A short day

Today was a small class load but a long day nonetheless. We did our devotion like normal and I showed JD an email I received. It was about a poor cashier that couldn’t count the correct change for her customer. The total was $1.58 and the man gave her $2.08. You do the math…The email showed how math has been taught through the years. The math word problem starts out in 1950 with “A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?” (I had JD figure that one out.) By 1990 it’s “A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20.. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok. ) And my favorite was 2010 , “Who cares, just steal the lumber from your rich neighbor's property. He won't have a gun to stop you, and the President says it's OK anyway cuz it’s redistributing the wealth.” (LOL) So that was math today.

Then we moved onto a much needed Life Skill of problem solving. I jotted down some notes while I was reading a wonderful book called The Gift of ADHD Activity Book, 101 Ways to Turn Your Child’s Problems into Strengths, by Lara Honos-Webb. I LOVE the name of the book. I tell JD all the time how God making him ADHD was a gift to God and the world. Anyways some of the things I jotted down were: problem solving, making goals, becoming self sufficient, and creating positive social situations. I started teaching him problem solving today. You’d think he’d have some idea by now how to solve a problem, but he really doesn’t. I love how the author of the process teaches it while playing checkers with a child. Step 1) Identify a problem. Step 2) Think up three possible solutions. Step 3) Look at each option for a minute. Ask yourself, “Is this a good move or a bad move?” Step 4) Pick what you think would be the best solution or option and ask yourself, “If I do this what will happen next?” Step 5) Try it out and see if it works. JD and I covered many different types of situations that he will need to use this process in. They were things like: keeping a friend who cusses, steals, or talks bad about parents and the dreaded curfew and beer parties. He did really well coming up with solutions and choosing the one that would not make him look like a goody too shoes nor a geek. I told him to use humor or make up an excuse to leave in order to get out of a potentially bad situation that just comes up. He also knew that telling the truth was the smartest option as opposed to lying and getting caught. I gave him a few examples of his brothers and my brother lying and getting caught. That’s when I established with him how I have eyes in the back of my head and I network with the secret underworld of mothers. No I didn’t tell him that but I bet he thinks that. (Smile)

That lesson took longer to teach that I expected but it was well worth the time to see his feelings about looking “cool” in front of friends. We then moved onto an interactive lesson in social studies. (I totally forgot about note taking the rest of the Political Party lesson. Oops) We did a pretty long but FUN study on the continent of South America. We learned about the 12 countries and the three territories. We also identified on the map water sources, any major landforms, landmarks, and finally each country’s capital. Then, I found an interactive map on the web without country labels. We had to look at the question of where a certain country was and find it. We worked together on this entire lesson. I can’t imagine not learning all that with him.

In science today we learned about Genes and traits? We overloaded our brains with too many vocabulary words. But we also learned a lot about DeoxyriboNucleic Acid (DNA), Genes, chromosomes, proteins, about heredity, and traits. We know all humans have 46 chromosomes and mosquitoes have six. Each parent contributes 23 each. We also learned traits come from parents too. However, the environment can alter these traits. Women color their hair and people eat healthy and exercise to avoid having a heart problem. The most amazing thing for us was the fact that all the people in the world have 99.9% identical DNA. (Did you see that math sneak in there?)

We did not do any “real” math or an English lesson today. (Yeah, short day!)

Tomorrow, Saturday, JD has a scrimmage game. This will probably be the make it or break it time. Cross your fingers...