Friday, 5 Nov

It was an errand day.  I told JD at the beginning of the school day that "if I make it to the bank today that will be all right with me."  And that's about all we did too.  Any amount of disposable time I HAD is now gone.  It's amazing how much time can be spent cooing at babies. 

We did our devotion today.  It was about the British holiday called Guy Fawkes day.  There was an attempt way back on 5 Nov, 1605 to blow up the English Parliament.  But the mission failed.  Today they still celebrate with a display of fireworks and  bonfires.  Doesn't that seem strange to celebrate a failure.  Not to me, because when the Romans and Jewish leaders nailed Jesus to the cross and he rose three days later, THEY FAILED!  Is there room for victory in failure?  You bet.  Every Easter!  So celebrate.

The next and last lesson of the day was math.  Suri sat in with us again.  We all learned about equivalent fractions with mixed numbers.  There was multiplication and division involved to figure out whether to increase or simplify the fractions. 

Good and busy day

It was a good school day and busy with the babies.

The devotion today was about overcoming obstacles. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Palmer invented the artificial leg after losing his leg in an accident. He made something good out of something bad. Then it transitioned into the bible story of the man who laid by the pool at Bethesda. He did this for 38 years. Jesus saw him and told him to get up and carry his mat. We all have choices when we are faced with difficult or hopeless situations. So when you’re faced with those look for solutions to your problems. Respond like Palmer and have a positive attitude.

Today JD completed his book called Behind the locked Door. Then we did a verbal book report. He did much better with the plot. He told me the problem, what happened, and the solution to the problem. The only thing he does is tell it in great detail. I try to get him to combine three or four sentences into one. This will take some time, but I know it will come with time.

Today’s math lesson wasn’t terribly difficult. It was all about simplify fractions to the lowest terms. For example 25/100 will reduce to ¼.

Today for social studies we watched the DVD America: The Story of Us. I took notes on the early use of whale oil that was used to power lights. Then, it moved to Slave Trade. We learned all about Harriett Tubman and the underground railroad. They introduced a character named John Brown. He was a radical abolitionists. I also took notes on President Abraham Lincoln. He was the president during the start of the civil war. There we death threats against him even before he took over the office. (Poor guy.)

We did not do science again today. Ugh, when am I going to get back into my schedule? I had my cleaning job to do today so I had JD cpontinue his school day at the cleaning house.

For language arts today I had JD write about Tuesdays football practice. Apparently there was some wild interaction between JD and another boy. There were three instances where they collided and I had him write in detail what happened and what was said so we could edit it for capitalization and punctuation later.

A trying day

As I’m sitting here typing this blog Suri is in my lap. It was a great day until I asked JD to write for a language arts lesson.

The devotion today was about sandwiches. It wasn‘t until 1792 that John Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, requested a piece of meat tucked between two pieces of bread so he could continue playing cards. And the name just stuck. Without bread a PB&J is just a glop of peanut butter and a glob of jelly. Clearly the bread gives the sandwich it’s substance. Jesus was referred to as the “bread of life.” I couldn’t imagine my life without the substance of Jesus to satisfy my hunger. He keeps me going spiritually. Have you had your daily bread?

We moved straight into math after the devotion. We were learning about Greatest Common Factors. The lesson was fairly easy but we got tripped up on the last part of the formula. JD scored an 80% on the quiz. That’s really good considering I didn’t help him at all on it. Suri joined us about half way through he lesson. JD said, “This is like baby Einstein stuff for her.” She sat on my lap while I was writing out the numbers JD spoke to me. She was very interested in what was going on. So I pulled another pad out for her. I wrote and spoke the numbers 1, 2, 3 on the paper. I repeated and helped her trace the numbers. Before you know it she mimicked me by saying, “Un, two, tee.”

For social studies today JD and I reviewed the three branches of government. He retained a lot of information from last year like: what the branches are and the terms of the position (years, age, citizenship.) Suri joined us there too. I had the four sheets of paper taped to one another like a big rectangle. I attached them to the fireplace and had JD sit down in front so he could see it while I read it. Suri plopped right down like it was a reading circle. JD and I went from the fireplace to the computer so I could show him the news reporting that the Republicans had control of the house for the first time in a century. This led us to see that President Obama would be speaking at 1 pm. So we set our clock to listen to him. There was a lot going on but I told JD he’ll probably say, “We need to learn to work as a team…blah…blah…” We tried to watch it but there was a lot going on and it was hard for JD to follow how tactfully the reporters were sneaking in their questions.

