and such. Then, it started asking reasonability questions. They gave examples of millimeter as the width of a paperclip, a centimeter as the length of a pink rectangle eraser, a meter as just above a standard doorknob, and a kilometer as 13-16 city blocks. He was really rolling on the test until the question, “What is a reasonable length for a pool?” 500 mm, 50 cm, 50 m, or 50 km. Well, 500 mm and 50 cm is the same answer (.5 meters or 19 inches). And he knew 50 km was way too big. He thought 50 meters was also too big, but it turned out to be correct. Yeah!
We took a LONG break from math to go out and play in the snow we received last night. The roads in the neighborhood are clear but the grass was saturated with snow. There was more than enough snow, time, and hot cocoa for a snowman, two snowball fights, and good old fashioned snow angels. I tried to take a video but it’s really shaky because I was dodging oncoming snowballs. JD got in some good licks. (But so did I.) The Harnett County schools were closed again today but we still did our school day because JD’s friend stayed at home with his mom today.The words for the Word Bank lesson were: zeal, zesty, and zany. As usual I had him look them up in a dictionary and write the definition and a corresponding sentence. He did this independently. (I’m loving this independent thing.)
We went out of order again today and did the history lesson next. It was another lesson about mountain men, fur traders, and Kit Carson. He fully understood the lesson and moved onto the chapter quiz. There were two questions that stumped us both so he managed an 80%. That’s still pretty good.
The journal lesson was going to be the continuation of the superhero comic book he was creating from Monday. But since he finished his book I thought I would give him some school time to do his creative book report. I thought this would cut out some of his homework time. Boy was I wrong! Picture this…“Hey guess what JD? We’re going to Disney Land next week!” (Are you picturing a happy little boy? That's my visual to you to show what a fun and good day it's been thus far with lots of laughs and miles of smiles.) THEN, I hand him the creative newspaper he was to design with my assistance of course. I tell him, “Here’s where you’ll write the newspaper heading and to use these blocks to write the plot, the characters, the setting and such.” (He behaved as if we had to cancel the Disney trip because of a stomach ache that suddenly set in.) There was moaning, face stretching, and a complete attitude change. (Are those aliens back again?)
This went on for about fifteen minutes and nothing was written except the words “A Boy No More.” I was furious! I had already kindly mentioned starting the character block because it was easy to do. Then do setting block because it too was easy. Nothing was written except “Adam.” (Smoke is now coming out of my ears like a dryer vent from a house.) I spun around from doing dishes and gave him a “WHAT FOR!” This brought on a fast running stream of hugemungous crocodile tears. I let them stream for about two minutes while he diligently wrote on the minefield of tear drops and I cooled down. (Okay don’t worry, I fixed this situation…for now…) I calmly walked over to him and asked why he was crying. He said, “I’m mad!” I said, “Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled so loudly and for so long but you have to understand this is frustrating for me too. We touched on my being a teacher with no experience, his job being school, every job after school will require him to write, that we’re doing what God wants us to be doing, that writing causes him no physical pain, and finally concluded that the strange and absolutely uncalled for behavior was a cover-up for writing being sooo “BORING.” (Okay now what?) I said, “There are some things in a real job that are fun, but some things (excuse me) suck! So some times when you will just have to suck it up.” A project that would typically take 3 hours to write with constant yelling in the past took approximately one hour at FCA. I love the picture of him reading the finished project. All the tears have dried up and I found my voice again. (smile)...until choir Cantata practice.The music lesson was dropped again because of the whole writing dilemma. We finally ended school at about 3:00 pm. (But you have to remember we played outside for a long time today.)
A beloved comment received via email…Your "mundane" school work is one of the most important things you do all day..... Don't underestimate the value, eternal value. Jesus probably smiles as He watches and thinks... 'She’s doing good, the mother I chose for Jonathan'. (As I swipe the tear from my eye.) I find myself feeling like any other Old Testament woman who was waiting for their “special gift from God” and were in God’s time chosen to be “that” child’s mother. I can’t help but come back to Hannah. She was a godly woman who, much like me pleaded to God for a child. While I wasn’t a follower of God when I conceived JD and am now and that’s all that counts. Samuel was eventually turned over to God at a very young age and went on to become a great priest, prophet, and leader. The Hyder’s have stepped out in faith that with God’s daily guidance, JD will also become a passionate follower of God and yes earn many rewards during his transition into eternity. And I have come to terms that one day I will have to release my grip on JD (hopefully to find him at the temple). But every day until that day I will treasure all these “mundane” moments in my heart. (Thanks for the email.)
Amen to your e-mail. Proud of the paper.
ReplyDeleteLove the snowman!