We did the language arts lesson last today. That was a painful struggle. I requested he write a 10 sentence paragraph on five things he would like changed about our government and then five reasons why. After 30 minutes he only had one sentence written. I told him how upset I was. I also told him this is something he has to learn to do. I finally changed the subject to write about to “Invent your own holiday.“ He came up with “Everything is free day.” This went a lot smoother when I told him his school day is over when this assignment was completed. It took 30 minutes and a lot of encouragement to complete.

We did not do a science lesson today because were still trying to settle into our new home school routine (ha ha, routine.) JD‘s book was still trapped in Jeff’s truck so he did not read today, because I simply forgot to have him read something.

Looks like Ruca, the puppy, is past the worst of it. She’s eating very good now.

Everyone here is doing well. I’ll try to keep up with the blog, but it’s going to be difficult.

A no school day

We did not have school today.  I hope everyone got out there and voted. 

Ruca looks like she's going to pull through her virus.

A busy day

It was a busy day of chasing, corralling, and holding grand babies.  Add in a vet appointment that proved Sarah and Daniel's puppy has Parvo.  All this was going on at the start of our school day, during our school day, and after our school day.  Did I mention football pictures were today too?  It was a good 1/2 day for JD but HIGHLY distractable.

Home schooling has taken on a new level of distraction for JD. We went into my bedroom to do our devotion, because by then Suri was up and very “talkative.” The devotion today was called Men Make Dinner day! The devotion made them look like oafs in the kitchen. It was so off target. All the Hyder men I know CAN cook. Thank goodness. I have offered to “cook” a healthy dinner, but neither of my guys want a salad. (Hah/ha) Then, the devotion transitioned into Jesus making a meal for over 5,000 people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. So the next time you are given an impossible assignment - don’t panic…let Jesus in on it.

JD’s Odyssey book was stuck in Jeff’s truck so I had him read a short book on the Pony Express. He read that for a short time before we headed off to the vet with Sarah and Daniel’s Chihuahua puppy named Ruca.

The vet confirmed what I feared….Parvo. That’s a highly contagious virus that if left unattended WILL result in death and the cost of hospitalization can run upwards to $500-900. I don’t know about you guys but since autumn arrived all my money has fallen off my money tree. I requested the Dr allow us take Ruca home and I would care for her. That means giving medicines and hydrating her via a saline bag. Since I have previous vet experience she agreed. So now every 4-6 hours I hydrate Ruca by placing a needle in her skin by her back and filling the spot under her skin with water. She looks like a little camel. (smile) I also have to give her the meds twice a day. In just 8 hours of treatment she was able to eat beef baby food. (The Dr recommended that.) We have our fingers crossed that Ruca pulls through this. In the mean time my two dogs are either kept in the garage/yard, or my room, because I do not want to take any chances with cross contamination or airborne transmission.

When we got back from the vet we pushed through a short and easy math lesson. It re-taught JD about prime and composite numbers. We breezed through the lesson while Sarah entertained her two “students” in the playroom (old classroom.) JD fully understood the lesson and pressed onto the quiz. He scored a 100%.

My house cleaning client called today asking if I could clean tomorrow since she’d just arrived back from her business trip and desperately wanted a nap. I agreed and JD and I did a short language arts lesson on the couch. It was difficult because Suri wanted on the couch too and kept bumping JD’s hand as he wrote. I asked if he wanted to move but he said, “No.” JD had to identify what resource to use to obtain information on various subjects. His options were: dictionary, encyclopedia, almanac, atlas, newspapers /magazines, or non-fiction books. He was all over this lesson. He also learned to spell encyclopedia by singing a song I learned as a child. The next part of the lesson was learning to take notes on important information. The story was about Native North Americans and the ways to scare away crows. Dispite the distractions he did a GREAT job writing complete sentences.

Because our day was already jumbled up with new people, appointments, and chaos we did not do a social studies or science lesson today.

Suri turned TWO!

(I have permission from Sarah to post pictures and talk about the happenings of the grandbabies.)  Because I don't have nearly enough to blog about right?  30 Oct was a busy day for all of us.  Enjoy the memories we made...

Happy birthday to you, Suri Noel just turned TWO!

JD and Suri carving and coloring pumpkins

Isabella Marley likes her some Papaw

Suri likes her some Papaw too.  He's known as the "Candy Man."